29. Boscoreale, Villa rustica di N. Popidio Floro. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus.
Excavated 1906.
Explored by sig.ra
Giovanna Zurlo-Pulzella on her fondo in contrada
Pisanella at Boscoreale. Today in Via Settetermini.
Esplorata nel
1906 dalla sig.ra. Giovanna Zurlo-Pulzella nel suo fondo in contrada Pisanella
a Boscoreale. Oggi in via Settetermini.
See Casale A.,
Bianco A., Primo contributo alla topografia del suburbio pompeiano:
Supplemento al n. 15 di ANTIQUA ottobre-dicembre 1979, 2, p. 30.
South-west of Villa
di Publio Fannio Sinistore.
Villa di Numerius Popidius
Florus
Villa di medie
dimensioni con ambienti per il dominus e settore destinato alla produzione di
vino. Era di proprietà di Numerius Popidius Florus come attestano due
iscrizioni votive rinvenute. Scavata nel 1906, la villa presentava ambienti
residenziali con pitture di II e IV stile, ambienti termali, un torcularium.
Alcune decorazioni parietali sono esposte presso l'Antiquarium di Boscoreale e
al Getty Museum di Malibu. Attualmente parzialmente ricoperta ed obliterata da
un edificio moderno.
Medium sized Villa with rooms for the owner and sector intended for the production of wine. It was owned by Numerius Popidius Florus as evidenced by two votive inscriptions found.
Excavated in 1906, the villa had residential environments with paintings of II and IV style, thermal environments, a torcularium. Some wall decorations are exhibited at the Antiquarium of Boscoreale and to the Getty Museum in Malibu. Reburied and currently partially obliterated by a modern building.
Soprintendenza web site http://pompeiisites.org/boscoreale/storia-degli-scavi/
Bibliography
Notizie degli
Scavi di Antichità, 1921,
pp.442ff.
Carrington, R., 1931. Studies in the Campanian Villae Rusticae: Journal of Roman Studies, 21, pp. 111 (n. 29), 112 and note, 119 and note 6 , 127, 129.
Castaldi, F.,
1950. La trasformazione della villa rustica in rapporto alle condizioni
della agricoltura: Annali Istituto Sup. S. Chiara
di Napoli, 2, pp. 225ff, fig. 6.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer, p. 722.
Day, J., 1932. Agriculture in the life of Pompeii:
Yale Classical Studies, 3, pp. 165-208, tav. A, B, C, n. 2g.
Della Corte, M.,
1965. Case ed Abitanti di Pompei. Napoli: Fausto Fiorentino, pp. 448ff.
Fabbricotti, E.,
1976. I bagni nelle prime ville romane: Cronache Pompeiane, 2, pp. 60-63.,
fig. 25.
Falanga L. L'iscrizione
di "Paris" a Boscoreale: Sylva Mala VIII 1987, p. 4.
Garcia y Garcia
L., 2017. Scavi Privati nel Territorio di Pompei. Roma: Arbor
Sapientiae, no. 52, pp. 376-404.
Gorecki J., 1993.
Metallgefäße und -objekte aus der Villa des N. Popidius Florus (Boscoreale)
im J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Kalifornien in Bronces Y Religión Romana: Actas Del XI
Congreso Internacional de Bronces 1990. Madrid: pp. 229-246.
Jashemski, W. F., 1993. The Gardens of Pompeii, Volume II: Appendices. New York: Caratzas. (no.588 on p.287 with plan) and Volume I, 1979, p. 123, p. 319-320.
Rostovzev, M.,
1973. Storia economica e sociale dell’Impero Romano,
Firenze, 5° ediz., p. 34, note 26, n. 29.
Van der Poel, H. B., 1983. Corpus Topographicum Pompeianum, Part II. Austin: University of Texas, p.211, VR no. 29 and plan after p. 206.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. 1906. Detail of the courtyard of the villa at the time of excavation.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. 1906. Combined photos with detail of the courtyard of the villa at the time of excavation.
See Falanga L. L'iscrizione di
"Paris" a Boscoreale: Sylva Mala VIII 1987, p. 4.
https://centrostudiarc.altervista.org/images/sylvamala/pdf/SYLVA%20MALA%20VIII%20-%201987.pdf
Per gentile concessione di Centro Studi
Archeologici di Boscoreale, Boscotrecase e Trecase. I nostri ringraziamenti ad
Angelandrea Casale.
Notizie degli Scavi, 1921,
p.416, (note 1)
Note: Excavations undertaken by private citizens in the Pompeian territory.
(Ten years ago, by commission expressly from sig. Superintendent prof. Vittorio Spinazzola, I had to prepare an extensive report, accompanied by numerous photographs, plans and drawings on eleven private excavations of which no news had been given yet. But now that every investigation to find it has been in vain, so it must be considered as definitively lost, and now the Soprintendenza considers that gap must be filled, not without pain, I have redone the work already completed and with this and other subsequent reports, I will give news of the precious topographical antiquarian material, unearthed in the excavations).
(signed Matteo Della Corte).
Notizie degli Scavi, 1921, pp.442-460
The "Villa
rustica N. Popidi Flori” explored by Signora Giovanna
Zurlo-Pulzella, in the fondo of her property in contrada Pisanella, Boscoreale, in the year 1906.
In immediate contact with a rustic farmhouse, a few metres away from the Circumvesuviana railway line, and about 100 metres east of today's Villa Pulzella, the valuable Villa rustica was brought to light, of which the plan is reproduced here (fig. 12).
La "Villa
rustica N. Popidi Flori esplorata dalla signora Giovanna Zurlo-Pulzella, nel
fondo di sua proprietà in contrada Pisanella, comune di Boscoreale, l’anno
1906.
Ad immediato
contatto con un rustico fabbricato colonico, a pochi metri di distanza dalla
trincea della ferrovia circumvesuviana, ed a circa 100 metri ad oriente della
odierna Villa Pulzella, fu restituita alla luce la pregevole Villa rustica,
della quale qui riproducesi il rilievo topografico
(fig. 12).
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Plan of villa.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921,
p.443, fig. 12.
See Casale A., Bianco A., Primo contributo alla topografia
del suburbio pompeiano: Supplemento al n. 15 di ANTIQUA ottobre-dicembre 1979,
2, p. 30, fig. 2.
Of the masonry work, resulting from the usual construction in opus incertum of Vesuvian stone, Nocera tuff and Sarnense stone, there is no need to spend much time; of the renovations, the one relating to the buildings on the northern side of the single central courtyard is worthy of note. Originally there were no rooms numbered “2” and “5", which were built at the expense of the north walkway: of this portico remained two columns of the original portico walled into the east wall of the two indicated rooms. It was not known when this expansion of the building took place, however the room numbered “5” carried wall decorations of the II style, while later style decorations, with a predominance of IV style, were in all the remains of the building, as in room numbered “2”, adjacent to the room number “5”. Room No. 14, which protrudes beyond the eastern side of the building, should also be considered a late extension. Only rustic walls were in rooms numbered “1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14 and 16”. As for the floors, I summarize, for reasons of brevity, reporting that they were of beaten earth in entrance "A", and in rooms “6, 8 and 16"; of concrete in rooms “2 and 3”, and in the south portico; of signinum in rooms “5, 18, 19 and 20”; of mosaic in rooms “9, 10, 12, 13 and 21”; of cocciopesto in the remaining rooms “1, 4, 7, 11, 14, 15 and 17”, as in the east portico.
As for the ceilings, they were covered with vaults in an
east-west direction in rooms “4, 7, 9, 10 and 13”, and in a north-south
direction in room “13”: with a flat ceiling in the remaining, less the
praefurnium-culina room “6”, torcular “17”, and the
entrance "A", which were protected with simple roofs.
Small, medium and large windows, some also furnished with gratings, were set in the perimeter wall to let light in from the outside; all were open at an average height of about 2 m above the ground, other than the large window of the narrow recess numbered “8” which opened above a windowsill at 0.60m above the ground. Upper floor rooms were, on the north side, only above cella ostiaria "no. 1"; on the east side, above rooms numbered “11-15”; a spacious terrace was above cubicoli numbered “18-21” on the south side, because a row of rooms would have taken too much light and air, the respective stairs at "b", "c" and "d" were found partly preserved in masonry, partly attested by visible marks in the walls. The eastern upper floor, however, was accessed from outside the building by the special entrance to staircase “d”, rising in an east-west direction: and this singular arrangement leads one to believe that dormitories for slaves and food stores were established here on the upper floor.
Dell'opera
muraria, risultante della solita costruzione in opus incertum di pietra
vesuviana, tufo di Nocera e pietra Sarnense, non
occorre intrattenersi di proposito; dei rifacimenti è degno di nota quello
relativo alle fabbriche del lato settentrionale dell'unica corte centrale. In
origine non c'erano gli ambienti n. 2 e 5, i quali furono edificati a spese
dell'ambulacro settentrionale: di questo, avanzano, murate nelle pareti
orientali dei detti due ambienti indicati, due colonne dell'originario portico.
Quando sia intervenuto questo ampliamento del fabbricato, non può decidersi con
precisione, tuttavia ha il suo peso a questo proposito la constatazione che l'ambiente
n. 5 reca decorazioni murali del II stile, mentre decorazioni degli stili
successivi, con prevalenza del IV, erano in tutto il resto dell'edificio come
nell'ambiente n. 2, contiguo al n. 5. Come un tardivo ampliamento va
considerato anche l'ambiente n. 14, che sporge oltre il lato orientale
dell'edificio. Pareti rustiche erano solo quelle degli ambienti n. 1, 3, 6, 8,
11, 14 e 16. In quanto ai pavimenti, riassumo, per ragione di brevità,
riferendo che erano di terreno battuto nell'ingresso, A, e nelle camere n. 6, 8
e 16; di calcestruzzo in 2, 3 e nel portico meridionale; di signinum in 5, 18,
19 e 20; di musaico in 9, 10, 12, 13 e 21; di cocciopesto nei restanti ambienti
1, 4, 7, 11, 14, 15 e 17, come nel portico orientale.
In quanto ai
soffitti, erano coperti con volte a bolle in direzione est-ovest gli ambienti
n. 4, 7, 9, 10 e 13, ed in direzione nord-sud l'ambiente 13 :
con soffitto piano i rimanenti, meno il praefurnium-culina,
6, il torcular, 17, e l'ingresso A, che erano protetti con semplici tettoie.
Piccole, medie e grandi finestre, qualcuna munita anche d'inferriata,
interrompevano il muro perimetrale per addurre luce dall’esterno; erano aperte
tutte ad un'altezza media di circa m. 2 dal suolo, meno la grande finestra
dell'angusto recesso n. 8 aperta sopra un davanzale a m. 0,60 dal suolo.
Cenacoli in piano superiore erano, nel lato nord, soltanto sulla cella ostiaria
n. 1; nel lato est, al disopra delle camere 11-15 ; un
ampio terrazzo, più che una fila di camere che avrebbe tolta troppa luce ed
aria, stendevasi al disopra dei cubicoli 18-21 del
lato sud : le scale rispettive, in b, e, e d, si rinvennero in parte
conservate, in muratura, in parte attestate dalle impronte visibili nelle
pareti. Al piano superiore orientale però accedevasi
dall'esterno dell'edificio per l'apposito ingresso alla scala d, montante in
direzione est-ovest: e questa singolare disposizione fa credere che in piano
superiore fossero qui stabiliti specialmente dormitorii
per gli schiavi e depositi di derrate.
Entrance and central courtyard
In "A", the main entrance to the villa, at the head of a presumed roadway connecting to a country roadway, opened to the north. It consisted of a hallway/corridor divided into two parts by a massive wooden threshold, the door closed at night by two door-shutters. The outside of the corridor, always open, was covered by a roof sloping outwards, and by whose lower extremity leaned against one side to the wall of the cella ostiaria, room “1”, and on the other against a square wooden post, "a". Close to the aforementioned post, a covered channel carried out excess rain gathered in the courtyard. It was cut from the underlying soil, whose course, shown in the plan, was clearly followed until the blocked outlet, shaped like a funnel, in the courtyard.
The courtyard consisted of the eastern portico "B", with three columns, rustically plastered with a puteal "e" sited next to the middle column; of the south portico "C", with three brick pilasters, connected by a low pluteus; and the viridarium-cella vinaria "D", surrounded by a low pluteus, 0.90m high (treated pictorially as a balustrade of simple arches and pillars) that was interrupted at three points, like that of the portico "C", to provide convenient doorways. A pillar also stood on the pluteus of the garden, at the last pillar of portico "C", showing clearly that here was a short roof as protection for the access to the stairs at “c”.
To add to the uncovered space, "D", which undoubtedly was a garden with its flowerbeds and its flowers, it also had the character of cella vinaria, confirmed by a side of 12 large slits (0.75m high and 0.33m wide at the outside, and 0.15m at the inside) which opened in the western wall at head height, and the presence of seven complete dolia and some other fragments, such as of some wine amphorae, in the same space.
In "f", was found a Nucerian tufa sundial, perfectly preserved, surely fallen from the top of the south wall of room "2". It had a pattern of rays engraved in a hollow sphere, and with the bronze stylus, still fixed in its place: 0.34m high (fig. 17, e).
