Map

REGIO VIII

Temple of Venus
This was the temple of the goddes to whom Silla dedicated the colony in calling it Cornelia Venerea Pompeianorum. The building, made entirely in marble, was situated in the part of the town with the best view out to sea and was clearly visible to ships. Little of the temple now remains as a result of the damage it suffered in the earthquake of 62 a.D. and also because it was stripped of its marble after the eruption of 79 a.D. The temple stood on a podium measuring 30 metres by 15 metres and was sourronded by a portico with two rows of columns on the longer sides and one row on the northern wall.
Basilica
The Basilica, identified as such by graffiti on the intonaco of the walls, stands near the forum. It is one of the oldest known examples of this type of building which would evolve in its final form into the model for the Christian basilicas. The basilica can be dated to the last quarter of the 2nd century b.C. on the basis of roofing tiles with the factory mark in oscan and of inscriptions scratched into the oldest intonaco of the walls, also written in oscan. The interior has a nave and two aisles: the nave is bordered on its four sides by 28 large columns, each built of bricks and then covered with stucco. The back wall was occupied by a tribunal, a podium with an elevation of two superposed tiers of 6 corinthian columns. The tribunal was reserved for the judges who directed trials. The basilica also played a leading role in the civil and commercial life of the city.
Comitium and Municipal offices
The comitium was a sort of polling station for municipal elections. The original building could be reached passing through 5 entrances in the northern wall and 5 in the eastern one so that voters could enter from the forum and go straight out into via dell’Abbondanza. On the southern side of the buiding you see a podium where the magistrates sat. Three almost identical buildings situated on the southern side of the forum were the seat of the town’s municipal offices. The most important of these were the office of the Duumviri, the highest authority in the town, the office of the Aediles, who were responsible for public works and maintenance of town buildings, the Council of Decurions, who acted as town councillors.
House of Championnet
The history of Pompeii goes through the many dominations that took place over our city. In January 1799 the French troops, led by General Championnet, put Ferdinand IV on the run and proclaimed the so-called “Neapolitan Republic“. Championnet proved to be a cultured and aware man, managing to quickly continue the excavations of Pompeii: today this house has his name. The House is one of the most sumptuous homes of Pompeii, which covers four levels sloping scenically towards the sea. The main entrance had a multicoloured mosaic floors and geometric decorations and four columns supporting the roof. On the lower floor there was a thermal system.
House of the geometric mosaics
The House of the Geometric Mosaics, which lies on the Via delle Scuole to the south of the forum, was first excavated in 1826. The house has two entrances. The wide entrance opens onto the fauces . The walls of the fauces were dressed with a layer of coarse plaster, but this has been lost since the house was first excavated. The fauces has a fine black and white mosaic floor in a rhomboid pattern with a black and white border. The house was badly damaged during the earthquake of AD62 requiring the walls facing the street to be rebuilt. Prior to the earthquake, the house must have been quite richly decorated, as displayed by the many black and white mosaics that adorn the property. In the north east corner of the peristyle a wide flight of stairs led to the upper floor. The rooms on the west and north sides of the peristyle are in a ruinous condition with little in the way of decoration.
Private Baths (“Gym of the Iuvenes”)
Iuventus was both the time of life and the name of the social institution that transformed iuvenes (young men) into adult citizens. It had a focus on the palestra (or gymnasium). From the outside of the building, you see a floor mosaic depicting a fighting scene with two bare-handed athletes facing each other. On the walls the frescos portray athletes, wrestlers and a jumper with dumbbells. A thermal bath for men was found in it and was located in a scenic area of the town with a wonderful sea view.
House of the red walls
The original layout of the building dates back to the Republican age. Renovation works were still in progress at the time of the eruption in 79 AD. The lararium was found in the atrium, intended for domestic worship, where there were six bronze statues of protective deities of the house. Two eggs and a pine cone were painted on the altar. This house has two rooms with the famous “Pompeian red”. The paintings of IV style were probably made by different painters.
Triangular Forum and the Samnite palestra
The Triangular forum is close to the large theater and the quadriporticus of the gladiators. The complex can be reached through a propylaeum with six ionic columns and a fountain in front, which opens in the northern tip of the triangular piazza. It had a portico with 95 doric columns on three sides, while the south-west side has been left open with its amazing panorama towards the sea. The doric temple stans in the centre of the square. The suggestion that the triangular forum may have been used also for athletic events is supported by the fact that the samnite palestra opened directly onto it. This building was used for sports activities. It includes the destrictarium, the room in which athletes applied a sort of firming cream, made of a mixture of oils and stone dust.
Doric temple- Sanctuary of Atena and Eracle
The temple occupies the southern part of the Triangular Forum; it was built in the sixth century BC, when Pompeii was under the influence of the powerful Greek state of Cumae. It was consecrated to Hercules, mythical founder of the city and later included the cult of Minerva. It was reconstructed several times during the Samnite period, but was abandoned during the Roman age. It had wide-fluted columns with wide, very flat capitals. Almost the whole building was contructed of tufa, only the capitals, of which remain a few fragments, were made of limestone from nearby Sarno.
