6. Habitats at Herculaneum and Early Roman Interior Decoration

Roman Architecture (HSAR 252)

Professor Kleiner discusses domestic architecture at Herculaneum and the First and Second Styles of Roman wall painting. The lecture begins with an introduction to the history of the city of Herculaneum and what befell some of its inhabitants when they tried to escape obliteration by Vesuvius. She features three houses in Herculaneum, two of which--the Houses of the Mosaic Atrium and the Stags--are among the best examples of a residential style popular in Campania between A.D. 62 and 79. Professor Kleiner then turns to the First or Masonry Style of Roman wall painting, which seeks to replicate the built architecture of Hellenistic kings and other elite patrons by using stucco and paint to imitate a real wall faced with marble. She follows with Second Style Roman wall painting, which uses only paint to open up the wall illusionistically onto vistas and prospects of sacred shrines, city scenes, and landscapes. The lecture concludes with a discussion of the Garden Room from the Villa of Livia at Primaporta, which epitomizes the Second Style by transforming the flat wall into a panoramic window.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction and the History of Herculaneum
13:30 - Chapter 2. Houses at Herculaneum and the Samnite House
20:35 - Chapter 3. Further Developments in Domestic Architecture at Herculaneum: The House of the Mosaic Atrium and the House
37:47 - Chapter 4. First Style Roman Wall Painting
52:02 - Chapter 5. Second Style Roman Wall Painting
01:04:18 - Chapter 6. Second Style Roman Wall Painting and the Family of Augustus

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.