In "h" and in "i", then, the pluteus of the garden enlarged and raised slightly, forming two square areas, each of which was distinguished by a marble plaque, turned to the corresponding walkway of the portico. These were the two votive plaques that handed down, in one, the name of the owner of the villa and the notion of the divinities that he worshipped as tutelary guardians: 0.16m high and wide.
a) opposite the south portico
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Plaque found opposite the south portico.
Now in Boscoreale Antiquarium, inventory number 34149.
N POPIDIVS
FLORVS
I O M
N(umerius)
Popidius
Florus
I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo).
Numerius Popidius Florus. Jupiter is the greatest.
b) opposite the east portico
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Plaque found opposite the east portico.
Now in Boscoreale Antiquarium, inventory number 34156.
N POPIDIVS
FLORVS
VEN LIB HERC
N(umerius)
Popidius
Florus
Ven(eri), Lib(ero), Herc(uli).
Numerius Popidius Florus. Venus, Liber, Hercules.
Della Corte expressed the opinion that the group of Venus, Liber and Hercules were the tutelary triad of the Vesuvian wine country. He thought that by these divinities and Jupiter, Florus hoped to gain continued prosperity and comfort for his home and family, and for the fertility of his vineyards, of which without doubt he was the owner.
Ingresso e corte centrale
In A, in capo
ad un presumibile viale allacciato ad una via di campagna, aprivasi,
a Nord, l'ingresso principale della villa, costituito da un androne diviso in
due parti da una massiccia soglia di legno, sulla quale chiudevasi,
di notte, la porta, a due battenti. La parte esterna dell'androne, sempre
aperta, era ricoperta di una tettoia inclinata in fuori e la cui estremità
inferiore appoggiavasi da un lato al muro dela cella ostiaria, 1, e dall'altro ad un palo ligneo,
quadrato, a. Accanto al menzionato palo scaricava in fuori le piovane
superflue, raccolte nel cortile, un canale coperto, cavato nel suolo, il cui
andamento, notato in pianta, si seguiva chiaramente fino alla presa, otturabile,
conformata ad imbuto, nel cortile. Questo constava del portico orientale, B, di
tre colonne, rusticamente intonacate con un puteal, e, accanto alla colonna di
mezzo; del portico meridionale, C, di tre pilastri laterizii,
collegati da un basso pluteo ; e del viridarium -
cella vinaria, D, circondato da un basso pluteo alto m. 0,90 (trattato
pittoricamente a balaustrata di semplici archetti e pilastri) che si
interrompeva in tre punti, come quello del portico C, per fornire comodi vani
di comunicazione. Anche un pilastro si elevava sul pluteo del giardino, in
corrispondenza dell'ultimo pilastro del portico C, mostrando chiaramente che
ivi eravi una breve tettoia a protezione dello
accesso alla scala e. Ad aggiungere allo spazio scoperto, D, che senza dubbio
fu un viridario con le sue aiuole ed i suoi fiori, anche il carattere di cella
vinaria, conferiscono da un lato dodici ampie feritoie (alte ni. 0,75 e larghe
m. 0,33 all'esterno, e 0,15 all'interno) aperte nel muro occidentale ad altezza
d'uomo, e la presenza di sette dolia interi e dei frammenti di qualche altro,
come di alcune anfore vinarie, nello spazio medesimo. In f, si rinvenne, caduta
sicuramente dalla sommità del muro sud dell'ambiente 2, una meridiana in tufo
di Nocera, perfettamente conservata, col fascio di raggi incisi nella sezione
di sfera cava, e con lo gnomone di bronzo, conformato a stilo, tuttora fisso al
posto suo : alt. m. 0,34 (fig. 17, e). In h e in i, poi, il pluteo del giardino
si ingrossava e si elevava leggermente, formando due are di pianta quadrata,
ciascuna delle quali distinta da un titoletto marmoreo, rivolto al
corrispondente ambulacro del portico. Sono questi i due titoletti votivi che ci
tramandano, in uno, il nome del proprietario della villa e la nozione delle
divinità che egli venerava come speciali tutelari: m. 0,16 di altezza e di
larghezza:
a) di fronte
al portico sud:
N POPIDIVS
FLORVS
I • O • M
b) di fronte
al portico est:
N POPIDIVS
FLORVS
VEN • LIB • HERC
Ho già
espresso altrove il parere che nell'aggruppamento Venus, Liber, Hercules, vada
riconosciuta la Triade tutelare della campagna vinifera vesuviana, ravvicinando
il testo del secondo titolo a Mari, epigr., IV, 44, vv. 3-6. Da quelle divinità e da Giove ripeteva Floro la
prosperità e l'agiatezza insieme della sua casa e della sua famiglia, come la
fertilità delle vigne, delle quali senza stento possiamo credere egli fosse
proprietario.
According to Jashemski, “The peristyle garden in this villa rustica (excavated in 1906 and then filled in) was enclosed by a portico supported by three columns on the east, and on the south by three pillars joined by a low wall. There was a cistern puteal near the centre column. The garden area in the courtyard was enclosed on the east and south by a low wall (0.90m high), interrupted at three places to give access to the garden. Near the middle of each side of the wall, the top of the wall had been made wider and slightly higher to form a small square altar; on each altar was a marble votive plaque (16cm square). The one facing the south portico was dedicated to the owner N. Popidius Florus, to Jupiter Optimus Maximus; the one facing the east portico bore a dedication to Venus, Liber and Hercules. A perfectly preserved Nucerian tufa sundial with a bronze gnomon was found in the courtyard. By the time of the eruption the garden had become a “cella vinaria”. There were seven whole dolia and the fragments of others, also some wine amphoras, in the garden. The beautiful triclinium, which looked onto the garden, had become a kitchen. Various agricultural tools were found in the cubiculum off from the triclinium.
Secondo
Jashemski, "il giardino a peristilio di questa villa rustica (scavato nel
1906 e poi riempito) era chiuso da un portico sostenuto da tre colonne a est, e
a sud da tre pilastri uniti da un basso muro. Vicino alla colonna centrale si
trovava una cisterna puteale. L'area del giardino nel cortile era chiusa a est
e a sud da un basso muro (alto 0,90 m), interrotto in tre punti per dare
accesso al giardino. In prossimità della metà di ciascun lato del muro, la
parte superiore era stata allargata e leggermente rialzata per formare un
piccolo altare quadrato; su ogni altare si trovava una targa votiva in marmo
(16 cm di lato). Quella rivolta verso il
portico meridionale era dedicata al proprietario N. Popidius Florus, a Giove
Ottimo Massimo; quella rivolta verso il portico orientale recava una dedica a
Venere, Liber ed Ercole. Nel cortile è stata rinvenuta una meridiana in tufo nuceriano perfettamente conservata con gnomone in bronzo.
Al momento dell'eruzione il giardino era diventato una "cella
vinaria". Nel giardino si trovavano sette dolia interi e i frammenti di
altri, oltre ad alcune anfore vinarie. Il bel triclinio, che si affacciava sul
giardino, era diventato una cucina. Vari attrezzi agricoli sono stati trovati nel
cubicolo lontano dal triclinio.
See Jashemski, W. F., 1993. The Gardens of Pompeii, Volume II: Appendices. New York: Caratzas. (no.588 on p.287 with plan) and Volume I, 1979, p. 123, p. 319-320.
Northwest corner of building
Cella ostiaria 1
The rustic cella ostiaria, room "1", only 1.75m
high, was lit
from the north by a rectangular window in contact with the ceiling and by
another underlying circular window, by natural light, convenient for watching
the access road and oncoming traffic, when, in the morning, when the door was not yet open, they
found a place on the two masonry seats set against the north and south walls.
Rustic room, storeroom and staircase 3
A cupboard/storeroom was placed above this cella: considerable portions of the wall were covered with the remains of the characteristic pattern of holes, for fixtures on which the shelves spread: the access to it was from a short staircase in the neighbouring rustic room “3". Below the stairs were deposited many amphorae fragments together with other rustic earthenware pottery.
Kitchen formerly Triclinium 2
The vast room "2", originally intended for use as a triclinium, as was shown by the wall paintings, was in 79 used as a kitchen and workroom of the villa, as evidenced by a whole series of things installed here: in addition to three large dolia set against the north-east corner, under the opposite corner resting on the floor was a manual grindstone of 0.52 m in diameter, resulting in a very low meta with its relative catillus; the meta though unusually was made from a single block of vesuvian stone with the entire underlying massive basin, of 1 m in diameter, which is similar to a basin of an oil-press (trapetum). Next to the grindstone described was a mortarium made from a single column of white travertine, 0.70m high, whose conical bowl, perhaps destined for pounding and stripping the spelt, measured 0.50m deep and 0.40m in diameter, at the brim.
To the right of the spacious window which opened onto the garden, a large quantity of ash mixed with charcoal was found on the ground, and on top of it, still in its place, an iron tripod: nearby was found a bronze potbellied olearia, 0.20m high, and missing its handles, and an oenochoe 0.20m high, whose handle, on the edge of the pot, was bore the relief of a human finger (fig. 18, n. 1). Provenanced from this same room was a bronze boss (borchia) 0.07m diameter, with a large central relief and its ring, and two cylindrical feet of a seat (?) 0.07m high, turned, showing a simple striped relief outside: in the hollows of the cylinders were considerable scraps of wood.
Provenanced from the doorway onto the corridor, were the four cylindrical bronze feet of a wooden chest, furnished each with two horizontal fins that were fixed to the wood with nails: 0.13m high, and a bronze situla 0.25m high with a hemispherical bottom, equipped with an iron handle, articulated in the rings of a narrow circle around the rim. (for other finds see NdS 1921 pages 445 and 446)
Having told of the finds made here, we now describe the wall decorations, in a very poor state of preservation, of the IV style, with very simple layout. The middle of the wall and frieze, with a red background, were separated by a simple white band and strips, which was above the black zoccolo: using white vertical strips, the middle wall was divided into many rectangular panels, bearing in each of the centres, a little picture of 0.33m at its sides, edged with simple trim with the following surviving representations, which alternated: "a, b, c": groups of Silenic and satyr masks with the bacchic attributes; "d, e, f, g"; groups of wine amphorae and various vases, and trays filled with grapes and other fruits. On the wall to the right of the window, a wooden painting was embedded in the frescoed plaster (the clear imprint of the fibre was noted), and later the stucco was levelled to the rims, and a landscape was painted there, judging from surviving remains – the foliage of trees – which remained over the top edge of the perished panel. At 1.45 m from the floor, at the southern end of the eastern wall, a semi-circular niche, 0.52 m high, was hollowed out in the masonry, this may have been the lararium.
Cubiculum 4
The spacious cubiculum No. 4 was decorated in the third style, on a black background, with a large yellow panel in the centre of each wall. On the zoccolo, separated from the middle of the wall by a white horizontal band, in which brown rhombuses and squares alternate, nothing else is represented apart from the bases of the pilasters and small columns, of Corinthian type, whose shaft, white or greenish, reaches to the frieze, supporting very light yellow epistyles, with metopes decorated with bucrania and flowers. The small columns, limiting the yellow panels in the middle of each wall, are grey, and, decorated with inlays and grooves of delicate execution, support, in the frieze, slender architectural motifs, animated by hanging medallions and various floral motifs, ending there in a pointed gable in the middle, and with broad volutes in green and purple.
At 1.97m height running along all the walls, in the background compared to the described architectures, another tenuous epistyle, from which another slender frieze is supported, with rhytons or hanging discs, standing swans, amphorae or silver urns.
Of the paintings at the centre of the yellow panels, those on the north and south walls contained two fairly well executed landscapes, with the usual various buildings, sacred trees and columns, and pedestrians: one is shown in fig. 13.
The one on the western wall showed a seated lyre player and a standing singer, which were hardly discernible at the time of the excavation; and that of the eastern wall, finally, the interesting subject that was reproduced here in fig. 14.
Angolo nord-ovest dell'edificio
Cella ostiaria 1
La cella
ostiaria, 1, rustica, alta solo m. 1,75, era illuminata dal settentrione meree' un finestrino rettangolare a contatto col soffitto e
da un altro sottostante finestrino circolare, a lume ingrediente, comodo per
vigilare il viale di accesso ed i sopraggiungenti, i quali, in ora mattutina,
quando la porta non fosse ancora aperta, vi trovavano posto sui due sedili in
muratura addossati alle pareti Nord e Sud.
Ambiente rustico, apotheca e
scala 3
Un'apotheca si
sovrapponeva a questa cella: ne avanzavano considerevoli porzioni di pareti con
le caratteristiche serie di fori, degl'infissi sui quali stendevansi
i palchetti: l'accesso ne è dalla breve scala del contiguo ambiente rustico, n.
3. Nel sottoscala erano depositate molte anfore raccolte in frammenti con altro
vasellame rustico di terracotta.
Cucina già Triclinium 2
Il vasto
ambiente 2, già in origine destinato ad uso di triclinio, come è dimostrato
dalle pitture murali, era al 79 adibito quale cucina e laboratorio della villa,
come dimostra tutta una serie di commoda qui installati: oltre a tre grossi
dolia addossati all'angolo Nord-Est, era posata sul pavimento, sotto l'angolo
opposto, una mola manuaria di m. 0,52 di diam.,
risultante di una meta molto bassa col relativo catillus; la meta però, contro
l'usato, era ricavata da un blocco solo di pietra vesuviana con tutto il
sottostante massiccio bacino, di m. 1 di diam., che è quindi simile al bacino
di un trapetum. Accanto alla mola descritta era un mortarium
ricavato da un tronco di colonna, monolitico, di travertino bianco, alto m.
