IX.3.15 Pompeii. House of Philocalus.

Excavated 1871.

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IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 7. Corridor, with door to room 5

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 7, corridor leading to rear.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 5, cubiculum, looking west.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 5, west wall, and recess on south wall.

The decoration in this room would have been of a yellow zoccolo/lower plinth with a low violet/purple frieze above it.

The middle zone of the wall would have been white with an imitation marble coating.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 5, north wall. The decoration from this wall of a simple II style has nearly all disappeared.

The yellow zoccolo/plinth with low violet/purple frieze can still be seen, together with the white middle zone.

The upper zone of the wall was crowned by a purple/violet band.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 5, small doorway with steps to room 6, in north-east corner. 

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 6, north-west corner. The flooring in this room was of cocciopesto.

According to PPM, the following painting of Isis-Fortuna was cut from the north wall of this room.

See Carratelli, G. P., 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici: Vol. IX. Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, (p.334-5)

IX.3.15 Pompeii. Picture of Isis Fortuna with horn of plenty and sistrum and with a foot on a globe.

To the right is Hesperus and left is Helios or Harpocrates - Helios.

The painting of Isis-Fortuna (MN Inventory 8836) was found in 1847 in IX, iii, 15 on the north wall of a cubiculum, either room 5 or 6 on our plan, (according to PPM it was found in room 6, which is room “h” in their book). 

It was discovered while carrying out supporting work on one of the walls of the Casa di Suonatrici which joined the two houses.

Our thanks to Raffaele Prisciandaro for his help in identifying the following sources:

(Casa di Philocalus; parete N del cubicolo; CIL 04, 882 (197); BAIt 1, 1862, n. 20, 1862, pp. 159 160; Panofka, BdI 1847, pp. 127-128 “nell’appoggiar una delle mura della casa delle Suonatrici si è scoperta al muro della casa accanto una pittura …”)

Frohlich says this picture was found on the north wall of the shop IX.3.7.

He points out that the painting was described by Panofka in 1847, so it could not be IX.3.15 which was first excavated in 1861.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991, Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten.  Mainz: von Zabern.  (L101: p.294).

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum, inventory number 8836, where it is shown as from IX.3.15.

According to Boyce, above the garland at the top of the painting was a painted inscription, whose reading was long disputed.

He quoted it as published in C.I.L – PILOcaLVS  VOTVM  SOL  LIBES  MERITO.

See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p. 84, 415B)

According to Della Corte, the owner of this house and shop at number 16, was a Philocalus.

He had a sacred painting made for his bedroom and had the following dedication painted on it in his name:

P(h)ilo(ca)lus  votum  sol(vit)  libe(n)s  merito    [CIL IV 882]

See Della Corte, M., 1965. Case ed Abitanti di Pompei. Napoli: Fausto Fiorentino. (p.191)

(Note 4 on page 191, said that Fiorelli referred to and gave the painting to shop IX.3.7).

According to PPM, there was no agreement in 19^th century bibliography on whether the painting came from the shop IX.3.7 or a room of IX.3.15.

See Bragantini I., in 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici: Vol. IX. Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, p.314.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. Drawing by Giuseppe Abbate, 1847, of lararium painting with CIL IV 882, above it.

Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number ADS 1094.

Photo © ICCD. http://www.catalogo.beniculturali.it

Utilizzabili alle condizioni della licenza Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Condividi allo stesso modo 2.5 Italia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 IT)

According to PPM, the note on this reproduction performed by G. Abbate in 1847 and finished before July 30 of that year (ADS 1094) “on the outside of a side wall of the house so called the Suonatrice” is too generic to solve the problem of the original location of this painting.

See Bragantini I., in 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici: Vol. IX. Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, p. 335.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, peristyle, looking north from room 6.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking south along room 7, to atrium. Doorway to room 8 is to the left.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Looking south along room 7, to atrium. 

Doorway to room 8 is to the left. Doorway to room 5 is on the right.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Small doorway on west side of room 8, from corridor.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Large doorway to room 8, triclinium/exedra, looking south from garden portico, room 11.

In this room, the flooring was of cocciopesto scattered with small black and white tesserae.

See Bragantini, de Vos, Badoni, 1986. Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei, Parte 3. Rome: ICCD. (p.446)

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 8, south wall of triclinium/exedra.

Originally this wall would have had a doorway connecting to the atrium.

The wall was decorated with a red zoccolo/plinth topped with a yellow border.

When the wall was blocked up, it only received its coat of plaster and had not been decorated.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 8, east wall of exedra, with recess for the couch at the south end.  

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 11, looking east along south portico, with doorways to rooms 8, 9 and 10.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 9, a cubiculum.

The flooring in this room was of cocciopesto and ornamented by a regular cross of four white stones with a central black stone. 

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 9, south wall.

The zoccolo/plinth was red, the middle zone of the wall was black with yellow edges.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009.

Room 9, north wall with door leading onto the peristyle, and small circular window above the remains of the cornice.

A blocked door to room 10, is in the east wall, at its north end (on right of picture).

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to room 10.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, south-west corner, looking south.

The high zoccolo of cocciopesto can be seen on the south wall, the blocked doorway to room 9, on the right.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, south-west corner, looking west.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, looking east.

The decoration of the east wall was a high zoccolo/plinth of cocciopesto, and the middle zone of the walls would have been white.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 10, looking west towards door.

In the west wall is a blocked doorway that would have connected through to room 9, the cubiculum.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 11, looking north-west across south portico area to garden.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 11, south portico, looking east.

IX.3.15 Pompeii. March 2009. Room 12, garden area, looking east along south wall, with entrance from south portico, on left.

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