House of Loreius Tiburtinus in Pompeii

7/29/2019 House of Loreius Tiburtinus in Pompeii

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Coursework Assignment 2

The house of Loreius Tiburtinus, located on the Insula of the Messii (II, ii 5) in Pompeii

(University of Texas at Austin 1986: p.42) contains a large amount of statuettes and

artwork, as well as architectural features that can normally be found in a Roman villa in

the countryside. It was according to Zanker a miniature villa in the town (Zanker

1998: p. 145)

The sculptures and wall paintings found in the house of Loreius Tiburtinus can be

divided into six groups with different programs, whereby a sculpture or wall painting

can belong to several groups. Each group contains art that can be directly attributed to

the program as well as art that can only be indirectly attributed.

The main room of the Isis program is the sacellum (shrine), which contains a picture of

a priest of Isis on the inside (Zanker 1998: p. 149). There is speculation that a niche on

the inside contained either a statuette or more likely a painting on a wooden panel of Isis

(Richardson 1988: p. 340). There are other statuettes in the house that relate to an

Egyptian theme and would therefore have a connection with Isis. The Egyptian

statuettes that were found on thepronaos (porch), just outside thesacellum (Richardson

1988: p. 340) or the miniatures of a Sphinx (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151) and two Lions

(Jashemski 1979: p. 77) that were found alongside the smaller euripus (canal) on the

terrace are three examples that can easily be identified. The river god miniature that was

found at the source of the small euripus could be a statue of the personification of the

river Nil (Jashemski 1979: p. 77). The wall painting of Venus on the wall of the terrace

(Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151) and the statues related to Dionysus, like the miniature of a

little seated satyr found near the small euripus (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151), the little

satyr in the pose of Atlas in the biclinium (Zanker 1998: pp. 151-152) and the masks,

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found in the nymphaeum (Zanker 1998: p. 152), could be reminiscent to statuettes of

Venus and Dionysus that were found in the temple of Isis in Pompeii (Bear, M., North,

J. and Price, S. 1998: p. 281). The statuettes of Muses that were standing along the small

euripus (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151), which leads to the entrance of the sacellum, could

be reminiscent of Isis' role as patron of women (Heyob 1975: p. 53). In addition to the

artwork there are 2 more features in the villa that tie into the Isis program. At the eastern

edge of the garden, 44 amphorae were found, which, according to Della Corte, could

have hold sacred Nile water. They are however also seen as storage for wine (Jashemski

1979: p. 79). The two euripi could also be seen in connection with the cult of Isis,

which featured water rites (Etienne 1992: p. 119).

The next prominent program in the house can be seen under the two headings of either

Diana orparadeisos (hunting reserve). It contains pictures of Diana, like the diptych of

Diana together with Actaeon on the outside thesacellum (Zanker 1998: p. 149), the two

framed landscape scenes of shrines to Diana and Apollo (her twin brother) as well as the

wall painting of Actaeon watching Diana bathing, which are all located in the

nymphaeum (Zanker 1998: p. 153). Additional to that there is a speculation that the

aedicula contained a statue of Diana on the upper level (Zanker 1998: p. 152). Besides

these artworks that can be attributed directly to Diana, are other artworks, which depict

scenes from a paradeisos, which could be seen as supporting art for the theme of the

hunting goddess Diana or Diana could be seen as supporting the paradeisos theme.

These artworks were located alongside the small euripus and consisted of 2 sets of

miniatures of hounds and quarry (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151) and a wall painting of a

hunting scene in aparadeisos (Zanker 1998: p. 152).



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The third program of art found in the house is the program of mythology, with Heracles

being the main theme. A frieze showing Heracles at his labours can be found in the

triclinium (Zanker 1998: p. 148). Next to the small euripus is the miniatures of a little

boy with a serpent and two lions (Jashemski 1979: p. 77), which could show young

Heracles killing the snakes and the Lion of Cithaeron and the Nemean Lion. A little

satyr in the pose of Atlas was found at the biclinium (Zanker 1998: pp. 151-152), which

could hint at Heracles' holding the sky for Atlas. Along the wall of the terrace is a wall

painting showing Orpheus charming the beast (Zanker 1998: p. 152). This also has a

connection to Heracles, as both were Argonauts. The second frieze in the triclinium

shows a scene from the Iliad (Zanker 1998: p. 148), which again, this time with Nestor

and Laerte (father of Odysseus), has a link to the Argonauts and thereby to Heracles.

The last two mythological wall paintings in the biclinium, a painting of Pyramus and

Thisbe and one of Narcissus (Zanker 1998: p. 152) could give another theme to the

whole mythical program, that of pictures from Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 3, 4, 9,

10, 11, 12, 13).

Another program in the house is the gymnasium program. The statues and paintings of

Heracles mentioned above would be appropriate for a gymnasium setting (Leen 1991: p.

240). Similar appropriate (Leen 1991: p. 240) would be the miniature herm statues

found along the small euripus (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151) and the hermaphrodite statue

found in the garden on the far side of the house (McKay 1975: p. 44). According to

Cicero, muses would be fitting for his gymnasium (Leen 1991: p. 239), so the ones

found around the small euripus (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151) would be too.

