The House of Loreius Tiburtinus is renowned for its meticulous and well-preserved artwork as well as its large gardens. It is located in the Roman city ofPompeii and with the rest of Pompeii was preserved by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in or after October 79 AD.
Location
Its Pompeian street address is II, 2, 2-5 and it is located on the Via dell'Abbondanza, one of the most prosperous streets in Pompeii, and conveniently situated for both the palaestra and the amphitheatre. The section of Via dell'Abbondanza it occupied was closed off to cart traffic in ancient times.
Name
There naming of this house was wrongly derived from electoral advertisements of sorts etched in the outer façade, some saying "Vote for Loreius" and others "Vote for Tiburtinus." In fact, the last known owner of the house was a man named Octavius Quartio, whose bronze seal was found inside the house during excavation. Some historians choose to refer to this house as the House of Octavius Quartio.
Excavation
The House of Loreius Tiburtinus was excavated between the years 1916 and 1921 by V. Spinazzola.
History
The domus covered an entire insula before the earthquake of 62 AD and had two atriums and two entrances. After the earthquake, part of the house was sold to another owner was made independent.
Layout
The house occupies almost the entire insula with a combination of residential area and garden. On the facade of the building are two cauponae. There was also an access to the upper floor whose rooms were probably rented. The inside of the house is fairly uniform in its organization, and matches the standard of much of the Roman architecture at the time. Unfortunately some of the house's original integrity was compromised before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the earthquake of 62 AD. The entryway or anteroom leads into the atrium, a large open room with an impluvium in the center. This basin collected rainwater through a hole in the roof to be used by the patrons of the house. On the far side of the atrium is a modest peristyle where the original tablinum once was. The lack of a functional tablinum is evidence of the earthquake's toll on the house's infrastructure. There are several oeci off the main atrium used as receiving rooms with various art displayed in each room. One specific oecus that borders the viridarium or indoor garden functioned as a triclinium or dining area where guests could be entertained. This room was particularly well decorated to please the many guests that must have passed through. Bordering the garden is a summer triclinium where diners could recline during the warmer months.
Gardens
The house is particularly well known for its extensive gardens and outdoor ornamentation. Beyond the summer triclinium there was a specific arrangement of two Euripi, a decorative type of fountain. These fountains were the centerpiece for many frescoes and statuettes. The upper Epirus has a strong significance to the excavated city of Pompeii because its decorative frescoes are the source of the only known artist's signature: "Lucius pinxit" or "Painted by Lucius." These frescoes portray the myths of Narcissus on one side of the fountain and Pyramus and Thisbe on the other. The other lower Euripus is a fountain that spans the long garden which holds numerous types of foliage including various fruit trees. All of these fountains operate using a technology called castellum plumbeum, a fairly complex water pressure system which functioned with the localwater towers, providing to several locations.
