South Wall

Thomas Staub

S wall: width 3.40 m, max. preserved height 3.20 m. Door towards room i (1.90 m from south-east corner), width 1.15 m, height 2.00 m. Large parts of the wall are covered with modern concrete or are a modern reconstruction. The doorframes are constructed of mainly smaller, rectangular tuff blocks, some of Sarno stone or cruma (0.25 x 0.10 m - 0.33 x 0.10 m, depth 0.05 - 0.06 m). Probably they are both reconstructed above 1.50 m, in the same material but freshly cut. The depth of the opening is quite large with 0.60 m. The mortar is greyish, containing some lava-split, as on the overall wall (where antique and not covered by modern concrete). The western frame reaches to the corner of the room; the lintel and the zone above are modern reconstructions.
To the east of the doorframe, the antique wall is only preserved for about 0.60 m, rising upwards towards the south-east corner, where the original wall is preserved to at least 1.90 m height. The area above this is difficult to define, since the wall is covered thickly by modern concrete. The easternmost part of the wall is hidden behind a quarter-circular construction and hydraulic plaster up to 1.00 m height. In the lower area, next to the eastern doorframe, the wall consists of opus incertum with mainly cruma and some pieces of Sarno stone. In the upper eastern part, the incertum is made mainly of Sarno stone, some of them reused, since they are covered with plaster running into the wall, and some pieces of lava and spolias of reddish mortar. This wall seems to abut against the east wall, since the plaster on that wall continues behind the south wall for at least 0.02 m.