Understanding and using the sources

1. What evidence is there of public and private areas in an atrium house?

Evidence through inscriptions and tablets, and especially physical such as; the houses being kept in good condition with maintenance here and there to ensure its preservation, the artefacts too is a good example too.

2. Why was the peristyle an important feature of wealthy homes?

The peristyle was an important feature of wealthy homes because it had become the centrepiece of wealthy homes.

Profile tasks

1. What are significant features of the Villa of the Papyri?

Some significant features of the Villa of the Papyri are; the magnificent water features such as, the pools and waterworks. The impluvium in the atrium displays the ornate use of statues and waterworks. In the adjoining peristyle there was another pool with 10 columns on either side. Between each column was a shell from which streams of water flowed into the pool. There was a huge fish pond as large as the imperial baths in Rome (6.5m long and 7m wide). Nearby was a small rotunda that concealed an aqueduct and hydraulic pump, bringing water to all these waterworks.

As well as private quarters, the property contained a bathing establishment, shops and apartments, as proved by an inscription found when the house was first excavated advertising these premises. The private bathing facility was intended for the elite of Pompeii. This included a cloakroom, a dressing room with a cold tub, a warm bath, a vaulted circular area probably used like a sauna, a hot bath and open-air baths. It also featured a waiting room and a service hatch that enabled the bathers to purchase a snack from the nearby tavern.

Another feature of this house was the large grotto-style dining room with fountains. Its walls were decorated with scenes of the Egyptian Nile and the ceiling was covered with stones to give the appearance of a cave or grotto.

2. What do its statues reveal about society in Pompeii and Herculaneum?

3. Find out more about the famous library of the Villa and the scientific methods used to read the carbonised scrolls. Read the online Nature article ‘X-rays reveal words in Vesuvius-baked scrolls’. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.16763#:~:text=Researchers%20decipher%20letters%20from%20Herculaneum,Vesuvius%20almost%202%2C000%20years%20ago.