House of the Neptune Mosaic belonged to a wine merchant. Part of the
residential building was given over to a wine store, where there
were wooden shelves on which clay amphorae with wine were stored.
Volcanic mud has kept the wooden shelves in excellent condition. The
house itself got its name due to a beautiful mosaic depicting the
ancient Roman gods Neptune and amphitrites in the courtyard of the
residential premises. Other ritual artifacts are also preserved
here. including the Herm of Hercules and the statue of Jupiter.
House of the Neptune Mosaic lie to the North of the Carbonised
Furniture House on Cardo IV street. The owner of the house
apparently also owned a liquor store (F) that opens directly onto
the street. The store has been preserved almost intact and is the
best example of a store in the region. The charred and carbonized
wooden shelves were still there. On these shelves hung amphorae of
wine. Also perfectly preserved are the wooden balustrades of the
balcony, posts and partitions with two bars. The store, equipped
with care, was abandoned during the eruption so that the items on
the counter and the amphorae on the shelves were preserved. Also,
beans and peas were found in large jars installed in the masonry
counter.
The house has a standard layout of entrance hall (a), atrium (b), Tablinum and a small home garden. The entrance hall (a) opens from the East side of Cardo IV street. On its North side is a small room either for servants or for storage (photo below left). The entrance hall leads directly to the large atrium (b) (photo below right), which has a marble impluvium pool in its center. Through a hole in the roof, rainwater flowed into this room. The atrium was decorated with frescoes of the fourth style but most of them were destroyed. Today, only fragments have been preserved.
At the far corner of the atrium is a relatively
small Tablinum-the owner's office. Some of the decorations of the
fourth style are still preserved. The murals consist of red and
yellow panels above the lower red border. The room has a small white
mosaic floor with a simple black stripe along the borders. The
tablinum opens into a beautifully designed courtyard. At the back of
it stands a Nymphaea, and the walls are covered with mosaics. In the
Northwest corner of the atrium stood the lararium, a domestic temple
dedicated to the gods of the house. Two marble slabs were found in
it, painted with red lines, one of which preserved the artist's
signature: Alexander of Athens painted this.
A short
passageway (Andron) to the right of the Tablinum leads to the
courtyard garden (e) (pictured above). In the center of the
courtyard is a summer triclinium, lined with marble. On the far end
wall of the court is a nymphea crowned by the head of Silenus
accompanied by two marble theatrical masks.
The side and Central niches of the Nymphaeum are
decorated with geometric and floral motifs and scenes of hunting
with dogs and deer, consisting of glass mosaics. Niches are
decorated with images of shells and mother-of-pearl. In the center
of the back wall of the garden is a mosaic, after which the house
was named, depicting Neptune and Amphitrite. Both figures are
surrounded by a decorative pattern. According to legend, Neptune saw
Amphitrite dancing with the Nereids on the island of Naxos. The sea
God kidnapped her and took her away and married her. On the South
side of the courtyard, you can access the largest room of the house,
the triclinium (d), which is also accessible from the Southeast
corner of the atrium. The triclinium lost much of its fourth-style
decoration, which consisted of red panels depicting architectural
forms. The office room has a white mosaic floor framed by two simple
black stripes.
The upper rooms (currently visible from the
street, as the front wall collapsed during the earthquake that
accompanied the eruption) were decorated with frescoes in the fourth
style, and the floor itself was covered with mosaics. There was also
a bronze bed. These rooms were probably the owner's private
chambers.