P39
The houses
The private houses occupied a quarter of the urban quarters. The domus, mainly built
in the first half of the I century AC, are constructed on the basis of the architectural
central italic models with the installation of different rooms around a large open
space. Some courtyards are known: they are often provided of arcades, wells with the
impluvium to collect the water. The representational rooms constitute the residential
part that differs from the utilitarian one (the kitchen) and from the one dedicated to
trades or laboratories. It is possible that the houses were provided of a first floor on a
soft structure.
The walls were constructed with a base composed of peddles and cement and a high
part in raw clay hold up by wooden structures and covered by the plaster.
In few cases, the floor consisted of white and black mosaics; the most part of them
consisted otherwise of cement mixed with different materials.
1. Perspective reconstruction of an Imperial domus with atrium and peristyle.
2. Peristyle of a Pompeian domus