THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
GARDNER CHAPTER 10-2
PP. 244-253
POMPEII AND THE CITIES OF
VESUVIUS

August 24, 79 CE -> Mount
Vesuvius erupts -> many
prosperous towns around the Bay
of Naples buried in one day ->
most famous city was Pompeii

Ruins undisturbed for 1700 years ->
first excavated in the 18th century
-> major event for archaeologists
and art historians
FORUM

FORUM = the center of civic life in
any Roman town -> public square

Located at the center of the town

North end -> Temple of
Jupiter/Capitolium -> sits at north
of Forum -> unlike Greek temple it
does not stand isolated

Porticoes lined the forum

BASILICA -> at the southwest
corner of the forum -> housed the
law court of Pompeii -> long and
narrow with 2 stories of internal
columns -> central nave and
flanking aisles
AMPHITHEATER

Pompeii’s amphitheater is the
oldest know -> 70 BCE

Could seat 20,000 -> seating was
assigned by rank -> social
hierarchy

Amphitheater = “double theater”
-> resembles two Greek theaters
put together

Artificial earthen mound
surrounded and supported by
giant retaining wall that holds up
the earthen mound and stone
seats -> barrel vaults form tunnels
that lead to the arena
HOUSE OF THE
VETII
Atrium of the House of the Vetii ->

62 BCE

Roman townhouse with central
atrium with impluvium with open
roof above -> bedrooms/cubicula
opened onto the atrium

Peristyle garden at the back with
mural paintings
PAINTING

Houses and villas around Vesuvius
provide best record of interior
decoration in the ancient world

Custom painted murals in nearly
every room

True frescoes

The various mural painting
schemes are dived into 4
Pompeian Styles
THE ROMAN
HOUSE

Patron-client relationships was a key
element of Roman society -> status
of a patron depended on size of his
clientele

DOMUS = house

FAUCES = entryway

ATRIUM

IMPLUVIUM

CUBICULUM = bedrooms

TABLINUM = “home office”

TRICLINIUM = kitchen

PERISTYLE = columns surrounding
small enclosed garden
FIRST STYLE

First Style wall painting in the
fauces of the Samnite House,
Herculaneum, Italy, late 2nd
century BCE

First Style -> also called Masonry
Style = decorator’s aim was to
imitate costly marble panels using
painted stucco relief
SECOND STYLE

Second Style wall painting, detail
of tholos from cubiculum M of the
Villa at Boscoreale, 50-40 BCE

Second Style is antithesis of First
Style

Painters wanted to dissolve a
room’s confining walls and
replace them with the illusion of
an imaginary three-dimensional
world

Illusionism
VILLA OF THE
MYSTERIES

Dionysiac mystery frieze, Second
Style wall paintings in room 5 of
the Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii,
Italy, 60-50 BCE, fresco, frieze 5’4”

Chamber used to celebrate in
private the rites of Dionysos ->
precise nature of Dionysiac rites
unknown

Imaginary 3 dimensional world on
the walls -> mortals interacting
with mythological figures

Frieze is framed by painted panels
imitating wall w/a shallow ledge
on which the actors move around
the room
VILLA AT BOSCOREALE

Second Style wall painting in
cubiculum of the Villa at
Boscoreale, 50-40 BCE

All around the room are vistas of
Italian towns, marble temples, and
colonnaded courtyards

Use of linear perspective -> all
receding lines in a composition
converge on a single point along
the paintings central axis to
convey depth and distance
VILLA OF LIVIA, PRIMAPORTA

Gardenscape, Second Style wall
paintings, from the Villa of Livia,
Primaporta, Italy, ca. 30-20 BCE,
fresco

The ultimate expression of a
Second Style “picture window”
wall

To suggest recession, the painter
used atmospheric perspective =
intentionally blurring the most
distant forms
THIRD STYLE

Detail of Third Style wall painting
from the Villa at Boscotrecase, 10
BCE, frsco

Third Style -> reasserts the primacy
of the wall surface -> does not
seek to create 3-D world -> does
not imitate a marble wall

Walls are decorated with delicate
linear fantasies sketched on
predominantly monochromatic
(one-color) bacgrounds
VILLA AT BOSCOTRECASE

Third Style wall painting

Landscapes and mythological
scenes appear in frames, like
modern canvas painting hung on
walls
FOURTH STYLE

Fourth Style wall paintings from the
Domus Aurea of Nero, Rome, 6468 CE

Creamy white walls of Nero’s
Golden House display a kinship
w/the Third Style but views through
the walls revealing irrational
architectural vista characterize
the new Fourth Style
IXION ROOM

Fourth Style walls paintings in
the Ixion Room of the House of
the Vetii in Pompeii, 70-79 CE

Garishly colored, crowded and
confused compositions with a
mixture of architectural views,
framed mythological panel
paintings, and First and Third
Style motifs

Like a small private art gallery
with paintings decorating the
walls
WALL MOSAICS

In Roman times mosaics move
from the floors onto walls and
even ceilings

Neptune and Amphitrite, wall
mosaic at Herculaneum, 62-79 CE

Sea deities overlooking an
elaborate fountain
PRIVATE
PORTRAITS

Portrait of a husband and wife,
wall painting from a Pompeian
house, 70-79 CE

Man holds scroll, woman holds
stylus and writing tablet ->
thoughtful and finely educated

Like a wedding photo

Realistic portraiture
STILL LIFE PAINTING

Still life with peaches, detail from a
4th Style wall painting from
Herculaneum, 62-79 CE, fresco

Roman interest in illusionism ->
attention on the play of light and
shadow on different shapes and
textures