VIII.5.28 Pompeii. Casa della Calce or Casa di Popidius Celsinus.

Excavated 1815, 1819, 1826, 1838, 1874, 1882 and 1943.

Part 5      Part 1      Part 2      Part 3      Part 4      Plan

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 12, oecus, looking south.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, south wall of oecus. 

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, south-west corner.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, west wall of oecus. 

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, east wall of oecus, with window overlooking garden area.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, east wall of oecus, with window overlooking garden area.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, peristyle garden area, looking east along north portico.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 13, on east portico - a small room on east side of peristyle garden.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 13, east wall of small room.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking south along east portico.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. From an Album by M. Amodio, c.1880, entitled “Pompei, destroyed on 23 November 79, discovered in 1748”.

Looking east across the excavations from above the peristyle of VIII.5.28 and the rooms on the east portico. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii, lower portion of photo. Old undated photograph by Amodio, numbered 3017, in an album dated c.1873.

Looking east across the excavations from above the peristyle of VIII.5.28 and the rooms on the east portico. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking north-west towards atrium along east portico.

Mystery painted wall

(Also entered on website in Via dell’Abbondanza, pt.2, and Vicolo dei dodici Dei).

Painted wall of a mystery house – too pretty and unusual not to be included somewhere.

(If anyone can help place this wall into a house, please get in touch).

Painting by Zahn, pre- 1842, of a wall in a house situated somewhere along VIII.5 or could even be in VII.13 on the opposite side of the roadway.  

According to Zahn, this wall was to be found in a house in the Strada de’ Mercadanti between the Vicolo dei Dodici (12) Dei and VIII.5.28.

(His wording –

No.44. Paroi d’une maison de la Strada de’ Mercadanti a Pompei, de couleur originale.

Cette paroi se trouve entre le Vico de’ dodici Dei et la Casa dell’Imperatore Francesco secondo.)

See Zahn, W., 1842-44. Die schönsten Ornamente und merkwürdigsten Gemälde aus Pompeji, Herkulanum und Stabiae: II. Berlin: Reimer, taf. 44.

Drawings of cupids by Gell, from

VIII.5.28 Pompeii. Between 1819 and 1832 sketch by W. Gell, described by him as –

“In the houses of Fuscus and in a green chamber in Street of the Forum.”

See Gell, W. Pompeii unpublished [Dessins de l'édition de 1832 donnant le résultat des fouilles post 1819 (?)] vol II, pl. 51.

Bibliothèque de l'Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, collections Jacques Doucet, Identifiant numérique Num MS180 (2).

See book in INHA Use Etalab Licence Ouverte

(Note: Via dell’Abbondanza, Strada de’ Mercadanti and Street of the Forum, are all names for the same roadway.

Although no cupids can be seen on the above “green wall”, surely they must be from the same room.

These cupids must have been seen by Gell before 1832).

Plan in BdI, 1883, p.170, showing Reg. VIII. Insula 5, at the top.

Reg VIII. Insula 6 is shown in the lower plan.

According to BdI –

The front parts of the houses which flank Via dell’Abbondanza (on north side of the insula), had already been excavated for a long time, and are described by Fiorelli in his Descrizione, (p.446 following).

We start from the north-west corner, following the Via dell’Abbondanza.

(Le parti anteriori delle case che fiancheggiano la strada dell’Abbondanza (lato N dell’isola), già erano scavate da molto tempo, e sono descritte dal Fiorelli. Descr. (p.446 sgg). Noi cominciamo dall’angolo NO, seguendo prima la strada dell’Abbondanza.)

(We assume the new rooms excavated are numbered, those without a number would have been excavated from earlier.)

According to Eschebach –

VIII.5.1 – excavated 1819; VIII.5.17/20 – excavated 1819; VIII.5.18/19 – excavated 1813? and 1819; VIII.5.21 – excavated 1813.

VIII.5.22/23 – excavated 1813; VIII.5.28/29 – excavated 1815, 1819, 1826, 1838.

VII.13.1/25 – excavated 1818; VII.13.2 - excavated 1818; VII.13.5 – excavated 1818; VII.13.6 – excavated 1818; VII.13.7 – excavated 1819.

VII.13.8/14 – excavated 1819.

See Eschebach, L., 1993. Gebäudeverzeichnis und Stadtplan der antiken Stadt Pompeji. Köln: Böhlau.

See Bullettino dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (DAIR), 1883, p. 170.

Part 1      Part 2      Part 3      Part 4      Plan