Pompeii archaeologists have unearthed a rare small house during excavations at the site of the ancient Italian city, officials said. The house was buried under the ash and debris that wiped out Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, but the elaborate frescoes painted on its interior walls remained largely intact.
The house appeared during an ongoing construction project in a section of Pompeii Archaeological Park called Insula dei Casti Amanti, or House of Chaste Lovers, the park said in a translated statement. Its size was unusually small compared to others found in Pompeii, including some located nearby, and what adds to the intrigue is the fact that it contains such sumptuous artwork inside.
Pompeii Archaeological Park/document via REUTERS
The frescoes mainly depict scenes from classical mythology. A well-preserved painting depicting Hippolytus and Phaedra, two characters from a Greek tragedy, gave the house its provisional name, the House of Phaedra. Hippolyte and Phèdre also appear in a small painting found elsewhere in the house.
Apart from these figures, archaeologists discovered a fresco depicting an embrace between a satyr – another half-man, half-goat figure from Greek mythology – and a nymph as well as one of the two deities believed to to be Venus and Adonis. said the park. Another could be an illustration of the Judgment of Paris, another Greek myth, although the scene was difficult to decipher because the fresco had been damaged.
Pompeii Archaeological Park/document via REUTERS
They found other artwork in the yard outside the house, which mainly included illustrations of plants and animals, such as a bird of prey and two snakes facing each other. The snakes were positioned around an altar, according to the park, and people left offerings there.
Some items from the last offering before the eruption were still there. Archaeologists discovered a ceramic incense burner as well as a lamp on which traces of strands of perfumed essences were detected through laboratory analyses. They also found colorful marble and a sculpture of a face related to the Greek god Dionysus on the altar.
Park officials said discoveries made in the ancient house, and in the house itself, could help shed light on some of the changes Roman society underwent during the first century CE , especially in Pompeii, because it is architecturally and stylistically different from its neighbors. A scientific article discussing the unusual layout of the house was published in the archaeological park’s digital magazine focused on Pompeii.
