Gardens of the Roman Empire

VIII.2.1. House of Championnet I

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Keywords

Garden Description

This house was excavated in 1799 and to the rear of the tablinium there was a portico which enclosed an area surrounded by a gutter. Openings were cut in the floor where the twelve supporting columns stood to allow light into the rooms below in the volcanic ledge. Mazois and Fiorelli labeled this area a hanging garden because of this configuration. A grand view of the Bay of Naples and the mountains could be enjoyed from the terraces on two levels in this house, and potted plants and shrubs may have been placed there.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 1-20

Images

Fig 3, 10.2.59, View of insula ii from below (Stanley Jashemski, Jashemski Archives, University of Maryland)

Places

Excavation Dates

1799

Bibliography

Boyce, Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii, Memoris of the American Academy in Rome (1937), p. 74 (worldcat)
Breton, Pompeia, 3rd ed. p. 502 (worldcat)
Dyer, Pompeii, 3rd ed. p. 441 (worldcat)
Fiorelli, Descrizione di Pompei, p. 442 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 205 (worldcat)
Maiuri, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1933), p. 272 (worldcat)
Mazois, Les ruines de Pompei dessinees et mesurees pendant les annees (1809-1810-1811), 2:62 and pls. 21 (plan), 22 (worldcat)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 3, "Topografia," pl. 6 (plan) (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben, Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 114-121 passim and figs. 32 on p. 116, 33 on p. 117 (plans) and pl. 17 (plan), pl. 26 (reconstruction) (worldcat)
Fiorelli,ed. Pompeianarum Antiquitatum Historia (May 16, 1800), vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 173 (worldcat)

VIII.2.13.

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

The room (b) to the east had a good view into this garden (a) which was located to the rear of the tablinium. A column supported portico bordered the garden on the east and south.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 1-20

Places

Excavation Dates

Unspecified

Bibliography

Fiorelli, Descrizione di Pompei, pp. 444-445 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 205 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1892), p. 3 and pl. 1 (plan) [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben, Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 121-128 passim and fig. 32 (plan) on p. 116 and pl. 17 (plans). (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita(1899), p. 143 (worldcat)

VIII.2.14/16.

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

A. The volcanic ledge that this peristyle garden (a) was built on dictated an irregular shape to the portico that enclosed it. The portico had fourteen columns and a rectangular pool in the south-east corner. The west wall of the pool had fourteen small amphoras (30 cm. long; mouth 9.5 cm. wide) arranged in a row of nine on the bottom with a row of eight above. The east wall of the pool had a single row of eight. These provided shelter and spawning places for fish. A possible garden ornament, a tondo (Mus. Naz. inv. no. 121 612), was found in the house. The traces of a garden painting were reported in room II on the lower level by Noack-Hartleben, consisting of a black dado with a yellow fence and foliage painted behind this. B. Built on the volcanic ledge, only a triangular segment of this terrace garden (a) with a portico on the east and north survived. From here the view of the mountains and the Bay could be enjoyed looking over a planted area that was slightly lower than the portico. There was a large light filled room (c) between the two peristyles of this house and terraces on the two lower levels that well could have had potted plants.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 1-20

Places

Excavation Dates

Unspecified

Bibliography

Döhl,Plastik aus Pompeji, p. 42 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, 1:110 and fig. 178 on p. 109 and no. 94 on p. 348 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, pp. 205-206, 364-365 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1892), pp. 7, 9-10 and pl.1 [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 4, "Nuovi scavi," p. 61 (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben,Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 141-157 passim, and pls. 18 (ground floor), 20 (lower levels), figs. 37 on p. 147, 38 on p. 149, pp. 141-157 passim, pls. 18, 20 (plans and section (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1890), p. 328 (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1893), pp. 4, 48-49 (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1894), p. 147 (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1899), pp. 23, 141-143 and fig. 1 (plan) on p. 141 (worldcat)

VIII.2.18-20.

