The house of Caecilius Iucundus, V 1, 22-27, at Pompeii

This well known house in Pompeii belonged to the business man Caecilius Iucundus who’s archive, 153 wax tablets were found during the excavation in 1875.It consists of two houses that were united into a large double atrium house. Some of its wall painting is of a very high quality. Since 2001 I am together with Prof. Arja Karivieri SU, responsible for the documentation an analys of the structures.

This doubble atrium house was excavated in 1875. It is one of the most well known houses due to the fact hat we know the owner, Caecilius Iucundus through the buissnes archive in the shape of wax tablets that were found during he excavation. In the course of time since the excavation the house has decayed significantly. Wall paintings that were noted in the excavation reports are no longer to be seen. Further, the part of house was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1980 when the roof on one of the rooms fell in. The house was originally two houses that were unitedinto one big doubble atrium house. While the south house had a representative charachter with reception room, dining rooms, and a peristyle garden, the north house included kitchen, latrine and stables etc. The owner’s reception room, tablinum, were wall paintings that are considered some of the finest o fits style. Most of these can now be seen in the National museum at Naples. Along the street, Via del Vesuvio, were workshopsthat originaly were connected by doors to the house behind. In the period before the eruption most of the doors had been walled of. The project is part of The Swedish Pompeii project. The aim of the project has been to create a comprehensive documentation of the house and and make an analyses of the house and the changes that it went through. This have been done by means of description of the structures, fotographs, and trial trenches etc.