VI.16.29 Pompeii. House of C. Vettius Firmus.
Linked to workshop at VI.16.30. Excavated 1904.
Part 1 Part 2
VI.16.29/30 Room Plan
VI.16.29 Pompeii, on left. December 2007. Vicolo dei Vettii looking south. VI.15, on right.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. December 2005. Entrance doorway.
According to NdS, this doorway had a lava threshold and would have had wooden doorjambs.
The entrance corridor was decorated with a high blackish dado, and buried in the wall above it were imitation white marble slabs.
Written on the white plaster of the south wall, a graffito could be read – C. VIITIVS FIRMVS
Another graffito for the same C. VETTIUS FIRMUS was found on the north pillar of the corridor turned towards the atrium above the plinth on the north side.
The floor of cocciopesto was inclined down towards the roadway.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1908,
(p.280).
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking east across atrium B.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. September 2004. Looking east from fauces A, towards atrium B.
According to NdS, the atrium was without an impluvium.
The walls were similar to the entrance corridor, being entirely white except for the lower dado which was blackish.
Above the dado were the remains of part of the imitation buried slabs of white marble.
Immediately above the plinth, in the space between two red bands, were paintings of various types of birds feeding near to plants and fruit.
In the high part left of the east wall were two semi-circular niches built into the wall, and in the middle of the same wall was a large window.
In the south-east corner of the atrium was a hearth.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. Pre-1937-39. Looking north-east across atrium.
Photo courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive. Warsher collection no. 1752.
On the left would have been the doorway to room G, oecus fenestratum.
In the south wall of room G would have been a window overlooking the atrium, and above that in the same wall was another small window.
In the east wall was a doorway into room H.
According to Giacobello, the doorway and wall on the east side of the atrium containing two niches collapsed following the 1980 earthquake.
Today, of the two arched niches only the one on the left has been partially conserved.
They would have been a short distance away from each other and plastered inside in white stucco.
See Giacobello, F., 2008. Larari Pompeiani: Iconografia e culto dei Lari in ambito domestico. Milano: LED Edizioni. (p.243).
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room D, storeroom, on north side of entrance corridor.
According to NdS, this room was smaller but equally rustic as the cubiculum C, on the other side of the entrance corridor.
It had a window at the top of the west wall.
Found in this room on 26th August 1904, were iron, bronze and terracotta items, and found on the 29th August gathered beside a skeleton:
two bronze coins (a sestertius of Galba and an asse of Domitian), a large terracotta rustic mug and a terracotta lamp.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room D, west wall with window.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room E, oecus.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room E, west wall decorated with two yellow central panels.
According to NdS, this was a rectangular room, with floor of mortar and well-decorated walls.
The long walls were divided into four panels, with three panels on the shorter walls.
The dado was decorated with the usual painted plants on a red background.
The frieze had a white background, but hardly any of it remained, perhaps decorated with red horizontal bands.
The central panels of the long walls as well as the only central panel of the short walls had a yellow background.
The side panels were red, separated by wide white bands each containing a leafy and in bloom branch with numerous vertical twists.
In the centre of each panel was a different species of bird, pecking, with small plants.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room E, south wall, decorated with one central yellow panel.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room F, looking north across ala, open on the width of its south side to atrium.
According to NdS-
the floor was concrete and the walls showed remains of third style decoration. This seemed to have a white background.
To the left at the top of the east wall were the remains of an arabesque, but nothing else. The lower dado was a blackish colour.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room G, oecus fenestratum, looking towards north-east corner.
According to NdS, this square room was with rough walls and high dado.
In the south wall would have been a window overlooking the atrium, and above that in the same wall was another small window.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room G, east wall.
In the extreme left of the east wall, and high up, was a type of tufa nocerina capital of a pilaster used as a building material.
According to Sogliano, this pilaster deserved the attention of scholars.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1908,
(p.282 and fig 8 on p. 283).
VI.16.29 Pompeii. 1908. Room G. Capital of a pilaster used as a building material.
According to Sogliano, this pilaster deserved the attention of scholars.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1908,
(p.282, and fig 8).
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room H, triclinium, in north-east corner of atrium.
In front of the two doorways, the rubble would have been the site of the east wall of the atrium.
According to NdS, in the east wall of the atrium was a large window, with a doorway on either side of it.
The doorway on the north opened into rectangular room H.
The floor was of cocciopesto.
In the right end of the south wall of room H was a doorway that led into the area behind the window, room I.
From room I, the other doorway on the south side of the window led back into the atrium.
According to Giacobello, the doorway and wall on the east side of the atrium containing two niches collapsed following the 1980 earthquake.
Today, of the two arched niches only the one on the left has been partially conserved.
They would have been a short distance away from each other and plastered inside in white stucco.
See Giacobello, F., 2008. Larari Pompeiani: Iconografia e culto dei Lari in ambito domestico. Milano: LED Edizioni. (p.243)
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room H, north wall.
According to NdS, the walls were painted with mediocre decorations, but of which quite a bit was remaining.
They were divided in large panels painted on a background of a natural colour similar to brick plaster (intonaco laterizio).
Each offered a rectangular painting in the centre showing two dolphins facing to the sides of a type of vase.
The frieze, that was preserved only in part on the western wall, did not show any decoration at all.
The lower dado on a red background showed the usual plant decoration.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Demolished wall and site of room I, on east side of atrium.
According to NdS, this room was a rustic room and perhaps may have been uncovered which would have let light into the atrium through the large window.
According to Sogliano, high up on the left of the east wall were two semi-circular niches.
In the middle part of the same wall was a big window.
In the south-east corner was a hearth.
To the west of the doorway to room H, running north to south, was a small low wall (b) on which were found traces of wood covering.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1908,
(p. 280)
See also Giacobello, F., 2008. Larari Pompeiani: Iconografia e culto dei Lari in ambito domestico. Milano: LED Edizioni. (p.243).
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorways to rooms J and K on east side of room I.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room J, kitchen, in centre, looking across area that would have been room I.
On the left can be seen the remains of the doorway into room H.
To the left of the doorway to room H was a small low wall (b) on which were found traces of wood covering.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1908,
p. 283.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room J, remains of hearth (c) against east wall in north-east corner.
VI.16.29 Pompeii. March 2009. Room J, south-east corner, the site of the latrine (d).