Herculaneum VI.29. Casa dei Due Atri or House of the two atriums.
Excavated 1939-40.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Plan
Maiuri wrote that this dwelling had only recently been uncovered (from his 1st edition of the book written c.1936), and was still without a number. It preserved a beautiful façade in opus reticulatum with portal and architrave in tufa and a long brick frame. Above it were the windows of the upper rooms, which were reached by means of a doorway opening onto the street. The house had a narrow and elongated plan, with the upper floors disclosed by the height of the walls and holes left by the beams. Inside were two atria, the first Tetrastyle, the second of Etruscan type with an impluvium closed by a parapet and a beautiful puteal on the edge of the wall. Close to the entrance are the kitchen and the oven. The living rooms extend around the little atrium on the north, a room elegantly painted in the richest manner of the IV Style (in the southern wall were two niches of Lararia); on the east opens a wide triclinium, as the only preserved painting representing two mullets and two pears bears witness. Staircases led to the rooms of the first and second floors.
See Maiuri, Amedeo, (1977). Herculaneum. 7th English ed, of Guide books to the Museums Galleries and Monuments of Italy, No.53 (p.35-6).
On the right of the entrance corridor was the kitchen with a two-armed cooking bench supported by small arches and a dolium. The latrine was situated under the square window overlooking the roadway. One the left of the entrance corridor was the room, described as “cella ostiaria” (see VI.28).
The first (Tetrastyle) atrium had tall masonry columns which supported the beams for the second-storey gallery of the upper floor. The floor was of cocciopesto with inserts of coloured marble, and against the south wall was a lararium niche.
At the rear of this atrium were three doorways, the diaeta (on the left), the tablinum (in the centre) and a corridor linked to the second (Tuscan) atrium (on the right).
This atrium had an impluvium basin of cocciopesto decorated with a motive in a radial pattern of polychrome marble slabs around a central cavity, probably for a fountain statuette. With the addition of a pluteus, or low wall, with a hollow for ornamental plants, this second atrium could have been used as a small garden. Also seen in this atrium, on the south wall, were lararium niches.
In this section of the house were the reception and living rooms, in which are preserved paintings of the Style IV.
The oecus, (also described as a cubiculum) was painted on a blue background with yellow side panels, and had small still-life paintings or masks, the large triclinium also had still-lifes of fishes and pears, which seem to have been well adapted for the convivial function of the room.
In one of the rooms of the house, a wooden chest was found containing an archive of wax tablets belonging to one Herennia Tertia, perhaps the last owner of the house.
See Pesando, F.
and Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei,
Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p.369-70)
See Guidobaldi, M.P. and Esposito, D. (2013). Herculaneum: Art of the Buried City. U.S.A, Abbeville Press, (p.255-257)
VI.29 Herculaneum. September 2019.
Looking north towards entrance doorway, on
east side of Cardo III. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
VI.29 Herculaneum. March 2019. Upper wall above entrance doorway.
Foto Annette Haug, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.
VI.29 Herculaneum. September 2019.
Looking towards entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. Looking east to entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. Looking west across threshold of entrance doorway onto Cardo III. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. Entrance doorway, looking east.
VI.29 Herculaneum. July 2009. Entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Sera Baker.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. Upper floor above doorway.
On the façade, was a cornice of terracotta and discharge arch with tufa radius, enclosed in it was a small terracotta mask.
The upper floor extended all along the roadway for the length of the building.
See Guidobaldi,
M.P, 2009: Ercolano, guida agli scavi.
Naples, Electa Napoli, (p.112).
VI.29 Herculaneum. July 2009. Upper floor above doorway. Photo courtesy of Sera Baker.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2006. Detail of upper floor above doorway. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
VI.29, Herculaneum, April 2018. Detail of upper floor above
doorway. Photo courtesy of Ian Lycett-King.
Use is subject to Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License v.4 International.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2006. Detail of terracotta mask set in brickwork above doorway. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
Entrance doorway and upper floor above doorway. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2004. Detail of decoration above doorway.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. Decoration above doorway.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. Decoration of terracotta mask above doorway.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. Upper floor above doorway on the north side.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2006.
Looking towards upper south side of doorway. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. South side of doorway, with upper floor window.
On the ground floor, this window gave light into the kitchen, inside beneath the window was the latrine.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. Room 1, kitchen, looking towards latrine against west wall. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. Room 1, looking towards north-west corner of kitchen, with L-shaped bench.
The latrine is on the left, under the window. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
VI.29 Herculaneum. June 2006. Room 1, kitchen, with L-shaped cooking bench supported by arches. Looking north-west.
The latrine would be on the left. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. Room 1, detail of L-shaped bench in kitchen against north wall. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. Room 1, looking towards south wall of kitchen, with latrine, on right. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2019.
Looking east along entrance corridor towards the two atria. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
VI.29 Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking east along entrance corridor towards the two atria.
VI.29 Herculaneum. May 2018. East end of entrance corridor, joining with floor of atrium 3. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Herculaneum VI.29 fauces, cementizio a base fittile con inserti litici.
See http://tess.beniculturali.unipd.it/web/scheda/?recid=18633
VI.29 Herculaneum. August 2021.
Looking
west through entrance corridor towards doorway to roadway in Cardo III. Photo
courtesy of Robert Hanson.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Plan