The Large theatre
It was built in the 2nd century b.C.This theatre was built into a natural hollow in the hillside. The seating area was in the shape of a broad horseshoe with the stage built acrossits open end. The seating was divided into three sections. The whole seating area was surrounded by a wall, near the top of which were sockets which held woodden posts. These supported a huge canopy, protecting the the audience from the sun. It was extended and restored during the reign of Augustus at the personal expense of the Holconius brothers.
Quadriporticus of the theatres or Gladiators Barracks
In the latters years of Pompei the four-sided colonnade rising up behind the theatre, was used as the barracks of the organisation of gladiators who performed in the town. Along the wings of the colonnade and on the first floor were the rooms which provided accomodation for the gladiators from other towns. The four sided colonnade with its 74 columns was originally used as an extension of the theatre, in fact spectators could go there for something to eat or to take shelter from the rain.
The small Theatre - Odeion
This covered theatre situated near the large theatre was mainly used for concerts, although it also was chosen for poetry recitals. It was built by the same two duumviri responsible for the construction of the Amphitheatre. The first seats in front of the orchestra hemicycle, which was paved with slabs of coloured marble chips, were reserved for the decurions. Boxes for the guests of honour were situated on either side of the stage.
The temple of Esculapio or Jupiter Meilichios
The name of the temple was due to an incription in the oscan language found next to the temple. A nucerian tuff stone altar stands in the courtyard and dates back to the 3rd century b.C. The temple itself stands on a podium with four corinthian columnsat the front and two at the sides, behind which was the cella where terracotta statues of Jupiter and Juno and a bust of Minerva were found.
Temple of Isis
It was built in the 2nd century b.C. and dedicated to the egyptian goddes Isis. The temple of Isis is the only well preserved edifice of egyptian nature in the area of Vesuvius. The entrance which opens off the south side of the Via del Tempio d’Iside, bears a dedicatory inscription to its reconstruction after the earthquake of AD62. The reconstruction was financed by the freedman Numerius Popidius Ampliatus in the name of his son Celsinus. The entrance opens onto a courtyard surrounded by a four sided portico. The portico was decorated in the fourth style with red panels. The temple, which sits on a raised podium in the centre of the courtyard, has a porticoed entrance with niches on either side of the entrance to the cella. Another small temple is referred to as the Purgatorium, the place where purification rites were performed. The facade has a broken triangular pediment and a frieze with two processions of priests converging towards the centre. To the west of the temple court is a large room, known as the Ekklesiasterion. This hall was found virtually intact with a black mosaic floor and fine fourth style frescoes.
House of the Cornelii
The house was first excavated in 1766, after again in the nineteenth century .This house opens on Via Stabiana and it has a regular layout: the marble impluvium is at the centre of the atrium and in the same atrium there was an elegant table with feline-paw shaped feet. The peristylium with Doric columns is found in the rear part.In the house archaeologists also found the marble portrait bust of the owner Caius Cornelius Rufus, now at the Antiquarium of Pompei.
House of the wild boar
This house opens on Via dell’Abbondanza and it was opened to the public for the first time in 2016 after the great renovation and work of securing the area of the Regio VIII. The house is named “House of the wild boar” because of a mosaic that decorates the entrance and represents a wild boar attacked by dogs. This scene, really common in other Pompeian houses, had the function of removing evil spirits from the house. The atrium is decorated with a carpet of imperial age mosaics .On the rear there is a large garden. This house was excaveted in the nineteeth century.
House of the queen Carolina
The house was excaveted in the nineteenth century, during the french domination. Pompeii’s residents spent a great deal of time socializing in the city’s lush public and domestic gardens. One of the largest private gardens could be found at the back of the Casa della Regina Carolina, an opulent dwelling named in the nineteenth century after Caroline—the queen of Naples and sister of Napoleon Bonaparte—who visited during its initial excavation. Celebrated for its vibrant decoration in the years after its discovery, the house was largely forgotten as its wall paintings faded.
Villa Imperiale
The Villa Imperiale was initially excavated by Amedeo Maiuri in 1947. The villa was built during the last decade of the first century BC, and comprised one of the so-called hanging houses, constructed illegally on public ground on the slopes to the south and west of the city walls. Following the earthquake of AD62 the villa was partly redecorated in the fourth style. The villa was subsequently acquired on behalf of the state on the order of the Imperial Prefect, Titus Suedius Clemens. At the same time the terrace of the Temple of Venus sited above was extended, requiring the demolition of the upper floor of the villa.
Antiquarium
The Antiquarium in Pompei, at present being reorganized, was founded in 1861 and rebuilt with new museum installations after being destroyed by bombs in word war II. The Antiquarium contains material from the different phases of life in the city and the sourrandings.