0,70, il cui recipiente, conico, forse destinato alla pinsatura
e spogliatura del farro, misura m. 0,50 di profondità e m. 0,40 di diam.
all'orlo.
A destra della
spaziosa finestra aperta sul viridario, poi, si rinvenne, sul suolo molta
cenere, mista ad avanzi di carbone, e su di quella, ancora al posto suo, un trepiedi di ferro: ivi presso si raccolsero un oleare di
bronzo, panciuto, alto m. 0,20, mancante dell'ansa, ed un'oinochoe alta m.
0,20, il cui manico recava, sull'orlo del vaso, il rilievo di un dito umano
(fig. 18, n. 1). Provengono da questo stesso ambiente una borchia di bronzo, di
m. 0,07 di diam. a grosso rilievo centrale, col relativo anello, e due piedi
cilindrici di un sedile (?) alti m. 0,07, torniti, recanti all'esterno semplici
striature a rilievo: nel cavo dei cilindri, considerevoli avanzi di legno.
Dall'ingresso
sull'androne, poi, provengono i quattro piedi cilindrici, di bronzo, di un'arca
di legno, muniti ciascuno di due alette orizzontali che erano fissate al legno
con chiodetti: alt. m. 0,13, ed una situla di bronzo, alta m. 0,25, dal fondo
emisferico, munita di ansa di ferro, articolata negli anelli di un cerchio
stretto intorno all'orlo.
Detto dei
trovamenti qui fatti, passo a descrivere la decorazione parietale, in istato di
conservazione molto scadente, del IV stile, dallo spartito molto semplice.
Parete media e fregio, a fondo rosso, erano separati da semplici fascie bianche e listelli, al disopra dello zoccolo, nero :
mercè l'impiego di fascette bianche verticali, la parete media era scompartita
in tanti riquadri rettangolari, recanti al centro, ciascuno, un quadretto di m.
0,33 di lato, limitato da semplici cornicette, con le seguenti rappresentanze
superstiti, che si alternavano : a, b, c: gruppi di maschere sileniche e satiresche con attributi del tiaso bacchico; d,
e, f, g; gruppi di anfore vinarie e vasi varii da
mensa, vassoi colmi di uva e di altra frutta. Sulla parete a destra della
finestra, nell'intonaco fresco fu incastrato un quadretto di legno (se ne è
notata la chiara impronta della fibra), e dipoi, agguagliato agli orli lo
stucco, vi fu dipinto un paesaggio, a giudicare dai resti superstiti - chiome
di alberi - rimasti oltre il margine superiore della tavola perita. A m. 1,45
dal pavimento, all'estremità meridionale della parete orientale, era cavata
nella muratura una nicchietta semicircolare, alta m. 0,52 (larario?).
Cubiculo 4
Lo spazioso
cubicolo n. 4 era ornato di decorazioni del III stile, a fondo nero, con un
grande specchio giallo al centro di ciascuna parete. Sullo zoccolo, separato
dalla parete media mercè una fascia orizzontale bianca, nella quale si
alternano rombi e quadrelli di color marrone, null'altro è rappresentato oltre
le basi dei pilastrini e delle colonnine, di tipo corintio, il cui fusto,
bianco o verdiccio, giunge al fregio, a sostenervi leggerissimi epistilii gialli, con metope decorate di bucranii e fiori. Le colonnine, limitanti i riquadri gialli
al mezzo di ciascuna parete, sono bigie, e, decorate di intarsii
e scanalature di delicata esecuzione, vanno a sostenere, nel fregio, esili
motivi architettonici, animati da medaglioni pensili e motivi floreali varii, mettendo capo ivi in un fastigio acuminato nel
mezzo, ed a volute ampie di color verde e paonazzo.
A m. 1.97 di
altezza corre lungo tutte le pareti, in secondo piano rispetto alle
architetture descritte, un altro tenue epistilio, dal quale è sostenuto un
altro esile fregio con ritoni o dischi pensili, cigni stanti, anfore, od urne
argentee, riposanti. Dei quadretti al centro dei riquadri gialli quelli delle
pareti Nord e Sud contenevano due paesaggi di discreta esecuzione, con i
consueti edificii varii,
alberi e colonne sacri, e passanti: se ne esibisce uno (fig. 13); quello della
parete occidentale esibiva una suonatrice di cetra seduta ed una cantatrice in
piedi, che appena appena si discernevano al momento dello scavo ; e quello
della parete orientale, finalmente, l'interessante soggetto che qui si
riproduce (fig. 14).
See Notizie degli Scavi di
Antichità, 1921, p. 446, fig. 13.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. North or south wall. Part of wall with sacred landscape painting.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund. Inventory number 66.35.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. North or south wall. Detail of sacred landscape painting from centre of wall.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund. Inventory number 66.35.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Frescoes in the Getty Museum. Three from room 4 are on the left wall and two from room 13 on the right wall.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. East wall. Singer and seated lyre player.
See Notizie degli Scavi di
Antichità, 1921, p.447, fig. 14.
Seated almost in profile to the right, on
a chair with feet apart, and on the back of which a skin (goat's?) is placed,
we see, naked, barefoot as it appears, the reddish hair, the white beard, the
dark complexion, with the left
hand leaning on a stick, the legs wrapped in a white mantle ending with a flap
on the left shoulder, something very similar to a scrinium under the right
elbow, and the hand stretched out, a corpulent male figure in conversation with
a woman of more youthful
appearance in a long pink chiton, skimpy at the waist and sleeveless, who,
pausing for a moment in the vestibule of the house, above which there is a
window, is in the act of adjusting the veil on her head and shoulders, as she
prepares to leave the house (but the opposite hypothesis is also probable, that
she is about to throw off the veil, returning home). If it is indubitable, as it seems to me, that a scrinium of
volumes was intended to be represented between the elbow and the right thigh of
the man, who, mind you, although being seated, does not separate himself from
his staff, then he is a
philosopher: but the unkempt beard, the almost total nudity, the skin surely
destined to partially repair the nudity itself, the bare feet as it seems, the
rustic stick: all the distinctive features, in a word, correspond so closely to
the portrayal that Lucian
gives us, in his dialogue "the Cynic", to lead us to recognize more
precisely in the seated philosopher, a Cynic, in conversation with his courtesan.
Seduta quasi di profilo a destra, sopra una sedia dai piedi divaricati, e
sulla cui spalliera è deposta una pelle (di capra ?), vedesi,
nuda, scalza come pare, la capigliatura rossiccia, la barba bianca, la
carnagione fosca, con la sinistra appoggiata ad un bastone, le gambe avvolte in
un manto bianco desinente per un lembo sulla spalla sin., qualche cosa molto
simile ad uno scrinium sotto il gomito destro, e la
mano protesa, una corpulenta figura virile in colloquio con una donna
dall'aspetto più giovanile in lungo chitone roseo, succinto alla vita e senza
maniche, la quale, sostando per un momento nel vestibolo della casa, sull'alto
del quale si apre una finestra, fa l'atto di aggiustarsi sul capo e sulle
spalle il velo, mentre si accinge ad uscire (probabile però è pure l'ipotesi
contraria, che ella si accinga a liberarsi del velo, rientrando in casa). Se è
indubitabile, come a me pare, che uno scrinium di
volumi si volle rappresentare tra il gomito e la coscia destra dell'uomo, il
quale, si badi, pure essendo seduto, non si separa dal suo bastone (*), quegli
è un filosofo: ma la barba incolta, la quasi totale nudità la pelle sicuramente
destinata a riparare in parte la nudità stessa, i piedi scalzi come sembra, il
rustico bastone : tutti i caratteri distintivi, in una parola, corrispondono
così da presso alla dipintura che ce ne fa Luciano, nel suo dialogo « il Cinico
», da indurci a riconoscere più precisamente nel filosofo seduto, un Cinico, in
colloquio con la sua cortigiana.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. East wall. Panel from a black ground frescoed room with central panel possibly Socrates and Diotima.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 70.AG.91.
One of three fresco panels that decorated the same room (Room 4) of the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (see also 72.AG.79.1 and 72.AG.79.2). These frescoes display fanciful architectural compositions on a black background. A figural scene on a yellow background decorates the centre of this fresco. The seated man’s unkempt beard, scanty clothing, bare feet, and staff suggest that he is a philosopher of the Cynic school, noted for asceticism and disregard for social norms. He converses with a woman who is probably a courtesan. Some scholars have also identified the pair as Socrates and Diotima, a character who teaches Socrates the philosophy of love in Plato’s Symposium. The painting style, categorized by scholars as the Third Style of Roman wall painting, features small vignettes and elegant ornamental architecture.
The Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus was built in the early first century B.C. and underwent several modifications before it was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. A variety of objects were found in Room 4, including bronze vessels, lamps, agricultural tools and the remains of iron weaponry, suggesting that it was used for storage by the time of the eruption. Two marble plaques found in the central courtyard reveal the name of the owner, who came from a well-established family in Pompeii. In contrast to the urban houses of Pompeii and the seaside villas overlooking the Bay of Naples, however, the country estates (or villae rusticae) of Boscoreale were working farms. The estate of Numerius Popidius Florus produced wine, which was stored in large jars partially buried in the courtyard. The house itself was richly decorated with frescoes and mosaics and had a small bath complex. Excavated in 1905–1906, the site was subsequently reburied after most of the wall paintings, vessels, and other objects were removed.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. Central painting from east wall. Cynic and courtesan?
Detail from digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 70.AG.91.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. Wall Panel from a black ground frescoed room with architectural design.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AG.79.1.
One of three fresco panels that decorated the same room (Room 4) of the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (see also 72.AG.79.2 and 70.AG.91). These frescoes display fanciful architectural compositions on a black background. Three attenuated columns topped by Corinthian capitals support a narrow decorative entablature with floral acroteria (architectural ornaments) at the corners. A slender candelabrum in the middle of the panel is surmounted by a swan. On the upper right corner of the fresco is a circular shield with ribbons and garlands. The painting style, categorized by scholars as the Third Style of Roman wall painting, features small vignettes and elegant ornamental architecture.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 4. Wall panel from a black ground frescoed room with architectural design.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AG.79.2.
One of three fresco panels that decorated the same room (Room 4) of the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (see also 72.AG.79.1 and 70.AG.91). These frescoes display fanciful architectural compositions on a black background. An attenuated column topped by a Corinthian capital supports a narrow decorative entablature with a floral acroterion (architectural ornament) at the corner. A slender candelabrum on the right side of the panel is surmounted by a swan. On the upper left corner of the fresco is a circular shield with ribbons and garlands. The painting style, categorized by scholars as the Third Style of Roman wall painting, features small vignettes and elegant ornamental architecture.
Several objects were collected in this room
- Bronze: two pot-bellied oil jars, 0.14 m high, the handles of which end in graceful female masks (fig. 18, nos. 2 and 5); an ovoid pot 0.24 m high; a 0.14 m long oil-lamp with two volutes on either side of the rostrum, a leaf on the ring-shaped handle and a small lid in the middle of the disc (fig. 18, no. 11); a small pyramidal bell, 0.06 m high; remnants of ironwork, studs and handles from shutters and wooden boxes; a cauldron with an arched handle, made of iron.
- Bone: fragments of inlay, linear, lamellar, carved, once decorating the wood of a piece of furniture.
- Terracotta: two single flame oil lamps, 0.13 and 0.08 m wide.
- Iron: weapons: a lance spearhead, 0.41 m long; the blade of a dagger, 0.20 m long, and two sickle-shaped blades, 0.24 m long, in the shape of a harpe; agricultural tools, including three hoes, an axe, a chisel and a shovel.
Parecchi oggetti si
raccolsero in questo ambiente
— Bronzo: due
oleari panciuti, alti m. 0,14, le cui anse terminano in giù in graziose mascherette muliebri (fig. 18, n. 2 e 5); una pignatta
ovoidale alta m. 0,24; una lucerna lunga m. 0,14, con due volute ai lati del
rostro, una foglia sull'ansa ad anello e coperchietto nel mezzo del disco (fig.
18 n. 11); un piccolo campanello piramidale, alto m. 0,06; avanzi delle
serrature, borchie e maniglie di imposte e casse di legno; una caldaia con
manico ad arco, in ferro.
— Osso:
frammenti d'intarsio, lineari, lamellari, intagliati, decoranti una volta il
legno di un mobile.
— Terracotta:
due lucerne monolychni, larghe m. 0,13 e 0,08.
— Ferro: armi: una cuspide di lancia, lunga
m. 0,41; la lama di un pugnale lunga m. 0,20, e due lame falcate, lunghe m.
0,24, a forma di harpe; utensili agricoli, fra i quali tre
zappe, una scure, uno scalpello ed una pala.
Corridor
south of room 4
The corridor to the south of the described room led to the western exterior of the building and to a latrine, the cesspit of which caused a sinking during the excavation which prevented further research. The walls of this corridor, plastered and painted on a white background, were divided into large ashlars surmounted in the frieze by smaller ashlars, thanks to the combination of thin red, deep red and brown strips.
