Simelius, Samuli
(Helsingin yliopisto, 2018)
This thesis studies the Pompeian peristyle gardens as a means of socioeconomic representation. Gardens featuring at least one colonnade are the main criteria for consideration. The data for the study was collected during extensive field seasons at the site, and by reading the excavation reports and other written descriptions of the gardens. Pompeian studies have previously connected the peristyle garden strongly to the function of socioeconomic representation, meaning that they were used for displaying a person’s wealth and social status. This interpretation, however, has been built on only a few select examples, and this study instead takes a whole-city wide perspective and examines all 251 peristyles gardens of Pompeii. The aim is to study how the peristyles were utilized for socioeconomic display and how the peristyles reflect their owners’ social status and wealth. In addition, this work investigates the different means of socioeconomic display used in the peristyles, and how the garden architecture and decoration of the peristyles influenced the other peristyle gardens of the city.
The study takes a critical approach to the top-down model proposed by the previous scholarship on the Pompeian house. This model regards the lower classes as mere imitators of the elites. There are several similar features in the peristyle gardens and some ideas are likely transferred from the upper classes to the lower classes, but there are also significant differences between the peristyles gardens, and some peristyles suggest that the lower classes had developed innovative means to display their wealth and social status – not just passively mimicking the upper classes.
The research methods can be divided into two phases. The first phase is the reconstruction of all the peristyles gardens, which includes a critical interpretation of the sources to explore the state of the gardens during the last phase before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. The second phase compares the reconstructed peristyles. The statistical and comparative analysis allows the exploration of what was considered normal or average in the Pompeian peristyles, which in turn permits us to suggest what was special and used as a means to impress and display high socioeconomic status.
The result of this study is a classification of the peristyles into seven groups: opulent, large full, ornamental, large painting, imitation, minor decoration, and architectural peristyles. The four first mentioned types have relatively clear evidence that supports their interpretation as important means of socioeconomic display. The imitation peristyles attempt to create the image of the opulent peristyles, but their scarce decoration indicates that they were not planned for significant display purpose. The same conclusion can be arrived at for the minor decoration peristyles, except that for these peristyles there is not even an attempt to make the space very similar architecturally to the upper-class peristyles. The last group, the architectural peristyles, had hardly any decoration, which suggests that they were not planned to be used for display and that these peristyles were built specifically for their architectural functions: providing air and light for the house and guiding movement inside the house. The last group is clearly the largest; it has 101 peristyles while the other groups have 15–32. To sum up, more than half of the peristyles did not have any planned display function, whereas 97 peristyles – the opulent, large full, ornamental and large painting peristyles – did. Even though the peristyles were commonly built for purposes other than display, all of them still reflect the economic standing of their owners. Generally, the owners of the opulent peristyles were the richest, and the level of wealth declines in the order of the peristyle groups as presented, meaning the owners of the architectural peristyles were most likely the poorest.