The House of Orpheus is a domus in Regio VI whose layout dates to the Republican period. It was altered and redecorated several times during its history, including in the final decades before the eruption of AD 79.
The entrance opened into an atrium with an impluvium, surrounded by cubicula and other domestic rooms. On the entrance axis, the tablinum connected the atrium with the rear peristyle.
The house takes its name from a large painting of Orpheus on the peristyle’s western wall. The mythical poet and musician was shown enchanting the animals gathered around him with his music, a subject widespread in ancient art.
The floors and paintings belong to different decorative phases. Some rooms preserve cement-based floors from the earlier phases, while others were renewed with mosaics and wall paintings in the Third and Fourth Styles.
During the house’s final phase, structural alterations were also made to the southern sector of the peristyle, showing that the building was still fully occupied and undergoing change shortly before the city’s destruction.
