This page has been created to give a quick appreciation of the main rooms and areas of the beautiful House of the Lovers without the need to navigate the many detailed pages of photographs.
If you are interested to see the house in more detail, the rooms are shown in much greater detail in the subsequent parts.
I.10.11
Pompeii, on right. September 2021.
Looking south-east to entrance doorway on
Vicolo del Citarista, with I.10.10 on left. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11 Pompeii. September
2021.
Room 1, looking east across entrance corridor
towards room 2, atrium, and across to peristyle.
Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021. Room 2, north wall of atrium, looking east. Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021. Room 2, looking towards west wall of atrium. Photo
courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021. Room 2, south side
of atrium. Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021. Room 6, ala or exedra on south side of atrium. Photo courtesy of Klaus
Heese.
I.10.11 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 7, south wall of
cubiculum with a painting of a sphinx in both side panels.
In the
north wall, on both west and east sides of the doorway, a painted sphinx can
also be seen.
On the
west wall, there were also small painted panels; at the south end were painted
ducks among rushes, and at the north end was a painted crocodile. The east wall
also had a painted panel with a crocodile at the north end, and a panel with
ducks at the south end.
According
to PPM –
In room
7, there was a simple decoration painted on a white background with other
architectural views and small panels of sphinxes and crocodiles or ducks among
rushes.
See
Carratelli, G. P., 1990-2003. Pompei:
Pitture e Mosaici. II. (2). Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, (p.469).
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021.
Room 7,
looking towards south-east corner. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. March 2009. Room 7, painting of sphinx from centre of panel at east
end of south wall of cubiculum.
See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1981. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 1. Rome: ICCD.
(p.143).
I.10.11
Pompeii. March 2009. Room 7, painting of sphinx from centre of panel at west
end of south wall of cubiculum.
See Bragantini, de Vos,
Badoni, 1981. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei,
Parte 1. Rome: ICCD.
(p.143).
I.10.11
Pompeii. March 2009.
Room
7, east wall of cubiculum with a painted crocodile in side panel, on left, and
painted ducks in rushes, on right.
I.10.11 Pompeii. 1959. Room 7, painting of a crocodile from north end of east wall of cubiculum. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J59f0287
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021.
Room
8, looking towards west wall of triclinium, from west portico of peristyle. Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. March 2009. Room 9, south wall of cubiculum.
I.10.11 Pompeii. 1959.
Room 9, detail from south wall of cubiculum. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J59f0285
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021.
Room 10, north side of peristyle. Looking
north-east to lower and upper floors of peristyle. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021.
Room
10, looking towards the east side from the north-west side of the peristyle,
with doorway to room 12, in centre.
Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021.
Room
12, looking from doorway towards north wall of cubiculum. Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021.
Room
12, a cubiculum on east side of peristyle, looking east from doorway. Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021. Room 12, looking
towards south wall of cubiculum. Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.
I.10.11 Pompeii. 1959.
South-east corner of peristyle and upper floor, with painted panel with two ducks on east wall.
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J59f0293
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021.
Room
10, painting of ducks on violet panel from east wall of peristyle, between room
12 and room 13. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. September 2021. Room 13, looking through doorway towards east wall of cubiculum.
Photo
courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.10.11
Pompeii. March 2009. Room 13, south-west corner of cubiculum.
I.10.11
Pompeii. March 2009. Room 13, painted portrait medallion from west wall of
cubiculum.
I.10.11 Pompeii. 1959. Room 13, painted portrait medallion from west wall of cubiculum. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J59f0288
I.10.11 Pompeii. 1959. Room 10, east wall of peristyle, on south side of doorway to room 13.
Painting of ducks with graffito. CIL IV 8408 a-c.
“Amantes ut apes vitam melitam exigent.” (Lovers, like bees, make life as sweet as honey).
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J59f0292
According
to Osanna –
below
the sentimental well-known graffito, seen above, “Amantes ut apes vitam
melitam exigent.” (Lovers, like bees, make life as
sweet as honey) was the word “Velle” which he translates as “Mi
piacerebbe” (it would please me!). This was written by a second (more
sceptical) person, adding a sympathetic comment.
See Osanna M, 2019. Pompei. Il tempo ritrovato. Le
Nuove Scoperte. Milano: Rizzoli, (p.136, and fig.3).
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021.
Room 10, detail of graffito, CIL IV 8408 a-c, on east wall of peristyle from south side of door to room 13. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de), CIL IV 8408 a-c reads as -
Amantes ut apes
vita(m) mellita(m) exigunt [CIL IV
8408a]
Velle [CIL IV 8408b]
Amantes amantes
cureges [CIL IV 8408c]
Also found on the east wall of the peristyle on the south side of room 13, on a white background near a painted garland, was CIL IV 8405.
See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1981. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 1. Rome: ICCD, p. 144.
According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de), CIL IV 8405 read as –
C(aius) Ann(a)eus
Capito
eq(ues)
coh(ortis) X pr(aetoriae)
c(enturia)
Grati [CIL IV
8405]
According
to Cooley, graffito CIL IV 8405 was found to the right of a doorway to a
bedroom, and translates as –
Gaius
Annaeus Capito, cavalryman of the 10th praetorian cohort, Gratus’ unit.
See
Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2004. Pompeii: A
Sourcebook. London: Routledge, p. 177.
Room 15, east wall of kitchen with niche and remains of painted serpent from lararium painting.
On
the left is the doorway to room 16.
I.10.11 Pompeii. 1968.
Room 15, niche and remains of painted serpent from lararium painting on east wall of kitchen. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J68f0504
I.10.11 Pompeii. September 2021.
Room 10, looking west along south side of peristyle
from outside doorway to room 17.
Photo courtesy of
Klaus Heese.