The House of the Ara Maxima is a relatively compact residence with a plan that differs from the more common arrangement of Pompeii’s larger houses.
The atrium forms the centre of the dwelling. There is no conventional large rear garden, and a small room on the entrance axis replaces the traditional tablinum; it contains a painting of Narcissus.
Beside it is the household shrine, decorated with the family Genius performing a sacrifice and two auspicious snakes flanking the altar.
Notable finds from the house include a rare table supported by an Egyptian bronze sphinx, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, and numerous bronze implements, among them approximately 120 fish-hooks.
The modern name comes from a painting of Hercules beside an altar, traditionally identified as the Ara Maxima founded by the hero in Rome. The scene has also been interpreted as Hercules and Admetus before the tomb of Alcestis, however, so its identification cannot be regarded as definitive.
