Gardens of the Roman Empire

Casa con Giardino

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 con Giardino

Keywords

fauces AAT:300004298

Garden Description

553.V.33 This humble house had a huge garden (a) which was entered from the long fauceson the north. Most likely used to grow produce, Maiuri speculated that the garden may have belonged to the larger houses to the west at one time.

Plans

Plan of Casa A Graticcio

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

unspecified

Bibliography

Maiuri,Herculaneum, p. 52
Maiuri, Ercolano, p. 431 and fig. 374 (plan) on p. 431

Casa del bel Cortile

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 del bel Cortile

Keywords

None

Garden Description

Appendix II. 110.V.8. The illusion of a gardentrellis was created in this house withno garden by painting the archway under a flight of stairs in the courtyard with climbing vines and flowering oleanders

Plans

Plan of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Images

Illustration of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

unspecified

Bibliography

Maiuri,Herculaneum,p. 46
Idem, Ercolano,p. 338

Casa del Bicentenario

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

15-16

Garden

Casa del Bicentenario

Keywords

Garden Description

551.V.15-16. Two hundred years after the first excavation efforts started at Herculaneum in 1738, this house was excavated and the restoration finished, thereby receiving its name. A passageway with windows bordered the garden (a) on the west and a portico with seven columns joined by a low wall stood on the east and north of this garden measuring 9.90 x 4.90 meters. A wide water channel encircled the garden on three sides and there were two entrances, one opposite the tablinium on the north and the other at the southeast corner of the garden. The neck of a large dolium formed the mouth of a well with a heavy masonry puteal located in the center of the garden

Plans

Plan of Casa A Graticcio

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1738

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol.II, p. 371
Maiuri, Herculaneum,p. 48;
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp.51, 233 and fig. 174 (plan) on p. 222

Casa del Gran Portale

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 con Giardino

Garden Description

554.V.35. Just to the west of the entrance to this house was a small, raised courtyard (a) which supplied light and air to the residence. This area collected rain water from the roof and directed it into the cistern which had a covered overflow emptying onto the street. Garden paintings in this courtyard gave the impression of beingin a garden.A red background was covered with flowering oleanders, a lattice fence in front and a vase-shaped fountain in the center of one panel. The wall towards the street may have had similar decoration with a pilaster in relief dividing the wall into two panels according to Maiuri, however nothing remains on this wall.

Plans

Plan of Casa A Graticcio

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

unspecified

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol.II, p. 371
Maiuri,Herculaneum, p. 53
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 378-379 and fig. 308 (plan) on p. 378

Casa del Mobilio Carbonizzato

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 del Mobilio Carbonizzato

Keywords

Garden Description

549.V.5. Visible from the fauces, this little courtyard (a) had an elaborate aedicula shrine which was excavated in 1932-1933. A low double wall with a gutter bordered the courtyard on the west and north sides with a cistern opening located in the center of the west edge of garden. Four small flower beds on the sides and a circular bed in the center had raised borders to retain the water for the plants within, and the remainder of the courtyard was paved in opus signinum. Jashemski commented that the garden had been restored with eleven such small planting beds. The east wall had traces of an animal painting on a blue background by the aedicula lararium. A deer was painted on the right side and several more indistinct animal forms were noted over the lararium. At the south end of this wall there were traces of leaves and a lattice fence suggesting a garden painting may have been located here.

Plans

Plan of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Images

Illustration of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1932-1933

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol.II, p. 370-371
Maiuri, Herculaneum,p. 44
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp.260-261 and fig. 203 (plan) on p. 256.