Corridoio a sud della ambiente
4
Il corridoio a
sud del descritto ambiente menava all'esterno occidentale del fabbricato e ad
una latrina, il cui pozzo nero determinò all'atto dello scavo uno
sprofondamento che impedì la prosecuzione delle ricerche. Le pareti di questo
corridoio, intonacate e dipinte a fondo bianco, erano scompartite in larghe
bugne sormontate nel fregio da bugne più piccole, mercè l'incontro di sottili
listelli rossi, rosso-cupi, e marroni.
Oecus 5
The oecus, 5, which received light and air from the garden through a large
window, is the only room with 2nd style decorations, with a red background, of
cinnabar. The western wall (detached) of m. 3.55 X 2.60, has three large panels
between the projecting plinth and the frieze treated, as usual, with small
horizontal ashlars of polychrome marble: the overhang of the intermediate
pavilion, very simple in its architectural structure, has on the sides two red Corinthian
columns, finely decorated with a golden, floral meander, which, having reached
the frieze, end in two bases on which rest two small metal amphorae,
pot-bellied, while in the middle rests a slim silver crater full of fruit: at
the top of the frieze , on the sides, instead, pose two masks, one, on
the left, of a Maenad, the other, on the right, of a Satyr.
L'oecus, 5,
che riceveva dal giardino luce ed aria da una grande finestra, è l'unico
ambiente con decorazioni del II stile, a fondo rosso, di cinabro. La parete
occidentale (distaccata) di m. 3,55 X 2,60, reca tre grandi riquadri tra lo
zoccolo aggettante ed il fregio trattato, come di solito, a piccole bugne
orizzontali di marmi policromi : l'aggetto del padiglione intermedio, molto
semplice nella sua struttura architettonica, reca ai lati due colonnine
corintie rosse, finemente decorate di un meandro aureo, floreale, le quali,
raggiunto il fregio, terminano in due basi su cui posano due anforette
metalliche, panciute, mentre nel mezzo riposa uno svelto cratere argenteo
ricolmo di frutta : al sommo del fregio, nei lati, posano invece due maschere,
l'una, a sinistra, di una Menade, l'altro, a destra, di un Satiro.
The Baths of the villa, and installations relating to the provision of rainwater
North-east corner of the building
Rustic room 6
Crossing the doorway entrance “L”, one came from the courtyard into the rustic room "6", which was, according to the obvious custom, the kitchen and praefurnium. Of the lead boiler, removed and taken away by previous excavators, nothing was found, and the underlying kitchen podium "n" was also found largely ruined, while three high steps “m” were still in situ along the north wall, from which there was access to the boilers. The state of ruin of the praefurnium, however, was largely compensated by the admirable integrity of the other rooms.
Frigidarium 7
The frigidarium “7”, which, when the door was closed received light from a window above the doorway and by a second window in the east wall, had a black and white emblema buried in the cocciopesto near to the threshold. This showed two nude wrestlers coming to blows, preceded by the greeting HAVE SALVE (fig.15).
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Frigidarium 7. Emblema mosaic with two nude wrestlers and the threshold greeting HAVE SALVE.
See Notizie degli Scavi di
Antichità, 1921, p.450, fig. 15.
The bath, sized 1.74m x 0.72m diameter, faced with smooth plaster of cocciopesto, was accessed by an external step that ran along the north and west sides. The walls, with alternating yellow and red backgrounds, were separated by simple black pilasters, bearing a simple red and green framings on the edges, rested on a uniform black plinth/dado and ended in a uniformly white frieze.
Two lead pipes, bringing water from the outside, crossed the east wall, the one emptied in the tub, the other in an adjoining marble basin, 0.74 m wide, and with white grooved support column, 0.60m high (fig. 17, B): some artistic bronze taps in which head of the aforementioned pipe ended, the one, 0.20m long, was shaped, at the end after the stopcock, in the manner of a mouth with a wide rim: the other a head of a lion (fig. 18, no. 10 and 12).
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Marble finds of two basins and a sundial.
Left: Labrum from calidarium 10.
Centre: Sundial in Nocera tufa (found at f on plan).
Right: Portasanta basin on fluted white marble column from frigidarium 7.
See Notizie
degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 452 fig. 17.
See Garcia y Garcia L., 2017. Scavi Privati nel Territorio di Pompei. Roma: Arbor Sapientiae, p. 379, p. 388, p. 389.
Found in the frigidarium was a bowl of volcanic stone, 0.35 m of diameter, still containing in the bottom, residues of red colouring matter; a glass bottle with a spherical container, 0.13m high; in terracotta, a simple oil lamp, an ovoidal pot with lid, and two wine amphorae; in bronze, a door lock, and a stirrup pin 0.06m long.
Bagno della villa, e
installazioni relative all''erogazione dell'acqua meteorica.
Angolo nord-est dell'edificio
Rustico ambiente 6
Varcato
l'ingresso l, si perveniva dalla corte nel rustico ambiente n. 6, che era,
secondo l'ovvio costume, cucina e praefurnium. Delle caldaie di piombo, rimosse
e portate via da precedenti scavatori, nulla è stato rinvenuto, e in gran parte
rovinato si è trovato pure il sottostante podio della cucina, n, mentre erano
ancora in situ, lungo la parete nord, tre alti scalini, m, per i quali si
accedeva alle caldaie. Lo stato di rovina del praefurnium, però, è largamente
compensato dalla mirabile integrità degli altri ambienti.
Frigidarium 7
Il
frigidarium, 7, che, quando la porta ne era chiusa, riceveva lume da una
finestra sovrastante alla porta, e da una seconda finestra nella parete
orientale, recava, presso la soglia, incastrato nel coccio pesto, un emblema in
musaico bianco e nero, con la rappresentanza di- due lottatori nudi nell'atto
di azzuffarsi, preceduta dal saluto HAVE SALVE (fig. 15).
Alla vasca, di
m. 1,74 X 0,72, rivestita d'intonaco levigato di coccio pesto, si accedeva per
uno scalino esterno che seguiva l'andamento delle sponde settentrionale e
occidentale. Le pareti, a fondi gialli e rossi alternati, fra loro separati da
semplici pilastrini neri, e recanti ai margini scorniciature semplici fatte con
listelli rossi e verdi, riposavano su di uno zoccolo nero uniforme e
terminavano in un fregio uniformemente bianco.
Due condotti
di piombo, adducenti acqua dall'esterno, attraversavano la parete orientale,
scaricando l'uno nella vasca, l'altro in una contigua pila marmorea, dal bacino
di portasanta, rossiccio, largo m. 0,74, e dalla colonnina di sostegno,
scanalata, bianca, alta m. 0,60 (fig. 17, B): degli artistici rubinetti di
bronzo, in cui mettevano capo le menzionate fistulae,
l'uno, lungo m. 0,20, era conformato, all'estremità, dopo la chiavetta
d'arresto, a mo' di boccale a largo orlo, l'altro a protome leonina (fig. 18,
n. 10 e 12).
Trovaronsi
nel frigidario una bacinella di pietra vulcanica, di m. 0,35 di diam.,
contenente ancora, nel fondo, resìdui di materia
colorante, rossa; una bottiglia di vetro a recipiente sferico, alta m. 0,13; di
terracotta, poi, una lucerna semplice, una pignatta ovoidale col relativo
coperchio, e due anfore vinarie; di bronzo, una serratura della porta, e una
fibula a staffa, lunga m. 0,06.
Rustic recess 8
Nothing was found in the rustic recess "room 8", of unknown use, which had a large window which opened towards the east.
Rustico recesso 8
Nulla proviene
dal rustico recesso n. 8, d'ignota destinazione, aperto verso oriente per il
vano di una grande finestra.
Laconicum 9
The laconicum, "9", completely intact in its vaulting, which is white, with yellow walls and a red dado/plinth, and wall cavity as in the suspended floor, which was of uniform white mosaic encased in a black stripe. It was accessible from the frigidarium by a narrow doorway, furnished with wooden door and door-frame, whose threshold was of black and white mosaic, representing a big lozenge partitioned into four smaller lozenges. To give light to this room three openings were provided: a small window of 0.36 m diameter, with natural light open onto portico “B”; a window of 0.54m x 0.62m and a bigger window, both protected by a thick sheet of glass open towards the east, the one at the top of room “8”, the other at the back of the vault. At "r” and “r" two seats were agaimst the wall: one to the south of white marble, 1.55 m long, a sturdy marble slab resting on two carved feet with very simple frame; that to the east, similar to the previous one, but of Nucerian tufa. A bronze needle, two hinges and a bridge handle, remnants of the door, were the only items found here. Between this and the next room there was no door.
Il laconicum,
9, affatto integro nella volta, bianca, nelle pareti, a fondo giallo su zoccolo
rosso, e nella intercapedine parietale come nel pavimento, sospeso, che è di
musaico bianco uniforme racchiuso in fascia nera, era accessibile dal
frigidario per uno stretto vano di comunicazione, fornito di stìpiti e porta di legno, la cui soglia, di musaico bianco
e nero, rappresentava una grossa losanga scompartita in quattro losanghe
minori. A dar luce a questo ambiente provvedevano tre aperture: un finestrino,
di m. 0,36 di diam., a lume ingrediente, aperto sul portico B; un finestrino di
m. 0,54 X 0,62 ed un finestrino più grande, protetto da una grossa lastra di
vetro, aperti verso oriente, l'uno nell'alto dell'ambiente 8, l'altro nel dorso
della volta. In r-r erano addossati alla parete due sedili: quello a sud, di
marmo bianco, lungo m. 1,55, riposante su due piedi estremi intagliati con modinatura molto semplice, da una robusta lastra di marmo;
quello ad est, in tutto simile al precedente, ma di tufo di Nocera. Un ago
saccaie di bronzo, due cerniere ed una maniglia a ponte, avanzi della porta,
sono gli unici oggetti qui rinvenuti. Fra questo e l'ambiente successivo non fuvvi porta.
Calidarium 10
The calidarium, "10", which was reached across a threshold with a large black and white mosaic dado, had an aquarium in the mosaic floor reproduced in the drawing (fig. 16) with black tesserae on a white background, a neglected execution: a moray eel, a mullet, a sea bream (?), an octopus, a crab and a lobster can be seen swimming in the pool.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Calidarium. Drawing of mosaic of several fish in black tesserae on a white background.
See Notizie degli
Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 451 fig. 16.
Here, too, perfect integrity in the suspended floor, in the double wall, in the vault; here, too, in the apse of the eastern wall, a window measuring 0.62 X 0.65 m, fitted with a large pane of glass, walled in, as well as a window with luma ingrediente, obliquely cut into the vault and internally interrupting the continuity of the white stucco shell of the apse. In this was the labrum, “q”, a white marble stand, with a massive basin, 0.91 m wide, and a strongly tapering support, 0.66 m high (fig. 17). In the stand described above, crossing the wall of the niche, two fistulae, consisting of two 0.22 m long taps, with their stop keys, but without ornamentation, discharged their water. Under the opposite western wall was the hot bath tub, measuring 1.60 X 0.74 m, entirely covered with marble slabs, which one entered by climbing over the front parapet-step.
Here too the wall recessed into a niche with an entirely white background, as was also the vault; but the niche also interrupted at the top by an eye of light, protruding into the praefurnium, was largely demolished by the previous excavators when they took away the boilers walled up on the furnace behind it. Before moving on to the mural decoration, I will recall that the frame of the niche of the labrum was decorated with a printed wave meander; that the frame of the opposite niche, also in white stucco, was adorned with upright, molded palmettes of five leaves; and that the terminal cornice throughout the room, on the intrados of the vault, bore this same last palmette, but reversed, moulded into the white stucco. The walls, of IV style, consisted of many red backgrounds, 1.67 m. high, with slight plant motifs, stylized, on the margins, separated from each other by vertical yellow bands, 0.34 m. wide, on which stood silver candelabra alternately surmounted by paterae and glass globes, all above a deep red plinth, 0.60 m. high.., enlivened by fruit trees and flowering plants.
At the centre of each red background, were the following motifs:
North wall: from left to right: a) a winged griffin); b) silver vessels, with palm and crown; c) a winged griffin.
South wall: only two winged griffins advancing on the sides.
East wall: on each side of the niche, a flying yellow swan; in the niche, which was on a yellow background, silver agonistic vases with ribbons and palms: another pair of agonistic vases beside the lower window.
West wall with yellow background: on each side of the niche, a monochrome green harpy; in the middle a pair of agonistic vases; on the pilasters supporting the vault of the niche, here too, on each side, a yellow flying swan. Finally, in "r", a white marble seat, 1.07m long, standing against the south wall resting like the others, on simply decorated marble supports.
Due to the unusual thickness of the
masonry and the relative thickness of the vaults of these last two rooms, with
the perfect conservation of the walls, the absolute integrity of the suspension
of the floors and the parietal meatus, obtained with the use of the usual
tegulae mammatae, it was possible several times, after the excavation, with the
hood of the hypocaust adjusted as best as possible, to light wood, and to see
the smoke coming out of the ancient chimneys from above. However, what concerns the water supply
deserves a brief description, since such a clear and well-preserved
installation can rarely be found. On top of the northernmost column of portico B was a lead tank,
measuring 0.44 m. (one and a half feet) on each side, from the bottom of which
two small lead pipes protruded.
