The House of Faun: A Mythical Representation
The faun is represented as a bronze frame, which is where the house's name comes from. It is a mythical creature in folklore that is half man and half goat and therefore represents Roman beliefs.
Structural Study of the House of Faun
The structural study of the House of Faun is presented in this part of the article. It was divided into parts, each of which served a specific function. The floor plan was intricate, massive, and detailed an infinite number of spaces, all of which displayed aristocracy. The three thousand square meters are divided into lavish private bathrooms, offices, eating areas, and kitchens, as well as poorly designed servants' quarters. The bathrooms and kitchens were located close to each other to allow for efficient use of the available water. The finishing on the walls and the floors were covered with lavish mosaics that are still on display in museums. The Hellenic styles of architecture are evident in the house of faun with a twist of simplicity, elegance, and extravagance. The structure of the House of Faun showed axial symmetry in that there were matching rooms on each side of the atrium.
The Function of the House of Faun
The house of faun served three main functions. First, it was the center of business activities. It also provided a setting for performing rituals and finally, it was a communal room, which was used as a place for entertainment and mingling. The atrium was deemed as the most important part of the house because this is where all the activities took place. It served as a waiting room for interested clients who would, later on, be served by the paterfamilias. The atrium was also safe for the entire household and it stored items such as the gods (family Lars) and the marriage bed. Roman rituals were carried out in the house of faun and they involved family members, clients, and servants. Such rituals included tollere, liberalia and marriage ceremonies. The house also has the evidence that it was used as a recreational arena. Children used the house as classrooms with items such as flutes and play dolls. The availability of utensils such as spoons and glasses is evidence that space was also used for domestic purposes.
The Cultural Context of the Building
The house of faun is often used to show the strength, power, and lifestyle of the Roman Empire. Through architecture, this roman house presented an image of culture to the outside world. The house shows the need of the wealthy to interact with all classes of people and accommodate them. It also shows the need for privacy through some of the gardens that were not accessible by the public. The structures and art promoted their need to show off a sophisticated culture. The architecture shows an admiration for the Greek culture, which conjured a feeling of inferiority that the Romans tried to raise their art to meet that of the Greeks. The mosaic art at the entry of the house indicated their welcoming nature to all who passed by. The word Have is a Latin word which means hail to you. This indicated that the Romans wanted to shine in Latin glory.
Lessons Learned from the House of Faun
The house of faun is an aristocratic representation of the early roman lifestyle. In this paper, I made an observation that roman architecture also incorporated the lifestyles of the Greek; this is evident in their incorporation of gardens which were often used by philosophers, politicians during their conversations. The influence of Egyptian art is also evident due to the presence of a mosaic that has the Nile scenes. In my research, I discovered that the house of faun was used to engage in political affairs because of the presence of archaeological evidence of the Saturnius and Cassius family names which were tied to the ruling of Rome. The house was used as a public and a private building at the same time. There were personal bathrooms, interaction areas, and shop fronts and servants quarters. There was the utilization of personal and private space as well as public interaction.
Bibliography
Smith, Carolyn D. 2006. The house of the faun: a novel of Pompeii. New York: iUniverse.
Contreras, F., & Farjas, M. 2013. Modeling Hypotheses in Pompeian Archaeology : The House of the Faun. Fusion of Cultures. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Granada, Spain, April 2010 (BAR International Series 2494), (Figure 3). Retrieved from http://caaconference.org/proceedings/published/
