Room 14 (ala)

Thomas Staub

Room 14 is the western ala related to the atrium of the house. It opens up towards that room on its entire east side with a row of geometric pattern inserted into the pavement as only marker of the boundary between these two rooms. A small doorway opens up towards cubiculum15 in the south wall, near the south east corner. Parts of the walls, especially the northern one are covered by plaster, but the decorations have fainted away totally. Were visible, the walls consist mainly of opus incertum of lava in the lower and Cruma in the upper areas, thus belonging to the original building phase of the house. Only the doorway in the southern wall is a later change. The now lost decorations were according to Mau (Mau 1882, 252f.) from the Second Style, belonging to the redecoration phase in the front part of the house. Besides the description by Mau, parts of the decorations are submitted to us through a drawing by G. Marsigila, showing the small panel painting from the upper zone of the west wall, depicting a reclining river god and a female standing figure. The lower parts of the walls (up to height of at least 1.35 m) ware covered by bipedales of terracotta, probably a protective provision against humidity. A supposed cupboard foundation is constructed on top of the floor, approx. 2.1 m from the west wall, running in south-northern direction.