Of these two fistulae probably one,
descending vertically along the underlying column, opened there in a tap; the other, as I believe, following the
route indicated by the arrows, carried the water to the kitchen, but especially
to the boilers of the praefurnium: which is certain, because the lead pipes
were found intact outside the northeast corner of the building, is the fact that, once heated,
the water, coming out of the boilers, flowed directly into the boiler tub on one side, and on the other, following the route
indicated on the plan with the arrows, it flowed, when needed, through two of the four taps found, in the
stands of the calidarium and the frigidarium respectively. As can be seen, this was an ingenious
system for dispensing rainwater, the raising of which on the castellum aquae
placed on the last column of the portico “B”, perhaps three slaves had to
provide, one of whom drew water from the puteal, the other approached it to the
ladder, the third poured it into the lead tank. The same system was adopted for the supply of cold water, outside
the eastern side of the bathroom. Behind the frigidarium, in “o”, was a solid basin, covered, like
the six access steps, with smooth cocciopesto plaster, with the bottom slightly
elevated compared to the basins of the stands of the frigidarium and the
calidarium: here too, drawing water from the puteal of an external pool (not
drawn from the excavations, because the explorations did not go beyond the
perimeter walls), the pool was loaded by arms, from the bottom of which two
pipes departed, one discharging directly into the lacus of the frigidarium
located immediately on the
back, the other conveying cold water (for the other two of the four taps found)
to the stands of the frigidarium and the calidarium, which in the plan is also
indicated by the direction of the arrows.
Il calidarium, 10
Il calidarium,
10, che si raggiungeva varcando una soglia con un grosso dado in musaico bianco
e nero, recava nel pavimento musivo l'acquario riprodotto nell'unito disegno
(fig. 16) a tessere nere su fondo bianco, di esecuzione trascurata: vedonsi natare nella piscina una murena, un mullus e un’orata (?), un polypus,
un caneer, un palinurus.
Anche qui
integrità perfetta nel pavimento sospeso, nella parete doppia, nella volta ;
anche qui, nell'abside della parete orientale, un finestrino di m. 0,62 X 0,65,
munito di grossa lastra di vetro, murata, oltre ad un finestrino a lume
ingrediente, praticato obliquamente nella volta e che veniva internamente ad
interrompere la continuità della conchiglia di stucco bianco dell'abside. In
questo era il labrum, q, una pila cioè di marmo bianco, dal massiccio bacino,
largo m. 0,91, e dal sostegno fortemente rastremato, alto m. 0,66 (fig. 17):
nella pila descritta, attraversando il muro della nicchia, scaricavano le' loro
acque due fistulae desinenti in due rubinetti, lunghi
m. 0,22, con le loro chiavi di arresto, ma senza ornati. Sotto la opposta
parete occidentale era la vasca del bagno caldo, di m. 1,60 X 0,74, tutta
rivestita di lastre di marmo, nella quale si entrava scavalcando lo scalino-parapetto
anteriore.
Anche qui la
parete rincassavasi in una nicchia a tutto fondo
bianco, come era anche la volta ; ma la nicchia interrotta pure essa in alto da
un occhio di luce, sporgente nel praefurnium, fu in gran parte demolita dai
precedenti scavatori quando portaron via le caldaie
murate sulla retrostante fornace. Prima di passare alla decorazione murale,
ricorderò che la cornice della nicchia del labrum era decorata di un meandro ad
onda, impresso a stampa; che la cornice della nicchia opposta, sempre in stucco
bianco, era adornata di palmette ritte, a stampo, di cinque foglie; e che la
cornice terminale in tutta la camera, all'intradosso della volta, recava
impressa a stampo nello stucco bianco questa stessa ultima palmetta, ma
rovesciata. Le pareti, di IV stile, consistevano di tanti fondi rossi, alti m.
1,67, con lievi motivi vegetali, stilizzati, ai margini, fra loro separati da
fascioni gialli verticali, larghi m. 0,34 sui quali erano ritti candelabri
argentei sormontati alternativamente da patere e globi di vetro, il tutto sopra
uno zoccolo rosso-cupo, alto m. 0,60, animato da frutici e piante fiorite.
Al centro di
ogni fondo rosso, campeggiavano i seguenti motivi: Parete nord: da sin. a d.: a) Grifo alato; b) vasi agonistici, d'argento,
con palma e corona; e) grifo alato; Parete sud: avanzano i due soli grifi alati
laterali; Parete est : a ciascun lato della nicchia, un cigno volante, giallo ;
nella nicchia, che era a fondo giallo, vasi agonistici d'argento, con tenie e
palme : altra coppia di vasi agonistici allato alla finestra inferiore ; Parete
ovest. a fondo giallo: a ciascun lato della nicchia, un'arpia, monocroma,
verde; nel mezzo, coppia di vasi agonistici; sui pilastri reggenti la volta
della nicchia, anche qui, per ogni lato, un cigno volante, giallo. In r,
finalmente, addossavasi alla parete sud un sedile di
marmo bianco, lungo m. 1,07, poggiato come gli altri, sopra sostegni di marmo
semplicemente modinati.
Alla insolita
grossezza della muratura ed alla relativa spessezza delle volte di questi due
ultimi ambienti devesi, con la perfetta conservazione delle pareti, l'assoluta
integrità della sospensione dei pavimenti e del meato parietale, ottenuto con
l'impiego delle solite tegulae mammatae, tanto che fu
possibile più volte, dopo lo scavo, aggiustata alla meglio la cappa dello hypocaustum, accendervi della legna, e vedere venir fuori
dall'alto il fumo per gli antichi camini di aspirazione. Quello che riguarda l'erogazione
dell'acqua merita però un breve cenno di descrizione, poiché raramente può
riscontrarsi una installazione cosi chiara e tanto bene conservata. Sull'alto
della colonna più settentrionale del portico B era una cassa di piombo,
misurante in ogni lato m. 0,44 (un piede e mezzo), dal cui fondo partivano due
piccole fìstulae di piombo.
Di queste due fistulae l'una probabilmente, scendendo a piombo lungo la
sottostante colonna, aprivasi ivi in un rubinetto ;
l'altra, come io credo, facendo il percorso indicato dalle freccie,
portava l'acqua alla cucina, ma specialmente alle caldaie del praefurnium :
quello che è sicuro, perché i condotti di piombo si sono trovati intatti
all'esterno dell'angolo nord est dell'edificio, è il fatto che, una volta
riscaldata, l'acqua, uscendo dalle caldaie, fluiva, da un lato direttamente
nella vasca del calidario, e dall'altro, facendo il percorso indicato in pianta
con le freccie, scorreva, al bisogno, per due dei
quattro rubinetti rinvenuti, nelle pile rispettivamente del calidario e del
frigidario. Trattasi, come si vede, di un ingegnoso sistema di erogazione
dell'acqua piovana, ad elevar la quale sul castellum aquae sovrapposto
all'ultima colonna del portico B, dovevano provvedere forse tre schiavi, dei
quali l'uno attingeva l'acqua dal puteal, l'altro l'appressava alla scala, il
terzo la versava nel serbatoio di piombo. Lo stesso sistema vedevasi
adottato per la erogazione dell'acqua fredda, al difuori del lato orientale del
bagno. Alle spalle del frigidario, in “o”, era una solida vasca, rivestita,
come i sei gradini di accesso, d'intonaco levigato di cocciopesto, col fondo di
poco elevato rispetto ai bacini delle pile del frigidario e del calidario:
anche qui, attingendosi l'acqua dal puteale di una piscina esterna (non attinta
dagli scavi, perché le esplorazioni non andarono oltre i muri perimetrali), si caricava
a braccia la vasca, dal cui fondo partivano due condotti, l'uno scaricante
direttamente nel lacus del frigidario posto immediatamente a tergo, l'altro
adducente l'acqua fredda (per gli altri due dei quattro rubinetti rinvenuti)
nelle pile del frigidario e del calidario, ciò che in pianta è egualmente
indicato dalla direzione delle freccie.
The other rooms on the eastern side
"Rooms 11-16" constituted a separate apartment, and all of them opened into the first of them, "room 11", which, without wall decoration, shut itself off from “portico B” by bivalve doors mounted on a vesuvian stone threshold. Found here were many objects, perhaps kept in a special cupboard, and placed almost everywhere on the wooden furniture, everywhere. In fig. 18 some of the bronzes found here are shown. A slate table and a white marble monopodium, decorated with a bearded Bacchic bust is shown in fig. 19.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, page 455 for details of the many bronze, iron, glass, terracotta, lead, travertine, bone, slate, coral and marble found here, see also fig. 19.
Oli altri ambienti del lato
orientale
Gli ambienti
11-16 costituiscono come un separato appartamento, e si aprono tutti nel primo
di essi, n. 11, il quale, privo di decorazioni murali, chiudevasi
sul portico B con porta bivalve montata su soglia di pietra vesuviana. Erano
qui, forse custoditi in appositi armadii, e poggiati
un po' dovunque sui mobili di legno, i moltissimi oggetti qui rinvenuti. Nella
fig.18 si riproducono alcuni dei bronzi qui raccolti. Una mensa dalla tavola di ardesia e dal
monopodio di marmo bianco, interiormente ornato di un bustino bacchico barbato è
mostrato in fig. 19.
Vedi Notizie degli Scavi di
Antichità, 1921, pagina 455 per i dettagli dei
molti bronzi, ferro, vetro, terracotta, piombo, travertino, osso, ardesia,
corallo e marmo trovati qui, vedi anche fig. 19.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 11. Eighteen bronze finds.
See Notizie
degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 453 fig. 18.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Terracotta and marble finds.
From room 11: An alabaster tray and a marble monopodium with a bearded head.
From torcularium 17: Three lamps.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921,
p. 457 fig. 19.
See Garcia y Garcia L., 2017. Scavi Privati nel Territorio di Pompei. Roma: Arbor Sapientiae, p. 395, fig. 232.
Cubiculum 12
Cubiculum 12 was accessed by crossing an unadorned mosaic threshold, while in the centre of the floor the mosaic displayed, on a white background, a black rose window measuring 0.72 m on a side, with a six-petalled flower enclosed in a circle in the middle, and a crater with leaves and flowers in each of the corners. The walls, with a white background, bore very simple fourth style decorations, in which the panels were limited by simple strips, decorated with small floral motifs. In the centre of the panels, small monochrome motifs, green or red, alternated with this sequence: Harpy, Winged Pegasus, Siren. Found here, near the door, were four tapered double-wing bronze hinges.
Al cubicolo 12
si accedeva varcando una soglia musiva senza ornati, mentre nel centro del
pavimento il musaico esibiva, sul fondo bianco, un rosone nero di m. 0,72 di
lato, con fiore a sei petali chiuso in un cerchio, nel mezzo, e un cratere con
foglie e fiori per ciascuno degli angoli. Le pareti, a fondo bianco, recavano
semplicissime decorazioni del IV stile, nelle quali i riquadri erano limitati
da semplici listoni, ornati di piccoli motivi floreali. Al centro dei riquadri,
piccoli motivi monocromi, verdi, o rossi, si alternavano con questa
successione: Arpia, Pegaso alato, Sirena. Si rinvennero qui, presso la porta,
quattro cerniere di bronzo a doppia aletta, rastremata.
Cubiculum 13
The other cubiculum, 13, had a uniformly white mosaic floor and simple fourth style walls, but with a central yellow panel on each wall, conceived as a tapestry, because the edge was decorated with fringes. The plinth, dark red, bore for the centre of each wall an umbilical patera. In the yellow backgrounds, two flying cupids advance: one, on the north wall, crowned with leaves, in fluttering veils, holding, in his outstretched right hand, a handled basket and, in his left, a long stick; the other, on the west wall, holding, with both hands raised, a closed umbrella resting on his shoulder. On the white backgrounds were small paintings measuring 0.22 X 0.08 m, enclosed in simple red frames with the following subjects: -
- South wall: group of three masks with pedum; similar group with a silver hydria and a rhyton.
- West wall: attributes of Isis: hydria, mask of the goddess, serpent (cobra?) emerging from a sacred cist, winged sphinx with lotus flower on its head; group of three masks with a jug.
- North wall: group of three masks; mystic basket (vannus mystica), uncovered, between a satyr mask with pedum and a Silenic mask.
- East wall: a crater with three masks; another mystic basket
(mistico vaglio) uncovered, between a mask of Pan
with long horns and two other satyr masks.
Objects found:
- Alabaster: a thin slab tray, 0.13x0.23m wide, with a slightly raised rim (fìg. 19); a small plate, 0.10m in diameter, with a slightly raised rim and concentric-striped bottom.
- Glass: a conical flask, 0.13 m high, with a narrow neck.
- Bronze: a truncated cone-shaped vase with elliptical bases, 0.35m wide with a horizontal rim (washing jar); a dolphin-shaped handle, 0.08m long; four case hinges and some circular studs with rings attached to them, fragments of the locks of the door and of some furniture.
- Terracotta: two single flame oil lamps, 0.16m and 0.10m long; a cylindrical-conical pot, 0.20m wide, with its lid; a rustic bowl, 0.26m diameter, a pot 0.33m high, ovoid; a large two handled funnel, 0.29m high; five wine amphorae.
