MentorName: School:J. William Fulbright College, University of Arkansas Classification: GradePoint Average Area of Study: ClassicalStudies, Art History Title of Project: Public andPrivate: Differentiation in SubjectMatter of Wall Painting in the PompeianDomus
Project Summary: In A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius eruptedsuddenly, leaving the southernItalian
seasidetown of Pompeii coveredin ash. While manyof its inhabitantsfled, otherswere
killed by a mixture of pumice and poisonousgases. While tragic, the burial of Pompeii
providesa wealth of infonnation aboutRoman life, althoughthe early excavationsof the
town were lamentablyunscientific. Pompeii becamea Roman colony after the Social
War of the 90s B.C., and subsequentlybecame thoroughly Romanized. Pompeii is
renownedfor its many eleganthouses, called domus(Latin, pl. houses),occupied both by
native Pompeiansand wealthy Romans. Excavationshave revealed many wall paintings,
remarkablywell-preserved by the volcanic ash,in all four of the establishedstyle
classifications. Many questionsabout their meaningand social purposehave beenraised.
By focusing my investigationon differencesin the fresco subjectmatter, I hopeto
underscore a distinction between public and private domestic space. Specifically, I will
focus on decorationin the tablinum and ala. hypothesizethat the contenthere is
different than that of the peristylium. I will draw from publishedcatalogs, scholarly
books, and articles as aids to my analysis. Also, intend to travel to Pompeii and relevant
surrounding sites such as Herculaneum and Oplontis. Assessing the architecture and
decorationof the domus,in situ, is essentialto understandinghow the Romans
public andprivate space.
understood Public and Private: Differentiation in Subject Matter of Wall Painting in the Pompeian Domus
In ancientRome, freeborn members of the patricianclass were expectedto inhabit a home indicative of their rank, and their decorativehabits were imitated by wealthy freedmen. As a Romancolony, Pompeii adoptedthe samesystem. Most of theseelegant domusdisplay remarkablywell-preserved wall art in the form of frescoes. In this project,
I will primarily addressthe urban domus,a housewithin thecity. But I will also include a few examplesof the villa, a houselocated outside the city.
JohnClarke, professorof art history at the University of Texas,describes the
Romandomus as the hub of social,political, andbusiness activities. Ancient Romans conceptualized'public' and 'private' differently than the modernindividual, who considershis workplaceto be the centerof his public life, andhis home to be the center of his private life. This distinction was not applicableto Romanaristocracy. mstead,it was crucial to the statusof a Romanpublic figure to havelarge numbersof peoplevisit his house for the purposeof conductingbusiness.
Romanhouse decoration played a major role in establishingthe Romansense of self. If researchedproperly, the subjectmatter of thesefrescoes can reveal much about
Pompeians'daily lives. Wallace-Hadrill refersto the Romandomus as a 'powerhouse,'a place from which the dominusruled his world. In theory,the decorationof the domus shouldindicate what kind of a man the dominus(master of the household)was. By looking at thesewall paintings,we are able to get a senseofms status,and eventhe numberof visitors he receivedeach day.
1 The generallayout of the patrician domusin the 1st centuryB.C. was as follows.
In the front half of the domus,a door facing the streetopened up into thefauces
(entryway). An axis ran from thefaucesthrough the atrium (main entrancehall). This axis continuedfrom the atrium into the tablinum, or main receptionspace. For example, when a client would visit his patron's domusduring the morning customof sa/ulanD,he would enterthrough thefauces, having a clear line of sight down the fauces-atrium- tablinumaxis. Arrangedaround the peristylium were triclinia, or dining areas. Cubicula
(bedrooms)flanked both sidesof the atrium. Also, two alae (small, open rooms) flanked the atrium. The back half of the domuswas centrally focusedon an open-air,colonnaded garden,called the peristylium. The idealized layout mentionedabove is highly important
in that it reveals concepts of ideal domestic living; however, it must be noted that due to
often irregular land plots in Pompeii, eachdomus I studywill not fall within this ideal plan.
ResearchOverview
My researchaddresses the following major questions: First, what is different
about the 2ndstyle architectural illusionist schemesfound in more 'public' atria and
tablina versusthe more 'private' triclinia and cubicula? Second,did the myths depicted
in 3rdand 4th style central paintings in the more 'public' tablina and alae differ from
thosein the more 'private' tric/inia and cubicu/a? What do the resultsmean in the
contextof Roman society?
I will collect numerical data from the invaluable Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici
encyclopedia. After transferring this infomlation onto large maps of Pompeii, I will
detenninewhether a topographiccorrelation exists between the location of a room and
2 the mythsused in its decoration. Emulating Riggsby's approachto researchingthe cubiculum, I will search for passagesin classical literature that mention the tablinum and ala. And for the analyticalcomponent, I will explain the numbers,and relatethem to daily Pompeianlife. I hypothesizethat there is a contrastin the subjectmatter of the public and private zones of the house. I think this will be true for 2nd,3fd, and 4thstyles, althoughthe ways in which they differ would changefrom style to style, due to the inherentcharacteristics of eachstyle. One would expectthis hypothesisto be true, based
on the writings ofWallace-Hadrill and Clarke,however, no systematicstudy has been done at this point.
