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Pompeii: The Large Theatre & the House of Menander
The Large Theatre where plays were staged.
Only a small section of the main seating area is still faced with marble, as here.
The wooden stage occupied the area beyond the low brick wall with the steps. The horseshoe-shaped area in front of the stage was called the orchestra.
On the Via Stabiana, one of the main Roman roads through the city, showing the stepping-stones used to cross the often filthy road, and the grooves
where wagon wheels had ground away the basalt paving blocks.
The House of Menander is one of the most richly decorated, and the condition of the wall frescos is astonishing - the colours are still vivid after being
buried for nearly two millenia. The remaining photos on this page were all taken in this wealthy Roman's house.
A classical frieze in one room.
This is believed to be a portrait of the wealthy owner of the house reading poetry by Menander, or possibly Menander himself.
This shrine in one corner of the atrium is called a Lararium, and is sacred to the Lares, or household gods. These are plaster casts of the original
wooden or wax figures.
A wall-painting of a deer stooping to drink at a pool. The head of the deer is somewhat damaged.
Exquisite mosaic floor in this private bathroom.
The central figure holding the bow is Diana, goddess of hunting - there is a hunting scene at top left. The figure at the right is that of Acteon,
who surreptitiously watched her bathing naked. Diana didn't like this, and transformed Acteon into a stag and set his own hunting dogs to kill him.
This case contains the skeletons of several people found in this room. There are several theories: one is that they were servants who were trapped
in the room due to the volcanic ash piling up outside the door, and they were trying to chip their way out through a wall. Another is that they were
thieves who came to the house after the eruption to steal whatever they could find, but were killed when the roof collapsed.
This apparently represents the "Punishment of Dirce". Dirce was an unpleasant woman who wanted to tie her niece Antiope to the horns of a wild bull,
but after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing Antiope was rescued and Dirce was tied to the bull instead. Charming.
This fresco apparently represents an episode from the Trojan War: Ajax is dragging Cassandra from Palladium before the eyes of Priam.
Not sure who these people are, but they don't look happy.
