Abstract
Lisa A. Hughes
Department of Greek and Roman Studies
University of Calgary
The art of performance at the Casa degli Amorini Dorati in Pompeii
Pliny (Ep. 7.24) writes of Ummidia Quadritilla's personal band of freed-slave pantomimes who were exhibited both at the theater and in her own home. This passage illustrates that pantomimes performed both in a public and private context. Where, then, was the optimal location for such a performance to exist within the Roman domus? The Casa degli Amorini Dorati (VII, 16, 2) owned by Cn. Poppaeus Habitus (a relative of Nero's wife, Poppaea Sabina) offers important clues. I contend that the peristyle, with its rich ornamental statuary and raised platform on its eastern end (contra L. Richardson, Pompeii, An Architectural History), provides an optimal vantage point and ideal theatrical setting for an audience seated in the triclinium. Such an interpretation will broaden our understanding of not only theatrical performances within the domus, but also the impetus behind certain sculptural collections in the Neronian period at Pompeii.
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