---
title: "House of the Cryptoporticus I.6.2–16 - Pompeii Online"
description: "Explore the House of the Cryptoporticus I.6.2–16 at Pompeii, with its decorated underground portico, private baths and eruption victims."
url: "https://www.pompeionline.net/en/buildings-and-places/regio-i/house-of-the-cryptoporticus-i-6-2-16"
date: "2026-09-15T09:27:19+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

#  House of the Cryptoporticus I.6.2–16

The **House of the Cryptoporticus I.6.2–16** is one of the most complex and refined residences in Regio I. Situated on the Via dell'Abbondanza, with a second entrance towards the Vicolo del Menandro, it takes its name from the great **underground cryptoporticus** beneath the garden, the most distinctive feature of the entire complex.

The house has an especially intricate architectural history. For centuries it was repeatedly connected to and separated from the adjoining residence now known as the **House of the Lararium of Achilles, or House of the Trojan Sacellum**, as doorways and passages were opened and closed. The building visible in AD 79 was therefore the outcome of numerous changes that began in the Republican period and continued until the city's final years.

### A house with a complex history

Archaeological research shows that the complex did not originate in its present form. Its earliest phase dates to the **Late Republican period**, when several rooms faced a large garden and belonged to a more extensive residential system.

The property was profoundly transformed in the **Augustan period**. The earlier portico was converted into the large underground cryptoporticus, the level of the garden was raised, and new rooms were built below, including a refined oecus and a private bathing suite.

Its relationship with the neighbouring house changed several times over the following centuries, probably reflecting changes of ownership and the continual need to adapt the spaces to new requirements.

### The courtyard and the house's different levels

The building's unusual form results from its **several superimposed levels**. From the rear courtyard, which also contained the lararium, two flights of steps led to different parts of the property.

One staircase climbed to the upper level, where the banqueting triclinium and a kitchen beneath the loggia were located. Another descended towards the cryptoporticus and the underground rooms.

This arrangement makes the House of the Cryptoporticus very different from the standard Pompeian domus organised chiefly at street level. The owner exploited the change in elevation to distribute residential and service rooms vertically.

### The cryptoporticus

The **cryptoporticus** is a broad covered passage lit by large openings towards the garden above. In the Roman period, structures of this kind could offer a cool, sheltered place that was especially pleasant in warmer months.

Here, however, it was not simply a service corridor. Rich decoration covered both the walls and vault, demonstrating that the space belonged fully to the prestigious part of the residence.

The underground passage also provided access to the oecus and bathing rooms without necessarily crossing the upper parts of the house.

### The paintings of the cryptoporticus

The walls of the cryptoporticus preserved a refined painted scheme with **Satyrs, Maenads and scenes from the Trojan War**. Its long narrative frieze was arranged as a sequence of episodes, almost like an illustrated story unfolding along the walls.

The Trojan theme was especially important in Roman culture. The story of Troy belonged to the Greek epic tradition but also acquired a specifically Roman meaning through Aeneas, regarded as ancestor of the Roman people.

The presence of this imagery in a private house demonstrates the Pompeian elite's familiarity with Greek and Roman literary and mythological culture.

### Satyrs and Maenads

**Satyrs and Maenads**, members of the retinue of Dionysus, appear alongside the Trojan scenes. The Dionysiac world was particularly well suited to rooms used for *otium*, banqueting and relaxation.

Dionysus was associated with wine, theatre, music and conviviality. Satyrs and Maenads frequently appear in the decoration of great Roman residences and helped to create a culturally sophisticated atmosphere.

Their presence in the House of the Cryptoporticus formed part of a broader decorative programme in which myth, literature and the pleasures of convivial life came together.

### The decorated vault

The **vault of the cryptoporticus** was also richly decorated. The Park records stucco wreaths, floral motifs and geometric designs.

This work transformed the underground area into a highly elegant space. Side-light from the openings towards the garden playing across the curved vault must have produced a far more refined effect than can be perceived today.

The quality of the stucco confirms that the cryptoporticus was not originally conceived merely for storage.

