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House of the Chaste Lovers

Location: Regio IX

Insula 12

House of the Chaste Lovers is a fairly new discovery in Pompeii. Today, archaeologists continue to discover new areas and at the same time try to save the building from further destruction. House of the Chaste Lovers was home to a baker. He turned his mansion into a bread factory. House of the Chaste Lovers was discovered and subsequently excavated in the late 1980s. Its name comes from wall murals depicting men and women at a party who enjoy each other’s company. Unlike many other frescoes in Pompeii, frescoes are distinguished by chastity and dignity, which gave this structure its name. True, one should not think that there was a lack of lewdness. The shop window on the right side of the facade of the House of Chaste Lovers was covered with a humorous image of Priapus, a minor god of fertility and abundance. He is depicted with a large phallus. He wore winged sandals of Mercury with a caduceus in his hands. In fact, the thief flees from Mercury, god of thieves, with his loot.

The entrance opens into the square lobby (a). There was a staircase that led to the top floor in the northeast corner. The second floor, where the family's quarters were located. They are only partially preserved. To the right of the entrance is a small room (b), which is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style on a white background over a red and black frieze. The lobby opens right into the bakery (c) to the north. During excavations, archaeologists discovered that the bakery (e) had previously suffered serious damage, but was later repaired and plastered. Apparently this happened in the year 62 during the earthquake. To the south of the oven is the dough room (c), where workers process the dough and give them the shape of round loaves.

To the north of the kiln are four millstones, which are made of porous lava, a very strong stone that does not lose pieces of rock during friction, which could ruin the quality of produced flour. The millstones consisted of a catullus rotating on a cone-shaped center mounted on a masonry. The grinding process was carried out by mules tied to a beam inserted into a slot in the gate. On the north side of the mansion there are two cubal rooms (f) and (g) located around the central room (h). The room (f) is simply decorated with red and yellow panels over the bottom black frieze, and the room (g) is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style on a white background above the bottom red frieze. Apparently, workers or slaves at home were sleeping and living there.

A door in the northeast corner of the bakery opens into a rectangular open courtyard (j). There was a small garden in the courtyard and at least partially decorated with red panels containing small central scenes. On the western wall is a painted Lararium combined with a small altar. In such private family altars, sacrifices were made to the memory of ancestors or to the patrons of the home and family.

Archaeological excavations are still taking place. Scientists have found a small room where skeletons of mules were found. These animals were used for household needs. Part of the residence was occupied by a bakery, and here brute force of animals was needed. During the eruption of Vesuvius, the owners did not try to release the mules, apparently not understanding the scope of the tragedy.