Samuli Simelius - Pompeian Peristyle Gardens

Pompeian Peristyle Gardens

This book examines how Pompeian peristyle gardens were utilized to represent the socioeconomic status of Roman homeowners, introducing fresh perspectives on how these spaces were designed, used, and perceived.

Pompeian Peristyle Gardens provides a novel understanding of how the domus was planned, utilized, and experienced through a critical examination of all Pompeian peristyles not just by selecting a few well-known examples. This study critiques common scholarly assumptions of ancient domestic space, such as the top-down movement of ideas and the relationship between wealth and socio-political power, though these possibilities are not excluded. In addition, this book provides a welcome contribution to exploring the largely unexamined middle class, an integral part of ancient Roman society.

Pompeian Peristyle Gardens is of interest to students and scholars in art history, classics, archaeology, social history, and other related fields.

Dr Samuli Simelius is a teacher of ancient cultures at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and a post-doctoral researcher in the project Law, Governance and Space: Questioning the Foundations of the Republican Tradition (funded by the European Research Council). He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Pompeian peristyle gardens.

Series editor: Ray Laurence, Macquarie University, Australia

Over the course of the last two decades the study of urban space in the Roman world has progressed rapidly with new analytical techniques, many drawn from other disciplines such as architecture and urban studies, being applied in the archaeological and literary study of Roman cities. These dynamically interdisciplinary approaches are at the centre of this series. The series includes both micro-level analyses of interior spaces as well as macro-level studies of Roman cities (and potentially also wider spatial landscapes outside the city walls). The series encourages collaboration and debate between specialists from a wide range of study beyond the core disciplines of ancient history, archaeology and Classics such as art history and architecture, geography and landscape studies, and urban studies. Ultimately the series provides a forum for scholars to explore new ideas about space in the Roman city.

Food Provisions for Ancient Rome
A Supply Chain Approach
Paul James

Urbanisation in Roman Spain and Portugal
Civitates Hispaniae of the Early Empire
Pieter Houten

Space, Movement and the Economy in Roman Cities in Italy and Beyond
Edited by Frank Vermeulen and Arjan Zuiderhoek

Greek Cities and Roman Governors
Placing Power in Imperial Asia Minor
Garrett Ryan

Rethinking the Roman City
The Spatial Turn and the Archaeology of Roman Italy
Edited by Dunia Filippi

Pompeian Peristyle Gardens
Samuli Simelius

For further information about this series please visit https://www.routledge.com/classicalstudies/series/SRSU

Pompeian Peristyle Gardens

Samuli Simelius

First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2022 Samuli Simelius

The right of Samuli Simelius to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-367-64995-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-65000-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-12734-5 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003127345

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

Access the Support Material: https://www.routledge.com/9780367649951

To my father

Cross-section of an atrium

Cross-section of a peristyle

The plans of the Casa della Fontana grande (VI,8,22) and Casa della Fontana piccola (VI,8,23/24)

The portico and the garden of the Casa di Fabio Rufo (VII,16,19)

The average Pompeian peristyle. The number of columns, piers, half-columns or pilasters, and rooms opening onto the peristyle corresponds to the actual average. The pilasters and half-columns are considered to be the same feature meaning that the average peristyle might have two half-columns, two pilasters, or one of both as illustrated. The rest of the reconstructed elements (such as the room sizes) are an artistic expression

The median Pompeian peristyle. The number of columns, piers, half-columns or pilasters, and rooms opening onto the peristyle corresponds to the actual average. The pilasters and half-columns are considered to be the same feature meaning that the median peristyle might have a half-column or a pilaster. The rest of the reconstructed elements (such as the room sizes) are an artistic expression

The size distribution of the houses with peristyle, with a red line illustrating how I see the data behavior. (Total number: 224)

A part of the large garden painting of the peristyle of house VII,6,7 (now in the MANN). The left leg of Venus might appear to be in an unnatural posture to the eyes of a modern viewer. (Su concessione del Ministero della Cultura Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli)

The number of peristyles with each building technique. The figure excludes opus incertum, which can be found in every peristyle with known wall-building techniques (Total: 251)

The building materials used in peristyle walls. The figure excludes travertine, which can be found in every peristyle where information on the building materials is available (Total number: 251)

Correlation of peristyle size with house size, and linear trendline (Total number: 248)

The peristyles organized by their size, with lines illustrating how I see the data behavior (Total number: 250)

Correlation of house area and column height, with linear trendline (Total number: 128)

The correlation between peristyle area and column height, with a linear trendline (Total number: 128)

The correlation between the number of porticoes, the peristyle area, and the number of columns (Total number: 250)

The distribution of full peristyles, the peristyles with two or three porticoes, and gardens with one portico, over the size ranges: less than 50 m2, 50115 m2, 120165 m2, 170300 m2, and greater than 300 m2 (Total number: 250)

The distribution of the number of rooms/spaces opening onto the peristyle, arranged according to the number of peristyle colonnades (Total number: 250)

The distribution of the full peristyles, the peristyles with two or three porticoes, and the gardens with one portico in the houses with size ranges of less than 250 m2, 250505 m2, 506724 m2, 7251,200 m2 and over 1,200 m2 (Total number: 250)