The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

“_Casa Omerica_,” the Homeric House: the same which Bulwer describes as the house of Glaucus. Remarkable for the beauty and dignified character of its paintings, most of them illustrating Homeric subjects. A list of a few of the principal paintings and mosaics in this house will suffice to show the taste of its occupant. _Cave Canem._ Mosaic at entrance. In atrium, on right wall, next to entrance, _The Marriage of Peleus and Thetis_. On side wall, right hand, _The Parting of Achilles and Briseis_. On same wall, separated only by a door, _The Departure of Chryseis_. Opposite to the parting of Achilles and Briseis was represented _The Fall of Icarus_. In a cubiculum on this side was the small frieze of _Battle of Amazons_ (copied in the Atrium of Pompeian Court, page 47). The tablinum was adorned with a picture of _A Poet reading_, and the mosaic pavement representing _The Choragus and Actors_. In a little chamber to the left of tablinum was a small picture of _Venus fishing_. At the end of ambulatory of peristyle near triclinium was the famous picture of _The Sacrifice of Iphigenia_, painted on the wall adjoining the oven of the Fullonica. _The Deserted Ariadne_ (page 57) adorned a small chamber to the left of the peristyle. The opposite side of the peristyle was occupied by the kitchen, latrina, and triclinium, which latter contained the exquisite picture of _Leda presenting her Infant Progeny to Tyndareus_; hence this apartment is sometimes called the Chamber of Leda. Other pictures in the same room are _Venus_, _Cupid_, and _Adonis_, and an elaborate composition of _Theseus deserting Ariadne_. He is in the act of stepping on board a ship, where sailors are making ready for departure. Ariadne lies asleep on the shore; her head is surrounded with a blue circular glory, which is not uncommon in Pompeian paintings. Many of these pictures are on a comparatively large scale, and only equalled in artistic excellence by those which have been discovered in the houses of the Dioscuri and of Ceres, one of the smallest houses in Pompeii. It has only one _ala_ (plan given in Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 55, and in Gell, vol. i., pl. 35, p. 143). [Illustration: 1. House of Joseph II.] [Illustration: 4. House of the Meleager or Apollo, and House of Nereids, or of Isis.] [Illustration: 2. House of the Tragic Poet, or, House of the Homeric Paintings.] [Illustration: 5. House of Sallust, or Actæon.] [Illustration: 3. House of Queen Caroline.] [Illustration: 6. Houses of the Mosaic Fountain, and of the Shell Fountain.] [Illustration: 7. House with the Coloured Capitals, near the Pantheon.] [Illustration: 8. House of the Dioscuri, Quæstor, or Centaur.] [Illustration: 9. House of the Female Musician, the Flute Player or “Sonatrice.”--Excavated by Mr. Falkener.] [Illustration: 10. From ancient Marble Map of Rome, representing Private Houses.]