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1.3

1.3.1 House of the Fruit Orchard
1.3.2 House 9
1.3.3 House 10

1.3.1 House of the Fruit Orchard

Historical background

Roman cities were built on a grid system, with streets criss-crossing the city from West–East and North–South. A city block surrounded by four streets is called an insula (plural insulae) which literally means 'island'.

Archaeologists divide Pompeii into Regions, and within each region there are several insulae, which they also number. The Romans did not use this system, we don't know what they called their streets and areas. Amarantus's neighbourhood is in Region 1, and his insula is Insula 9.

The Northern half of Insula 9 opens onto the Via dell' Abbondanza (the 'Street of Abundance', a modern name) one of the main streets in Pompeii. The Southern half – in which Amarantus's bar is located – opens onto a much smaller street. This smaller street does, however, lead to the amphitheatre where the popular gladiator shows were held, so it wouldn't have been a quiet backwater!

There are a range of properties on the insula, both residential and commercial, rich and poor, large and small. We can therefore infer that this was a very varied neighbourhood with different types of people living close together in a small area.

 

Evidence

Numbers relate to the plan available to view here, not to any official site numbering.

House 5 – often called the House of the Fruit Orchard due to its frescoes – is quite a grand house, although not overly large, with an adjoining shop at the front (1). The main entrance leads out onto the main street, the Via dell’ Abbondanza (Street of Abundance). The building had a second floor, one set of stairs to which are found in the small room at the front (3). There is a small 'porticoed' garden with columns on three sides (4).

The entrance leads into the main room (atrium) (5) where guests would have been received. This room seems to have been simply decorated, and has an impluvium (pool to collect rainwater) in the centre (6).

The most famous features of this House are the lavish decoration found in three of its rooms; two cubicula (small rooms, often bedrooms) (7, 8) and the dining room (9). The inside of room 7 has a floor design made of tiny tiles (a mosaic) and wall paintings of garden scenes with birds, flowers, statues and fountains. Included in this design are Egyptian motifs, showing that the owner knew of Egypt and its art, and perhaps wanted to make their house and tastes feel exotic. Room 8 is decorated in a similar style with trees, birds, snakes and other animals. The dining room (9) contains panels showing various myths including Daedalus and Icarus and the Seven Against Thebes. Roman houses were often decorated with landscapes, nature and mythological images.

1.3.2 House 9

Historical background

Roman cities were built on a grid system, with streets criss-crossing the city from West–East and North–South. A city block surrounded by four streets is called an insula (plural insulae) which literally means 'island'.

Archaeologists divide Pompeii into Regions, and within each region there are several insulae, which they also number. The Romans did not use this system, we don't know what they called their streets and areas. Amarantus's neighbourhood is in Region 1, and his insula is Insula 9.

The Northern half of Insula 9 opens onto the Via dell' Abbondanza (the 'Street of Abundance', a modern name) one of the main streets in Pompeii. The Southern half – in which Amarantus's bar is located – opens onto a much smaller street. This smaller street does, however, lead to the amphitheatre where the popular gladiator shows were held, so it wouldn't have been a quiet backwater!

There are a range of properties on the insula, both residential and commercial, rich and poor, large and small. We can therefore infer that this was a very varied neighbourhood with different types of people living close together in a small area.

 

Evidence

Numbers relate to the plan available to view here, not to any official site numbering.

House 9 is a small, narrow property which opens out onto a side street on the East side of the insula (1). Once through the entrance visitors would not be received in a large atrium as in larger houses, instead they would find themselves in a sort of 'corridor' which stretches along the length of the house with the other rooms off of it.

The house has stairs which would have led to a second floor (2) and at the back of the house (3) was a garden with a toilet (4) next to it.

The house has three enclosed rooms, far fewer than other houses in the insula. Historians have suggested that two rooms of House 9 might have been workshops (5), probably of a painter. The artefacts pictured here were all found in the remains of a wooden cupboard in one of the workshops. There are pots of paint pigment and pestles, stones which would have been used to crush the pigment to a powder before mixing it into paint. There are also various tools.

 

1.3.3 House 10

Historical background

Roman cities were built on a grid system, with streets criss-crossing the city from West–East and North–South. A city block surrounded by four streets is called an insula (plural insulae) which literally means 'island'.

Archaeologists divide Pompeii into Regions, and within each region there are several insulae, which they also number. The Romans did not use this system, we don't know what they called their streets and areas. Amarantus's neighbourhood is in Region 1, and his insula is Insula 9.

The Northern half of Insula 9 opens onto the Via dell' Abbondanza (the 'Street of Abundance', a modern name) one of the main streets in Pompeii. The Southern half – in which Amarantus's bar is located – opens onto a much smaller street. This smaller street does, however, lead to the amphitheatre where the popular gladiator shows were held, so it wouldn't have been a quiet backwater!

There are a range of properties on the insula, both residential and commercial, rich and poor, large and small. We can therefore infer that this was a very varied neighbourhood with different types of people living close together in a small area.

 

Evidence

The numbers given here relate to the plan available to view here, not to any official site numbering.

House 10 is a relatively large house next door to House 9, and opening out onto the same small side street on the East side of the insula. It had a second floor, as we can tell from the stairs just inside the entrance. The house has a large atrium (2) at the front, but it does not have an impluvium as one might expect. 

On the left hand side as you enter the house is the kitchen (culina) in which there is also a toilet! (3) 

The orange dotted lines on the plans show two walls which were not there during the time of our story. Archaeologists have studied them and can tell they were built later to enclose the study (tablinum) (4) which was originally open to the atrium and separated from the garden (5) by a low wall. Before the walls were built, you would have been able to see straight through from the atrium to the garden through the study.

House 10 is decorated simply. The walls in the atrium seem to be plain pinkish plaster. The floor of the study is made of bits of red tile broken into small pieces and mixed with mortar – a common Roman building material – with small white squares of marble.

Lots of glass perfume bottles were found in this house; although the quality of the product they held is unknown!

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