I.7.7 House of the Priest Amandus

Province

Location

Location Description

An ancient city of Campania destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Pompeii was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Sublocation

Region I

Insula

Insula VII

Keywords

Gardens

House of the Priest Amandus.

Garden Description

One step above the level of the triclinium of this small house with an irregular floor plan was a peristyle garden. It was to the west of the atrium and enclosed on the north and east by a portico. Five columns supported the portico and two engaged columns on the west wall continued the order of the peristyle. A large tree root cavity (the cast measures 0.80 x 0.82) indicated that the garden was well shaded and nail holes in the wall would suggest that vines had been trained to grow in that area. A large window located in the room to the west gave a view into the garden. A puteal was located over the cistern opening in the northwest corner of the peristyle and another puteal was additionally found in the garden as well as a cartibulum (tables) decorated on one side with lions heads and a small circular base most likely used for a statuette. A lararia on the west wall consisted of an aedicules façade with an arched niche.

Dates

Excavated 1912 and 1924.

Bibliography

Boyce, G.K. 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii, p. 25, no. 39.
Jashemski, W.F. 1979. Garden of Pompeii: Herculaneum and the villas destroyed by Vesuvius, p. 30. (worldcat)
Jashemski, W.F. 1993. Gardens of Pompeii: Herculaneum and the villas destroyed by Vesuvius. Volume 2, Appendices, pp. 37-38. (worldcat)
Maiuri, A. 1939. NSc, pp. 26-27 and fig. 1 (plan) on p. 4.
Maiuri, A. 1939. Pompeii, p. 112. (worldcat)
Maiuri, A. 1961. “I giardini,” In Le Vie d’Italia, p. 1138, no. 9.

Publication date

21 Apr 2021