VIII.2.29 Pompeii. House of Severus. Linked to VIII.2.30.

Part 2      Part 1

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Stairs to lower level

VIII.2.29, on left, and VIII.2.30, upper floors on right of left side;

on right side, lower levels – VIII.2.29, on left, VIII.2.30, on right.

See Bullettino dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (DAIR), 1884, (p. 211)

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Looking south on lower level.

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Small vaulted underground room on east of corridor.

(PPM’s room 2 on lower level).

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Looking east into second room along corridor. The hole in wall is looking east into rear room.

(PPM’s room 3 on lower level, looking through hole in rear wall towards their room 4, with an arched doorway to room 5 visible).

According to NdS –

4 giugno 1883 –

Fu messo in chiaro, che le case dell’isola 2, reg. VIII, segnate coi no.29 e30 communicano tra loro, per mezzo di un passaggio di quattro scalini, posto fra i due atrii.  Nella casa no 29, a destra del tablino rispondente sul limitare della citta dal lato sud, trovasi una discesa con apposita scalinata, per la quale si accede ai piani sottoposti, che a declivio vanno verso il muro di cinta della stesso lato meridionale.  Puo scorgersi ad evidenza, che ambedue le suddette case furono gia frugate nel tempo delle primitive esplorazioni, allorche andavasi in cerca di oggetti senza alcuno intendimento scientifico. Infatti mano a mano che vanno sgombrandosi i terreni, si manifestano grandi cunicoli praticati da esperti artefici, i quali, lavorando per le loro sotterranee ricerche, dimenticavano ivi una lucerna moderna.

(4^th June 1883 - It was made clear, that the houses of VIII.2, marked with the nos. 29 and 30 communicate with each other, by means of a passage with four steps, placed between the two atria.  In the house no. 29, to the right of the tablinum on the edge of the city on the south side, there is a descent with a special staircase, by which you access the floors below, which slope towards the city wall of the same southern side.  It can be seen clearly, that both the aforementioned houses were already rummaged at the time of primitive explorations, when they went in search of objects with no scientific understanding. In fact, little by little, as the land is cleared, large tunnels are seen made by expert craftsmen, who, working for their underground research, left a modern oil lamp there.).

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1883, June, (p. 333).

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Looking east on lower level into a large, vaulted room, from the corridor.

(PPM’s room 5 on lower level).

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Doorway with arched opening in rear north wall.

(Looking north through arched doorway in PPM’s room 5 into their room 4, on lower level).

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Arched opening in north wall.

(PPM’s room 4, arched opening in north wall, looking into their room 4’.)

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Looking north-east through the opening in north wall.

(PPM’s room 4’, north-east corner).

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. September 2005. Floor in north-east corner inside rear room.

(PPM’s room 4’,).

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Remains of painted plaster.

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Looking north at lower room.

Possibly the kitchen would have been in the forefront of this photo. Now ruined.

According to Boyce, in the west wall of the kitchen which was located on the lower floor were three arched niches.

The only one well-enough preserved to be measured was 1.30m above the floor, 0.30 high x 0.40 wide x 0.20 deep.

These were called lararia in Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1883, 347.

See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p.74, no.347)

According to Giacobello, description from west wall of kitchen – no longer conserved.

Sogliano described – near to the entrance to the garden one finds the corridor that led to the kitchen and to two rooms.

In the kitchen there was a latrine, the niche of the Penates, and on the south wall a painted lararium with the Genius, the two Lares, and two serpents below.

See Fiorelli in Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1883, p.424-5, Mau in BdI 1884, p.213.

See Giacobello, F., 2008. Larari Pompeiani: Iconografia e culto dei Lari in ambito domestico.  Milano: LED Edizioni. (p.196)

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Looking south-east from room on lower floor into area, possibly towards ruined east side of kitchen.

VIII.2.29 Pompeii. May 2006. View from lower level, looking east from area of kitchen to VIII.2.30 lower level.

