Round table discussion forum 2 (artistic and architectural developments) (2025-26)

Villa Dei Papiri

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 10:35:56 GMT

by Ehlana Davison.

The villa is a traditional Roman Villa dating to at least the first centurybce according to the frescoes, with a peristyle garden and atrium; there was a second peristyle garden as well with a water feature the size of an Olympic pool (50x 25 metres with a depth of at least 2) which combined with a span of 200 metres total makes for an imposing and extravagant structure. There were lower levels beneath the atrium, an extension to the southeast and a pavilion on the seafront.

Frescoes:

The frescoes painted in the villa are separated into styles according to when they dated, in the Villa Dei Papiri, the second and fourth style have been more seen. 26 fragments have been identified as belonging to the Villa Dei Papyri. Many of them were destroyed during excavation or simply cut out to be displayed.

Statues:

In the 1750-61 excavations some 85 freestanding sculptures were found around the Villa, primarily in bronze though others were marble. Many were destroyed and had to be pieced back together. Some statues only have heads surviving, potentially damaged by excavators. Weber’s mapping of the villa included the locations of twenty of the sculptures. Size of the Villa is still in question, and more than the 85 sculptures were found it’s only that many were recorded.

Papyri:

The papyri found weren’t immediately recognised as such until 19th October 1752, when one of the scrolls broke and they were discovered to be book scrolls, before that time many were destroyed and potentially used as torches, as they were carbonised and thought to be firewood. Many were also damaged simply in the attempts to open them. Most of the book scrolls were discovered in the northeastern corner of the villa according to Weber.

House of Menander

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 17:00:31 GMT

by Lexin Jessopp.

One of the most notable artistic elements of this house is its use of elements typically found on or in public buildings, used to heighten a sense of grandeur, are here employed to demonstrate the elitism of the inhabitants. Corinthian columns at the entrance of the house are a prime example of this, alongside the columns adorning the entrance to the tablinium. The gardens were a peristyle form, further used to emphasise the grandeur to any guests, while the columns to the exterior of the house served the purpose of shocking and aweing passerby’s with its grandiosity. The same sentiment is echoed within the inner rooms of the house, most notably the Ancestral Shine within the summer dining hall. Its framing with even more columns offers two main purposes; firstly to emphasise the pedigree of the homeowner and their elite status, and secondly to drive a wedge between the guests and homeowner by showing their inferiority to the latter. A fresco in the garden rooms, all decorated in a poetic and theatrical theme, gives the house its namesake, given it is a fresco of the Greek poet Menander, while the rest of the house features fourth-style frescoes of a number of themes – Troy and the Trojan War, the Nile, and the aforementioned poetics of the garden room.

Theatres/Gladiator Barracks

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:38:12 GMT

by Alistair Meiring.

The Large Theatre was built on the side of a hill in a Hellenistic style that allowed it to be built bigger than if it was built from the ground up and also allowed for far better acoustics to provide clear sound all the way to the top. The theatre was able to seat 5000 and was split into five distinct sections which were each for a different class of society. The Odeon or 'small theatre' was, as its name suggests, a smaller theatre, holding only 1000 people, its intention was to be more intimate and was generally just for the elites. As apposed to the plays and musical performances in the Large Theatre, there would be poetry recitals and political meetings hosted within. To cater to its higher class of clientele the Odeon was built to a higher standard, being enclosed with a roof and featuring a highly decorated interior with paintings depicting mythological scenes. The odeon also comprised of a large number of vaulted passages and stairways within which were used both as access to get within and for ventilation. The Odeon as well as the Large Theatre were home to many marble statues depicting gods and other deities. Both buildings were built in the second century BC and were constructed from a volcanic tuff known as 'Sarno stone' and limestone. The Gladiator barracks are located behimg the Large Theatre and was originally built as a colonnade foyer for theatre goers known as the quodripoticus but after the earthquake in 62AD it was repurposed into barracks to house the gladiators. The structure is 60x50M and comprises of a large open space in the centre, where the gladiators would train, surrounded by 74 doric columns and rooms in which they would live. The walls within the barracks have all been extensively graffitied with inscriptions and drawings, which gives us an insight into the lives and rivalries of the gladiators.