Neptune and Amphitrite, before 79 C.E., mosaic, garden of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum (photo: Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0)
The destruction of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 79 C.E. has long fascinated authors, artists, and visitors since its rediscovery in the 18th century. Still, it was just one of the many cities destroyed or damaged by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Map of Italy showing the Bay of Naples, with the location of Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Mount Vesuvius (underlying map © Google)
The city of Herculaneum was Pompeii’s smaller, more affluent neighbor. It had an estimated population of 4,000 to 5,000 and was destroyed by a flow of volcanic mud. The remains of the city contribute to our knowledge of ancient Roman life, art, and architecture around the Bay of Naples.
Seated Mercury, Roman bronze copy of an ancient Greek bronze, 105 cm high (Museo Nazionale, Naples; photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5)
The city was also home to the famed residence known as the Villa dei Papyri, in which droves of carbonized papyri of ancient texts were discovered along with an unparalleled collection of bronze and marble statues, like the Seated Mercury.
As in Pompeii, when walking down the streets of Herculaneum, one could peer into houses whose doors were open during the day. Wall paintings, gardens, sculptures, and, in some instances, intricate mosaics caught the eye of an inquisitive passerby. While the grand houses and luxurious villas were the obvious candidates for outstanding decoration, modest houses also had remarkable interior design. The House of Neptune and Amphitrite (V, 6-7) is one such residence; it is named for its exceptional polychrome mosaics, including one of the best preserved wall mosaics from the Roman Empire.
Fratelli Alinari, doorway to the House of Neptune and Amphitrite and wine/food shop counter at right during excavation, 1935 (Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford)
Plan of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite (author after Clark, Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans, figure 153, p. 251)
The small house (227 sq. meters) had one entrance (see floor plan, no. 7). [1] As was typical for Roman homes, the rooms facing the street were used for retail business. Adjoining the house was a caupona (see floor plan, no. 6) with a well-preserved counter, a rack of wine amphoras, and a list of outstanding wine deliveries with dates. The dolia near its entrance contained fava beans and chick peas, which were popular foodstuffs. [2] The shop would have provided the owner with rental income.
The house had been renovated and redecorated to the highest levels after the major earthquake of 62 C.E. that anticipated Vesuvius’ eruption seventeen years later. There was a well-appointed second story. On the ground floor, the house had an atrium with an impluvium (a shallow pool), as was standard for many Italian houses.
View of the atrium with the mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite visible through the tablinum, before 79 C.E., House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum (photo: Richard Mortel, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The house also had five reception rooms, all decorated in third and fourth Pompeian styles, demonstrating that the owners were up-to-date with the most fashionable tastes of the day. The atrium had at least two marble panels that were painted in a red monochrome technique in the style of a 5th-century B.C.E. Greek painting. [3] The tablinum (a central room often used for reception and as an office) has a mosaic floor with frescoed walls; the three service rooms were undecorated. [4] Some of the details of the wall paintings are hard to see today because of erosion following the excavation of the house in the 1930s. On axis with the house’s entrance and visible through the tablinum was a rear court with an outdoor triclinium (dining room) featuring a spectacular mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite on the rear (eastern) wall that was visible from the street.
Neptune and Amphitrite, before 79 C.E., mosaic, garden of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum (photo: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite
Neptune, the god of the sea, is recognizable by his trident, his wild beard, flowing locks, and blue mantle, while Amphitrite (in Latin as Salacia), semi-nude, appears as the queen of the sea, adorned with a diadem, necklace, arm band, and earrings. Neptune fell in love with Amphitrite, but she initially fled him. With the help of Delphinus, the dolphin, Neptune found her. Delphinus was rewarded by being turned into a constellation, and Amphitrite became the goddess of the sea. Even though the artist was working with small stones, he still artfully conveyed Neptune’s musculature and Amphitrite’s shapely curves. In both cases, the drapery responds to the shape of their bodies. He stands in a contrapposto pose, suggesting a sculpture of a god or athlete might have been the source for his pose, while she leans against a pillar, indicating that the inspiration for this mosaic was a statue—perhaps, one of Venus. [5]
The gods stand beneath a fan-like light blue sail, under which are scrolls decorated with a red wave pattern, and elaborate vegetal scrolls—composed of red, green, Egyptian blue, and white tesserae, which appear to support the lintel and conch. The mosaic is framed by a border of shells and pumice, reinforcing the mosaic’s maritime theme. The mosaic was inserted into a background of garden paintings, which date to an earlier decorative phase.
