The House of Maius Castricius is one of the great residences of the Insula Occidentalis. Like the neighbouring houses, it was built to take advantage of the city’s western slope. The building incorporated Pompeii’s ancient walls into its fabric, showing that by the time it was given its monumental form the fortifications had lost their primary defensive function.
In the form known today, the house largely dates from the Republican period. Its earliest decoration belongs to the final phase of the Second Style, while major alterations were carried out between the late Republican period and the first decades of the Augustan age.
One of the principal levels was arranged around a large peristyle garden. The portico had Ionic columns of Nocera tuff and provided access to numerous rooms. Among them was a barrel-vaulted oecus decorated in the Fourth Style, with the head of Venus set in a medallion against a red ground.
From the western side of the peristyle, a second portico opened directly towards the Gulf. Important reception rooms were arranged around this panoramic space, including a triclinium decorated during the transition from the Second to the Third Pompeian Style.
Excavations in the garden have also made it possible to study the phases preceding the construction of the house and the relationship between the dwellings and the fortifications. Investigations document the use of this area from the 4th century BC until AD 79, including structures designed to drain water flowing down from the upper part of the city.