Cubicolo 13
L'altro
cubicolo, 13, aveva pavimento di musaico uniformemente bianco e pareti di IV
stile ben semplici, ma con un riquadro centrale giallo per ogni parete,
concepito come arazzo, perché all'orlo ornato di frangie.
Lo zoccolo, rosso cupo, recava per il centro di ogni parete, una patera
ombelicata. Nei fondi gialli avanzano due Eroti volanti, l'uno, della parete
nord, coronato di foglie, in veli svolazzanti, che regge, nella d. protesa, un
cestino manicato e, nella sin., un lungo bastone; l'altro, della parete ovest,
che regge con le due mani alzate, un ombrello chiuso appoggiato alla spalla.
Nei fondi bianchi succedevano quadretti di m. 0,22 X 0,08, racchiusi in
semplici cornici rosse con i seguenti soggetti: -
- Parete sud:
gruppo di tre maschere con pedum; gruppo simile con un'idria d'argento e un
ritone;
- Parete
ovest: attributi d'Iside: idria, maschera della dea, serpente uraeus uscente da una cista sacra, sfìnge
alata col fiore di loto in testa; gruppo di tre mascherette
con un'idria;
- Parete nord:
gruppo di tre maschere; vannus mystica,
scoperchiata, tra una maschera di satiro col pedum e una maschera silenica;
- Parete
orientale: un cratere con tre maschere; altro mistico vaglio scoperchiato, tra
una maschera di Pane a lunghe corna e due altre maschere satiresche.
Oggetti
raccolti.
- Alabastro:
un vassoio di sottile lastra, largo m. 0,13x0,23, ad orlo leggermente rilevato
(fìg. 19); un piattino, di m. 0,10 di diam. con orlo
leggermente rialzato, e fondo a strie concentriche.
- Vetro: un
fiasco conico, alto m.0,13, a stretto collo.
- Bronzo: un
vaso a tronco di cono a basi ellittiche, largo m. 0,35 con orlo orizzontale
(vaso da lavaggi); un'ansa conformata a delfino, lunga m. 0,08; quattro
cerniere da cassa e alcune borchie circolari con gli anelli che vi erano
connessi, frammenti delle serrature della porta e di qualche mobile.
- Terracotta:
due lucerne monolychni, lunghe m. 0,16 e 0,10; una
pignatta cilindrico-conica, larga m. 0,20, col relativo coperchio; una scodella
rustica, di m. 0,26 di diam., una pignatta alta m. 0,33, ovoidale ; un grande
imbuto biansato, alto m. 0,29; cinque anfore vinarie.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 13. Frescoed Wall with Double White Field and a Niche.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 70.AG.89.
One of two frescoes that decorated the vaulted cubiculum (bedroom) of the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (see also 70.AG.90). Adjacent to the villa’s bath, this was one of the last rooms to be decorated. The chamber (known as Cubiculum 13) contained frescoes with elegant compositions on a white background. This section of wall includes the upper part of a doorway. Portions of the original stucco ceiling mouldings, ornamented with impressed floral motifs, are still attached along the edge of the arch. The decoration of the upper register features columns and trellises that frame hanging garlands, birds, vessels, and theatre masks. On either side of the doorway, two groupings of satirical masks accompany a silver kantharos at left and a partially open basket at right. The painting style, categorized by scholars as Fourth Style, is the last style of Roman wall painting, and combines elements of the three styles that came before.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Room 13. Frescoed Wall with White Ground and Yellow Centre Panel
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 70.AG.90.
One of two frescoes that decorated the vaulted cubiculum (bedroom) of the Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (see also 70.AG.89). Adjacent to the villa’s bath, it was one of the last rooms to be decorated. This chamber (known as Cubiculum 13) contained frescoes with elegant compositions on a white background. The decoration of the upper register features columns and trellises that frame hanging garlands, birds, and theatre masks. In the centre of this fresco, a flying Cupid holding a basket and a staff is depicted on a yellow background. The red lower register would have extended around the entire room. The painting style, categorized by scholars as Fourth Style, is the last style of Roman wall painting, and combines elements of the three styles that came before.
Rustic room 14
“Room 14” had rustic walls, which protruded east from the main house. Here was found an ovoidal terracotta dice cup (fritillus) 0.09 m high, and a bowl to grind colours, 0.40 wide, fragmented at the brim. The corridor leading south, with white walls above a red dado/plinth, gave access to the last two rooms on this side.
Camera
rustica 14
Rustica nelle
pareti è la camera 14, che forma corpo avanzato ad oriente. Vi si raccolse un fritillo di terracotta, ovoidale, alto m. 0,09, ed una
pelvi per macinare colori, larga m. 0,40, frammentata all'orlo. Il corridoio
diretto a sud, a parete bianca sopra zoccolo rosso, dava accesso ai due ultimi
ambienti di questo lato.
Room 15
“Room 15”, of uncertain use, had simple IV style decorations on a yellow background, above a dark red plinth. Simple dark red bands were used to delimit the wall panels; separating the middle wall from the frieze were dark red cornices with white dentils. In the centre of each panel (imitating a tapestry, as it is surrounded by white fringes), 1 m wide, and surmounted in the frieze by an arched flower festoon, starting from the plane of two standing swans, are simple monochrome motifs, green, or small squares measuring 0.28 X 0.15 m, with the following surviving representations
- North wall: A flying harpy; swimming fish; other similar.
- East wall: a winged Pegasus.
- South wall: a harpy with stick in the right paw and cup in the left; another harpy.
- West wall: a flying Pegasus; a medallion 0.24 m. in diameter, with a sacred tree and a scarcely visible landscape, in a red-hued frame.
No objects were collected here.
Ambiente 15
L'ambiente 15,
di incerta destinazione, aveva semplici decorazioni di IV stile a fondo giallo,
sopra zoccolo rosso-cupo. A delimitare i riquadri della parete erano impiegate
semplici fascie rosso-cupe; a separare la parete
media dal fregio, provvedevano cornici rosso-cupe a dentelli bianchi. Al centro
di ogni riquadro (imitante l'arazzo, perché contornato da frangie,
bianche) largo m. 1, e sormontato nel fregio da un festone fiorito arcuato,
partente dal piano di posa di due cigni stanti, sono semplici motivi monocromi,
verdi, o piccoli quadretti di m. 0,28 X 0,15, con le seguenti rappresentanze
superstiti.
- Parete nord:
Un'arpia volante; pesci natanti; altro simile.
- Parete est:
un pegaso alato.
- Parete sud:
un'arpia con bastone nella zampa d. e coppa nella sin.; altra arpia.
- Parete
ovest: un pegaso volante; un medaglione di m. 0,24 di diam., con albero sacro e
paesaggio appena accennalo, in cornicetta rosso-cupa.
Nessun oggetto
fu qui raccolto.
Room 16, triclinium?
At the end of the corridor was the spacious triclinium (?) “No.16”, with its rustic walls (which may have been covered with drapes), amply lit by three windows projecting to the south and east. At the eastern window, 2.40 m. wide, a three-sided masonry schola, all painted yellow and with a red frame, opened towards the east, in the shade of a pergola perhaps, whose back rose into a small pulvinus only 0.10 m. high. In addition to a few bronze remains of the door locks, the hinges and some bronze hinges of the same, a bronze oil-lamp was found here, 0.14 m. long, with two volutes near the rostrum, a curved leaf on the ring-shaped handle and a hinged lid in the middle of the disc.
Ambiente 16, triclinio?
In fondo al
corridoio si apriva lo spazioso triclinio (?) 16, affatto rustico nelle pareti
(che pelò poterono essere rivestite di drappi) ampiamente illuminato da tre
finestre sporgenti a sud e ad est. In corrispondenza della finestra orientale,
larga m. 2,40, aprivasi verso oriente, all'ombra di
una pergola forse, una schola in muratura a tre lati, tutta tinta di giallo e
con cornice rossa, la cui spalliera si elevava in un piccolo pulvino di soli
Ut. 0,10 di altezza. Oltre a pochi resti di bronzo delle serrature della porta,
ai cardini ed alcune cerniere, di bronzo, della medesima, fu qui rinvenuta una
lucerna di bronzo, lunga m. 0,14, con due volute presso il rostro, foglia
curvata sull'ansa ad anello e coperchio a cerniera in mezzo al disco.
The Torcularium 17
In the south-east corner of the portico, at 17, was the torcularium, which was also found in a perfect state of preservation, with the floor and walls, up to 1.70 m high, covered with smooth cocciopesto plaster and with the sides raised on each side to facilitate the flow of must towards the northern side, which is therefore lowered.
Here, the low pluteus, reinforced on the surface with three large Vesuvian stones, connected to each other with iron grappling, hollowed out in a funnel shape in the masonry, allowed a lead conduit to pass through it, which directed the must into the purifying dolium, “s”, below, embedded in the floor.
The praelum (wine press) was secured to sturdy wooden columns that were driven into holes 't', 't', 't'; the columns themselves (which were evidently only assembled at harvest time) were lowered into the subsoil through holes “u”, “u”. The room was entirely open to the north, and had two windows, one very large, projecting onto portico “C”, the other, measuring 0.60 X 0.90 m, opened on the east passage: a simple canopy formed its roof.
On the wall above
the purifying dolium, “s”, which was decorated with white ashlars, obtained by
the simple meeting of yellow and red strips, framed externally in a deep red background
measuring m. 1.06 X 0.59 m., a niche with a yellow background, 0.25 m. wide and
0.40 m. high, was built into the masonry, decorated with two very slender
columns supporting a sharp pediment, both in white stucco: below each column,
barely visible, is a small patera.
No trace of the Penates worshipped in this lararium, not even the obvious representation of Bacchus on the wall: in front of the lararium were the three clay oil-lamps reproduced in Fig. 19: a large circular oil-lamp, 0.15 m. wide, with an ornate disc. 0.15 m. wide, with the disc decorated with circles and rays framed by a circle of impressed ovoli; a very large two flame oil-lamp covered with green vitreous varnish, 0.35 m. long, with a large vine leaf on the ring-shaped handle, two equine protomes near the rostrums, and a stamp in raised letters C. I. L.; another two flame oil-lamp with two opposite rostrums, 0.13 m. long, whose vertical, ring-shaped handle rises from the centre of the disc, adorned with a ring of impressed ovoli. In addition, an anepigraphic bowl, 0.45 m. wide, an angular terracotta gutter, 0.39 m. high, decorated with a lion protome, and a bronze cauldron, in the shape of a sphere, 0.31 m. wide, with the handles, with a tapered round body, ending in griffin heads, were found near the above-described lamps. A horse harness must also have been suspended from the wall here, the ornamental remains of which can be recognised in a series of small tubes, hoops, variously carved foils, and three half-moon bronze pendants, found here.
Il torcularium 17
Nell'angolo
sud-est del portico, in 17, era il torcular, anch'esso rinvenuto in perfetto
stato di conservazione col pavimento e le pareti, fino a m. 1,70 di altezza,
rivestiti di intonaco levigato di cocciopesto e con le sponde rialzate in ogni
lato per agevolare il flusso del mosto verso il lato settentrionale, che,
perciò, è abbassato.
Quivi il basso
pluteo, rafforzato nella superficie con tre grosse pietre vesuviane, fra loro
connesse con grappe di ferro, incavandosi ad imbuto nella muratura, si lasciava
attraversare da un condotto di piombo che avviava il mosto nel
dolio-purificatoio, "s", sottostante, incastrato nel pavimento.
Il praelum era assicurato a robuste colonne lignee che
s'infliggevano nei fori "t", "t", "t"; per
fissare in questi le colonne stesse (che evidentemente montavansi
solo al momento della vendemmia) scendevasi nel
sottosuolo attraverso le apposite buche u, u. L'ambiente era tutto aperto a
nord, e munito di due finestre, l'una, amplissima, sporgente sul portico C,
l'altra, di m. 0,60 X 0,90, aperta sulla fauce ad oriente : una semplice
tettoia ne costituiva la copertura.
Sulla parete
al disopra del doliopurificatoio, s, la quale era
decorata a bugne bianche, ottenute col semplice incontro di listelli gialli e
rossi, riquadrata esternamente in un fondo rosso-cupo di m. 1,06 X 0,59, era
incassata nella muratura una nicchia a fondo giallo, larga m. 0,25, alta m.
0,40, decorata di due esilissime colonnine sorreggenti un frontone acuminato,
le une e l'altro di stucco bianco: al disotto di ogni colonnina, appena
accennata, una pateretta.
Nessuna
traccia dei Penati venerati in questo lararium, e nemmeno la ovvia
rappresentazione di Bacco sulla parete : davanti al larario si raccolsero le
tre lucerne fittili riprodotte nella fig. 19: grande lucerna circolare, larga
m. 0,15, col disco ornato di cerchi e raggi incorniciati da un giro di ovoli
impressi; grandissima lucerna bilychne rivestita di vernice vitrea verde, lunga
m. 0,35, con grossa foglia di vite sull'ansa ad anello, due protomi equine
presso i rostri, e bollo in lettere rilevate C. I. L.; altra lucerna bilychne a
due rostri opposti, lunga m. 0,13, la cui ansa verticale, ad anello, si eleva
dal centro del disco, ornato di un giro di ovoli impressi. Presso le lucerne
descritte si rinvennero inoltre una pelvi anepigrafa, larga m. 0,45; una
grondaia angolare, alta in. 0,39, ornata di una protome leonina, di terracotta;
ed un lebete di bronzo, a sezione di sfera, largo m. 0,31, con le anse, a corpo
tondo rastremato, desinenti in teste di grifi. Doveva qui essere sospesa al
muro anche una bardatura da cavallo, i cui avanzi ornamentali riconosconsi in una serie di tubetti, cerchietti, lamine
variamente intagliate, e tre pendagli semilunati, di bronzo, qui rinvenuti.
