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Herculaneum offers us an exceptional insight into Roman life in the first century AD, no more so than what it tells us about the houses the inhabitants lived in. The town has many examples of the 'domus', the one family home, as it was between the fourth century BC and the first century AD.
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The basic layout was extablished by the Samnites and was plainly the outcome of previous experience. This was the 'domus italica', a house with a series of service areas off a central axis. Thus the areas for sleeping, cooking and eating were alongside areas used for family and social life.
The latter areas were almost completely covered, like the atrium, or completely open, as in the peristyled garden, while between the atrium and the peristyle was the family's most sacred room, the tablinum.
Light and air for the rest of the house usually came from these central spaces alone, very rarely from the exterior.
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The plan on the left shows the layout of a typical atrium house. The main points of note are:
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This model stood the test of time and varied little in its basic layout for centuries. Variations included a covered atrium, the addition of a second floor and more recreational areas - perhaps a second peristyle or private baths. The atrium was often embellished with supporting columns.
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The architectural orders used in the buildings were the classical ones, identified by their capitals; Doric, Ionic, Corinthian or Composite, a combination of Ionic and Corinthian. In Herculaneum the orders have some characteristics of their own, rooted, in particular, in the Samnite tradition.
The decoration of the walls of the houses are of four distinct styles and are based on the definitions of the styles described in neighbouring Pompeii. The four styles are First (incrustation or structural), Second (Architectural), Third (Ornamental) and Fourth (Illusionist).
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The Samnite House (Ins V,1)
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The Samnite House displays many of the attributes discussed above. The house, which dates from the 2nd century B.C., is one of the oldest buildings in Herculaneum.
The entrance portal has tufa block columns with Corinthian capitals and is surmounted by a gallery built as part of the second floor.
The entrance hall is decorated with frescos in the First Style imitating polychrome marble. It leads into the atrium, pictured opposite, which has a gallery with Ionic columns closed off with a stucco-lined tracery screen.
Also visible in the photograph are the impluvium, the andron and the tablinum.
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