SALUTATIO AT THE HOUSE OF PANSA |
Salutatio at the House of Pansa is a virtual reality recreation of a scene from ancient Roman life. It is named for the morning salutatio ritual and for the House of Pansa, a block-sized mansion discovered among the ruins of Pompeii. Based on both archeological evidence and contemporary literary accounts, it uses modern technology to synthesize what is known about the period in a more lifelike and vivid portrayal of the data than would be possible using only the written or spoken word.
Salutatio at the House of Pansa was created by Brendan Barnett (email: bmb8m@virginia.edu) as a Summer Research Fellowship project at the University of Virginia, under the guidance of Professor John Dobbins (who oversaw the archaeological and historical aspect of the project) and Professor James Hagan (who oversaw the technical and artistic aspect of the project).
The morning salutatio was a daily Roman ritual in which powerful, prominent citizens would receive their "clients," who would bring news, ask for favors, and be asked for favors in return. These clients included people from almost all levels of Roman society: everyone from workingmen to young aspiring politicians. All visited their paterfamilias to offer him their services in return for his protection and help. (After receiving his clients in his own house, the patron, or paterfamilias, would often in turn visit his own superiors to whom he paid homage). These networks of patronage permeated Roman society, and its daily operation, encompassing everything from gladiatorial games to political recruiting, was heavily dependent on them. Clients lined up according to rank to see their patron, and each asked and gave favors according to his station in life. They brought prestige to their patron, and the patron’s generosity towards their needs allowed his wealth to fulfill a civic role. The salutatio was a daily illustration of the nature of Roman society: civic, ritualistic, and hierarchal.
The salutatio took place in the atrium, the spacious public room at the front of wealthy homes. The atrium of a prominent house evoked the civic atmosphere of Roman life with its monumental scale and architecture. The atrium was a massive room flanked by small guest bedrooms and alae ("wings"). At the center of the atrium there was a large impluvium, or marble rainwater collection basin (which was fed through a hole in the roof, or compluvium). In the back stood the tablinum, where the patron received his clients. Behind the tablinum was the rest of the house, which was more private and for the eyes of only those privileged enough to be invited within by the home's wealthy residents.
This project recreates the salutatio and its setting, the atrium of a wealthy citizen’s house.
As a visitor walks into the recreated House of Pansa, he or she is immediately greeted by a mosaic of a menacing dog on the vestibulum (entryway) floor, bearing the inscription CAVE CANEM ("Beware of the dog"). The entryway is lavishly decorated with colorful stucco work, ornate cornices, and beautifully carved Corinthian columns.
Beyond the rather narrow entryway lies the impressively grand atrium of the house. It is what Vitruvius called a Tuscan atrium – with a compluvium in the ceiling, unsupported by columns. The walls of the atrium are decorated in what archaeologist August Mau labeled the "Fourth Style" of Pompeiian wall painting: stucco colorfully painted and carved to resemble blocks of expensive stones. The atrium’s rough, reddish floor is decorating with bits of white stone, lined up in tessellating spirals that cover the floor and catch the sunlight. In its center stands an impressively large impluvium (to collect rainwater), which is flanked by a cistern in the front, and a by table in the back.
Tall, white Corinthian columns mark the passageways to the major rooms adjoining the atrium: the alae and, more importantly, the tablinum. The tablinum is the paterfamilias’ reception room, and it is marked by two monumentally tall columns and an equally impressive capital.
The primary evidence for the recreation consisted of archaeological remains and ancient literary sources.
The basic form of the reconstructed house was based on the House of Pansa (whose remains supplied the basic physical form, setting, and characters for the computer model) and the House of the Sallust (whose remains supplied the wall decorations, because the House of Pansa’s original wall decorations have been lost).
General information about the construction of houses in ancient Pompeii was derived from scholarly research and traveler’s accounts of the Pompeian ruins, as well as from ancient sources. De architectura by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect, served as a primary source for descriptions of the types and methods of construction of Roman houses. Pompeii: Its Life and Art by August Mau, a 19th century account by a German archaeologist, gave valuable information about types, classes, and particular examples of Roman houses in the Pompeian ruins, and included many useful diagrams of roof construction, floor plans, and reconstructed elevations of Pompeian houses.
The basic floor plan used in Salutatio at the House of Pansa, derived from that of the House of Pansa, was primarily based on a CAD model created by John Dobbins for the Pompeii Forum Project (located on the Web at /) and measurements made by C.L.J. Peterse, in Notes on the design of the house of Pansa (VI,6,1) in Pompeii (Mededelingen van het Nederlands Instituut te Rome, deel 46, pp.35-55).
Further details of the House of Pansa were based on photographs documenting the house’s remains, collected in the Pompeii Forum Project. These photographs primarily supplied details of the floor designs and mosaics in the house, as well as information about the house’s columns.
However, the remains of the House of Pansa were incomplete, so this reconstruction also relied on the remains of another house in a similar style, the House of the Sallust. The House of the Sallust’s decorations have been partially documented by photographs and drawings made by archaeologists. The primary references for these photographs and drawings were: Pompeii and Herculaneum: The Living Cities of the Dead by Theodor Kraus; Pompeii: Its Life and Art by August Mau; and The First Style in Pompeii: Painting and Architecture by Anne Laidlaw. The books supplied the information necessary to decorate the virtual reality house.
Additionally, the recreated house is occupied by contemporary Roman characters, including a Roman paterfamilias (who, in the case of the House of Pansa, would have been Gnaius Alleius Nigidius Maius, a wealthy former city magistrate). Their features are modeled on Roman portraits, and their dress and behavior is based on what modern scholars know of ancient Romans from historical, literary, and archaeological sources.
Scholarly sources for the historical behavior of the virtual House of Pansa's occupants include Pompeii: Its Life and Art, by August Mau; A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium, edited by Paul Veyne; Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill; and Daily Life in Ancient Rome by Florence Dupont (translated by Christopher Woodall). Contemporary Roman literary sources used for clues to the house's virtual occupants include The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter and the plays of Plautus.
Dupont, Florence. Vie quotidienne du citoyen romain sous la République (English). Oxford, UK; Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, 1993.
Kraus, Theodor. Pompeii and Herculaneum: The Living Cities of the Dead. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1975.
Laidlaw, Anne. The First Style in Pompeii: Painting and Sculpture. Rome: G. Bretschneider, 1985.
Mau, Augus. Pompeii: Its Life and Art. New Rochelle, N. Y.: Caratzas Brothers, 1982, c1902.
Peterse, C.L.J. "Notes on the design of the house of Pansa (VI,6,1) in Pompeii" in Mededelingen van het Nederlands Instituut te Rome (Papers of the Dutch Institute in Rome). Gnavenhage, Ministerie van Cultuur, Recreatie en Maatschappelijk Werk, deel 46, pp.35-55.
Petronius Arbiter. Satyricon (English). Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Plautus, Titus Maccius. Four comedies. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Veyne, Paul, ed. A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Vitruvius Pollio. De architectura (English). New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
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All text and images © 2000 Brendan Barnett (bmb8m@virginia.edu) |