House of Fortuna

House of Fortuna

 

House of Fortuna  House of Fortuna

Address: Regio IX, Insula 7
Area: 555 square meters. meters
Rooms: +18

 

The House of Fortuna lies on the street of Vicolo di Tesmo, not far from the intersection with the road of Vicolo and Balbo. The house was named after graffiti with reference to the goddess Fortuna, found near the Lararium on the southern side of the atrium. The house was also known as the Mirror House, the House of the Vaults and the House of D. Caprasius Felix and Fortune. The house was originally excavated in 1879.

 

House of Fortuna  House of Fortuna

Entrance hall (a), which opens on the east side of the street of Vicolo di Tesmo. House of Fortuna lost most of her plaster, and the remaining plaster was too weathered to give a realistic description of her original decoration. The corridor opens into a square atrium-living room (b), which does not have a central pool. Like the entrance hall, most of the plaster in the atrium was lost, with the exception of a large fragment on the southeast wall. This part of the plaster retains some fragments of faded color, but, again, they are too indistinct to provide the basis for a proper description. In the center of this fresco is a niche Lararium (c), decorated with stucco in the form of a pediment, supported by two Doric columns. Lararium was the home altar for the veneration of the ancestors and the genius-god-patron of the family. In this niche were found three bronze figurines and a lamp.

 

House of Fortuna  House of Fortuna

House of Fortuna  House of Fortuna

The staircase that led to the servants' rooms, where the kitchen was located (to the right)

 

House of Fortuna  House of Fortuna

House of Fortuna  House of Fortuna

A white marble bust (pictured right) was found in the atrium. The bust, possibly Io (priestess of the goddess Hera), initially stood in the peristal-inner garden, but a volcanic wave carried it off.