The Domus

facade of insula VI.6

The House of Pansa had a tufa ashlar facade (Richardson, 121). The entrance to the house was framed by pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The fauces (90) leading into the home is relatively long. On each side of the doorway leading into the fauces, there are several shops. One of these shops (87) is directly connected to the domus. Because of the direct communication of room 87 with the main domus, it is believed that a slave belonging to the household may have been in charge of running a shop in this area.

View of the atrium

The fauces leads into an Tuscanic atrium (66). The impluvium is modest in size and is lined with modern marble. The atrium is quite symmetrical. Three small cubicula (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73) lie on each side of the atrium. Beyond the cubicula, there are two alae (65, 57). The tablinum (62) was paved with a simple mosaic. White tesserae cover the floor and black tesserae form a border around the perimeter of the room. Two steps lead up from the tablinum into the portico and peristyle. The terracotta floor of the west ala (65) which lies on the west side of the tablinum is decorated with black and white tesserae in a repeating geometric pattern. . An andron (63), or corridor, runs on the east of the tablinum linking the atrium to the peristyle. This andron was added at a later period than the original construction of the atrium. Before the construction of this andron, room 64 also served as a triclinium (Richardson, 122).

View of the peristyle

Proceeding into the peristyle from either the tablinum or the andron, one would encounter a colonnaded portico supported by 16 columns of Pompeian Ionic style with Attic bases (Richardson, 122). The bottom half of the columns are covered with stucco which was painted yellow and the top half remains white and fluted. In addition not all of the capitals match. This incongruity can perhaps be attributed to hasty repair work after the earthquake of 62 A.D. An exedra (37, 39) lies on each side of the southern end (38) of this portico. The House of Pansa had an impressive peristyle. Around the perimeter of the peristyle was a stone gutter to catch rain water from the roof of the colonnade which surrounded the peristyle. At the four corners of the peristyle, blocks of tufa were diagonally placed in order to support large potted plants or perhaps statuary.( Jashemski, vol. 2, 127, Richardson, 122.) In the middle of the peristyle was a large pool (2.65 x 6.4 m; 2 m. deep). Originally the pool was blue with fish and plants painted on its sides. Unfortunately, this painting has now disappeared. At the time of the home's destruction, the pool also had a fountain in the middle. (Jashemski, Vol. 1, 111; Vol. 2, 127).. A bronze statuette of Bacchus and a satyr and a small statuette of Bacchus riding a leopard attached to a bronze lampstand were found in the portico near the peristyle. (Jashemski, Vol. 2, 127.) On the west side of the peristyle there are three cubicula (26, 30, 36). Off of the northern end of the portico (24), there is a large oecus.

The suite of rooms to the west of the oecus contained several rooms necessary for the functioning of the domus. The kitchen (room 20) led into a type of carriage house or stable area (5). In addition, the kitchen also led into a small courtyard (room 21). The latrine was also located in this suite.

Between this suit of rooms and the oecus, there is a narrow passageway (6) which leads to another portico (4). This portico bounds the southern end of a large hortus (1). The hortus (vegetable garden) takes up about one-third of the entire insula and measures 26.5 x 30.5 m. The hortus was laid out in in rectangular plots about 2 1/2 meters wide which were separated by paths. These paths were also used for irrigation channels. The layout of the hortus suggests that this garden was used for produce instead of ornamental uses. (Jashemski, Vol. 1, 19.) In the rear of the garden on the right a water reservoir and remains of lead fittings and pipes were found. These were probably used in watering the garden (Jashemski, Vol. 2, 128).

Although the house as it stands now is in a classic, regularly laid out design, the House of Pansa went through several stages of construction and remodeling. Filled in doorways are seen in several places in the house, and (as has been well documented through the work of Peterse), many of the walls are of different masonry periods. (Peterse's plan of insula VI.6 is given on the right. The walls that are dark belong to the first building period and the walls that are shaded gray belong to later building periods. Peterse, 39)The largest area of debate concerning the House of Pansa concerns the atrium and peristyle. While some maintain that the the construction of the peristyle and the atrium was contemporaneous, others urge that the atrium and peristyle were constructed at different times. Maiuri asserted that the construction was contemporaneous and Peterse accepts this belief (Peterse, 35). His study which converts the measurements of the House of Pansa into Oscan feet and then uses these measures to come up with formulas and ratios to describe the relationship of various parts of the home is based on this fact.

However, there is much evidence to contradict this belief. One of the most persuasive ideas deals with the east living unit. The east living unit is unique because it actually has fauces (45). No other living unit on the insula has this feature. Furthermore, if one follows the sight line from the fauces one encounters a filled door. At one time, this door communicated between rooms 43 and 28. If one removes the peristyle from the center of the House of Pansa and view the house from the east living unit's fauces, the shell of a domus reveals itself between rooms 24 and 38. Furthermore, the atrium of the House of Pansa, reveals itself as a complete house in and of itself. Both sections of the house have masonry dating from the first building period (Please refer to Peterse's plan on the left). Smaller houses such as the ones that would be formed be sectioning the House of Pansa is this way were quite common in the tufa period of Pompeii. (De Albentiis, 43-84)

Moreover, while most of the sight lines running from the rooms (62, 7, 36, 30, and at one time 43) surrounding peristyle offer nice views of the pool and courtyard, Room 26 has only a view of a column. The masonry of room 26's doorway dates from the tufa period. If we accept the idea that the peristyle was built at the same time as the atrium, it would be hard to account for this oversight of a view from this room, given the importance that is given to sight lines in almost all other rooms of the house. It seems reasonable to conclude that the peristyle was constructed after the rooms on the west side of this section of the home were built. The doorways could have easily belong to the original smaller house introduced by the fauces at 45.

There is a definite pattern of renovation and construction in the House of Pansa. The masonry in the front of the house (61-73) all dates to the first building period. The masonry in the middle section of the house (24-39) consists of building materials from the first building period and later building periods. This is a result of renovation and remodeling of the house and insula. Almost all of the masonry in the north section of the house (5-8, 18-20) dates to later building periods and suggest that it was clearly an addition.

While it is clear from the filled door that the suite of rooms associated with room 43 were at one time connected to the space that is now the peristyle, it is unclear if this suite of rooms ever functioned as part of the House of Pansa as it now stands. One theory is that the suite of rooms once served as a guest quarters. However one cannot be sure if the suite ever opened onto the peristyle or if it was closed off when the previous domus at door 45 was taken over and the peristyle was added to the House of Pansa.