The most striking feature of the House of Octavius Quartio (also known as the house of Loreius Tiburtinus) is its garden. Remodelled after the earthquake of 62AD, the peristyle garden usually found in townhouses does not exist. Instead, a colonnaded viridarium opens out onto a raised terrace complete with a canal, outside dining area and pergolas, overlooking a vast garden plot that extends to the south. Overall, the features of the garden are more common to a country villa. Whilst they are striking innovations in an urban domus, they also communicate a great deal about the standing and aspirations of the owners.
The Garden Terrace
Instead of opening onto a tablinium and enclosed peristyle as in other Pompeian houses, the atrium terminates onto a small, three sided colonnade surrounding a viridarium. From here, the view opened out onto a long, terrace running the length of the building. Shaded and surrounded by entertainment rooms, it was an intermediary zone between the house and garden proper.
Raised above the garden proper, pergolas hung with vines and ivy would have run along its whole length. It was crowded with ‘villa’ features, designed to act as focal points and enhance the owners standing. Frescos of mythological scenes were painted along the walls. Intended to display the owner’s knowledge of mythology, the result is rather muddled as disconnected images of Orpheus and Pyramus and Thisbe stand side by side with Venus Marina.
Coupled with statues lining the terrace at the edge with the garden, the overall effect would have been rather cluttered and confusing. The owner clearly wanted to emulate aristocratic villas and had the wealth to do so. However, the statement of social standing falls short because of an imperfect grasp of the cultural and visual language involved.
Running down the centre of the terrace is the first of the villa features: a small euripus or water channel which ran from east to west. The western and eastern ends terminated on two of the domus’s stand alone entertainment rooms: The room of Isis and the Biclinium. Situated in the middle of the terrace and overlooking the junction between the terrace and the garden proper was the Grand Triclinium.
The Room of Isis, the Biclinium and the Grand Triclinium
The Room of Isis, overlooking the western end of the canal may have functioned as a household shrine to the goddess. Decorated in 4th style, its south wall depicts a priest of the cult who may have been the house’s owner. The position of the shrine close to the canal is interesting. In villa gardens, such channels were symbolic representations of the River Nile.
At exactly the opposite end of the canal was an outdoor dining area or biclinium, so called for the two stone coaches set opposite each other. Under the shade of the pergola, a small shrine or nymphaeum overlooked the coaches which were separated by a small stretch of water on which dishes of food were floated.
The final room in the sequence was the grandest, as indicated by its position and views. Decorated in 4th style, the Grand triclinium was placed at the centre of the terrace. Its most immediate focus was upon a further nymphaeum to Diana which acted as a nexus between the centre of the terrace canal and the longer, grand canal that ran perpendicular to it down the length of the garden proper.
The Garden.
The garden below the terrace was vast, taking up the rest of the south end of the insula. Statues lined its extent with the large euripus running down its length, punctuated in the middle by a further nymphaeum, fountain and fish pond or piscine.
Archaeologists have been able to identify many of Pompeii’s garden flowers and plants from preserved remains. In the garden of Octavius Quartio, casts of tree roots remained in the petrified soil which indicated plane, cyrpus, bay, acanthus and various fruit trees were planted along the canal which was flanked by walkways covered in a similar fashion to the terrace.
The flower beds were planted with bay, oleander, narcissi and wildflowers and edged with box and myrtle.
Sources
The Houses of Roman Italy 100BC-250AD by J R Clarke. University of California Press.
Pompeii: Archaeological Guide. Institutio Geografico de Agostini
Journey to Pompeii by Gaetano Capasso.
Pompeii and Herculaneum: Cities of Vesuvius by Michael Grant. London: folio society.
