Pompeii: Important Houses

THE HOUSE OF THE SURGEON
The house of the surgeon is named after the wide range of surgical instruments found when it was first rediscovered. It’s age is speculated though it is presumed to be built around the 2nd century BC before Roman occupation. The house is located in Region 6. It followed the typical style of the Domus with the atrium being the main part. The redesign of the house occurred after the social wars of 91-89BC. By this time, Pompeii had lost its independence and became a Roman colony. The surgical instruments found in the house formed part of a toolkit which was incredibly similar to that still in use during the late nineteenth century. Roman surgical instruments included forceps, scalpels, catheters and even arrow extractors.
HOUSE OF PAQUIS PROCULUS
The house was Samnite in origin and had a large portal leading to a vestibulum where a mosaic of a chained dog and the entrance portal were depicted. It is located in Region 7. The atruim was decorated with paintings/frescoes/panelled mosaics of the fourth style (only two have survived and some were damaged in the earthquake 69AD) and the impluvium was surrounded by mosaics.This house was owned by an influential person whose name recurs in various electoral programmes. This is known as they were many etchings of the name on the façade. He was Paquius Proculus, who became a mayor of Pompeii though before he was a baker. On the north side of the peristyle the skeletons of seven infants who died in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD were discovered. 
THE HOUSE OF THE VENUS
The House of Venus is located in Region 2. It is also known as The House of D. Lucretii Satrii Valentes. It was still being repaired before the 79AD eruption because of the earthquake 62AD and the site was damaged by bombing during World War II. The peristyle of the house is quite large and beautifully decorated with paintings, sculptures, fountains and flowers. The most known painting is located on the rear wall and depicts the goddess Venus riding on the ocean in a shell with gold jewels and accompanied by two cupids.
THE HOUSE OF VETTI Located in Region 6, the name given to this house is derived from bronze seals discovered at the atrium, with the inscription of two namesof two brothers, Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius Conviva. The house had an impressive collection of fresco decorations typical of the wall paintings in the houses of rich Pompeian traders. Excavations discovered fourth style figure paintings completed after the earthquake of 62 A.D.. The brothers had commissioned this artwork so that their house could become a status symbol. The atrium is decorated with scenes depicting sacrifices, hunts and cupids while two strong-boxes are weighed down to stone block in the floor. The triclinium runs in the same direction as the garden (which has been planted with the original aromatic herbs) and houses an extremely unusual miniaturised decoration above a lower panel. This portrays cupids and their female equivalents (psyches) engaged in a number of different activities.
THE HOUSE OF THE FAUN Was built in two phases, the first dating to the early 2nd century BC and including the first peristyle, and the second to the late 2nd century BC in which the second peristyle was added and the final size was established. In front of the main entrance is the word “HAVE”, meaning welcome, spelled out in the footway with fragments of coloured marble. A small vestibulum opens onto the fauces which had a richly decorated floor and was decorated with the first style. It undoubtedly belonged to one of the most prominent local figures, that is the nephew of Sulla who dealt with the political organization of the city. In the tablinum there was a skeleton of a woman carrying jewels and coins and is assumed to have been the wealthy owner of the house. Two column mark the entrance to the in which the magnificent mosaic depicting a scene from the battle of Issus between Alexander the Great and King Darius of Persia was found. The floor of each alclove of the peristyle was decorated at the left are doves pulling a necklace out of a basket, while the mosaic picture at the right, now in the Naples Museum, is divided into two parts; above a cat with a partridge; below, ducks, fish and shellfish.
THE HOUSE OF JULIA FENIX
The house of Julia Fenix (Julia Felix was a Roman woman who resided in the city of Pompeii. Julia Felix was a very wealthy property owner who inherited her money from her family.) was located in Region 2. The property had been created out of two entire insulae which had been merged together with the street between being completely built over. (The loss of an important street leading to the amphitheatre was compensated for by the widening of the next street, which gained ground at the expense of Julia Fenix.) She had converted her house into an area for rent and commercial/public use, including baths (containing a waiting room, apodyteruim, tepidaruim and a caldarium with an open area for bathing), rooms about the house, a tavern with triclinium and bedroom, shops, and a small living area on the second floor. Frescoes depicting scenes from everyday life that were found in the house and porticoed garden.
HOUSE OF THE GLADIATORS (roof collapsed in 2010)
This was a gladiators’ barracks until the gymnasium in Pompeii was specially built for them to train in, this building was then changed to provide accommodation for their families.
THE HOUSE OF MENANDER
This large house once belonged to Quintus Poppeus, a relative of the second wife of Nero. The house is so called after a painting of the Greek playwright Menander. It is located in Region 1. The house was originally built in the 3rd century BC and was considerably added to and altered many times over its history. The atrium is decorated in the fourth style, with large red panels on a yellow ground, several of the panels contain scenes from the Illiad. The tablinum is decorated in the fourth style in a similar manner to the atrium, but the colours are reversed, with yellow panels framed in red. In the cellars beneath the baths were found a chest containing several pieces of silverware and a wooden casket in which was found jewellery and 1432 sesterces (ancient Roman coins).
VILLA OF MYSTERIES
The villa lies around 400 meters north-west of Pompeii. It received only minor damage from the eruption in Pompeii. The Villa is named for the paintings in one of it’s rooms. This space may have been a triclinuim, and is decorated with very fine frescoes. Although the actual subject of the frescoes is speculated, the most common interpretation of the images is scenes of the initiation of a woman into a special cult of Dionysus. The Villa had both very fine rooms for dining and entertaining and more functional spaces. A wine-press was discovered when the Villa was excavated and has been restored in its original location. It is currently unknown who owned it.
VILLA OF CICERO
The villa of Cicero was located outside the walls of Pompeii like most of the other Villas. During the excavations many fine frescoes and mosaics of the third period were discovered.