Cubicula on the south side
A series of four cubicula, accessible from the portico by only two entrances, and lit from it by two large windows, opened onto porticus C, in which a single-handled tumbler, 0.085 m high, of very light, well-purified clay, was found.
Cubiculum 18
The mural decoration of the first cubiculum, 18, of the 4th style, is very simple: yellow and red backgrounds alternating between the red base and an all yellow frieze: separating the squares of the middle wall were vertical black bands, on which were painted silver candelabra either with vegetal stems with opposing leaflets or with a double twisted metal rod, all surmounted by a patera in front. Simple cornices horizontally separated the middle wall from the frieze and zoccolo.
Cubicula 19 and 20
The decorations described above were repeated uniformly in the next cubiculum “19” and cubiculum “20”, in the last of which the following glass jars were collected: four square jars with wide circular necks, 0.15-0.19 m high; eight bottles, also square, 0.11-0.22 m high, all with short necks and sturdy ribbon handles.
Cubiculum 21
Noblest of all was the last cubiculum,
“21”, whose white mosaic floor bore in its centre a chessboard measuring 1.24
m. on each side with a geometric square in a twisted frame, of black tesserae. Here
the walls bore more accurate decorations, in the same fourth style. Above a red
plinth, 0.36 m. high, on which one can observe green plants and pecking birds,
was the middle wall, 1.60 m. high, made up of three large sky-blue panels on
each wall, terminating in a frieze with a yellow background, 0.65 m. high, adorned
with sparse architectural motifs with hanging masks, gracious peacocks, seashells
and vases with foodstuffs. Between one and the other of the sky-blue panels, on
the middle wall, rose panels with red backgrounds, 0.28-0.30 m. wide, of which
those on the east and west walls were adorned with gold candelabras with double
twisted, metallic stems, or with simple, vegetal stems, with opposite leaflets;
those on the north and south walls were adorned with light architectural
perspectives and yellow-red pavilions. In the centre of the sky-blue panels
were the flying cupids and the small paintings of which I give a brief mention
here.
— East wall:
(a) Two flying cupids, naked, less the fluttering veils, carrying a basket filled with fruit, 0.20m high.
(b) Another similar cupid, holding a big bunch of red grapes with the outstretched right hand.
— South wall:
c) Small painting, 0.07 m. X 0.23 m., representing, on a deep red background, a scrinium (case for papers), a theca calamaria (sheath with writing reed), a rallum (scraper) and an open diptychum (two leaf tablet), on which, above 5 witnesses' seals, we read: Roma sis asine si... (CIL IV, 6696) see fig. 20, A.
(d) Two cupids, flying to the left, carrying a large red quiver resting on the shoulder of the first and on the left forearm of the second.
(e) Another small painting 0.07m square x 0.22m (fig. 20, B) in which on the dark red background, we can lying on a surface, an ivory arcula (box for valuables) with elliptical body and looped cover, adorned with golden inlays, in which inside are kept guarded indistinct objects (gems, coins?); two silver coins; a marsupium (purse) tied around the neck with a ribbon.
— West wall:
(f) Cupid with situla in right hand and thyrsus (?) in the left; the others were faded and vanished.
— North wall:
(g) Cupid carrying pan-pipes in the left hand.
(h) Cupid carrying a basket with low rim in the right hand, and a pedum (shepherd’s crook) in the left.
Cubicoli del lato meridionale
Sul portico C,
nel quale si rinvenne un bicchiere, alto m. 0,085, di leggerissima argilla ben
depurata, monoansato, aprivasi una serie di quattro
cubicoli, accessibili dal portico per due soli ingressi, e da esso illuminati
per due finestre spaziose.
Cubiculo 18
La decorazione
murale del primo cubicolo, 18, di IV stile, è ben semplice: fondi gialli e
rossi alternati fra lo zoccolo rosso-cupo e il fregio tutto giallo: a separare
i riquadri della parete media erano inseriti dei fascioni verticali, neri, sui
quali si ergevano argentei candelabri o a caule vegetale con foglioline opposte
o a duplice verga metallica attorcigliata, sormontati tutti da una patera di
prospetto. Semplici cornici separavano orizzontalmente la parete media dal
fregio e dallo zoccolo.
Cubicoli 19 e 20
Le decorazioni
descritte si ripetevano uniformi nei successivi cubicoli 19 e 20, nel quale
ultimo si raccolsero i seguenti vasi di vetro: quattro barattoli di pianta
quadrata a largo collo circolare, alti m. 0,15-0,19; otto bottiglie anch'esse
di pianta quadrata, alte m. 0,11.-0,22, tutte a corto collo ed ansa robusta a
nastro.
Cubiculo 21
Più nobile di tutti
era l'ultimo cubicolo, 21, il cui pavimento di musaico bianco, recava al centro
una scacchiera di m.1,24 di lato con quadrato geometrico in cornice a
tortiglione, di tessere nere. Quile pareti recavano
decorazioni più accurate, dello stesso IV stile. Sopra uno zoccolo, rosso, alto
m. 0,36, nel quale osservansi verdi pianticelle ed
uccelli beccanti, era imposta la parete media, alta m. 1,60, formata di tre
grandi specchi celesti per ciascun muro, desinente in nn
fregio a fondo giallo, alto m. 0,65, adorno di radi motivi architettonici cui
animavano mascherette pensili, pavoni gradienti,
conchiglie marine, vasi con commestibili. Fra l'uno e l'altro dei riquadri
celesti, nella parete media, si elevavano dallo zoccolo dei fondi rossi, larghi
m. 0.28-0,30, dei quali quelli delle pareti est e ovest adorni di candelabri
aurei a fusto doppio attorcigliato, metallico, o a caule semplice, vegetale,
con foglioline opposte; quelli delle pareti nord e sud adorni di leggiere
prospettive architettoniche e padiglioni di color giallo-rosso. Al centro degli
specchi celesti erano gli Eroti volanti ed i quadretti dei quali dò qui un breve cenno.
- Parete
orientale:
a) Due Eroti
volano di conserva, nudi, meno dei veli svolazzanti, recando una cesta colma di
frutta, alt. m. 0,20.
b) Altro Erote
simile, che con la d. protesa porge un grosso grappolo d'uva rossa.
- Parete
meridionale:
c) Quadretto
di m. 0,07 X 0,23, rappresentante, su fondo rosso-cupo, uno scrinium,
una theca calamaria, un valium e un diptychum aperto,
nel quale, al disopra di 5 sigilli dei testimoni, si legge: Roma sis asine si... (C. IV, 6696 fig.
20, A).
d) Volano a sin. due Eroti, recando una grossa faretra rossa poggiata
sulla spalla del primo e sull'avambraccio sin. del
secondo;
e) Altro
quadretto di m. 0,07 X 0,22 (fig. 20, E) nel quale sul fondo rosso-cupo, vedonsi adagiati su di un piano un'arcula di avorio a corpo
ellittico e coperchio scorsoio, adorna d'intarsii
d'oro, nel cui interno son custoditi oggetti indistinti (gemme, monete?); due
monete d'argento; un marsupium stretto al collo con
un nastrino.
- Parete
occidentale:
f) Erote con
situla nella d. e tirso (?) nella sin.; gli altri erano svaniti;
- Parete
Settentrionale:
g) Erote
recante nella sin. la siringa;
h) Erote
portante con la d. un cesto a basso orlo, e con la sin.
il pedum.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21. Two sections of fourth style north wall. In the foreground is the threshold from frigidarium 7.
The north and south walls were adorned with light architectural perspectives and yellow-red pavilions.
Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee. Now in Boscoreale Antiquarium.
See Garcia y Garcia L., 2017. Scavi Privati nel Territorio di Pompei. Roma: Arbor Sapientiae, p. 403, fig. 242.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21. Part of fourth style north wall.
Cupid carrying a basket with low rim in the right hand, and a pedum (shepherd’s crook) in the left.
Erote portante con la d. un cesto a basso orlo, e
con la sin. il pedum.
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns. Now in Boscoreale Antiquarium.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21. Second part of fourth style north wall.
A cupid is carrying pan pipes in the left hand.
Erote recante
nella sin. la siringa.
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns. Now in Boscoreale Antiquarium.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21. The entire west wall, cut in 2 pieces.
The east and west walls were adorned with
gold candelabras with double twisted, metallic stems, or with simple, vegetal stems,
with opposite leaflets.
Cupid with situla in right hand and thyrsus (?) in the left; the others were faded and vanished.
Le pareti est
e ovest adorni di candelabri aurei a fusto doppio attorcigliato, metallico, o a
caule semplice, vegetale, con foglioline opposte.
Erote con
situla nella d. e tirso (?) nella sin.; gli altri erano svaniti.
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns. Now in Boscoreale Antiquarium.
See Garcia y Garcia L., 2017. Scavi Privati nel Territorio di Pompei. Roma: Arbor Sapientiae, p. 403, fig. 241.
![Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21, south wall. Painting representing, on deep red background, a scrinium (case for papers), a theca calamaria (sheath with writing reed), a rallum (scraper) and an open diptychum (two leaf tablet), where above five seals of witnesses, it reads:
Roma sis asine si... [CIL IV, 6696].
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1921, p. 459, fig. 20A.](Villa_029%20Boscoreale%20Villa%20of%20Numerius%20Popidius%20Florus%20Contrada%20Pisanella,%20Fondo%20Zurlo-Pulzella_files/image031.jpg)
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21, south wall. Painting representing, on deep red background, a scrinium (case for papers), a theca calamaria (sheath with writing reed), a rallum (scraper) and an open diptychum (two leaf tablet), where above five seals of witnesses, it reads:
Roma sis asine
si... [CIL IV, 6696].
See Notizie degli Scavi di
Antichità, 1921, p. 459, fig. 20A.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Cubiculum 21, south wall. Painting in which on the dark red background, we see an ivory arcula (box for valuables) with elliptical body and looped cover laid on a surface, adorned with golden inlays, in which inside are kept guarded indistinct objects (gems, coins?); also two silver coins; a narrow necked purse tied with a ribbon.
See Notizie degli Scavi di
Antichità, 1921, p. 459, fig. 20B.
Epigraphs
Among the amphorae, found in various parts of the villa, the following bore the inscriptions which are transcribed here:
1a CIL, IV 6911: data consolare: Nerone ... Nerone III et... cos. [According to CIL IV 6911: There appear to be two titles. V. 5 whether it was III or IV is doubtful].
2a CIL, IV 6912:
altra: Sa. -Vesp(asiano) IIII cos.
3a CIL., IV 6915:
Taur - A. S. F.
4a CIL, IV 6916:
Taur(omenitanum vinum) - M. M. Uf.
5a CIL, IV 6921:
G(arum) f. scombr. Scauri - Ab Agathopode Claudio Eulogo.
6a CIL, IV 6939:
(A. Umbri)ci Scauri.
7a CIL, IV 6955:
M. - P. T. R.
8a CIL, IV 7001: ПN
- Men. K.
Epigrafi
Tra le anfore,
rinvenute in più punti della villa, le seguenti recavano le iscrizioni che qui
si trascrivono:
1a C. I. L., IV 6911: data consolare: Nerone... Nerone
III et... cos. [Secondo
CIL IV 6911: Sembra che ci siano due titoli. V. 5 se fosse III o IV è
dubbio].
2a C. I. L., IV 6912: altra: Sa. — Vespasiano) IIII cos.
3a C. I. L., IV
6915: Taur — A. S. F.
4a C. I. L., IV
6916: Taur(omenitanum vinum) — M. M. Uf.
5a C. I. L., IV
6921: G(arum) f. scombr.
Scauri — Ab Agathopode Claudio Eulogo.
6a C. I. L., IV
6939: (A. Umbri)ci Scauri.
7a C. I. L., IV 6955: M. — P. T. R.
8a C. I. L., IV 7001: ПN — Men. K.
Various stamps/marks of domestic instruments
1: On two tiles (CIL, X, 8042, 103): C. Vahies.
2: On “Aretino” dish (CIL, X, 8055, 36, l): L. R. Pi.
3: Pelvi (cfr.
8048, 34 and 35): St(ati)
Marci Celer f(ecit).
Bolli varii
del instrum. domesticum
1: Su due tegole
(CIL, X, 8042, 103): C. Vahies.
2: Su vaso
aretino (CIL, X, 8055, 36, l): L. R. Pi.
3: pelvi (cfr.
8048, 34 e 35): St(ati) Marci Celer f(ecit).
Headline graffiti:
On the outer wall of the basin at the back of the frigidarium, we read, drawn with a stylus, the acclamation CIL IV, 6898: Acti va(le), and traced with red stone in large letters, the other, CIL IV, 6899: Paris va(le).
