Room

Lore & Background

In early structures, different room types could be identified to include bedrooms, kitchens, bathing rooms, closets, reception rooms, and other specialized uses. The Akrotiri excavations reveal rooms sometimes built above other rooms connected by staircases, bathrooms with alabaster appliances such as washbasins, bathing tubs, and toilets, all connected to an elaborate twin plumbing system of ceramic pipes for cold and hot water separately.

Reader's Guide

Ancient Rome manifested very complex building forms with a variety of room types, including some of the earliest examples of rooms for indoor bathing. The Anasazi civilization also had an early complex development of room structures, probably the oldest in North America, while the Maya of Central America had very advanced room configurations as early as several hundred AD. By at least the early Han dynasty in China (approximately 200 BC), comfort room complex multi-level building forms emerged, particularly for religious and public purposes; these designs featured many roomed structures and included vertical connections of rooms. Over time, rooms have been specialized for work (kitchens, pantries, home offices), socializing (great halls, drawing rooms, living rooms), sleeping (bedrooms, nurseries, guest rooms), and multi-purpose use (great rooms, bedsits). The en-suite room includes a private room, private washroom, and access to a communal kitchen.

Did You Know?

• Ancient Roman buildings included some of the earliest rooms for indoor bathing.
• The Anasazi civilization had the oldest complex room structures in North America.
• By the early Han dynasty in China (c. 200 BC), multi-level buildings with many rooms and vertical connections existed.

Origins of the Classification

The four Pompeian Styles owe their formal naming to the German archaeologist August Mau, who worked between 1840 and 1909. His framework emerged from the extraordinary concentration of surviving Roman frescoes uncovered at Pompeii, one of the largest groups of such paintings still in existence. Mau's system allowed art historians to trace the evolution of interior decoration across distinct phases, moving from the late Republican era through the Augustan period and into the Imperial age. The four styles he identified—structural (or incrustation), architectural, ornamental, and intricate—form a layered sequence in which each subsequent phase absorbs elements of those that preceded it. The first two belong to the Republican period and bear the imprint of Hellenistic Greek wall painting, while the latter two represent the Imperial period. This periodization has become foundational for understanding how Roman domestic aesthetics shifted over nearly two centuries, from the 200s BC through the first century AD, culminating in the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD that sealed these walls in volcanic ash.

The Incrustation Style and Hellenistic Roots

The First Style, commonly called incrustation or masonry style, traditionally spans from roughly 200 BC to 80 BC, though its roots stretch back to the late fifth century BC in regions beyond Pompeii. Its defining feature is the trompe-l'œil simulation of expensive marble veneering, achieved through stucco moldings that made sections of plaster appear raised and three-dimensional. Painters added simulated alabaster discs arranged in vertical rows, yellow "wooden" beams, and white "pillars" and "cornices" to create the impression of costly cut stone. The use of vivid color signaled wealth, while less affluent households settled for variations of yellow, purple, and pink. This style directly reflects Rome's absorption of Hellenistic culture as it conquered Greek and Hellenistic states, and mural reproductions of Greek paintings appear alongside the architectural simulations. The style divided walls into multi-colored patterns that substituted for genuinely expensive stone. Notable surviving examples include the wall painting in the Samnite House at Herculaneum from the late second century BC, as well as works in the House of Faun and the House of Sallust in Pompeii.

Architectural Illusionism and the Breaking of the Wall

The Second Style, or architectural style, dominated the first century BC and represented a deliberate reversal of the First Style's goal. Where incrustation reinforced and confined walls, the architectural style sought to dissolve them entirely. Painters employed trompe-l'œil compositions featuring columns, stage platforms, and other architectonic elements to push the picture plane deeper into the wall, creating the sensation that a viewer was peering through a window onto a real landscape. This was achieved through relative perspective rather than the precise linear perspective of the Renaissance, and the effect was amplified by aerial perspective—foreground details rendered sharply while distant elements dissolved into indistinct purples, blues, and grays. The style was particularly effective in countering the claustrophobic quality of small, windowless Roman rooms. During Augustus's reign, the approach evolved further: false architectural frames gave way to wide expanses, and a stage-set structure emerged with one large central tableau flanked by two smaller compositions. Eventually landscape elements consumed the entire wall without any framing device. The Dionysiac mystery frieze in the Villa of the Mysteries stands as one of the most recognized examples of this style.

Preservation, Spread, and Cultural Context

The survival of these wall paintings owes much to the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and the surrounding countryside under volcanic material. Many of the earliest discovered paintings were found around the Bay of Naples, in the very region devastated by the eruption. The works sometimes depicted everyday life in that area before the disaster, offering a vivid snapshot of domestic and cultural routines. Roman wall paintings have been identified in buildings, private homes, and villas across the entire Roman empire, and the First Style in particular spread through large parts of the Mediterranean. The technique typically involved painting frescoes on plaster while it was still drying, a method that ensured longevity. In the first century BC, painters drew inspiration from mythology, landscapes, and a range of other interests, producing works that ranged from realistic to impressionistic in quality. These surviving frescoes remain one of the largest groups of Roman wall paintings in existence, providing an irreplaceable record of how interior decoration evolved from Hellenistic influences through the Republican and Augustan periods and into the Imperial era.