Pompeii - Houses

Question 1

What was the Atrium

Answer 1

Main entrance room

Question 2

What was the Tablinium

Answer 2

Study/office of the Paterfamilias

Question 3

What was the Peristylium

Answer 3

A colonnaded garden

Question 4

What was the Impluvium

Answer 4

There was a hole in the ceiling so water could fall into the well (the impluvium) in the centre of the room

Question 5

What was the Cubiculum

Answer 5

Small bedrooms

Question 6

What was the Triclinium

Answer 6

Dining room (with 3 couches)

Question 7

Who were the Vetti?

Answer 7

Two brothers

• freedmen who acquired great wealth
• merchants
• restored their house after the earthquake of 62 AD
• were probably landowners and wine traders
• the House of the Vetti is a good example of a property owned by the commercial middle class as opposed to the aristocracy of Pompeii

Question 8

What was unusual about the layout of the House of the Vetti?

Answer 8

• the house was rebuilt at great expense after the earthquake of 62AD, unlike many of the grander houses
• no shops at the front of the house and no tablinum, suggesting that they were so wealthy they did not need to earn money from clients.
• frescoes (wall paintings) of the highest quality
• house occupies two sites
• two atria
• two iron safes were found inside the atrium
• there may have been a brothel besides the kitchen
• the house is famous for its painting of the god Priapus in the entrance hall weighing his phallus, a common image in Pompeii indicating wealth and prosperity
• triclinium was decorated with a frieze of cupids.

Question 9

What do the rooms tell us about the Vetti?

Answer 9

• There are two atria and a triclinium, this tells us that they liked to entertain their friends and business associates.
• Their display of Greek art and myths suggests they were trying to present themselves as educated and cultured, since knowledge of Greek culture was considered to be essential for a well educated Roman.

Question 10

What is so unique about the House of the Faun?

Answer 10

• This is one of the largest houses in Pompeii, occupying the length of a whole black.
• 2 atria. 1 was more important than the other- it led to the tablinum. There is a statuette of a dancing faun found in the impluvium of this main atrium. The second atrium was a more intimate place and was perhaps used by family members or any friends staying with the family.
• 2 peristylia which were separated by a summer room. On the ground of the summer room was a huge mosaic of Alexander the Great and the Persian Emperor Darius. -The house had its own water supply and bathing room equipped with a hypocaust.
• 4 triclinia
• shops at the front unlike the Vetti, suggesting they did not have as much money

Question 11

What was the culina?

Answer 11

Kitchen

Question 12

Where do people enter the house from?

Answer 12

The ianua (entrance door)

Question 13

What was the lararium?

Answer 13

Shrine of the household gods where the family worshiped the lares (ancestors)

Question 14

What was the Latrina?

Answer 14

Lavatory

Question 15

What are the frescoes?

Answer 15

Wall paintings