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House of the Tragic Poet

Here in Insula 8 of Pompeii's Regio VI, facing the Via Nola and the Forum Baths, is a typical two-storey villa of the 2nd century BCE. This villa, known as the House of the Tragic Poet, is only modest in size, but as you step in through the vestibule, past the cave canem warning of the startlingly life-like chained dog depicted in the floor mosaic, you quickly realise how remarkable it is.

The interior of this modest-looking villa is decorated with elaborate mosaic floors and numerous frescoes illustrating a wealth of scenes from Greek mythology, all of the highest quality found in ancient Pompeii. The atrium is the most lavishly decorated room, and contains more large-scale, mythological frescoes than any other Pompeiian villa (with the exception of those Vettii upstarts over on Insula 15). The elaborate theatrical mosaic which has given the villa its name can be found in the tablinum, and even the peristyle is adorned with lush trompe-l'œil garden scenes.

PLAN OF THE HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET, POMPEII Ostium or fauces into the house Atrium Chambers for family and guests Landing and stairs up Alae Tablinum Fauces into garden Peristyle Triclinium Kitchen Cubicula The illustration is from William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (New York, Harper, 1874). For a guided tour of the House of the Tragic Poet, see this wonderful presentation by Cornellia Cornelius: House of the Tragic Poet For photos of the House as it appears to visitors today: Photos

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