Fig. 158.—Plan of the house of the Vettii.
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Opening on the peristyle are three large apartments (n, p, q), and two smaller rooms (o, r). A door at the right leads into a small side peristyle (s, shown in [Fig. 160]), with a quiet dining room (t) and bedroom (u).

The domestic apartments were near the front of the house. At the right of the principal atrium is a small side atrium (v) without a separate street entrance. Grouped about it were rooms for the slaves and the kitchen (w) with a large hearth ([Fig. 125]). Beyond the kitchen is a room for the cook (x'). At the rear of the small atrium is the niche for the household gods ([Fig. 127]).

The corridor at the left of the principal atrium (γ) led to an unimportant room (β) with a door opening on a side street. In this corridor there was a stairway to the second story, which extended over this corner of the house (above e, f, h, n, o, β, δ). Along the front also were low chambers, over the fauces and the small rooms on either side (d, k), and over the rooms adjoining the small atrium (x, y, z).

In the accompanying sections two restorations of the interior are given. In the first ([Fig. 159]) we are looking toward the right side of the atrium and the inner end of the peristyle; the depth of the peristyle more than equals that of the atrium, together with the vestibule and fauces. The difference in height between the atrium and the peristyle, as in the house of the Tragic Poet, is much less than in the houses built in the pre-Roman period; and the corners of the alae were protected by simple wooden casings, altogether unlike the stately pilasters of the olden time.

The transverse section ([Fig. 160]) presents the long side of the peristyle next to the atrium, with the side of the small peristyle at the north end. The extent of the house is greater measured across the two peristyles (along the line C-D on the plan) than from front to rear. Of the three entrances from the atrium into the peristyle, that in the middle is broader and higher than the other two, which are not much wider than ordinary doors; the arrangement of the openings is similar to that in houses having a tablinum open toward the peristyle with an andron on one side, and on the other a room with a door corresponding with the door of the andron.

The columns of the peristyle are well preserved ([Fig. 161]). They are white, with ornate capitals moulded in stucco and painted with a variety of colors. Part of the entablature also remains; the architrave is ornamented with an acanthus arabesque in white stucco relief on a yellow background.

The roof of the greater part of the colonnade has been restored, and the garden has been planted with shrubs in accordance with the arrangement indicated by the appearance of the ground at the time of excavation. Nowhere else in Pompeii will the visitor so easily gain an impression of the aspect presented by a peristyle in ancient times. The main part of the house was searched for objects of value after the eruption, but the garden was left undisturbed, and we see in it to-day the fountain basins, statuettes, and other sculptures placed there by the proprietor.