The artwork with the water program is mainly placed around the smallereuripus and the



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nymphaeum. Besides the statues and paintings mentioned above, like the river god

statuette (Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151), the Venus painting (Zanker 1998: p. 152), and the

bathing Diana (Zanker 1998: p. 153), there are painted fish in the basin of the

nymphaeum (Zanker 1998: p. 152) and one of the masks in the nymphaeum is that of

Oceanus, the ocean god (Zanker 1998: p. 152). The muses statuettes (Zanker 1998: pp.

150-151) can also be seen as related to water, as they are water nymphs.

The last program of Dionysus is a sub grouping of the Isis program with the addition of

an Eros statue in the nymphaeum (Zanker 1998: p. 152), which could be associated with

the general party program of Dionysus.

The arrangement of the statues and artwork on the ground of the house and the garden is

not a spread over the whole area, but is condensed around two axes, running along the

two euripi on the terrace and in the garden. The main axis of surviving artwork runs

along the euripus on the terrace, which is on the one side bordered by the sacellum of

Isis and on the other side by the biclinium, a place to sit down, have a conversation and

enjoy the view (Richardson 1988: p. 340). Along this line artwork of all programs

would be visible for a person as well as accessible when strolling along the euripus. The

other axis runs along the euripus in the garden, starting from the triclinium and ending

on the back door of the garden. For this axis two views exist. One is from the triclinium

towards the end of the garden, which would allow a person to see the mythological

friezes in the triclinium, the (now missing) statue of Diana, and the also missing 12

statues in the middle fountain of the garden euripus (Zanker 1998: p. 154). The second

view would be from the garden along the euripus towards the nymphaeum. The two

main view axes, start from two similar rooms, the triclinium and biclinium, which



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would have been used by the owner of the house to entertain guests. This allowed the

owner to show off most of his artwork to his guests, for example at a dinner party.

The house of Loreius Tiburtinus contains several structures and programs that are

commonly found on Roman villas in the countryside. However these structures are all

on a smaller scale than they would be in a villa, as the limiting size for this house was

the size of the insula. Examples of these structures are the two euripi, which are

common in Roman villas. Additional to this, the statuettes found around the euripi in

house in Pompeii are of the same type that would be found alongside an euripus in a

villa (Zanker 1998: p. 147). However the euripus on the terrace is only 3 feet wide and

contains bridges, which are not really usable, due to their size (Zanker 1998: p. 148).

The paths alongside the euripus are also so small that 2 people can barely walk next to

each other. Other features in the house that can also be found in a Roman villa are the

truncatedperistyle, thesacellum, the aedicula with the Diana statue with a nymphaeum

below it and the biclinium with a fountain (Zanker 1998: p. 147). The euripus in the

garden was actually a fishpond, which was common in Roman seaside villas (Zanker

1998: p. 153). The art in the house is also of the type regularly found in villas. There are

the muses, which can normally be found in a museion, the statues related to Dionysus,

normally found in a Dionysiac park or the hunting scenes which belong to a paradeisos

(Zanker 1998: pp. 150-151).

An example of the different types of artwork found in a villa can be seen in the Villa of

the Papyri near Herculaneum, which contains, similar to this house, statues that have a

Dionysiac program, some that have a hunting program and some with a gymnasium

program. The villa has also a large euripus running in the middle of the garden (Warden



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Romano 1994: pp. 232-235). Another example of a villa that has structures and artwork

similar to the house of Loreius Tiburtinus is the villa in Sperlonga, which contains

statues with mythological scenes, as well as a large watercourse. The villa at Sperlonga

has also a grotto (Beard & Henderson 2001: pp. 74-79), which could be compared to the

nymphaeum in the house of Loreius Tiburtinus.

The different programs in the artwork of the house of Loreius Tiburtinus show clearly,

that the former owner collected them with some clear programs in mind. The two major

programs in the house are that of Isis and that of a country villa. The later can be further

broken down into several sub programs. Especially the overlapping in the programs

with several statuettes fitting into more than one program shows that the house displays

clear programs in the artwork and not just a random collection of statues and wall

paintings.



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Bibliography

Bear, M., North, J. and Price, S.Religions of Rome Part I A History. Cambridge 1998

Beard, M. & Henderson, J. Classical Art from Greece to Rome. Oxford 2001

Etienne, R.Pompeii: The Day a City Died. London 1992

Heyob, S.K. The Cult of Isis among Women in the Graeco-Roman World. Leiden 1975

Jashemski, W. F. The Gardens of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Villas Destroyed byVesuvius New Rochelle, NY 1979

Leen, A. Cicero and the Rhetoric of ArtAmerican Journal of Philology 112 No.2(1991) 229-245

McKay, Alexander.Houses, Villas and Palaces in the Roman World. Baltimore 1975

OvidMetamorphoses. Translator Golding, A. London 2002

Richardson, L.Pompeii: An Architectural History. Baltimore 1988

University of Texas at Austin. Corpus topographicum Pompeianum. - Pars 3A : Insulae ofregions I-V. Rome 1986

Warden, P.G. & Romano, D.G. - The Course of Glory: Greek Art in Roman Context at

the Villa of the Papyri at HerculaneumArt History 17.2 (1994) 17.2 228-254

Zanker, P.Pompeii: public and private life. Translator Lucas, D. Cambridge 1998


House of Loreius Tiburtinus in Pompeii

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