House of the Corinthian Atrium (Casa dell' Atrio Corinzio) (Herculaneum)

House of the Corinthian Atrium (Casa dell' Atrio Corinzio) (Herculaneum)

 

House of the Corinthian Atrium (Casa dell' Atrio Corinzio) (Herculaneum)

House of the Corinthian Atrium (Casa dell' Atrio Corinzio) (Herculaneum)The house with the Corinthian atrium is named after a small home garden or atrium, where a small central marble fountain is surrounded by six Corinthian tuff columns. In ancient times, the columns were lined with artificial marble plaster. Today, most of it collapsed. This small house, therefore, joined the atrium or the living room of the house with a peristyle i.e. home garden.

The peristyle or home garden, which is surrounded by rooms on its three sides, is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style. the decorations consist of red and black panels over the bottom black frieze. The upper zone is decorated with architectural motifs on a white background. In the center of the peristyle is a small marble cruciform pool. Perhaps in ancient times there was also a small fountain.

Right at the entrance there are rooms with a staircase to the second floor on the right, and on the left the room is decorated with mosaics on the floor in the form of various geometric shapes. The walls of the room are decorated in the fourth style with orange panels separated by columns above the lower red decorative frieze. The upper zone has a white background and has architectural motifs. A small triclinium has preserved various household items and furnishings found here by archaeologists. Unlike artifacts in a museum that do not carry context or furnishings, these objects stand where their owners put them and where they were seen by all the inhabitants of the house. In general, the house is not big, but its decoration speaks of a rather wealthy man who wanted to build a modest but comfortable home for himself.