Address: Insula 7
Area: 410 square meters
Rooms: 9
The House of Adonis, first excavated in the 1830s, is located on the west side of Via di Mercurio. Most of the house has been destroyed today, but beautiful frescoes have been preserved in some parts of the house.
The
entrance (A) opens into a rectangular atrium (B) with a central
imluvium-pool, with rooms on three sides. The atrium and rooms along
its south side suffered significant damage and are now in a
semi-destructive condition. The cubiculum room (C) in the northeast
corner of the atrium looked much better and retains most of its
fourth-style frescoes. The decoration consists of a red central
zone, topped with a cornice under the decorative upper area of
white background. The room has a white mosaic floor with a double
lined black frame.
Small remnants of the bedroom (D), which
went to the peristyle (H) (patio with garden) to the west. The
peristyle, which was accessible through the corridor north of the
table, had porticos on its eastern and southern sides. In the center
was a central garden with a marble fountain. Three rooms that open
from the south side of the peristyle are in different states of
conservation. Room (E), with rather faded frescoes, is decorated
with fourth-style frescoes with white panels containing central
vignettes, separated by architectural motifs above the lower
decorative frieze. The central room (F), whose frescoes retain much
of their color and brightness, is decorated in fourth-style frescoes
with red and yellow panels containing mythological scenes, separated
by architectural themes above the lower blue frieze. On the east
wall is a fresco painted scene of the Hermaphrodite (pictured
above).
The third room (G), triclinium, is in a very poor
state of conservation. Only its southern wall retains some
decorative details and remains of gypsum. To the west of the
triclinium is a narrow passage (I), which once led to a small
mansion immediately to the south of the House of Adonis (Regio VI,
Insula 7, 1-2), but access was blocked until the eruption. On the
north side of the peristyle there is a large fresco that occupies
almost the entire wall of the garden. The fresco consists of three
sections, separated by red columns. The central scene, after which
the house was named, depicts Adonis with Venus and Cupids. The two
side panels are more faded, but the eastern scene depicts Eros,
surrounded by birds.