The Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced on Saturday that it had uncovered several furnished rooms and household objects in a middle-class home in the city. press release.
This discovery, according to archaeologists, sheds a great light on the life of the middle-class citizens of Pompeii. The team started excavating rooms in the Lararium house, which is middle class Domus (The House) in 2018. The house is so named because it contains a luxurious room with a place dedicated to worship Lares Or household spirits believed to protect the family.
“In the Roman Empire, there was a large proportion of the population who struggled for their social status and for whom ‘daily bread’ was not taken for granted,” Gabriel Zustregel, director of Pompeii, said in the statement. “It was a weak social class during crises. political and famines, but she was also ambitious to climb the social ladder.”
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Archaeologists investigated two rooms above and below lararium And one outside.
In the basement, the team revealed a bedroom and a storage room. Inside the bedroom, they found a partially preserved bed frame as well as a trace of fabric from a pillow. A simple crib, similar to one that was discovered in a small storage room and bedroom of a bonded family at Villa Civita Giuliana last year. Next to the bed was a wooden chest holding a small plate and an oil lamp with a bas-relief of Zeus turning into an eagle. Next to the wooden chest was a three-legged table with decorative bowls and dishes. Jugs and small flasks were also placed around the room.
However, the storage room is one of the only rooms found so far without plaster walls and with only a simple earthen floor.
“The owner was able to decorate the courtyard and the cistern with extraordinary paintings, but the money was clearly not enough to decorate the five rooms of the house, one of which was used for storage,” said Zucktregl.
In the hallway off the storeroom and kitchen, there was a wooden cabinet with at least five shelves, which would have held cooking utensils and dishes – some of which were recovered.
Archaeologists excavate the lower levels of the Lararium House in Pompeii, Italy, August 2022.
Pompeii Archaeological Park | Courtesy of
On the upper floor, which fell after collapsing into the lower floors, archaeologists found a number of objects left behind, including seven wax tablets held together with rope, a set of bronze vessels, and a cradle-shaped incense burner.
Detailed lathes and ornate carpentry were found in the room behind the Lararium house.
“We don’t know who the inhabitants of the house were,” said Zustregel, “but surely the otium (entertainment) culture that inspired the wonderful decoration of the courtyard represented to them a future they dreamed of rather than a reality of living.”
One of Italy’s top tourist attractions, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash after the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the Gulf of Naples. Ongoing excavations in the city have provided an insight into life in antiquity, especially the upper and lower classes, including revealing the homes of the elite, public brothels, and the amphitheater.
Excavations are still underway in Reggio V, one of the old city’s largest neighborhoods.
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