The most striking feature of the House of Octavius Quartio (also known as the house of Loreius Tiburtinus) is its garden. The garden was remodelled along with the rest of the house after the earthquake of 62AD to include features more commonly found in a country villa than a townhouse.

The garden isn’t the usual peristyle garden. Instead, a collonaded viridarium opens out onto a raised terrace, canal, outside dining area and pergolas, overlooking a vast garden plot that extends south. 

The garden is a striking innovation for an urban domus — and communicates a great deal about the standing and aspirations of the owner.

The Garden Terrace 

Pompeian atria usually opened onto a tablinum and enclosed peristyle garden. However, in the house of Octavius Quartio, the atrium terminates in a small, three-sided colonnade surrounding a viridarium. 

This indoor garden, in turn, opens out onto a long raised terrace running along the building. Shaded and surrounded by entertainment rooms, it was an intermediary zone between the house and the garden proper.

Pergolas hung with vines and ivy ran along the length of the terrace, and statues lined up along its edge with the garden. The terrace was also crowded with “villa” features, designed to act as focal points and show off the owner’s standing to any guests. 

The overall effect of the garden terrace would have been overwhelming — for all the wrong reasons, for it was cluttered and confusing. Frescos of mythological scenes painted on the walls were designed to show off the owner’s knowledge. Instead, they display his ignorance because of the muddled mythology. The images of Orpheus, Pyramus and Thisbe cross myths to mix with the Venus Marina, muddling the stories. 

The Room of Isis and Biclinium

A small euripus or water channel ran east to west down the centre of the garden terrace. At each end, it terminated at two of the domus’s standalone entertainment rooms: the Room of Isis and the biclinium.

The Room of Isis was at the west end of the canal. Decorated in fourth style, its south wall depicts a priest of the cult of Isis — possibly the house’s owner. For this reason, it has been interpreted as a possible household shrine to the Egyptian goddess. The shrine’s location next to the canal emphasizes this possibility, as in villa gardens, similar channels acted as symbolic representations of the River Nile.

At the east of the canal was an outdoor dining area known as the biclinium, so-called because it had two stone coaches set opposite each other under the shade of a pergola. A small stretch of water on which dishes of food would have floated separated the two sets of seats. The room terminated in a raised shrine or nymphaeum.

 The Grand Triclinium

The grand triclinium was the most important of the terrace rooms and designed to make an impact. Decorated again in fourth style, it lay off the centre of the terrace, at the junction with the garden proper.

The room offered diners spectacular views. Their eyes would have been drawn initially to a nymphaeum to Diana set in the centre of the terrace canal. A longer Grand Canal began here, running down from the terrace and into the gardens.

The Garden

This large canal ran down the centre of the entire length of the domus’s garden. Running south below the terrace, it was a vast space taking up the rest of the insula. Statues lined its full extent. The canal itself was punctuated in the middle by a further nymphaeum, a fountain and a fish pond or piscine.

Archaeologists have been able to identify many of Pompeii’s garden flowers and plants from preserved remains. In the garden of Octavius Quartio, casts of tree roots remained in the petrified soil indicating plane, cypress, bay, acanthus and various fruit trees were planted along the canal and the pergola walkways that flanked it. Ornamental flower beds were planted with bay, oleander, narcissi and wildflowers and edged with box and myrtle.

The house owner clearly wanted to emulate aristocratic villas and had the wealth to do so. However, their statement of social standing falls short because of an imperfect grasp and application of the cultural and visual language they were employing. Nevertheless, the owner managed to create a unique garden space and could not have failed to make an impact.

Sources

Clarke, JR.The Houses of Roman Italy 100BC-250AD. University of California Press.

Pompeii: Archaeological Guide. Institutio Geografico de Agostini

Capasso, G. Journey to Pompeii .

Grant, M. Pompeii and Herculaneum: Cities of Vesuvius.. London: Folio Society.