On the right, at the side of the ruined brick/masonry wall, would have been the stairs leading from the kitchen to the terrace.

VIII.2.29 Pompeii, on right, looking down to lower level at rear (partly VIII.2.30 on left). September 2005.

According to Jashemski, on the lower level at the rear of VIII.2.29, the western house, two flights of stairs led down to a terrace.

In the eastern house, VIII.2.30, the rooms at the rear opened onto a narrow portico (2.20m wide) supported by columns joined by a wooden fence.

A few steps led down from this portico to the small garden which had been built over and beyond the city wall by constructing a support wall on the lava ledge.

In the middle of the garden was a pool.

On the street level, the rooms at the rear of this double house opened onto two wide terraces from which there would have been a magnificent view.

See Jashemski, W. F., 1993. The Gardens of Pompeii, Volume II: Appendices. New York: Caratzas. (p.208)

VIII.2.28/29 Pompeii. September 2005. Rear view of the two houses, from VIII.2.30.

According to Jashemski, on the lower level at the rear of VIII.2.29, two flights of stairs led down to a terrace.

VIII.2.28/29 Pompeii. September 2005. Rear view from VIII.2.30.

VIII.2.29 Pompeii in foreground with VIII.2.28 at rear. September 2005.

VIII.2.29 Pompeii right with VIII.2.28 left, behind tree. May 2006

Rear of VIII.2.26, left, VIII.2.28, centre right, and VIII.2.29, on right, Pompeii. June 2019. Looking north. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

VIII.2.26, VIII.2.28 and VIII.2.29 Pompeii from rear. May 2006

VIII.2.28, VIII.2.29, VIII.2.30 and VIII.2.34 Pompeii from rear. May 2006

VIII.2.29 and VIII.2.30 Pompeii from rear. December 2006.

According to the drawing of the plan in PPM –

the stairs from the area of the kitchen down to a terrace would have been at the side of the brick pilaster, centre right.

According to Van der Graaf –

“The defences on this side of the city functioned primarily as a terrace and lacked the agger. …………..

Terrace 20 in House VIII.2.29, in particular, displays two tuff blocks that still carry masonry marks. They flank a lonely travertine block still in situ.”

See Van der Graaff, I. (2018). The Fortifications of Pompeii and Ancient Italy. Routledge, (p.49 and Note 22).

VIII.2.29. Pompeii. c.1936. Drawing of Terrace 20 of VIII.2.29 from the rear. See Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben, 1936, p.8, abb.2.

According to Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben –

“In house 29, in the retaining wall behind the front terrace, there are 20 very ancient remains of walls; according to the size of the blocks, the material and the position in the course of those further east, they can undoubtedly be classified as pieces of the city wall. ………………………………

The limestone block A lying on the side of the staircase does not belong to it, as it protrudes 0.08 m southwards in front of the rest of the staircase and was only laid here when the staircase was built. However, it is also an old fragment from the city wall.”

See Noack, F. and Lehmann-Hartleben, K., 1936. Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji. Berlin: De Gruyter, p.5-15.

VIII.2.29. Pompeii. c.1936. Remains E – E’ from the south.

See Noack, F. and Lehmann-Hartleben, K., 1936. Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji. Berlin: De Gruyter, (Taf 30,1).

VIII.2.29. Pompeii. c.1936. Remains E’ from the south-west.

See Noack, F. and Lehmann-Hartleben, K., 1936. Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji. Berlin: De Gruyter, (Taf 30,2).

VIII.2.29, in centre, and VIII.2.30, on right, Pompeii. c.1936. Looking from the south-west towards rear.

See Noack, F. and Lehmann-Hartleben, K., 1936. Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji. Berlin: De Gruyter, (Taf 39,6).

VIII.2.29, on left, and VIII.2.30, on right, Pompeii. Looking north towards terraces at the rear. 

C.1936 photo by Tatiana Warscher.

VIII.2.29 and VIII.2.30 Pompeii from rear. 1959. Looking north. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

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