Casa del Mosaico di Nettuno e di Anfitrite

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

6/7

Garden

Casa del Mosaico di Nettuno e di Anfitrite

Keywords

Garden Description

550.V.6/7 To the very back of this house, excavated in 1932-1936, there was a small courtyard (a) that served as a garden having a summer triclinium and garden paintings on the walls. It was converted into a beautiful nymphaeum and at that time a mosaic panel was created featuring Neptune and Amphitrite positioned on the rear wall where it could be seen immediately upon entering the house. On either side of the mosaic a garden painting on a red background featured the typical lattice fence forming an apse in which a round fountain stands on a pedestal. In the right side panel there is a large tree growing in the center of the background surrounded by oleanders and myrtles with petite white flowers. Many birds are seen flying, perched on the rim of the fountain or walking along the top of the fence. A garland of ivy frames the top of the panel. The panel on the left sustained extensive damage but enough plaster survived to suggest this panel was similar. The garden painting continues on the adjacent south wall for a short length. Two other garden panels were located on the north end of the west wall and on the adjacent north wall. These contained the same lattice fence painted on a blue-green background with a red border. Any further detail had been ruined by the time of excavation. The architectural façade of a detailed nymphaeum was built on the north wall and decorated with shells and mosaics. A small rectangular niche on either side of the central arched niche had a small column of cipolin (marble)which could have held lamps standing on a base of red marble. The central niche had a base which would have likely been for a fountain statuette, although no evidence of piping was found. Above each of the rectangular niches there is a mosaic panel of a deer being chased by a hound with a peacock perched on a robust garland overhead. Above these panels are two tragic masks on the outsides and a comic mask in the center, and a head of Silenus on the wall above all else. The triclinium in the center of the courtyard is very low and had white marble facing on the couches and marble paving between them. A small column decorated with ivy leaves and berries stood between the couches with a channel for a water pipe in the center. This could have held a bowl for a fountain, as Maiuri observed the same was painted on the east wall. A marble slab closed the mouth of a cistern with the neck of an amphora, with a terra-cotta stopper, installed to drain off any excess water.

Plans

Plan of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Images

Illustration of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1932-1936

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, 1:67-68 and fig. 109 on p. 68
Jashemski, Gardens, vol.II, p. 371
Maiuri, Herculaneum,pp. 45-46
Maiuri, Ercolano, pp. 397-401 and fig. 330 (plan) on p. 394
Michel, pp. 402-403;Neuerburg, p. 136, no. 41
Sear, pp. 95-96.

Casa del Telaio

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

4/3

Garden

Casa del Telaio

Keywords

Garden Description

548.V.4/3. There was a courtyard (a) in the center of this house which was apparently attached to a textrina. The courtyard was surrounded by a portico with seven supporting brick columns. These were connected by a low wall and a second wall on the inside was slightly lower and formed a gutter. A terra-cotta puteal was located by the entrance on the north over the cistern opening. Maiuri concluded there was enough soil present here to indicate this had been a garden.

Plans

Plan of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Images

Illustration of Casa dell'Ara Laterizia

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

unspecified

Bibliography

Maiuri, Ercolano, p. 430 and fig. 370 (plan) on p. 427

Casa dell'Atrio Corontio

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 dell'Atrio Corontio

Keywords

Garden Description

552.V.30. A shallow cruciform-shaped impluvium was the central feature in the rectangular atrium of this house excavated in 1933-1934. The atrium gave the impression of a peristyle garden by way of the fountain centered in the impluvium, the plantings on either side and three tuffa columns on either side, fluted white stucco on the top and painted red at the base. These were connected by a low wall with plantings on the top creating a lush green atmosphere to the total effect. This arrangement was the result of the aqueduct supplying an abundance of water and reducing the demand on the cistern, which was found in the northeast corner of the garden, and the ancient well incorporated into the low wall. This house was noted by Maiuri as an elegant example of the transformation of the impluvium basin into a fountain and viridarium.

Plans

Plan of Casa A Graticcio

Places

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Date

1933-1934

Bibliography

Jashemski, Gardens, vol.1, fig. 90 on p. 52
Maiuri,Herculaneum,p. 51
Idem, Ercolano, pp.51, 263-264 and fig. 209 (plan) on p. 261