House of the Faun

The House of the Faun ( _it. Casa del Fauno), built during the second century BCE, was one of the largest, most impressive private residences in Pompeii, Italy, and housed many great pieces of art. It is one of the most luxurious aristocratic houses from the Roman republic, and reflects this period better than most archaeological evidence found even in Rome itself.cite book |title=Civilization of the ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome |last=Grant |first=Michael |authorlink= |coauthors=Kitzinger, Rachel |year=1988 |publisher=Scribner's |location=New York |isbn=0684175940 |pages= |url= ]

History

The House of the Faun was built in the second century BC, during the Samnite period (200 - 80 BCE). ["The Cambridge Ancient History." [New] ed. London: Cambridge University Press, 1970.] There is evidence, most notably in the eastern walls of the tetrastyle atrium, that after the great earthquake in 62 CE, the House of the Faun was rebuilt or repaired;cite journal |last=Dwyer |first=Eugene J. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2001 |month= |title=The Unified Plan of the House of the Faun |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=328–343 |doi=10.2307/991759 |url= |accessdate= |quote= ] yet, the building was only used as a house from the second century BCE until 79 CE, ultimately rendered unusable by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Although the eruption was devastating, the layers of ash covering the abandoned town preserved artworks, like the mosaics of the House of the Faun, which would have otherwise been likely destroyed or decayed due to the passage of time.

The House of the Faun was named for the bronze statue of the dancing faun located, originally, on the lip of the impluvium, a basin for catching rainwater; it has been moved to the center of the impluvium, as you can see in the picture to the right. Fauns are spirits of untamed woodland, which Romans often connected to Pan and Greek satyrs, or wild followers of the Greek god of wine and agriculture, Dionysus.

Archaeologists discovered an inscription bearing the cognomen Saturninus, suggesting that the dwelling was owned by the important gens, or clan, Satria; a ring bearing the family name Cassius was also found, indicating that someone of the Cassii family married into the "gens" Satria and lived in the House of the Faun. [cite journal |last=Gordon |first=Mary L. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1927 |month= |title=The Ordo of Pompeii |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=17 |issue= |pages=165–183 |doi=10.2307/296132 |url= |accessdate= |quote= ]

Artworks

The House of the Faun is most famously known for the Alexander Mosaic, depicting the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. This mosaic is inspired by or copied from the Greek painting finished in the late fourth century BCE, probably by the Greek artist Philoxenus of Eretria. ["The Natural History." Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London: Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, 1855.] Unlike most Pompeian pavements of the late second and early first centuries, this mosaic is made of tessarae, and not the more common opus signinum, or other grades of stone chips set in mortar.cite journal |last=Westgate |first=Ruth |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2000 |month= |title=" _la. Pavimenta Atque Emblemata Vermiculata": Regional Styles in Hellenistic Mosaic and the First Mosaics At Pompeii |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=255–275 |doi=10.2307/507451 |url= |accessdate= |quote= ]

The Alexander Mosaic is complemented by other floor mosaics with Nilotic scenes and theatrical masks. Other notable works of art from the House of Faun include an erotic "Satyr and Nymph" and the fish mosaic, a piece closely resembling other mosaics in Pompeii.

Architecture

The House of the Faun covers nearly 3,000 square meters, and occupies an entire city block, or insula. The house can be divided into five major parts: the tuscan atrium, tetrastyle atrium, service rooms and corridors, first, or Ionic, peristyle, and second, or Doric, peristyle, and their corresponding dependent rooms. Like many ancient Roman houses, the House of the Faun had tabernae, or storefront shops, and a highly-sophisticated building plan, which details the many rooms. The entrance is decorated by the Latin message “HAVE”, a greeting both for meeting and parting. ["Dictionary Entry Lookup." The Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University. .]

Like other wealthy aristocrats of the Roman Republic, the owners of the House of the Faun installed a private bath system, or "balneum", in the house. The bathing room was located in the domestic wing, which was to the right of the entrance, and along with the kitchen was heated by a large furnace. The servants’ quarters were dark and cramped, and there was not much furniture. [cite book |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites |last=Stillwell |first=Richard |authorlink= |coauthors=MacDonald, William Lloyd; McAllister, Marian Holland |year=1976 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn= |pages= |url= ] The house features beautiful peristyle gardens, the second of which was created as a stage to host recitations, mimes, and pantomimes. Additionally, the house contained an entrance passage, a number of bedrooms ("cubicula"), dining rooms ("triclinia") for both the summer and winter, a reception room ("oecus"), and an office ("tablinum").

Remains

Today visitors can still explore the remains of the House of the Faun in modern Pompeii, along Via di Nola. Although most of the original artworks have been relocated to the National Archaeological Museum ("Museo Archeologico Nazionale") in Naples, the most famous pieces, like the Dancing Faun and the Alexander Mosaic, have been recreated to give tourists a clearer picture of what the house was originally like.cite journal |last=Merola |first=Marco |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2006 |month= |title=Alexander, Piece by Piece |journal=Archaeology |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages= |id= |url=http://www.archaeology.org/0601/abstracts/mosaic.html |accessdate= |quote= ] Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, Pompeii’s current archaeological superintendent, explained, “I want visitors to have the impression that they are entering the same luxurious house in which the ancient Pompeian owners lived before it was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.”

Gallery

References

Further reading

*cite book |title=Pompeii: The Living City |last=Butterworth |first=Alex |authorlink= |coauthors=Laurence, Ray |year=2005 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0312355858 |pages= |url=
*cite book |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |last=Hornblower |first=Simon |authorlink= |coauthors=Spawforth, Antony |edition=3rd edition |year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn= |pages= |url=
*cite journal |last=Little |first=A. M. G. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1935 |month= |title=The Decoration of The Hellenistic Peristyle House in South Italy |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=360–371 |doi=10.2307/498623 |url= |accessdate= |quote=