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House of the Lararium, Pompeii

The House of the Lararium is a middle-class Roman residence in ancient Pompeii, exemplifying the domestic life of ambitious social climbers during the Imperial period. Located in the northern part of Regio V, one of Pompeii's largest districts, it is accessed via Vicolo di Lucrezio Frontone. The house was partially excavated in the early 20th century but gained prominence through renewed digs starting in 2018 as part of the Great Pompeii Project, a major initiative for site stabilization and maintenance along 3 km of excavation fronts. Further explorations in 2021-2022 uncovered additional rooms and furnishings, providing a vivid snapshot of everyday life interrupted by the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The name derives from its elaborate lararium (household shrine) dedicated to the Lares, protective deities of the home, reflecting Roman domestic religious practices. Inhabitants were likely from Pompeii's middle class—vulnerable to crises like famines and political instability but aspiring to higher status through displays of leisure (otium). The site's significance lies in its portrayal of this underrepresented social stratum, serving as an ongoing archaeological laboratory for insights into ancient daily routines and cultural aspirations.

Architecture and Layout

The House of the Lararium follows a modest urban domus design, centered around a courtyard with limited funds evident in its uneven decoration—lavish in public areas but sparse elsewhere. It comprises five ground-floor rooms, with two additional upper-floor rooms accessible via a mezzanine, and connects to adjacent properties. Key elements include:

Courtyard: The focal point, featuring the lararium shrine (4m x 5m) in a worship room with a central basin for a cistern and a small garden bordered by a flowerbed. The room includes an unusual mezzanine closing off one side, still under excavation, and a basin for water collection.
Bedroom: A simple lower-floor space with a bed frame, wooden chest, and small table; unplastered walls suggest practicality over luxury.
Storage Room/Warehouse: Features beaten earth floors and unplastered walls; used for household items, with a nearby hallway containing a large wooden cabinet.
Kitchen Area: Adjacent to storage, inferred from cookware finds in the cabinet.
Upper Floor: Two rooms where collapsed furnishings fell into lower areas during the eruption; one adjacent room from another unit revealed a false ceiling with lathwork.
Adjacent Room: Part of a neighboring unit, with a partially collapsed false ceiling showing intricate boiserie (wood paneling) with engraved coffered decorations and bone inlays.

The layout emphasizes functionality, with the courtyard as a semi-public space for worship and display, while private areas prioritized storage and sleep.

Decorations and Frescoes

Decorations are concentrated in the courtyard and lararium, reflecting aspirational aesthetics despite financial constraints elsewhere. The lararium features a sacred niche with paintings of the Lares on either side, flanked by two large agathodaemon serpents (symbols of prosperity) approaching a painted altar with offerings like eggs and a pinecone. Walls depict idyllic "enchanted garden" landscapes with lush plants, birds, and a peacock seemingly walking in the real garden below. An opposite wall shows a red-background hunting scene with light-colored animals surrounding a black boar, symbolizing good triumphing over evil. Real elements, like a stone altar (arula) with burnt offering traces, blend with painted ones, creating an immersive sacred space. Other rooms lack similar adornment, with plain walls highlighting the courtyard's role in projecting status.

Religious Aspects

The lararium underscores Roman household religion, dedicated to the Lares for family protection and prosperity. Offerings on the altar, including burnt residues, indicate rituals for wellbeing. The serpents and symbolic hunting scene add layers of auspicious and moral imagery.

Notable Features and Artifacts

Excavations captured furnishings in situ, abandoned during evacuation. Key finds include:

Furniture: Wooden bed frame (identical to slave-room examples from Civita Giuliana) with pillow fabric trace and rope netting; three-footed round table; bipartite wooden chest (left open, containing a sigillata plate and Zeus-eagle lantern); 2m-high wooden cabinet with four doors and five shelves for cookware.
Ceramics and Glass: Sigillata plates, glass ampoules, jugs, amphorae, translucent blue-and-green rimmed plate, ceramic cups.
Bronze and Terracotta: Pelvis bowl with beaded base and palmette handles; jugs with sphinx and lion-head attachments; cradle-shaped incense burner with polychrome male figure (preserved lips, beard, hair) and geometric designs.
Other: Seven waxed tablets (triptychs bound by cord, cast preserved); double-spouted lantern with Zeus transforming into an eagle; stone arula with burnt offerings.

Casts of wooden items, like the tablets and furniture, preserve textures and details lost to decay.

Directly south of the staircase is the cubiculum (g). The room is decorated in the fourth style with yellow panels with ornamental borders above the bottom decorated with a red frieze. In the center there are figures of heroes, philosophers and others.