In front of the mosaic was a marble-covered triclinium. The floor between the three dining couches was paved with white marble, and there was a single elegant column, decorated with ivy leaves. It was pierced to hold a fountain pipe, and it may have looked similar to the basin depicted in the garden painting on the rear (eastern) wall. [6]
Nymphaeum at left, before 79 C.E., mosaic, garden of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum (photo: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Nymphaeum
Complementing this mosaic was an elaborate nymphaeum on the northern wall. Composed of a central curved niche and flanked by two rectangular niches, the nymphaeum is decorated with mosaics. Tesserae of Egyptian blue, other colored glass, and stone appear alongside pumice and shells, which allude to the lavish grottos and artificial caves in the the sprawling countryside villas of elite Romans. The central niche is framed by stylized vine scrolls that emerge out of kantharoi in the panels between the niches. This vegetation visually links the nymphaeum to the space’s garden paintings. The register above the niches of the nymphaeum is decorated with elaborate mosaics of hunting scenes. Against a dark blue background, forged from Egyptian blue tesserae, hounds chase deer that dart and spring away from the green earth. Hunt scenes were well known from the wall paintings of many Campanian houses. The inclusion of a hunting scene also alluded to the leisure pursuits of wealthy Romans. Above the hunt scene, garlands, hanging heavy with fruit and each supporting a peacock, framed the central niche.
Peacock, stag harassed by a dog, Nymphaeum, before 79 C.E., mosaic, garden of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum (photo: Amphipolis, CC BY-SA 2.0)
A pattern of alternating red and blue hearts, bordered by yellow tesserae, framed the taller central, apsed niche, which is encrusted with shells; two smaller rectangular niches flanked it. Presumably, there was a fountain sculpture, but no pipe or sculpture was found. [7] In each side niche, there was a small column of green and white cipollino marble on a small base of red marble, which may have been a lamp holder. [8] An ornamental border of scrolls and griffins framed the nymphaeum. Above the hunting scene was another register of decoration with three theater masks: a tragic one in the center and a comic mask on both sides. Above this on the wall was a mask of Silenus, a Roman god of woods who was closely associated with wine, revelry, and Bacchus.
Empress Theodora mosaic, San Vitale, begun c. late 520s, consecrated 547, mosaics date between 546 and 556. The church was restored 1540s, 1900, 1904, and in the 1930s, Ravenna (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
All the glitter that is gold: ceiling and vault mosaics
Mosaics were an important form of wall decoration in the Roman world. Wall and ceiling mosaics originated separately from floor mosaics; these mosaics employ different materials and fabrication methods; they have a visual vocabulary and goals. By virtue of not being on a floor, ceiling and wall mosaics did not need to be as durable. Glass tesserae expanded the color palette available to mosaicists. A museiarius or musivarius fabricated a ceiling or wall mosaic, whereas a tessellarius made a floor mosaic. [9] Wall and ceiling mosaics became very popular in the late Republic and early Empire; the earliest surviving ceiling mosaic—depicting the blinding of Polyphemus by Odysseus—comes from the Domus Transitoria, the imperial residence that preceded the emperor Nero’s Domus Aurea in Rome (constructed after the fire of 64 C.E.). The Romans were the first to place mosaics on ceilings and walls, thereby creating a use for mosaics that would endure far after Rome was an imperial capital. [10] The mosaics that adorned the domes and apses of Byzantine churches, like San Vitale in Ravenna and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, have origins in the ceiling mosaics of ancient Rome.
Grotto and ruins of villa, 1st century B.C.E., Sperlonga (photo: Elizabeth Macaulay, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Mosaics in artificial grottos and caves
Just as mosaics were popular two-dimensional art forms, mosaics were also used in the creation of artificial grottos and caves. In such spaces, landscape, architecture, and art were exploited to create immersive dining experiences. Pumice, volcanic rock, and various types of shells were used to adorn these spaces.
Blinding of Polyphemus reconstruction with casts and an original sculpture (the wineskin-bearer) at right, before 26 C.E. (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Sperlonga; photo: Elizabeth Macaulay, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The most famous of these artificial caves is at Sperlonga, the site of a 1st century B.C.E. villa that eventually passed into the possession of the Emperor Tiberius (who was almost died when its roof partially collapsed). [11] It is famous for its modified cave, pool, and artificial island, as well as an elaborate sculptural program which included monumental sculptures featuring scenes from the Odyssey, including the blinding of Polyphemus by Odysseus and Scylla attacking Odysseus’s ship.
The House of Neptune and Amphitrite was not grand, but it had artistic pretensions. Its owners were well versed in the most fashionable tastes in interior decor of their day. They remodeled their single outdoor space to include an expensive mosaic with a mythological theme and a nymphaeum with a hunting scene that was encrusted with shells and pumice. Together, they were a small-scale allusion to the grand grottos and caves seen in elite villas and the mosaics that decorated imperial residences. In this way, the open-air court with its triclinium, nymphaeum, mosaics, and garden paintings transformed this otherwise modest house into a veritable miniature villa, where the inhabitants could dine like their dignified betters under the shadow of Vesuvius.