### A change of function

During the house's final phase, the cryptoporticus **changed function and was also used as a cellar**.

This is especially significant because it shows how domestic rooms could lose their original purpose over time. A space created and decorated as a prestigious part of the residence could later be adapted to more practical needs.

This often occurred in Pompeii's final decades, particularly after the earthquake of AD 62, when many houses were reorganised and some areas radically changed use.

### The underground oecus

The cryptoporticus gave access to a large **oecus**, a reception and living room with particularly refined decoration.

TESS records a coffered stucco ceiling and a complex floor made with stone chips and mosaic and enriched with figured elements. It was preceded by an anteroom that also had an elaborate mosaic pavement.

The room demonstrates the exceptional standards attained during the house's Augustan phase, when the underground area was by no means secondary but formed an important part of the residence.

### The pavements

The House of the Cryptoporticus preserves a remarkable variety of **mosaic and cement-based pavements**, documented in detail by TESS. Some rooms had black-and-white mosaics, others polychrome compositions and especially elaborate geometric patterns.

The oecus floor was organised with great sophistication, while the anteroom had a mat-pattern mosaic and thresholds enriched with floral motifs. The bathing rooms also contained mosaics designed specifically for their functions.

This variety shows that every room was decorated in keeping with its role and status within the house.

### The private baths

One of the most exceptional features of the House of the Cryptoporticus is a genuine **private bathing suite** built in the Augustan period. The Park regards it as one of the few domestic bath complexes documented at Pompeii.

Baths within a house were an unmistakable sign of wealth. Most inhabitants used the city's great public bath buildings; only the richest families could afford private heated rooms.

The suite included several spaces, among them a frigidarium and calidarium, with mosaic floors and rich stucco decoration.

### The frigidarium

The **frigidarium** was intended for cold bathing and formed one stage of the bathing sequence. TESS records a black-and-white chequerboard mosaic in this room.

A decorative emblema originally occupied the centre but was later removed. Its loss reminds us that Pompeian houses also underwent changes in antiquity, long before their modern rediscovery.

The provision of a room specifically for cold bathing confirms that this was not merely a chamber containing a tub, but an organised small bath complex modelled on public establishments.

### The calidarium

The **calidarium** was used for hot bathing. One of the bathing rooms preserves a refined black-and-white mosaic enriched with polychrome details and figured motifs.

TESS also records decoration with **dolphins and human figures**, incorporated into a composition closely connected with the theme of water.

The combination of mosaic, stucco and heating system turned the bath into a luxurious space intended not only for hygiene but also for comfort and the family's social life.

### A second small bathing area

A **second small calidarium** is documented in the south-western part of the complex, reached from a room connected with entrance 16.

This additional facility reveals the property's complex organisation and confirms that its different entrances could serve areas with different functions.

The relationship among all these rooms cannot always be reconstructed with certainty for every phase of the house, but the archaeological evidence clearly documents an unusually complex set of bathing facilities.

### A high-status residence

The cryptoporticus, oecus, private baths, polychrome floors and refined stucco show that the house belonged to a very high social level during its Augustan phase.

Wealth was expressed not only through the residence's overall area but, above all, through the quality of its spaces and materials. Building monumental underground rooms and a private bath suite required considerable investment.

The House of the Cryptoporticus is consequently one of the most interesting examples of domestic luxury in early Imperial Pompeii.

### The relationship with the House of the Lararium of Achilles

A correct understanding of the building requires consideration of its relationship with the adjoining residence, also called in archaeological sources the **House of the Trojan Sacellum** and in the Park's guide the House of the Lararium of Achilles.

The two properties were repeatedly joined and separated by closing or opening passages. TESS documents phases when rooms changed hands between the two complexes.

These continual changes show how dynamic Pompeian houses were. A wall now interpreted as the boundary between two properties might have been opened, closed and reopened several times over the centuries.

### The earthquake of AD 62

The great **earthquake of AD 62** was also an important moment in the history of the House of the Cryptoporticus. The neighbouring residences were separated once again in the following years, and the complex underwent major alterations.

