House of Menander

The House of Menander is a building in Pompeii, Italy. It is located in the southern half of the town, just northeast of the Little and Large Theaters, as well as the Gladiators’ barracks. [http://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/pompeii-pompei-i-cm-pp.htm No Author Listed, House of Menander, Tourist Attractions in Pompeii, Italy 2007] ] An unknown architect constructed it in approximately 300 B.C..

peculations about the owner

The name of the owner of the House of Menander is unknown, but due to the villa’s impressive size and intricate structure, as well as the numerous decorative touches such as frescoes, it has been concluded that a well-to-do merchant owned the house when Vesuvius erupted. This view is also supported by the house’s location near the center of town, only two blocks from the lavish Stabian Baths. Use of this bath-house, a public washhouse and brothel with walls covered in erotic art, was thought of as a sign of luxury. Roberts, Adam, Classical Architecture. London, Penguin Books. 1990]

The nationality of the owner is more in dispute than his economic status. Pompeii’s Mediterranean climate enticed many Romans to invest in holiday villas there, so it is possible that the owner at the time of Vesuvius’ eruption was a wealthy tourist, not a local.

Art, architecture, and relics

Fresco

The estate is referred to as “The House of Menander” because there is a well-preserved fresco of the ancient Greek Dramatist Menander in a niche in the peristyle. The fresco is now commonly referred to as “Painting of the Poet,” and has bold yellow and red coloring, a sign of wealth. The colors, coupled with a background that lacks either linear or implied perspective, place the fresco firmly in the First of the Pompeian Fresco Styles that the German archaeologist August Mau discerned while excavating Pompeii.

Menander

Menander was known for often employing maxims to sum up the most practical way to live. [http://search.eb.com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/eb/article-9051959 Menander] , Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Online] His tradition, if not his image, is further displayed by the wit of two local merchants, Sirico and Nummianus, who had the phrase “Salve, lucru” (Welcome, money) inscribed in their atrium.

Classical Style and Hellenism

The large columns in the peristyle at the House of Menander are representative of the Doric style of architecture, an offshoot of the Classical Style, which also stems from Greece. The emphasis on Greek culture in Pompeian architecture is not surprising since Greek sailors had been using the port as a trading post before the Oscans founded the city in the 6th century B.C..Jones, Rick, [http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/pompeii/field/4.html Interactive Dig Pompeii] , Archaeology Magazine, 2001]

References