IX.2.18 Pompeii. House of Curvius Marcellus and the Fabia.

Excavated 1870.

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IX.2.18 Pompeii. September 2004. Entrance.

Graffito found on the right side of the entrance, between IX.2.18 and IX.2.19, read:

P . PAQVIVM . PROCVLVM . II . VIR . I . D .

                 MARCELLVS . ROG     [CIL IV 3622]

and underneath it, the name:

M  FANIVS  RVFVS

See Pappalardo, U., 2001. La Descrizione di Pompei per Giuseppe Fiorelli (1875). Napoli: Massa Editore. (p.143).

According to Eschebach, the name underneath the graffito would have been M  FA(B)IVS RVFVS.

See Eschebach, L., 1993. Gebäudeverzeichnis und Stadtplan der antiken Stadt Pompeji. Köln: Böhlau. (p.409)

According to Della Corte, there were three electoral recommendations written to the side of the entrance:

Vettium  et  Ovidium  (Curv)ius  iuvenis  facit      [CIL IV 3618]

Curvius  rog(at)     [CIL IV 3619]

P(ublium)  Paquium  Proculum  II vir(um)  i(ure)  d(icundo)  Marcellus  rog(at)     [CIL IV 3622]

See Della Corte, M., 1965. Case ed Abitanti di Pompei. Napoli: Fausto Fiorentino. (p.211)

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking west along entrance corridor to atrium, room 1.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. South wall of entrance corridor.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. North wall of entrance corridor.

At the east end of the north wall is a doorway, which would have led to stairs to the upper floor.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 2, cubiculum, in east wall of atrium.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 2, cubiculum, east wall, with small window to Vicolo di Tesmo.

On the right is the doorway from the entrance corridor, which would have given access to stairs to the upper floor.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 1, travertine impluvium in atrium. Looking south-west.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. May 2005. Impluvium in atrium. Looking west across atrium and through tablinum to the garden area.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. 1966.

Looking west across impluvium in atrium and through tablinum to the garden area. 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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IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway and window to room 3, triclinium or cubiculum.

According to Fiorelli, and PPM, this room was a triclinium.

See Fiorelli, G: Descrizione di Pompei, 1875, (p.385).

According to PPP, and Eschebach, this room was a cubiculum.

See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1986. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 3. Rome: ICCD. (p.419)

See Eschebach, L., 1993. Gebäudeverzeichnis und Stadtplan der antiken Stadt Pompeji. Köln: Böhlau. (p.409).

IX.2.18 Pompeii. Pre-1943. Photo by Tatiana Warscher.

Room 3, doorway and window of triclinium/cubiculum on east side of atrium.

See Warscher, T. Codex Topographicus Pompeianus, IX.2. (1943), Swedish Institute, Rome. (no.104.), p. 185.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, triclinium/cubiculum, south wall with remains of vaulted ceiling.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, triclinium/cubiculum, east wall with recess.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, triclinium or a cubiculum. North wall with remains of vaulted ceiling and stucco decoration.

The zoccolo was colourless and faded.

The middle zones of the walls were red, they were divided into panels, in each of which was a painting on a red background which was already fully faded at the time of discovery, whilst one could hardly distinguish the subject of the central one with Io and Argo.

The upper zones of the walls were also red, the vaulted lunette was bordered by a moulded plaster cornice.

See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1986. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 3. Rome: ICCD. (p.420).

According to Fiorelli, on the north wall was a painting of Io and Argo, Io sitting with her hand on her chest with Argo standing at her side.

See Fiorelli, G: Descrizione di Pompei, 1875, (p.385).

According to Trendelenburg, originally this room would have had three paintings on each of its side walls, and one painting on the wall that looked onto the entrance.

Only the one painting was preserved, but so badly battered that the colours were completely lost and only the outlines of the figures remained visible.

However, with certainty, the subject of the painting was recognised as being Io and Argo.

See Bullettino dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (DAIR), 1871, (p.195).

IX.2.18 Pompeii. Pre-1943. North wall. Photo by Tatiana Warscher.

According to Warscher –

This room was originally adorned with Cupids, as described by A. Trendelenburg.

On the north wall, nothing remains of the Cupids.

A small fragment of a stucco decoration was found under the holes for the ceiling support beams.

See Warscher, T. Codex Topographicus Pompeianus, IX.2. (1943), Swedish Institute, Rome. (no.105.), p. 185.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, triclinium/cubiculum, north-west corner.

In this room, the cocciopesto floor showed a considerable quantity of limestone fragments and flakes.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 3, triclinium/cubiculum, west wall with door and window to atrium.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 1, looking west across atrium. The doorway to room 4 is on the left.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. Pre-1943. Photo by Tatiana Warscher.

Looking across atrium towards doorway to room 4, on left. The south side of the tablinum is on the right.

See Warscher, T. Codex Topographicus Pompeianus, IX.2. (1943), Swedish Institute, Rome. (no.98.), p. 179.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 4, cubiculum.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 4, west wall in cubiculum.

According to PPP, the zoccolo in this room would have been black.

On the west wall the zoccolo may have had geometric painted panels with a painting in the centre of it. 

On the south wall, the zoccolo was separated from the red middle zone by a white cornice.

The middle zones of the walls were red.

See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1986. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 3. Rome: ICCD. (p.421).

IX.2.18 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 4, north wall of cubiculum.

According to PPP, little remains of the decoration of III style, with black panelled zoccolo and at the centre of the middle zone of the north wall, an aedicula with a painting on a white background between the red side panels.

See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1986. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 3. Rome: ICCD. (p.421).

See Kuivalainen, I., 2021. The Portrayal of Pompeian Bacchus. Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 140. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, (p.84, A8).

IX.2.18 Pompeii. Pre-1943. Room 4, painting on north wall of cubiculum. Photo by Tatiana Warscher.

See Warscher, T. Codex Topographicus Pompeianus, IX.2. (1943), Swedish Institute, Rome. (no.102.), p. 181.

IX.2.18 Pompeii. 1888 watercolour. Room 4, north wall of cubiculum.

Sacred landscape with bronze statue of Dionysus under the sacred portal.

A bacchante approaches a sphynx.

Behind the statue of Dionysus is a statue of Pan.

Three goats graze nearby.

See Sogliano, A., 1879. Le pitture murali campane scoverte negli anni 1867-79. Napoli: Giannini. (p.52, no: 245)

DAIR 83.228. Photo © Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom, Arkiv.

According to Kuivalainen,

Bacchus is often represented in sacro-idyllic landscapes among other statues, in this case a Pan made of bronze and a sphinx of marble. The sphinx may allude to Thebes as the domicile of Semele. I rely on the excavator’s report of Bacchus having a beard, though it is no longer clearly visible in drawings. I would see a bearded Bacchus in the drawing by G. Discanno, but e.g. Sampaolo has made no comments of it. The drawing is from the year 1870, so made right after the excavation unlike the later watercolour. The approaching female is either a Maenad or a worshipper. The shrine, a simple structure, protects the statue. A remarkable feature is the asymmetrical position of the ritual requisite.

See Kuivalainen, I., 2021. The Portrayal of Pompeian Bacchus. Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 140. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, (p.84-5, A8).

IX.2.18 Pompeii. Drawing by Geremia Discanno, 1870, of painting of sacred landscape, seen on north wall of cubiculum, but now little remains.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number ADS 988.

Photo © ICCD. https://www.catalogo.beniculturali.it

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