Weekly research a2enda I will work for 12.5 hours a week for 16 weeks. I will begin working January 1 st andend May 1st. A typical week would consistof the following: 3 hourswriting thesis drafts, 5 hours using the Pompei: PilluTe e Mosaici series to collect data, 3 hours reading
important scholarlyworks that have shapedthe field, and 1.5hours working on Pompeian maps. This would vary from week to week, dependingon the actualdistance to my thesis
defensedate. For instance,in April, I will no longer spendtime writing drafts, collecting
data, or reading scholarlyworks. Instead,I would devoteall the researchtime to
implementingfinal edits to my thesisand constructinga PowerPointpresentation.
Monthly research af!enda
In January, I will finish my assessmentof 2ndstyle atria, tablina, and alae. In
addition, I will read Roman Painting by Roger Ling. After this, I will begin to write tl1e
backgroundinfoImation sectionof my honorsthesis. This sectionis meantto give a
history of Pompeian excavationand the researchthat hasbeen done in the field so far. I
3 will draw from the works of JohnClarke, Andrew Wallace-Radrill, Andrew Riggsby,
EugeneDwyer, and TheodorKraus, as well as primary sourceslike Vitruvius and
Petronius. Taking inspiration from Andrew Riggsby's approachto the cubiculum,I will searchfor classicalliterary passagesthat mentionthe tablinum and ala, using the Tufts
University PerseusProject, TLL (Latin Thesaurus),and TLG (GreekThesaurus).
During February, I will complete my assessmentof3rd and 4th style tablina and atria. At this point, all datawill be collected,and I will divide the raw infonnation into categories for analysis, including the total tablina and alae, the proportion of 2nd,3rd, and
4thstyle decorations, and the specific myths used. I will break down these numbers into more refined categories,such as the numberof alae that depict Venusand the numberof tablina that createthe illusion of the infinite continuumof space,and so on. On the weekend of February 9ththrough 11 th, will travel to the Metropolitan Museumof Art in
New York so that I can view the 3Mstyle ttesco ttom a cubiculumttom the Imperial Villa at Boscotrecase,and the reconstructed2nd style cubiculumfrom the HousesofP. Fannius
Synistorat Boscoreale.Viewing thesefrescoes in personwill give me a more thorough understandingof the spatial impact theseworks have on the viewer.
Moving into the analytical componentof my research,March will be devotedto developingthe numbersI have gatheredfrom the encyclopediainto applicablestatistics.
I will then situatethe resultsin the contextof currentresearch on domesticspace and
decorationin Pompeii. I will draft the main body of my thesis in March. Using the
LexiconIconographicum Mythologiae Classicae,I will trace additionalexamples of the
most popular mythological sceneson Pompeianwalls. I would use LIMC to detennineif
certainmythological subjectmatter on the walls might also show up on pottery and
4 sculpture of the same period. Around mid-March, I will make large copies of detailed mapsof ancientPompeii, and then mark out the data I have gatheredin order to seeif a topographiccorrelation exists. During springbreak, I will travel to Pompeii to view the houses. I will also visit nearbyHerculaneum and Oplontis;other relevantcities preserved by the Vesuvius eruption.
And finally, in the first week of April I will write the conclusion section of my thesis. After this, I will consult with my mentorto makefinal edits. Subsequently,I will develop a PowerPoint presentation to include the following infontlation: history of ancientPompeii, history of Pompeian excavation,styles of frescoes,the current statusof the field, numerical data on the rooms I have chosen,and conclusions. I will defendmy thesis between April 16thand 25th.
Conclusion
SURF grant funds would enableme to travel to Pompeii,sUlTounding archaeologicalsites, and selectmuseums with Pompeianfresco collections. These experienceswould give me the opportunityto seefrescoes and often entire houses firsthand,and to take photographsand video footageto supportmy analysis. I would alsobe able to purchaseadditional necessarybooks andmake large copiesof mapsof ancient Pompeii. I will continue analyzing my findings and working with my mentor to composea 40-60 pagehonors thesis. also intend to submit all or a portion of this thesis for publication to the undergraduate research magazine Inquiry. I anticipate traveling to the SURF Conferencein orderto give a PowerPointpresentation of my findings to the state. Further, I will attendgraduate school in the fall of 2007, continuing my researchin this field, and pursuea Ph.D. in classicalart.
5 Works Cited
Clarke, JohnR. The Houses ofRoman Italy, 100B. C.-A.D.250: Ritual, Space,and Decoration. Berkeley 1991.
Dwyer, Eugene. "The Pompeianatrium housein theoryand in practice," in E. Gazdaed., RomanArt in the Private Sphere. Ann Arbor 1991:25-48.
Kraus, Theodor. Pompeii andHerculaneum: Living Cities of theDead. New York 1975.
LexiconIconographiczlm Mythologiae Classicae(LIMC). 9 vols. Zurich: Artemis, 1981-1999.
Ling, Roger. "The Decorationof RomanTriclinia," in In Vino Veritas,eds. O. Murray and M. Tecusan. London 1995: 239-251.
Ling, Roger. RomanPainting. Cambridge1991.
Mazzoleni, Donatella. Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House. Los Angeles 2004.
Pitture e Pavimenti di Pompei. 3 vols. Roma: Ministero per i belli culturali e ambientali, Istituto centrale per il catalogo e la documentazione, 1981-1986.
Pompei: Pitlure e Mosaici. [10] vols. Rome: Istituto del1aEnciclopedia Italiana, 1990-.
Riggsby,Andrew. "'Public' and 'Private' in RomanCulture: the Caseof the Cubiculum," Journal ofRoman Archaeology 10 (1997)36-56.
Vitruvius. trans. by F. Granger.De Architectura. London1931
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. Housesand Societyin Pompeii andHerculaneum. Princeton 1994.