House of the Ara Maxima

House of the Ara Maxima

 

 

Address: Insula 16
Area: 187 square meters
Rooms: 8

 

House of the Ara Maxima  House of the Ara Maxima

The House of the Ara Maxima (Big Altar) is a small but elegantly decorated house located on Via del Vesuvio. The building was also known as the Pinaria House and the House of Narcissus. The house of Ara Maxima was originally excavated between 1903 and 1904. The house consists of an irregular layout, consisting of a series of rooms located around the central atrium - living room. The house had two floors and the upper floor was preserved quite well.

 

House of the Ara Maxima  House of the Ara Maxima

The main entrance (a) opens on the west side of Via del Vesuvio, leading directly to the atrium living room (b), which has a central imluvium pool. The atrium is decorated on the eastern and southern walls with a red lower frieze topped with coarse white plaster on top. The northwest corner is likewise decorated with black, and not with a red bottom frieze. The upper western wall is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style with a central yellow frame surrounded by frescoes on both sides.

 

 The large niche (g) at the bottom is decorated with white panels framed in red above the lower decorative frieze. The main panel on the back wall depicts the mythological scene of Narcissus. Narcissus is a handsome young man who was so in love with himself that he rejected nifmy love. In retaliation, the nythma asked to turn the young man into a Narcissus flower.

 

On each of the white panels on the side walls there is a small picture of a fantastic creature. On the north wall of the atrium, installed between the two doors, is a painted lariari, consisting of two spiral snakes, on both sides of the central altar. Larariy is the home altar dedicated to the memory of ancestors and geniuses - the patron deities of the family.

 

House of the Ara Maxima  House of the Ara Maxima

House of the Ara Maxima