The forum is the most important part of Pompeii for Historians to understand what life was like in Pompeii Do you agree?

The Houses:

To commence with, I will be writing about three houses I have studied, they are called: the House of Vettii, Villa of Mysteries and House of the Faun. This time I will be looking at what life was like in Pompeii and how this is portrayed through what was in those houses.

House of the Vetti

The house of the Vetti was owned by two brothers called Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus who were wealthy merchants. They restored the building to what it is today and show their roots in farming through the designs of cupids harvesting.  The house boasted of Greek art and knowledge of Greek culture was seen to be essential for a well-educated Roman. The brothers were slaves prior to attaining their wealth and were boastful of their acquired wealth and this is show around the house. These brothers weren’t interested in commercial business which is why their house is unusually, not near any shops.  The

house had two atria, one of which had an impluvium. The impluvium

 was a hollow space in the floor that was used to collect rainwater. This

room was the main atrium and one of the most used rooms in the house

along with the peristyle. The peristyle was situated around the garden. The  

second atrium was a lot smaller. It consisted of a more compact impluvium,

along with a lararium (shrine) and door to the kitchen. On either side of the

genius (central  picture) are lares, beneath them is a serpent.

House of Faun

The house of Faun is one of the largest houses in Pompeii. They had four dining rooms for each season and a mosaic of Alexander the great in one of the rooms. There are also a series of promiscuous mosaics within this household. The house was a home to many mosaics, statues and many other features that symbolise the culture of the time. It was the length of a whole block.

Plan of the House of Faun

Villa of Mysteries

The Villa is named for a number of paintings in one of the rooms.  The Villa had very fine rooms for dining and entertainment. The paintings women’s marriages indicated that it could the ritualistic rites of the house. The paintings also show the rituals of people joining the mystery cult.

The Villa wine presses areas for the production of oils and other agricultural commodoties. The elite Romans owned farmland close to residential areas.

Religion:

The people of Pompeii had strong beliefs in religion. The inhabitants of Pompeii involved themselves in rituals of nature and worship to Jupiter,  Hercules, Bacchus and Venus who they regarded as chosen patrons.  The Romans also believed in spirits that were passed on from one person to another after they were deceased. They honoured the intellectuals amongst them believing that the ancestral spirits lived in them.  They put up temples to honour the gods and the male person in each family usually conducted the prayers and the females made food to offer to the gods. They were proud of their religious life and were devoted to their beliefs and this can be seen from the statues, images of gods and the offerings to them which can be found in. Every house had some sort of shrine to offer gifts to the gods.

Social Life:

In each of the houses, we can tell that they cared about their statuses. Their houses are adorned with paintings which can suggest that it’s there to impress people. The rooms in all of the houses were big and extravagant, instantly boasting the fact that it could welcome a lot of guests which would’ve been a normal occurrence, especially in the rich houses. In the House of the Faun, the owners were proud of their history, we know this by the mosaic of Alexander the Great, they also weren’t shy about their sexual life, also due to the mosaics that they had. Also in the house of Vetti, the occupants wanted everyone who went past their house to see that they were wealthy which is why they have a painting of the Priapus in which he is weighing his Phallus, this symbolised wealth and prosperity.

Working Life:

Compared to our stressful working lives, the people who lived in Pompeii were actually relaxed and easy-going with it all. In one way, it is similar to what we do, everyone has a job which they stick to throughout the whole day. ‘Everyone was at work, from noble merchants to slaves. Shops were open, markets were ready, farmers were in the fields. Everyone was performing his/her personal job.’(HORA SECUNDA [5.42-6.58])

Personal Life:

Part 4

Pompeii wasn’t discovered until 1700 years later. Many reckless people set forth, digging in Pompeii, in the bid to find treasure. These ‘excavations’ had no real organisation behind them and the people who dug didn’t care about the history, but rather the money that they found. The King and Queen of Naples, were intrigued by the findings in Pompeii and they agreed to invest more money in the excavations to expand their statue and roman treasure collection. This resulted in some objects being ruined. Pompeii began to gain publicity in 1782 after a description of Herculaneum was published by a German scholar called Johann Joachim Winckelmaann.  There was a lot of interest from people all over Europe and the intricate designs that were found were being used for art, furniture and interior design. Already, a business was being made just through the artefacts. However, the real science began when Guiseppe Fiorelli, the inventor of plaster casts, came into the picture, he was a very meticulous archaeologist who took great care in his work. These plaster casts provide great detail and the intricate art behind some of the instruments that were used in the daily life of Pompeiians.

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