Roman House, Campania

[Philip]

Houses like this were once numerous wherever the legions of the ancient Roman empire found themselves. For along with the legions came a host of others; labourers, artisans, merchants and the rest. And like most folks in this situation they built what they knew best. This meant homes with stark exteriors but living quarters as sumptuous as you could afford. The examples at Pompeii are particularly well preserved, having been buried for centuries under the lava from an angry Vesuvius.

The model is based on a house in Campania, an affluent province in the Naples area. and is to a scale of 1:100. Designed by Jean-Louis Simoner with artwork by Bernadette Roberjot, Bernard Deubelbeiss and Marius Virginais, it was published by Tomis Sarle, Chamalieres, 1986. Being die-cut, the fit of parts was not of the best and it left me in a bit of a quandary in some places. The main roof complex is removable as one piece and getting that to work properly was hard. It was an entertaining build nonetheless.

I can't decide to be happy or sad at the realization that the urge to create graffiti will never be purged from the human condition.

[Siwi]

I would have so wanted this as a kid...
Some of the Pompeii graffiti was political advertising, either advocating a candidate or insulting a rival. Others were greetings, curses, word games, poetry and advertising as well as reviewing 'adult services'.

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And hi, Philip. Work well done on your Roman House. I especially like the colorful frescoes in the central reception room, with their high, false windows encircling the room. That roof, with its many ceilings, does look like a bear to fit into place. It’s interesting how some roofs direct rain water toward the interior of the compound. And as for the roof’s opening above the reception room, it’s not an oculus, but maybe a quadrum?

Regarding the graffiti, in her dotage, my grandmother used to say, “Foolish names and foolish faces will oft appear in foolish places.” I hate the graffiti we see on railroad rolling stock, all done with stolen paint. Get off my lawn…I’m getting so old...

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Michael Mash]

They were masters at decorating the walls and floors of their homes.
Thanks for showing us around this one Philip.

[Philip]

Nice to see you, and thank you for your interesting comments.

[Butelczynski]

Nice model. Some time ago I came across 3d attempts in recreation of roman houses found in Pannonia, currently Hungary, and they were a bit different. More defensive in nature . As for graffiti every so often someone in Egypt, Greece and Italy get arrested for defacing ancient buildings/ruins . I'm sure it happens a lot more often than we hear. People don't change.

[THE DC]

Excellent work on this; and an interesting subject!

Where'd you get the model?

What was the most challenging aspect of the build?

[Mike Stamper]

Another neat model
A left over from Albatross?

Cheers
Mike

[romanmodels]

well done Philip. Thumb dog the opening over the big reception room is to collect rainwater into a rectangular pool called an impluivan the water would drain into a cistern underneath with a well head to one side.

[Philip]

Cheers, friends.


THE DC: I obtained the model when God was a boy from the Dutch publisher LS Bouwplaten. It hasn't been in their catalogue for a long time. If you want to do a search for it you might find the ISBN useful, which is 2-905766-00X. The most difficult bit was fitting the roof complex onto the rest of the model. Bending, smoothing, squeezing, stretching and cursing aplenty. Nightmare.