MUNICIPAL BUILDING - POMPEII

Three almost identical buildings situated on the southern side of the Forum were the seat of the town’s municipal offices. The most important of these were the office of the Duumviri, the highest authority in the town, the office of the Aediles, who were responsible for public work and maintenance of town building, the Council of Decurions, who acted as town councillors, and the municipal archives. While archaeologists are certain of the general function of the complex, opinion is divided on the actual use of the individual building. The first on the right, in the corner where the Basilica stands, was probably the Curia, seat of the Ordo Decurionum or town council. This building still preserves its marble floor and has an apse on the far wall, while the side walls have three rectangular niches where honorary statues of emperors or eminent citizens of Pompeii once stood. The central building was probably the office of the Duumviri, although some scholars think they may have been the seat of the Council of Decurions. An unusual feature can be seen in the small columns marking out the presence of a podium on which stood wooden cabinets housing administrative files and archives. Finally, the third building has been attributed as the Office of Aediles.

 

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A painting in the entrance, now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples, of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter and Leda, gives the house its name. This is one of the rare examples in Pompeii of a house with a Corinthian atrium, where the atrium with a central impluvium is surrounded by columns, in this case twelve columns in tufo (the other two alternatives were the Tuscan atrium without columns and the tetrastyle atrium with four columns at the corners of the impluvium). Wall paintings with pictures of mythological subjects were frescoed on the walls of the rooms on either side of the tablinum. Most of them have been detached and are now in the Archaeo ... continue

(Apic. 9, 10, 2) Ingredients:

• 500 g cooked tuna fillet
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp privet
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp rue
• 150 g dates (without stones)
• 1 tblsp honey
• 4 hard boiled eggs (in quarters)
• 50 ml white wine
• 2 tblsp wine vinegar
• 50 ml Defritum (or cooked wine)
• 2-3 tblsp green olive oil

Instructions:
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Cook tuna fillet. Mesh fillet together with dates, honey, wine, vinegar, Defritum (or cooked wine) and oil. Put all into a bowl a ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.