VIII.4.4. House of M. Holconius Rufus; House of Q. Postumius Modestus and Q. Postumius Proculus

Province

Italia
Italia (Pleiades)

Location

Pompeii
Pompeii (Pleiades)

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 VIII

Insula

Insula IV

Keywords

Garden Description

The earthquake most likely was the reason the corner columns were reinforced by pillars on this portico which originally had an upper gallery or loggia. This portico surrounded an elegant garden (a) which was excavated in 1861. The northeast corner had a wall between the columns; the rest of the columns were connected by a wooden fence. Fig. 10, 8.17.78 A water jet in the center of the garden spouted from a round marble table on a column into a pool 1.40 x 1.55 m.; 1.35 m. deep. The pool had eight iron hooks which Fiorelli suggested were for securing food items that could be kept cool by the flowing water and the shade provided by surrounding trees and shrubs. A marble monopodium was found in the northwest corner of the garden amidst the plantings. Visible across the length of the garden from the street entrance was the marble fountain statuette of a boy with a duck under his arm holding a vase in his right hand from which water cascaded down marble water steps into a channel. A channel around the perimeter of the garden caught the water that sprung from bronze pipes concealed in the columns at a height of about 1.25 m. from ground level. An excellent view of the garden could be enjoyed from the rooms on each side including the large exedra on the south, and on the southeast, the wide portico could have been used as a summer triclinium. The graffiti in this house included a notation of the purchase of sale of 200 lbs. of hog’s lard and 250 bunches of garlic in July: IIX ID IVLIAS AXVNGIA P CC/ ALIV (m) MANVPLOS CCL (CIL IV. 2070) scratched on the right wall. The corner pillar of the portico counseled: MORAM SI QVARES / SPARGE MILIV (m) ET COL/ LIGE (CIL IV. 2069), if you want to waste time, scatter millet and then pick it up.

Plans

Plan of Region VIII Insula IV

Plan of Region VIII Insula IV

Images

Fig. 10, 8.17.78 (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Fig. 10, 8.17.78 (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Fig. 11, 11.12.59 (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Fig. 11, 11.12.59 (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Fig. 12, 11.13.59 (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Fig. 12, 11.13.59 (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Pleiades ID

432873

TGN ID

7031897

Excavation Dates

1861

Bibliography

  • Breton, Pompeia, 3rd ed. pp. 461-464 (worldcat)
  • Fiorelli, Giornale degli scavi di Pompei (1861), pp. 46-47, 345, 350 (worldcat)
  • Fiorelli, Gli scavi di Pompei dal 1861 al 1872, pp. 2-3 (worldcat)
  • Fiorelli, Descrizione di Pompei, pp. 334-335 (worldcat)
  • Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 212 (worldcat)
  • Minervini, Bullettino archeologico italiano (1861), p. 53 (worldcat)
  • Niccolini, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 2, “Descr. gen,” p. 66 (worldcat)
  • Overbeck and Mau, Pompeji in seinen Gebäuden, Altertümern und Kunstwerken, pp. 293-294 and fig. 162(plan) on p. 290 (worldcat)
  • Pernice, Hellenistische Tische, Zisternenmundungen, Beckenuntersatze, Altare und Truhen, pp. 49-50 and pl. 32.4 (worldcat)

Contributor

Wilhelmina Jashemski (https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326514&p=2193250)

Publication date

21 Apr 2021