House of the Dioscuri

Address: Insula 9
Area: 1121 square meters
Rooms: +20

House of the Dioscuri, located on the street Via Mercurio. The building was first excavated between 1826 and 1828 and again in 1937. The Dioscuri House was named after the beautifully preserved frescoes depicting Dioscuri, two legendary sons of Zeus, Castor and Polidecus (Pollux). The house is also sometimes referred to simply as the House of Castor and Pollux.

The corridor to the House of the Dioscuri (a), which opens on the east side of Via di Mercurio, is decorated with fourth-style frescoes with a red background with separate frescos depicting the twins, Castor and Pollux, located on either side of the lobby. A corridor opens into a grand atrium lounge (b). It is somewhat unusual, being only one of four mansions in Pompeii with Corinthian columns supporting the roof. Twelve corrugated columns, located around the central imluvium-interior basin, were covered with plaster and painted in traditional red and white colors.

The central part of the House of the Dioscuri has a standard atrium / garden layout with rooms located around all four sides of the atrium. The atrium lost most of its fourth-style frescoes due to damage during an eruption. Weathering and erosion after archaeological excavations added to the destruction of the interior design. Some of these frescoes can now be seen in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. They include images of Bacchus, Ceres, Saturn and Jupiter, as well as a scene with Pan and Hermaphrodite, which were originally located in ala (c) on the south side of the atrium.

The table-bed (d) lies on the east side of the atrium facing the entrance. It is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style, but, as in the atrium, the walls lost most of their color and brightness.

House of the Dioscuri