Pompeii - The Porches...

Since I'm now beginning to rebound after the shock of last week's intensive building survey session, I thought I'd do a few more posts on Pompeii during the coming week.  And you'll be pleased to hear that Day One is dedicated to porches!

I concluded, on visiting Pompeii, that Romans were indeed much like ourselves.  Some showed the epitome of good taste.  Others were completely lacking in any kind of good taste whatsoever.

Now, whether my idea of Roman good taste was the same as your average Roman's idea of good taste is open to question.  No doubt if I were being taken on a guided tour of living Pompeii by one of its denizens, I'd point out one of the villas which I considered particularly tasteful.  I'm sure my guide would roll their eyes and look heavenwards, then say, "But, dahling, you have no idea!  Marcus Lucius has the WORST villa in the quarter!  It's SO-O-O last decade..."

As I mentioned before, many of the star artworks have been spirited off to Naples Archaeological Musem, so it's hard to get a real idea of how everything worked together in these houses.  But one set of mosaics which do remain in situ are the floor mosaics which occupy the entrance porches to the villas.  They're black and white, and relatively plain, and presumably of insufficient interest to require removal from the site.  I also found them all rather attractive, probably because they're very simple and sparse in their colours, and often their designs.

One is particularly famous.  The House of The Surgeon features the well known mosaic which is probably the world's first example of a 'Beware of The Dog' sign:-

 

It's a a complex design, despite its monochrome colour scheme.

Much simpler is this strange little design, which presumably features two wrestlers:-

 

But my own particular favourite was this one:-

 

Now, if this is a variation on the 'Beware of the Dog' one featured above, I really wouldn't want to be a cat burglar raiding the Samian Ware in this house.  Is it a wolf?  Is it a dog?  I haven't  clue.  But it looks pretty mean, whatever it is!
 

 

Pompeii - The Porches...

Since I'm now beginning to rebound after the shock of last week's intensive building survey session, I thought I'd do a few more posts on Pompeii during the coming week.  And you'll be pleased to hear that Day One is dedicated to porches!

I concluded, on visiting Pompeii, that Romans were indeed much like ourselves.  Some showed the epitome of good taste.  Others were completely lacking in any kind of good taste whatsoever.

Now, whether my idea of Roman good taste was the same as your average Roman's idea of good taste is open to question.  No doubt if I were being taken on a guided tour of living Pompeii by one of its denizens, I'd point out one of the villas which I considered particularly tasteful.  I'm sure my guide would roll their eyes and look heavenwards, then say, "But, dahling, you have no idea!  Marcus Lucius has the WORST villa in the quarter!  It's SO-O-O last decade..."

As I mentioned before, many of the star artworks have been spirited off to Naples Archaeological Musem, so it's hard to get a real idea of how everything worked together in these houses.  But one set of mosaics which do remain in situ are the floor mosaics which occupy the entrance porches to the villas.  They're black and white, and relatively plain, and presumably of insufficient interest to require removal from the site.  I also found them all rather attractive, probably because they're very simple and sparse in their colours, and often their designs.

One is particularly famous.  The House of The Surgeon features the well known mosaic which is probably the world's first example of a 'Beware of The Dog' sign:-

 

It's a a complex design, despite its monochrome colour scheme.

Much simpler is this strange little design, which presumably features two wrestlers:-

 

But my own particular favourite was this one:-

 

Now, if this is a variation on the 'Beware of the Dog' one featured above, I really wouldn't want to be a cat burglar raiding the Samian Ware in this house.  Is it a wolf?  Is it a dog?  I haven't  clue.  But it looks pretty mean, whatever it is!