The house gradually lost some characteristics of its earlier monumental form. Several rooms changed use, and the cryptoporticus itself became a storage area and cellar.

The south loggia was also adapted to create a banqueting space, demonstrating that the property continued to be occupied and altered.

### The triclinium beneath the loggia

A **masonry triclinium** for banqueting was built in the upper part of the complex. It was plastered and painted against a red ground, with accompanying decoration of plants and birds.

This arrangement belongs to a later phase, quite different from the Augustan monumentality of the cryptoporticus and oecus. The family's needs had changed, and new spaces were created by adapting earlier structures.

The house of AD 79 should not therefore be imagined as identical to that of the Augustan period: it was the result of a long sequence of changes.

### The victims of the eruption

During the **1914** excavation, the remains of people who died in the eruption were found in the garden. The Archaeological Park records **ten victims** in the ash deposited by pyroclastic currents during the eruption's final phase.

Casts of four individuals were made using the method devised by Giuseppe Fiorelli. The victims appear to have attempted to cross the garden after collapses and accumulating volcanic material made the stairs difficult to reach.

Roof tiles were found near the heads of several people, probably used as protection against falling pumice.

### An attempted escape

The finds allow at least part of the final moments inside the house to be reconstructed. When the fall of pumice diminished, some people probably attempted to leave the underground area and reach the street through the garden.

The attempt failed. Pyroclastic currents reached Pompeii during the final stages of the eruption and killed those still in this part of the city.

This evidence comes directly from archaeological investigation and connects the architecture of the house with the tragedy experienced by the people inside it.

### The casts

The four casts made in 1914 belong to the early twentieth-century history of Fiorelli's technique. One, preserving the **sandals** of a young person, has become particularly well known.

The casts are not statues sculpted by archaeologists. They were made by pouring plaster into voids left by decomposed bodies within the volcanic deposits. This process can preserve details of posture, clothing and sometimes objects worn by the victims.

The House of the Cryptoporticus is therefore also important in the history of research into the eruption's victims.

### The excavations

The house was brought to light chiefly between **1911 and 1929**, during a major period of exploration in Regio I.

The campaigns identified the cryptoporticus, bathing rooms, paintings and victims. The building was also damaged by the **bombing of 1943**, which affected many parts of the archaeological site.

Major consolidation and restoration of the decorative schemes have been required over time.

### Conservation

The house's unusual structure makes its conservation especially complex. Underground rooms are particularly vulnerable to damp and water penetration, while stucco, mosaics and paintings require constant monitoring of environmental conditions.

The Great Pompeii Project included dedicated work to **restore the decorative schemes of the House of the Cryptoporticus**, together with interventions on roofs and structural safety.

Protecting the building therefore requires simultaneous attention to masonry, drainage, painted surfaces and floors, since all these elements are closely connected.

### A house whose functions changed over time

One of the most interesting aspects of the House of the Cryptoporticus is the opportunity to observe how the meaning of a single space could change profoundly over the centuries.

The portico became a cryptoporticus; underground rooms and private baths were built; the property was joined to and separated from its neighbour; after the earthquake, certain spaces lost their original purpose and the great decorated passage was also used as a cellar.

The building thus demonstrates that Pompeian domus were not static structures, but organisms continually reshaped by their owners.

### One of the most original complexes in Regio I

The **House of the Cryptoporticus I.6.2–16** is one of the fullest records of the way architecture, decoration and function could change within a great Roman residence.

The long underground passage with its Trojan War cycle, the stuccoed vault, the richly paved oecus and private baths evoke the property's most prestigious phase; the conversion of the cryptoporticus into a cellar and the post-earthquake alterations instead reveal its development during Pompeii's final years.

Finally, this long architectural history is overlaid by that of the people who died in the garden during the eruption of AD 79. The House of the Cryptoporticus is therefore not merely a residence with sophisticated decoration, but a building that brings together **domestic luxury, urban change, visual culture and the city's final moments**.

###  Further reading

[Pompeiiinpictures](http://www.pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R1/1%2006%2002%20p1.htm) Detailed images of the building

###  Video

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