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House of the Epigrams

The House of Epigrams was first excavated in 1748. Then the archaeological excavations were resumed in 1875 and finally in 1908 the work was completed. The House of Epigrams received its name from the Greek inscriptions found in a small room on the north side of the peristyle.

The corridor (a) of the House of Epigrams opens on the east side of Via del Vesuvio. The walls of the corridor retain some areas of plaster, but they are too weathered to describe the frescoes that adorn the walls. It leads to a rectangular atrium - living room (b), which has a central swimming pool or pool. Along the north side of the atrium there are two rooms (c) which are in fairly poor condition. They lost most of their original decoration. The Tablin or the home office of the House of Epigrams (d) in the center of the east side of the atrium is similarly decorated only with the remains of gypsum, but the frescoes here are also not badly preserved. The third room opens from the southeast corner of the atrium.

Tablin leads through a tripartite peristyle (e), patio. The photo below is that of a Satire and Maenad that was found in the peristyle, but now there is little left. The mural today can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The exedra (f) on the west side of the peristyle retains a part of its decoration, consisting of alternating red and yellow panels with mythological scenes.

Triclinium - the dining room (g), like most of the rooms in the House of Epigrams, is in poor condition due to prolonged exposure to the elements, and only fragments of plaster now preserve part of the frescoes. The fresco of the bird with the snake on the left was found in the triclinium and can be viewed at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

Along the north side of the peristyle there are several niches (h) - (k) with access to the garden. Room (I) retains part of its original fourth-style murals with red panels over the bottom black frieze. In the central panel of each wall was a mythological scene. Room (j) is decorated with alternating panels of red and yellow flowers, but it, like most of the house, has lost most of its decorations.

Probably the best preserved of these niches is the room (k) in the northeast corner of the peristyle. Several scenes annotated with Greek texts. The kitchen and toilet can be found in the northeast of the mansion next to the Postikum (l) and the flight of stairs to the upper floor.