Gardens of the Roman Empire

Casa dei Cervi

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Location

Location Description

An ancient Roman town of Campania destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D.79. Named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Insula

House

Garden

Casa dei Cervi

Keywords

Garden Description

545.IV.21 A. Of all the houses that overlooked the Bay on the south edge of the city, this house excavated in 1929-1932 was the most elegant. The triclinium(b) on the north was on an axis through the spacious garden with the large oecus(c) on the south, dividing the garden (a) into two large rectangular beds. The garden was enclosed on the west, north and east by a corridor with windows replacing an earlier portico. Statues that had been displaced by the mud flow to the center of the garden would have stood on either side of the passageway. This collection was the most valuable found in Herculaneum and reflects the patrician culture of this house. These pieces included two groups of stags attacked by hounds (Herculaneum inv. nos. 519, 524), a satyr with a wineskin (Herculaneum inv. no. 520), and a drunken Hercules (Herculaneum inv. no. 525). The satyr pouring from a wineskin is a variation of the well-known bronze found in the House of the Centenary of Pompeii and was a fountain statuette, but Maiuri believed that it had not been installed at the time of the eruption. Other items found in the center of the garden were a trapezophron, a cup and a marble puteal. There were four small marble bases in the south half of the garden set in the soil which probably once held marble herms that were removed by the Bourbons. The terrace yielded a statuette of the boy Eros (Herculaneum inv. no. 2077) and the pieces of another similar statuette. A gutter around the edge of the garden carried roof water to the cistern and the puteal over the cistern opening in the west end of the north gutter was deeply worn by ropes. A view of the sea could be enjoyed from a vantage point in the triclinium on the north across the garden and through the grand oecus which would have served as a triclinium in the summer. Beyond the oecus was a pergola and Jashemski noted that four original terra-cotta pots found by the pergola pillars were the most decorative she had seen. These would have been planted with a display for the pergola

546-547.IV.21. B. and C. On either side of the pergola was a small garden (d)and (e) with an elegant room on the far side with a window to look out to the garden and a second window looking to the sea. The statuettes of Eros may have originally been placed in these rooms, swept away by the mud flow from the eruption.

Plans

Plan of Casa A Graticcio

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1929-1932

Bibliography

Maiuri, Herculaneum, pp. 62-64
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 302, 321-323 and fig. 240 (plan) on p. 303.
Maiuri, "Fanciullo erote da Ercolano, Le Arti (1943), pp. 175-179
Maiuri, Herculaneum,p. 64
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 320, 323.

Casa del Paprio Dipinto

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Location

Location Description

An ancient Roman town of Campania destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D.79. Named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Insula

House

8-9

Garden

Casa del Paprio Dipinto

Keywords

impluvia AAT:300129867

Garden Description

544.IV.8-9. This narrow house excavated in 1929-1932 had a small paved courtyard serving as both a light well and an impluvium. This area could have held potted plants. A hunt scene once decorated the back wall, featuring lions and bulls, scenes more typically found on the walls of more luxurious dwellings.

Plans

Plan of Casa del Paprio Dipinto

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1929-1932

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol.II, p. 370 (worldcat)
Maiuri, Herculaneum, pp. 32 (worldcat)
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 424 and fig. 365 (plan) on p. 424. (worldcat)

Casa dell'Alcova

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Location

Location Description

An ancient Roman town of Campania destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D.79. Named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Insula

House

3-4

Garden

Casa dell'Alcova

Keywords

Garden Description

542.IV.3-4. A. Two separate dwellings were united to form this house, excavated in 1928-1929. The northern house has three courtyards. The first (a) is directly off of the vestibule, the second is a covered atrium(b) with a small courtyard that collected roof water, and the third courtyard (c) in the rear supplied light and air to the adjoining rooms and the triclinium. This was too badly damaged to ascertain if it was a garden or even if it once held potted plants. It was compared to the better preserved courtyard in the Casa a Graticcio by Maiuri.

543.IV.3-4. B. The more elegant dwelling to the south had a long corridor on one side of the large triclinium leading to a small paved courtyard with pillars (e) which supplied light and air to the house. The pillars on the south and east stood on a low wall, 0.80 m. high, with a planting area 15 cm. wide in between. This gives the area the feeling of window boxes placed below large windows. There was a well in the southeast corner of this courtyard which received rain water and beyond the courtyard was a secluded alcove. This consisted of an apsed room preceded by a procoeton.

Plans

Plan of Casa dell'Alcova

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1928-1929

Bibliography

Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 51, 389-391 and fig. 322 (plan) on p. 389 (worldcat)
Maiuri, Herculaneum, pp. 31 (worldcat)
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 51, 392 and fig. 322 (plan) on p. 389 (worldcat)

Casa dell'Atrio a Mosaico

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Province

Location

Location Description

An ancient Roman town of Campania destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D.79. Named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Insula

House

1-2

Garden

Casa dell'Atrio a Mosaico

Keywords

Garden Description

541.IV.1-2 A windowed portico surrounded this garden (a) on the north, south and west. The east side was bordered by a narrow corridor which Maiuri proposed had glass in woodenframes set on the outside edge of the low wall. This wall had a planting space 0.16 m. wide in the top next to where the windows were set, creating a greenhouse environment. This luxurious house had an exedra(b) opening onto the center of the corridor and looking into the garden, which was slightly lower. On the oppositeside,the walls, columns, and the door posts were decorated with paintingsof shrubs, grapevines, ivy andoleander in flower as a continuation of the garden proper. A gutter circled the perimeter of the garden except by the entrance on the south, which was directly across from the grand triclinium-oecus(c). A rectangular marble-edged pool in the center of the garden had a water jet which could be viewed from either the exedra or the triclinium. The excavations in this garden in 1929-1930 uncovered a spherical white marble sundial. The triclinium-oecus opened to the south onto a long covered portico with an open terrace (d) beyond that looking out over the Bay. Potted plants most likely were placed here.

Plans

Plan of Casa dell'Atrio a Mosaico

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1929-1930

Bibliography

Gibbs, Greek and Roman sundials, p. 148, no 1031G (worldcat)
Maiuri, Herculaneum, pp. 28-30 (worldcat)
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 290-293, 295, 298, 300 and fig. 223 (plan) on p. 280.(worldcat)