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

A. The Sarno Bath is included in this block of irregular shaped houses, reached by entrance 17 on the Via della Scuole that goes to the lower levels. On the street level there was a small peristyle garden (a) located in the center of the house. Two pillars supported a portico on three sides of the garden and the large triclinium (b) offered a view of the garden. A beautifully rendered painting of grape vines with clusters of fruit, birds, lizards and a little mouse graced the black walls of the peristyle. B. The irregular shapes of the buildings created this triangular light well. Two large windows allowed light into the passageway from the street at entrance 20, which also received light from a third window before the passageway ended at the peristyle. The light well had a tufa gutter that drained to the east into a cistern that was accessed in the kitchen. There were likely some plantings in the light well, as well as on the four porticoed terraces to the rear, including the upper level terrace that did not survive.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 1-20

Places

Excavation Dates

Unspecified

Bibliography

deVos A. and de Vos, M., Pompei, Ercolano, Stabia, p. 58 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 207 (worldcat)
Koloski-Ostrow, The Sarno bath complex, no. 11 on fig. 1 (plan), no. 20 on fig. 1 (plan) (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1890), pl. 1 (plan) [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1892), p. 199 [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 4, "Nuovi scavi," pp. 55-56 (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben,Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, 97-110 passim, fig. 27 on p. 100 (plan) and pls. 15, 16, (plans and sections), fig. 28 (plan) on p. 103 and pl. 25, bottom drawing (reconstruction) (worldcat)
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1890), pp. 116, 120-122 and pls. 5.2 and 6 [(worldcat)][https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Schefold, Die Wände Pompejis, p. 212 [(worldcat)][https://search.worldcat.org/title/1100462668)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1893), p. 37 and plan on p. 35 (worldcat)
Sogliano, Gli scavi di Pompei dal 1873 al 1900 In Atti del Congresso Internationale di Scienze Storische, pp. 399-400 [(worldcat)][https://search.worldcat.org/title/883497732)

VIII.2.29-30.

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

porticoes AAT:300004145

Garden Description

There was a narrow portico on the eastern lower level of this double house 2.20 m. wide with columns connected by a wooden fence. Several steps lower the construction of a supporting wall on the lava ledge allowed room for a small garden (a) with a pool in the center. The house on the west had a terrace at this level which may have contained potted plants. A splendid view of the Bay and the mountains was offered from two wide terraces on the street level to the back of these houses, and these may have been used as roof gardens.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 29-39

Places

Excavation Dates

Unspecified

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, pp. 208-209 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1884), pp. 212-214 [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 4, "Nuovi scavi," p. 20 (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben,Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, fig. 27 (plan) on pp. 55-70 passim and fig. 17 on p. 62, fig. 18 on p. 65 (plan), pls. 9, 10 (plan and section) and pls. 22, 23 (reconstructions) (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1883), p. 347 (worldcat)

VIII.2.3. House of Championnet II

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

This house, very similar to VII.ii.1, was also excavated in 1799. This peristyle garden had fourteen columns and was more rectangular. There was a terrace to the rear and a small room off the northwest corner of the peristyle which Mazois and Fiorello have labeled a sacrarium.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 1-20

Places

Excavation Dates

1799

Bibliography

Boyce, Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii, Memoris of the American Academy in Rome (1937), p. 74, no. 342 (worldcat)
Breton, Pompeia, 3rd ed. p. 501 (worldcat)
Fiorelli, Descrizione di Pompei, p. 442 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 205 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1892), p. 14 and pl. 1 (plan) [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Mazois, Les ruines de Pompei dessinees et mesurees pendant les annees (1809-1810-1811), 2:62 and pls. 21 (plan), 22 (worldcat)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 3, "Topografia," pl. 6 (plan) (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben, Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 121-128 passim and fig. 32 (plan) on p. 116 and pl. 17 (plans). (worldcat)

VIII.2.34.

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

A colonnaded portico stood at the edge of the terrace (a) on the street level of this house. Below it was another terrace enclosed by a low wall. Sogliano and Mau disagree as to whether the wall contained a space for plants as only a part on the east remained. This was plastered and painted with a Nile scene, the surviving sections showing a crocodile pursued by a pigmy with a shield and lance and a pigmy woman with a basket and a hippopotamus nearby.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 29-39

Places

Excavation Dates

Unspecified

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 209 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1886), pp. 152-153, 156, 157 and pls. 7a.2, 3, (plan) [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 4, "Nuovi scavi," p. 19 (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben,Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 44-55 passim, and fig. 12 (plan) on p. 52 and pls. 22, 23 (reconstructions) (worldcat)
Schefold, Die Wände Pompejis, p. 217 [(worldcat)][https://search.worldcat.org/title/1100462668)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1885), p. 257 (worldcat)

VIII.2.36/37.

