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The House of the Physician, also known as the House of the Judgement of Solomon, is a residence in Regio VIII on Via dell’Abbondanza. Its rooms are arranged around an atrium, which provided access to the cubicula, tablinum and the more private part of the house. The atrium retains a rectangular marble-lined impluvium.
The house is partly renowned for the remarkable Nilotic paintings found in the garden and peristyle area. A low wall linking the columns was decorated with scenes populated by animals, plants and pygmy figures, in a genre inspired by imaginary representations of Egypt and the Nile landscape that was widespread in Roman art.
These decorations included the celebrated fresco conventionally known as the Judgement of Solomon, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Presented as a caricature with pygmy figures, the scene shows two women disputing possession of a child before a judge. Its identification as the biblical episode involving Solomon is traditional but not universally accepted, and is therefore best understood as the conventional title of the work.
The same painted cycle also included banqueting scenes and Nilotic landscapes with pygmies, hippopotamuses and crocodiles. Some paintings were detached after excavation and transferred to the Naples Museum, while other decoration left in place has gradually been lost.
The name House of the Physician is traditionally associated with the discovery in the building of objects interpreted as medical instruments. This designation should be treated with caution: in several Pompeian houses known as the “Physician’s” or “Surgeon’s” house, the discovery of instruments alone does not prove that the residence actually belonged to a physician.
The Archaeological Park also included the house among the buildings made safe and restored as part of the Great Pompeii Project, confirming its importance within the heritage of the ancient city.