House of Thiasus

Description

Over 50 rooms over an area of at least 1500 m2 have been discovered. Other large areas await exploration.

Two atrium houses along the Via Nola dating from the Samnite period as early as the 3rd century BC were transformed, probably after the earthquake of 62 AD, into a complex with a laundry in the atrium of one house, while a bakery with an oven and production rooms with millstones was installed in the other house for wholesale distribution of bread to other outlets in the city. Slaves and donkeys were used there to grind the grain for the bread and kept in dark rooms with small barred windows high in the wall.

Two bedrooms adjoining the atrium of house 1 have frescoes depicting Poseidon and Amymone in the first and Apollo and Daphne in the second. In one of these rooms are remains of charred furniture which caught fire during the catastrophe.

Behind the commercial parts facing the Via Nola was the main residential section in which were many luxurious rooms with outstanding frescoes. These include the black-painted reception or dining room with white mosaic floor and frescoes of the Trojan War, the large porticoed room with Dionysiac scenes, a sacrarium (shrine) and a large bath complex complete with palaestra for exercise and a plunge pool. The boiler room has a unique arrangement of pipework and valves for the water supply. An exquisite ceiling fresco was found collapsed on the floor.

The two skeletons found sheltering from the eruption in a small room in this part of the house were of a rich woman with gold and pearl earrings and clutching gold coins while a younger man, possibly a slave, was nearby crushed by a collapsed wall.

The fresco occupies three walls of the room while the fourth opens onto the garden. The fresco, like the famous one in the Villa of Mysteries, is one of the few that depict the mysteries of the Dionysian cult. It depicts lifesize figures standing on pedestals as if they were statues although their movement, complexions and dress make them appear lively.

One of the details of the large fresco, according to the initial hypotheses, depicts a woman initiated into the Dionysian cult. …