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

This house was excavated in 1885. The entrance at 37 went into the atrium and beyond that, up two steps, was the peristyle with a portico on three sides supported by stuccoed columns, only three of which have remained to date. The first intercolumniation on the north-east was filled with a wall. A gutter surrounded this area, which was paved, with a narrow masonry pool at the south end. All that remained of the pool was a depression in the pavement. Potted plants would have been placed around the pool and the area would have served as a garden. Terraces overlooking the bay and mountains were located on the street level and one level lower at the back of the houses, and a portico was built just before the lower terrace at the back of house 36.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 29-39

Places

Excavation Dates

1885

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, p. 209 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1886), pp. 206-207 and pl. 12 (plan) [https://search.worldcat.org/title/860559196)
Mazois, Les ruines de Pompei dessinees et mesurees pendant les annees, vol. 2, pls. 32, 33 (worldcat)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 4, "Nuovi scavi," pp. 16, 17 (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben,Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 31-44 passim, pls. 5, 6 (plans) and 21 (reconstruction) (worldcat)
Sogliano, Notizie degli scavi di Antichita (1885), p. 535 and plan on pp. 253 and 533. (worldcat)

VIII.2.39. House of Emperor Joseph II

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

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 VIII

Insula

Insula II

Keywords

Garden Description

This was the last of the houses to be built on the Via della Regina, all of which were built over the south wall of the city. Located directly west of the Triangular Forum, it was excavated in 1767-1769, filled in, and then re-excavated in 1885-1886. A triclinium (b) and (b΄) flanked either side of the center room (a) and they all faced a portico that was completely open to the view of the Bay and mountains. One story below, the main room (c) had two windows and a door to the wide terrace beyond. On either side of this room there was a triclinium and a cubiculium, each with a window to the same view. The terraces would have been used as roof gardens, and garden artifacts such as the marble head of a lion fitted as a fountain and a fragment of a marble sundial were found in this house. In the right ala (f) there was a garden representation under the painting of an Egyptian landscape. The representation measuring 0.14 x 0.36 m. had a yellow lattice fence enclosing a garden with plantings both inside and outside and two trees. The amount of vegetation and the size of the figures makes this representation unusual. A herm of Silvanus with a scythe in his right hand and a pedum or shepherd's crook in his left stands in the center of the garden. A person in a long garment working with a three pronged weeding hook is to the left and a second figure in a long garment is kneeling over some plants on the right. A drawing of the garden representation is in the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome, negative no.53 504.

Plans

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II

Plan of the Pompeii Region VIII, Insula II, 29-39

Places

Excavation Dates

First excavated in 1767-1769, Filled in. Re-excavated in 1885-1886

Bibliography

Döhl, Plastik aus Pompeji, p. 43 (worldcat)
Dyer, Pompeii, 3rd ed. p. 439 (worldcat)
Fiorelli, Descrizione di Pompei, p. 446 (worldcat)
Grimal, Les jardins romains, 3rd ed. p. 269, no.1 (worldcat)
Jashemski, Gardens, vol. II, pp. 209, 401 (worldcat)
Mau, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts (1887), pp. 126, 131 and pl.6, figs. 1 and 2, p. 120, no. 17 (worldcat)
Mau, Pompeii: Its Life and Art, 2nd ed, Trans. by Kelsey, pp. 344-346 and fig. 176 (plan) on p. 345 (worldcat)
Mazois, Les ruines de Pompei dessinees et mesurees pendant les annees, vol. 2:73-74 and pls. 32, 33 (plans) (worldcat)
Niccolini, Antonio, Fausto, and Felice, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei designati e descritti, vol. 4, "Nuovi scavi," p. 3 (worldcat)
Noack and Lehmann-Hartleben,Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen am Stadtrand von Pompeji, pp. 18-30 passim, pls. 3 (plan) and 21 (reconstruction) (worldcat)
Fiorelli, ed. Pompeianarum Antiquitatum Historia, vol. 1, pt. 1 pp. 210, 211 (Aug.14, 22, 29, 1767)(worldcat)
Schefold, Die Wände Pompejis, p. 218 [(worldcat)][https://search.worldcat.org/title/1100462668)