V.6.1 Pompeii. Caupona of Manius Salarius Crocus?

Only the western street fronts were excavated, c.1902, 1905-8.

As this area had not been fully excavated, it was extremely difficult to see and show exactly where the entrances were.

We have followed the plan as Eschebach drew it in 1969, as best we can.

Until this area is fully excavated, this may or may not be the correct number of entrances.

In 2018-2019 to improve the drainage and security for visitors to the site, the soil, ash and exuberant vegetation was removed from the slope of the unexcavated land on the east side of Via del Vesuvio (Insula V.6).

Twenty new rooms have been identified of the various building units thus identified, referable to at least four houses, indicated by the passages of the entrances that opened in the walls facing the street (Fig. 4).

See Osanna M., 2019. Pompei. Il tempo ritrovato. Le nuove scoperte. Milano: Rizzoli, p. 216-7, fig. 4.

The entrance numbers may eventually change as a result.

V.6 frontages on Via del Vesuvio, June 2019. Looking north with V.6.1 on right behind Insula plaque. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

(c.2018-2019). In order to improve the drainage and security for visitors to the site, the soil, ash and exuberant vegetation was removed from the slope of the unexcavated land on the east side of Via del Vesuvio (Insula V.6).

This has cleared the area to enable the street boundary wall and rooms at its immediate rear to be viewed from Via del Vesuvio.

V.6.1 Pompeii. October 2020.

Looking south on Via del Vesuvio towards V.6.1, roofed, on left. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.

V.6.1 Pompeii. December 2018. Looking towards entrance doorway on east side of Via del Vesuvio. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand

V.6.1 Pompeii. May 2006. Entrance doorway on Via del Vesuvio.

V.6.1 Pompeii. October 2017. Looking south-east from Via del Vesuvio towards wall on north side of entrance doorway.

Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

V.6.1 Pompeii. May 2006. Looking south-east from Via del Vesuvio towards entrance doorway.

V.6.1 Pompeii. October 2017. Looking east to gabions on west side of wall to north of entrance doorway.

Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

V.6.1 Pompeii. May 2006. Wall on north side of entrance doorway, that used to contain graffiti (no longer visible). 

See Fröhlich, T., 1991, Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern.  (F34: p.318).

V.6.1 Pompeii. 1906. Graffiti at the far end past the paintings of Mercury left and Bacchus right.

According to Varone and Stefani, on the wall to the north of the entrance, graffiti was found:

Modestum aed(ilem)

Salarius rog(at)    [CIL IV 6645]

Ceium Secundum  II

vir(um)    [CIL IV 6646]

L(ucium) Albucium

aed(ilem)

Crocus  cupi[t]    [CIL IV 6647]

See Varone, A. and Stefani, G., 2009. Titulorum Pictorum Pompeianorum, Rome: L’erma di Bretschneider, (p.305-6)

V.6.1 Pompeii. Graffiti from exterior pillar on north side of entrance doorway.

Found on the white rustic plaster, immediately above the zoccolo, and painted in red.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1906, (p.156).

V.6.1 Pompeii. October 2017. Looking north-east towards entrance doorway on Via del Vesuvio.

Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

V.6.1 Pompeii. December 2006. Photo showing entrance to shop. 

The pillar on the left used to have a painting of Mercury. 

The pillar on the right used to have a painting of Bacchus. 

See Fröhlich, T., 1991, Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern.  (F34: p.318).

According to Garcia y Garcia, the loss of these paintings was attributable to the bomb that fell in the road here on the night of 16 September 1943.

The paintings were photographed at the time of Sogliano, around 1906, and also by Tatiana Warscher, pre-1943.

These can be seen in Garcia y Garcia, L., 2006. Danni di guerra a Pompei. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider. (p. 66).

V.6.1 Pompeii. 1906. Paintings of Mercury left and Bacchus right.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1906, p. 55 fig. 5.

Kuivalainen describes –

“A composition of two standing figures on a white background. The higher, in the middle, is a youth leaning on a shoulder of a satyr; he wears a cloak which hangs down from his left arm and covers his thighs; his right arm is stretched down, and he holds a cantharus from which he pours wine into the mouth of a seated panther on his right side, with an artistically folded tail. The smaller satyr has a pine wreath on his head, and holds a thyrsus in his left hand. On the right is a small tree trunk.”

Kuivalainen comments –

“This simple and domestic scene takes place in a natural setting.”

See Kuivalainen, I., 2021. The Portrayal of Pompeian Bacchus. Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 140. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, (p.159, F1).

V.6.1 Pompeii. December 2006. Doorway to shop. 

V.6.1 Pompeii. December 2006. This pillar, on north side of entrance doorway, used to have a painting of Mercury. 

See Fröhlich, T., 1991, Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern.  (F34: p.318).

Below the painting of Mercury was the graffito CIL IV 6648. No longer visible.

See Varone, A. and Stefani, G., 2009. Titulorum Pictorum Pompeianorum, Rome: L’erma di Bretschneider, (p.305-6).

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de), it read:

L(ucium)  C(eium)  S(ecundum)  II vir(um)    [CIL IV 6648]

V.6.1 Pompeii. Exterior pillar on north side of entrance doorway.

This, CIL IV 6648, was found underneath the painting of Mercury, painted on a high zoccolo with white background, and the letters were painted in red.

See Notizie degli Scavi, 1906, (p.156).

V.6.1 Pompeii. December 2006. Detail of pillar that used to have a painting of Mercury. 

See Fröhlich, T., 1991, Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern.  (F34: p.318).

V.6.1 Pompeii. December 2006. Exterior pillar on south side of entrance doorway.

This pillar used to have a painting of Bacchus. 

See Fröhlich, T., 1991, Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern.  (F34: p.318).

Below the painting of Bacchus was the graffito CIL IV 6649. No longer visible.

See Varone, A. and Stefani, G., 2009. Titulorum Pictorum Pompeianorum, Rome: L’erma di Bretschneider, (p.305-6)

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de), it read:

Cn.(aeum)  Helvium  Sabinum     [CIL IV 6649].

According to Varone and Stefani, on the south side of this pilaster, in Vicolo delle Nozze d’Argento, CIL IV 6650 was found.

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby, it would have read:

Celsum  aed(ilem)    [CIL IV 6650]