The House of the Surgeon, Pompeii
An Early Italic or Samnite House in Roman Pompeii
One of the oldest houses in Pompeii, the House of the Surgeon is the perfect example of a samnite house 'modernised' in Roman style.
Named for the wide range of surgical instruments found inside it, the House of the Surgeon is unique. Whist many houses in Pompeii were built upon the foundations of earlier dwellings, The House of the Surgeon retained the majority of its original structure, only modernising slightly in around 200BC. Dating suggests that the structure could have been started as early as the 4th century BC. Consequently, it maintains many of the features of what is known as a samnite or early Italic house, free from the Hellenistic features that became fashionable in the second century BC.
Layout of the House of the Surgeon
The overall design is basically that of a classic rectangular atrium house. Shops flanked either side of a narrow fauces which opened out onto the atrium. On the left and right sides of the atrium, close to the entrance were four small bedrooms, with two small salons at the end. The study was immediately opposite the fauces, following the classic fauces-atrium-tablinium axis.Unlike the other rooms, this was immediately accessible from the atrium, unless its folding wooden doors were closed. In its turn, the tablinium was flanked on either side by two rooms that have been identified as dining rooms. The larger of the two, on the right, was enclosed within the house, suggesting it was used for winter dining. However, the left hand room opened out onto a small colonnaded portico offering views onto a classic hortus garden containing a shrine rather than the peristyle garden that became fashionable in the 2nd century BC. The openness of this room suggests it was probably used as a summer triclinium. Finally, at the back of the house, to the right of the portico were stairs to the upper rooms, destroyed during the eruption of Vesuvius.
Service Areas of the House
A rear service entrance, probably used for deliveries and the comings and goings of the domestic staff, existed at the opposite end of the house from the garden, immediately next to the kitchen. This and the other service rooms were situated as far from the public and leisure areas of the domus as possible. Access to and from the kitchen was carefully organised so that it was inconspicuous but still functional. Besides the rear service entrance, it was accessible from the atrium via a narrow, convoluted passageway which allowed discrete access to the dining rooms. The final access was again at the back of the house, this time from the colonnaded portico.
Decor and Re-Design
The overall design and décor of the house quite austere. Originally, the atrium roof did not have a conpluvium or roof opening. This limited the house’s sources of light to that from the fauces and the garden. The house therefore would have been quite dark. Sometime in the 2nd century BC, the house underwent modifications, reforming it as what Vitruvius termed a Cavaedium tuscanicum, an atrium house with a conpluvium. This increased the light and with a change in décor the house was brightened somewhat. However, the owners of the house resisted fashionable tendencies to remodel their home to include Hellenistic features, keeping their modernisation modest. This minimal remodelling left most of the original structure preserved and has established The House of the Surgeon as the earliest pure Italic style house found so far in Campania.
Sources
Grant, M (2005) Pompeii and Herculaneum: Cities of Vesuvius. (The Folio Society: London)
McKay, A G (1975) Houses, Villas and Palaces in the Roman World (Thames & Hudson)
Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (Dover Publications)