On the outside of the eastern wall of the calidarium, were these two other named graffiti: CIL IV, 6900: Muner(ibus) Eri……; and CIL IV 6902: Duos Fabios Merca(n)tes rogamus: at the back of the same calidarium, to the north, finally a name of questionable reading, CIL IV 6901: Honeno Guia (?).
Titoletti graffiti:
Sulla parete
esterna della vasca a tergo del frigidario, leggevasi, tracciata con lo stilo, l'acclamazione CIL, IV,
6898. Activa(le), e, tracciata con pietra rossa in
grandi lettere, l'altra, ibid. 6899: Paris va(le).
All'esterno
della parete orientale del calidario, erano graffiti questi altri due
titoletti: CIL, IV, 6900: Muner(ibus)
Eri...; e 6902: Duos Fabios
Merca(n)tes rogamus: a
tergo dello stesso calidario, a nord, leggevasi
finalmente un titolo di ben dubbia lezione, 6901: Honeno
Guia (?).
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Frigidarium. Graffito: Acti Vale.
See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer, p. 722, CIL IV 6898.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Frigidarium. Graffito: Paris Vale.
See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer, p. 722, CIL IV 6899.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Calidarium. Graffito: Muneribus Eri.
See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer, p. 722, CIL IV 6900.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Calidarium. Graffito
of Duos Fabios Merca(n)tes rogamus as recorded in C.I.L with note: “Dedi ex apographo meo quod ut potui delineavi”
I gave from my
pen what I drew as well as I could. C.I.L. records it as Duos Fabios (? Cadios ?) Merca(n)tes
rogamus.
See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer, p. 722, CIL IV 6902.
Boscoreale. Villa of Numerius Popidius Florus. Calidarium. Graffito of Honeno Guia (?) as recorded in C.I.L with note: “Dedi ex apographo meo quod ut potui delineavi” I gave from my pen what I drew as well as I could.
See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer, p. 722, CIL IV 6901.
Ancient roof tiles
One hundred and fifteen ancient roof tiles and two hundred flat tiles in perfect state and intact, came from the excavation of this villa, and they were used in Pompeii in the restoration of ancient monuments.
Tegole antiche
Tegole antiche
centoquindici ed embrici duecento in istato di perfetta integrità, risultati
dallo scavo di questa villa, furono adibiti in Pompei nei restauri degli
antichi monumenti.
Finds from a villa in Boscoreale.
According to the Getty Museum, Gorecki 1993 provides the first publication of Getty 72.AC.131-146 (shown below), proposing that the material comes from the Villa of N. Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (excavated in 1906), but that it entered the market prior to the publication of excavations in 1921. This history and the identification of the objects as a group have not been verified by the Getty.
See Gorecki J.,
1993. Metallgefäße und -objekte aus der Villa des N. Popidius Florus
(Boscoreale) im J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu,
Kalifornien in Bronces Y Religión Romana: Actas Del XI Congreso Internacional de Bronces
1990. Madrid: pp. 229-246.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze patera with ram’s head handle.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.138.
The interior and exterior of this bronze patera (shallow bowl) are undecorated, except for a series of concentric bands on the underside of the foot. The tip of the fluted handle is fashioned in the shape of a ram’s head. The attachment that affixed the handle below the rim is now partly missing.
Vessels of this type were used in the home for religious rituals and to hold water for handwashing during banquets. Slaves would pour water from an oinochoe (pitcher) over the hands of participants, catching the cascade in a patera held underneath. This patera was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown. The owners of the luxurious homes in this area used finely shaped vessels decorated with a variety of images, including mythological figures, theatre masks, animal heads and feet, and floral ornaments.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze amphora with standing female figure and satyr mask.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.143.
Aside from two pairs of incised lines on the shoulder and neck of the vessel, the handle, which takes the form of a standing female figure, provides the only decoration on this amphora (storage jar). She wears an ankle-length garment and mantle and holds her arms at her sides. The attachment plate upon which she stands is shaped as a mask depicting a bearded satyr wearing a fillet.
Satyrs were frequent companions of the wine god Bacchus, and vessels of this type were often used to hold wine at banquets. This amphora was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown. The owners of the luxurious homes in this area used finely shaped vessels decorated with a variety of images, including mythological figures, theatre masks, animal heads and feet, and floral ornaments.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze oinochoe (pitcher) with lion handle.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.146.
The shoulder of this otherwise plain oinochoe (pitcher) is decorated with two pairs of incised bands. Parts of the high, arched handle, however, take the form of a lion. A lion’s head in relief appears above the vessel’s mouth. The rotellae, small protrusions on either side of the handle where it joins the rim, are fashioned as the stylized forelegs of the feline. At the base of the handle is a lion’s paw. Floral motifs run along the outer face of the handle.
Vessels of this type were used in the home for religious rituals and to hold water for handwashing during banquets. Slaves would pour water from an oinochoe over the hands of participants, catching the cascade in a patera (shallow bowl) held underneath. This oinochoe was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze patera with dog’s head handle.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.134.
The interior and exterior of this bronze patera (shallow bowl) are undecorated. A series of concentric bands decorate the underside of the foot. The tip of the fluted handle is fashioned in the shape of a dog’s head. At the join to the bowl is a relief attachment comprised of floral ornaments.
Vessels of this type were used in the home for religious rituals and to hold water for handwashing during banquets. Slaves would pour water from an oinochoe (pitcher) over the hands of participants, catching the cascade in a patera held underneath. This patera was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze amphora with two handles each with a satyr and a maenad.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.144.
The handles of this otherwise undecorated amphora (storage jar) take the form of two male heads in profile—one facing left, the other right. Appliques in the shape of frontal female heads attach the base of each handle to the vessel. The figures represent satyrs and maenads, companions of the wine god Bacchus.
Vessels of this type were frequently used to hold wine at banquets. This amphora was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze oinochoe (pitcher) with snake and gorgon’s head handle.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.133.
Except for three concentric incised rings at the join of the neck to the shoulder, the body of this bronze oinochoe (pitcher) is undecorated. At the base of the handle, however, is an attachment in the form of a gorgon’s head. The central rib of the arching handle takes the form of a snake's body, its head modelled free of the handle itself, perhaps for use as a thumb rest. On each side of the handle is a spool-shaped ornament.
Vessels of this type were used in the home for religious rituals and to hold water for handwashing during banquets. Slaves would pour water from a pitcher over the hands of participants, catching the cascade in a patera (shallow bowl) held underneath. This oinochoe was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Shallow bronze patera bowl with single serpentine handle.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.140.
This patera (shallow bowl) is undecorated except for a single serpentine handle with a knob at either end and one placed centrally on the raised part of the handle. Vessels of this type were used in the home for religious rituals and to hold water for handwashing during banquets. Slaves would pour water from an oinochoe (pitcher) over the hands of participants, catching the cascade in a patera held underneath. This patera was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze amphora with two handles each with a female head wearing a lion’s skin—possibly depicting Omphale.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.139.
Two handles provide the only decoration on this tall amphora (storage jar). Attachments at the base of each are fashioned in the shape of a female head wearing a lion’s skin—possibly depicting Omphale, a mythical queen of Lydia (in present-day Turkey), to whom the hero Hercules was enslaved for a time.
Vessels of this type were frequently used to hold wine at banquets. This amphora was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Discovered in a villa in Boscoreale. Bronze basin with palmette handles.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.142.
This large basin, which sits on a small, straight-sided foot, is undecorated except for two fluted handles, each encircled at its mid-point with a beaded band. Both handles are attached to the basin with appliques fashioned in the shape of palmettes. This vessel was discovered in a villa at Boscoreale or in the vicinity, although the exact findspot is unknown.
Villa in Boscoreale.
Bronze candelabrum with silver inlays.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.
Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.131.
One of a pair of identical bronze candelabra (lampstands) that once belonged to the household furnishings of a Roman villa (see also 72.AC.132). Architectural in inspiration, these candelabra take the form of a tall fluted column rising from a base with three lion’s paws. At the top, a vase-shaped element supports a circular disk designed to hold an oil lamp. The decoration around the disk includes intricate patterns of tongues and florals. Both candelabra are formed from several separately made and assembled components: the tripod base, a fluted shaft, the vase-shaped decorative element, and finally the circular plate on which the lamp sat. The individual parts of the stand are decorated with a variety of relief mouldings and floral designs. The kidney-shaped pattern midway down the krater-shaped element of the candelabrum even has silver inlay. Designed to support an oil-burning lamp, many stands of this type have been discovered in houses at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Boscoreale, which were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The height of this candelabrum indicates that it was meant to stand on the floor, but shorter, tabletop versions are also known. Originally, ornate metal lamps and lampstands were used to illuminate temples, sanctuaries, and other public spaces. However, by the first century A.D. they had become typical household items in wealthy private homes. Elaborate bronze candelabra, such as this one, were transformed from utilitarian objects into extravagant showpieces.
Villa in Boscoreale.
Bronze candelabrum with silver inlays.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.132.
One of a pair of identical bronze candelabra (lampstands) that once belonged to the household furnishings of a Roman villa (see also 72.AC.131).
Villa in Boscoreale.
Bronze stand.
Perched on four small lion’s paws edged with palmettes, this stand comprises a square plate; a tapering cylindrical riser with a flaring base and a raised collar; and a flat, broad, round plate on which a separate vessel—perhaps a large krater, a bowl used for mixing wine and water at drinking parties - would stand.
Like the Greeks before them, the Romans diluted their wine with water. This practice gave rise to a variety of containers and utensils designed for the mixing and serving of wine. As part of an ornate table service, a krater elevated on a stand like this one would have made a striking presentation.
As was frequently the case with Roman bronze implements, the various parts of the stand were cast separately and then assembled.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.135.
Villa in Boscoreale.
Bronze basin, undecorated except for the serpentine handles which are fashioned
with floral motifs.
At the apex of each is
a raised knob.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.141.
Three items that may be much earlier
Gorecki 1993 provides the first publication of 72.AC.131-146, proposing that the material comes from the Villa of N. Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (excavated in 1906), but that it entered the market prior to the publication of excavations in 1921. This history and the identification of the objects as a group have not been verified by the Getty. Gorecki also observes that the following three items in the group date to a much earlier period (72.AC.136, .137, and .145), suggesting that they might have been added in modern times. [Feb 2022]
See Gorecki J.,
1993. Metallgefäße und -objekte aus der Villa des N. Popidius Florus
(Boscoreale) im J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu,
Kalifornien in Bronces Y Religión Romana: Actas Del XI Congreso Internacional de
Bronces 1990. Madrid: pp. 229-246.
![Villa in Boscoreale. The fragment preserves the undecorated, curved blade of a bronze strigil. 5th century B.C.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.137.
Gorecki proposed that this comes from the Villa of N. Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (excavated in 1906), but that it entered the market prior to the publication of excavations in 1921. This history and the identification of the objects as a group have not been verified by the Getty. Gorecki also observes that three of the items in the group date to a much earlier period (72.AC.136, .137 and .145), suggesting that they might have been added in modern times. [Feb 2022].
See Gorecki J., 1993. Metallgefäße und -objekte aus der Villa des N. Popidius Florus (Boscoreale) im J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Kalifornien in Bronces Y Religión Romana: Actas Del XI Congreso Internacional de Bronces 1990. Madrid: pp. 229-246.](Villa_029%20Boscoreale%20Villa%20of%20Numerius%20Popidius%20Florus%20Contrada%20Pisanella,%20Fondo%20Zurlo-Pulzella_files/image051.jpg)
Villa in Boscoreale. The
fragment preserves the undecorated, curved blade of a bronze strigil.
5th century B.C.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.137.
Villa in Boscoreale. Cylindrical flask fashioned in the shape of a pomegranate with a spreading spout projecting from its top. 450–400 B.C.
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.136.
![Villa in Boscoreale. Bronze oinochoe. The body of this squat jug is undecorated. 5th century B.C.
Around the outer face of the mouth runs a tongue-and-dart motif, and on the lip, a beaded pattern.
The edges of the high, arched strap handle are also articulated.
At the base of the handle is an applique in the shape of volutes (?).
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.145.
Gorecki proposed that this comes from the Villa of N. Popidius Florus at Boscoreale (excavated in 1906), but that it entered the market prior to the publication of excavations in 1921. This history and the identification of the objects as a group have not been verified by the Getty. Gorecki also observes that three of the items in the group date to a much earlier period (72.AC.136, .137 and .145), suggesting that they might have been added in modern times. [Feb 2022].
See Gorecki J., 1993. Metallgefäße und -objekte aus der Villa des N. Popidius Florus (Boscoreale) im J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Kalifornien in Bronces Y Religión Romana: Actas Del XI Congreso Internacional de Bronces 1990. Madrid: pp. 229-246.](Villa_029%20Boscoreale%20Villa%20of%20Numerius%20Popidius%20Florus%20Contrada%20Pisanella,%20Fondo%20Zurlo-Pulzella_files/image053.jpg)
Villa in Boscoreale. Bronze oinochoe. The body of this squat jug is undecorated. 5th century B.C.
Around the outer face of the mouth runs a tongue-and-dart motif, and on the lip, a beaded pattern.
The edges of the high, arched strap handle are also articulated.
At the base of the handle is an applique in the shape of volutes (?).
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Now in the Getty Museum, inventory number 72.AC.145.