Compare and contrast two Pompeian houses. What do they each tell us about the status of their owners?

Within Pompeii, the size and decorative aspects of someone’s home explained a lot about their monetary wealth and what sort of social status they upheld. People who had money and good social status would decorate their homes with High Greek culture for example myths and mosaics of Greek heroes. Whereas people from a lower class, tended to use less grandeur within the decorative style of their homes. The houses that I shall be comparing are House of the Fawn and House of the Vettii. I shall be looking at the décor found within the houses and they way that it was displayed to determine the social, political and economical status of their …show more content…

This erotic scene would relax both parties who were taking part in business transactions therefore making it a prime place within the household to do business. This mosaic has high culture and shows that the family were “Roman Cultural Capital.” Other floor mosaics within the household complemented the Alexander mosaic. These mosaics showed nilotic scenes and theatrical masks, which refers to ethic groups in Africa, emphasizing the families Cultural Capital.
Other mosaics in the house include “Marine Fauna”, Ducks on the Nile, A Winged Demon on A Tiger, A Satyr and Nymph, which was, displayed in the Ala and a Cat Killing a Duck. Also in the Exedra images showing paintings portraying exotic animals from across the globe were displayed. This wall painting shows images of snakes, hippopotami, crocodiles, peacocks and ducks. During the time of the eruption of Vesuvius, people from higher classes would have travelled to North Africa to see these animals, having this wall painting in your home would exert your enlightening knowledge of travel.
When the house was excavated in the eighteen hundreds numerous skeletons were found, one in particular was that of a woman, she was found wearing gold bracelets (in the shape of serpents) some earrings and a ring which bore the inscription “Cassia.” This inscription could have mean that a woman from the Cassia family married into the family that owned the house and lived there. Vast amounts of gold, silver and