Pompeiian House

In Pompeii we visited many excavated sites. This is the home of a very wealthy person. They know this because it was HUGE and every inch was decorated with frescoes or mosaics (check out the floor below - those are tiny tiles)! There were servants quarters, a courtyard in the middle of the home, and stables out back.

This is the main door to the home. It was left in the exact position that the owners left it in when they evacuated. The owners who evacuated left their doors open, while those who stayed to weather out the eruption had their doors closed. The doors were made of wood, which deteriorated in the ash over time. While excavating they poured plaster into the crevices to make molds of things that had decayed (such as this door). Archaeologists knew that they would find bodies in homes whose doors were closed.

Interior of same home

Dining room of same home

When a wealthy Pompeian hosted a dinner party the guests were expected to arrive at 6pm and stay until 10am. They were all lead into the dining room and shown to a mattress. Eating while laying on a mattress was exceptionally luxurious. In order to show their wealth, the hosts continually fed the guests the ENTIRE time. It was considered rude to refuse any food or wine/beer, so guests were obligated to eat without pause for 16 hours!

Vomitorium

Every couple of hours the guests would excuse themselves from the dining room to use the VOMITORIUM. Seriously. They would go puke, rinse with a wine/honey mixture, and then return the dining room to keep eating. Woah.