Room g

Thomas Staub

This very narrow room (0.63 m wide, 2.72 m long) appears like a corridor. It has probably never been fully excavated or has partly been refilled, since the ground level is rising considerably towards the west (0.7 m) and the material seems to consist mainly of rubble and earth. Due to security reasons (height of the unstable walls up to 4.2 m) neither did we empty it. At least parts of the north (partition wall towards Casa di Caecilius Iucundus V 1,26) wall are built in lava-incertum i a yellowish mortar, thus it belonged to the original building phase of the house. The south wall shows a more mixed incertum, relating it to a later rearrangement. In the west wall in 1 m height (above the rubble heap) an oval window opens up on to the street. For a room of such proportions only two possible functions come to mind: either for a staircase or a latrina (or some similar smelly function). In our case the second suggestion seems the plausible, both due to the secluded position (reached only by the nearly as narrow corridor h) and due to the window in its west wall, which in this height would been blocked by a wooden staircase but would very useful for the ventilation of a toilette.