Villa of Diomedes

The Villa of Diomedes is a villa in Pompeii, Italy.[1] It is located outside the walls of Pompeii at the Gate of Herculaneum on the Via dei Sepolcri. It was excavated from 1771 to 1774 by Francesco La Vega and was named after Marcus Arrius Diomedes, whose grave is opposite the entrance to the villa, though it is not clear that it was in fact his villa. The villa is on two levels. In the front part, just inside the entrance, there is a peristyle. There are bathrooms and a kitchen wing and various living spaces. A staircase led up from the ground floor. Here there is a large peristyle with seventeen columns on each side. In the middle of this great garden is a summer triclinium with a pool of water in front of it. The villa was decorated with plain wall paintings of the fourth style, which are poorly preserved.

The ruins

Several bodies were found in the villa. One skeleton had a cloth containing coins worth 1356 sesterces (ten gold medals, 88 silver medals and nine bronze). It is one of the richest finds money in the city. This man had a key and was wearing a gold ring. In the basement were eighteen other skeletons of women, servants and children who were likely suffocated here by invading gases. In the basement many wine amphorae were found.

Théophile Gautier's Arria Marcella (1852) and Ferdinand Gregorovius' poem "Euphorion" were set here. The Maison pompéienne in Paris was inspired by it.