VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. Casa dei Capitelli colorati or Casa di Arianna

or House of Ariadne or House of the Coloured Capitals.

Linked to VII.4.32, VII.4.33 and VII.4.51. Excavated 1822, 1832 and 1846.

Part:    1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9       10      11      12      13      14      15      Plan

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 7, ala on east side of atrium.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 7, east wall of ala.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 8, cubiculum.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 8, north and east wall.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 8, north wall.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 8, north-west corner of cubiculum. 

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 8, cubiculum. North-east corner with downpipe.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. September 2019. East side of atrium in south-east corner.

Doorway into cubiculum 9, on left, and doorway leading into room 10 leading to VII.4.33, on right.

On the right of the photo, part of the remains of the painted plaster can still be seen.

Foto Annette Haug, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

According to PPM –

“ the south-east corner of the atrium with remains of wall decoration after 62AD consisting of a high marble zoccolo (up until a height of 1.85m), above which the wall was covered by painted stucco/plaster, part of which is still visible in the south-east corner…………”

See Carratelli, G. P., 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici. VI. (6). Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, p. 1000.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. Painting by Antonio Ala, of decoration in atrium, now completely perished.

This painting remains the only precious documentation of the walls of the atrium, together with Helbig’s description.

See Helbig, W., 1868. Wandgemälde der vom Vesuv verschütteten Städte Campaniens. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, (595).

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number ADS 596.

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

Utilizzabili alle condizioni della licenza Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Condividi allo stesso modo 2.5 Italia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 IT)

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. September 2019.

Pilaster on east side of atrium, with filled in niche, between doorways to room 9, and entrance doorway into room 10, leading to VII.4.33, on right.

Foto Annette Haug, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

(Note: our numbers are different to other plans,

PPM would indicate a pilaster between rooms 10 and 11,

Descoeudres used the same numbering).

According to Descoeudres – in the atrium “above this high marble veneered dado, the walls were painted. 

None of the paintings are extant, but the 19th century excavation notes mention one of them which at the time was still to be seen. 

It is described as “a bizarre frieze showing the carriage of Bacchus (or Dionysus) with 2 panthers yoked to it, and on either side garlands of grapes against which 2 ladders rest with 2 cupids climbing up”.

(In the archive of NAP there is a water colour tracing which obviously depicts half of this frieze. (Fig 40, page 69). One can see that the carriage contained a mask of Dionysus and not Dionysus himself.  Since it is a tracing it is at actual size and it is clear that the full frieze, which must have been the border of a large panel must have been at least 1.5m wide.  There are not many long stretches of wall in the atrium which was surrounded by many entrances and doors, and the only wall in the atrium at the time of excavation that was long enough to accommodate such a large panel was that between rooms 10 and 11. 

Closer examination of this wall also reveals a niche, which at some stage was badly damaged (by earthquake?). 

The vertical crack which can still be seen is typical of earthquake damage). The wall was later repaired and the niche filled in. 

This was probably the site of the original Lararium – this is usually located in the atrium, but in this house it is located in the west ala (7). (Note: our room 6). 

It was probably moved there after the earthquake, probably after 62AD.

The wall where it had originally stood was then repaired and covered with marble veneer. 

If this interpretation is correct, then the application of marble veneer to the atrium walls must have been done after 62 AD.”

See Descoeudres J-P., Ed., 1994. Pompeii Revisited: The life and death of a Roman town. Sydney: Meditarch, (p.70-71).

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 9, cubiculum.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 9, east wall, with two small windows onto Vicolo Storto.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 9, underneath floor near east wall and north-east corner.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 9, blocked doorway.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, tablinum. Looking north into middle peristyle.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. December 2005. Looking north from atrium through tablinum.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. December 2004. Looking north from atrium through tablinum.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. Casa di Arianna. Tablinum and peristyle from atrium.

Old 19th century photograph, number 435, by Roberto Rive. Courtesy of Society of Antiquaries. Fox Collection.

The arca base block is shown in this photograph, on the right-hand side, at the base of the wall.

VII.4.31 Pompeii. From an album dated c.1875-1885.

Looking towards tablinum and peristyle from atrium. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, east wall of tablinum. Looking north.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, west wall of tablinum. Looking north.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, tablinum. Looking north to peristyle.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii but shown as VII.4.57 on photo. Pre-1937-39.

Looking north across middle peristyle from tablinum.

Photo courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive. Warsher collection no. 1460.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. c.1871. Room 10, tablinum. Looking north to peristyle.

Photo from J. H. Parker Collection, ref. Parker. 2192 (inv.193). Italia.

Courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. Found in tablinum on 22nd May 1845. Dionysian scene in coloured marble.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 9977.

According to PAH II, 440, two opus sectile panels were found in VII.2.38.

According to Naples Museum and PPM, these were found in VII.4.31/51.

See Carratelli, G. P., 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici.  Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana. (245-13-14).

See Pagano, M., and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli: Naples: Nicola Longobardi. (p.160-1).

Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. Found in tablinum on 22nd May 1845. Dionysian scene in coloured marble. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 9979. 

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 11, corridor to peristyle on east side of tablinum.

VII.4.31/51 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 11, corridor on east side of tablinum leading to peristyle.

Part:    1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9       10      11      12      13      14      15      Plan