In praedis Iuliae Felicis: the Provenance of some Fragments of Wall-painting in the Museo Nazionale, Naples

Abstract

Among the earliest buildings to be excavated at Pompeii, the large property known as the Villa of Julia Felix, regio II insula 4 no. 3, suffered particularly badly from the depredations of the pioneer explorers of the site. It was subsequently abandoned and re-buried, then excavated again and restored between 1936 and 1953. A complex and interesting structure, it still awaits definitive publication, though the garden triclinium whose painted decoration forms the subject of this article has been examined in detail by Dr. Friedrich Rakob in the Römische Mitteilungen.The house is situated on the right-hand side of the Via dell'Abbondanza leading eastwards out of the city to the Porta di Sarno, and behind it is the amphitheatre. Along the street front is a group of rooms including private living apartments and a large bath, and behind these a long and elaborately laid out garden (see plan, Pl. XVII); on the long right (western) side of this a row of rectangular pillars forms a portico shading a set of rooms backed by a corridor, which communicates with the side-street at the west, and with a further complex of small rooms at the bottom right-hand corner of the garden.