Herculaneum IV.8. Casa del Papiro dipinto or House with the painted papyrus roll, with stairs to rooms above at IV.9

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IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Remains of threshold in corridor, looking east.

IV.8 Herculaneum, October 2015. Looking into room 5, the small courtyard. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, looking north from east end of corridor, into a small courtyard.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. Room 5, looking north across courtyard/lightyard.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2003.

Room 5, looking north across courtyard/lightyard. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

IV.8, Herculaneum, 1964.

Room 5, looking north across courtyard/lightyard. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

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According to Jashemski, this was a small paved courtyard, (excavated 1929-32), which served as both a light-well and an impluvium.

Preserved on the back wall were traces of a hunt scene with lions and bulls.

See Jashemski, W. F., 1993. The Gardens of Pompeii, Volume II: Appendices. New York: Caratzas. (p.263 and p.370).

IV.8, Herculaneum, 1964.

Room 5. Looking towards west wall with window and north-west corner of courtyard/lightyard. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

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IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, west end of upper north wall of courtyard.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, east end of north wall above courtyard, with window into IV.11

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, floor of courtyard/lightyard.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, west side of courtyard floor, looking south.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, north-east corner of courtyard floor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2005. Looking towards north wall of room 5, on left, and room 6, on right. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

IV.8 Herculaneum, October 2015. Room 6, looking east towards threshold of room. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 5, looking south-east from room 5, into room 6.

Remains of east wall of courtyard, on left, and doorway from courtyard into room at eastern end, on right.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. Room 6, looking towards north-east corner of room at eastern end of corridor.

According to Maiuri –

“The last spacious room at the back has a beautiful motif in the IV style painted on the upper part of the wall, of draped curtains disclosing an architectural view”.

See Maiuri, A. (1977). Herculaneum, (no.53 of the Guide-Books to the Museums, Galleries and Monuments of Italy), (p.31).

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. Room 6, looking towards north-east corner.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. Room 6, north-east corner of eastern room.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 6, north wall.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2003. Room 6, north wall. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 6, looking towards east wall.

IV.8 Herculaneum, October 2015. Looking towards south wall of courtyard. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 6, on left. South wall of both the room at eastern end of corridor and the courtyard area.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. South wall of courtyard area.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. South wall, with doorway to corridor, on right.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015.

On the south wall of the courtyard/long corridor, protected by a sheet of glass, is a long graffito on red stucco.

IV.8, Herculaneum, photo taken between October 2014 and November 2019.

South wall of long corridor, detail of graffiti. Photo courtesy of Giuseppe Ciaramella.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015.

On the south wall of the long corridor, protected by a sheet of glass, was a long graffito on red stucco, where reference is made to the Guild of Herculaneum shippers, and a less clear relationship with the great port of Pozzuoli (Puteoli) in the line above.

See Pesando, F. and Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei, Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p.335-6)

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de) this reads

]as [3] conclave Puteolis

[navic]ul(a)e convi(c)tores Herculane(n)ses nav(i)culae [navicula]rii consi(s)tont       [CIL IV, 10520]

According to the EAGLE epigraphic database this reads

[---]̲A̲S̲[---] conclave Puteolis
C̣[-]AṆẠ
[---]V̲LII consitont(:consistunt) Herculaneses(:Herculanenses) navculae(:naviculae)

See http://www.edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/res_complex_comune.php?id_nr=EDR140147&lang=en

According to Varone, in the plaster that has gone, it certainly read

]LII CONSITONT

See Varone A., 2012. Titulorum Graphio Exaratorum Qui In C.I.L. Vol. IV Collecti Sunt Imagines: Studi SAP 31. Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider, vol. II, p. 486, and photo.

See Della Corte M., Rend. Ac. Arch. Nap., 33, 1958, p. 264, nr. 288 bis, 289.

See A. Maiuri, Ercolano: I Nuovi Scavi (1927-1958), Roma 1958, p. 425, fig. 367 con apografo.
See Della Corte M., Cipriotti P., 1970. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp. 3, Pars. 3. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 1116.

See http://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-EDR140147

IV.8, Herculaneum, south wall of long corridor. Drawing of graffiti as recorded in CIL IV, 10520.

See Della Corte M., Cipriotti P., 1970. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp. 3, Pars. 3. Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 1116.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. “Conclave” part of graffito on the south wall of the long corridor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. “Puteolis” part of graffito on the south wall of the long corridor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. “Consitont” part of long second line of graffito on the south wall of the long corridor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. First part of “Herculaneses” on long second line of graffito on the south wall of the long corridor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. End part of “Herculaneses” on long second line of graffito on the south wall of the long corridor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. “Naviculae” part of long second line of graffito on the south wall of the long corridor.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. Looking west along corridor from the courtyard.

According to Pesando and Guidobaldi, above the inside of the opening that gave access to the courtyard 5 and to the room 6, there was a fresco, now lost, that gave the conventional name to this house, here was shown a roll of papyrus (volumen) with the name in Greek of Eutychos and the typical elements of writing instruments, the inkwell and pen.  

See Pesando, F. and Guidobaldi, M.P. (2006). Pompei, Oplontis, Ercolano, Stabiae. Editori Laterza, (p.335-6).

According to Cooley and Cooley, in a painting of a papyrus scroll, the title can be seen written upon it in black letters, in Greek.  It read -

Eutychos wrote verses with music.      (CIL IV 10481).

See Cooley, A.E. & Cooley, M.G. (2014). Pompeii and Herculaneum, a sourcebook. Oxford, Routledge, 2nd ed. (p.101, numbered D84).

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010. Painted decoration above doorway.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2010.  Detail of painted decoration above doorway.

IV.8, Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking west along corridor towards entrance doorway.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2005. Upper south wall of corridor. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2005. Detail of upper south wall of corridor. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

IV.8, Herculaneum, May 2003. Looking west towards entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.

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