Photo Essays: Roman Interior Decorating

Michelle Styles

One of my favourites bits about doing research is seeing how people lived. Sometimes, particularly with older time periods, this can be difficult. We can only speculate about the exact nature of Viking interior decoration for example. Even with early Regency or Victorian, the interiors have often changed as the houses were adapted to suit present curcumstances. Sometimes the interiors can be recreated but for the most part, we only see fragments. But for the Romans, there is a wonderful record in Pompeii and Herculaneum, saved from AD 79. So I thought I'd share some of the photos I took when I visited in 2008.

It is possible to see the painted interiors of houses. This one shows the seafront of Baiae and is from Pompeii.

Or this one (again from Pompeii) I love the snakes at the bottom.

And sometimes even the furniture -- a bed from Herculaneum Because of the way Mt Vesuvious erupted some of the wooden objects were preserved:

or a clothes press:

 or objects d'art such as this theatre mask (again from Herculaneum) Indeed this house seemed to have a theatre motif. So you have to wonder if the owners were actors or were simply in love with the theatre.

But what I think the most vibrant and evocative are the mosaics. Because they are made of tile, the mosaics are more likely to survive intact. They are still in use today. Thousands trample Roman mosiacs from Ostia on their way to see the Sistine chapel for instance.
This one is -- Beware of the dog! is from Pompeii and is in the front entrance way of a house.

And this one is from the baths in Herculaneum: Many of the mosiacs that are in commerical premises or open to the public seem to be in black and white.  Some of the tiling could be used in kitchens or fromt entrance halls today.

But I really like the coloured mosaics. This is one is from the theatre house in herculaneum.

The colours remain vibrant and look as if they could have been done in recent times. But then you notice the workmanship and subtle colour changes and you realise that they could only have been in Roman times. The skill of the Roman craftsman is long gone. Alas. But if you ever get a chance to see any Roman interior, go and see it.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romances in a wide variety of time periods. Her most recent Roman set historical -- The Perfect Concubine was released as a Harlequin Historical Undone ebook in March 2011. Her most recent full length novel was set in the early Victorian period -- To Marry A Matchmaker and was published in July  2011 in both print and as an ebook. You can read more about Michelle's books on her website www.michellestyles.co.uk

Tragic Tales: How Poppaea Sabina Thought She'd Conquered the World

By Michelle Styles

Herein lies a tale of the perils of being a WAG in Rome.

In the early days of the Roman Empire, in 30 AD, a young woman named Poppaea Sabina grew up around the Pompeii area. The exact location of her family house has been lost but it is supposed to be the House of Menander. Her family had wealth and she had extreme beauty with flame-coloured hair and a winning manner. She had also inherited her father's drive. Some commentators like Josephus describe her as a deeply religious woman, possibly with Jewish sympathies. But others such as Tacitus describe her as the ultimate schemer.

Her father was an ambitious man from a humble background. According to Tacitus, her mother was one of the most beautiful women of her generation. In 47 her mother committed suicide, the innocent victim of the intrigues of the Empress Valeria Messalina. Her mother had been accused of having an adulterous relationship. It is not known how this affected the 17-year-old Poppaea Sabina, as she had been married to Rufrius Crispinus when she was 14.

Rufrius was a much older man of humble origin, possibly Egyptian, who had risen to become head of the praetorian guard under Claudius and was a great friend of the Empress Messalina. Poppaea bore him a son before they divorced. The reasons for the divorce are not known but Poppea was determined to succeed. For her next marriage, she married Otho, the boyhood friend of Nero. Seven years younger than Poppaea, Nero in the early years of his reign was considered to be a good emperor and indeed the hope of a new dawning of Roman brilliance.

There is speculation that she married Otho so that she could become close to Nero, as she was a girl with an eye on the main prize. Otho was bandy-legged and had a horror of hair on his body, but he was a close friend of Nero's. Other accounts state that Otho brought her to Nero's notice when he boasted of his wife's beauty. It doesn't matter how the affair started but it did. And it was an all-consuming affair. In 58 Poppaea became Nero's acknowledged mistress. Otho was divorced and sent away to govern Luisitania. Poppaea now had the world at her feet, but the position of a mistress is precariously and Poppaea wanted more. She wanted her younger lover to prove his devotion to her rather than to his mother. She encouraged him to think for himself and to live like an Emperor should do.

Nero's chief claim to the Roman throne was through his then-wife, Octavia, the daughter of the late Emperor Claudius. In 59, due to Poppea's urging, Nero divorced Octavia and broke with his mother Aggrippina. Some historians claim that Poppaea organised the murder so she could marry Nero and consolidate her own power. Others state there were political motives and Poppaea was an easy target.

Nero and Poppaea married and she became empress. Nero gave her the title of Augusta after their daughter was born. Not bad for a girl from Pompeii who didn't have any connections. Having achieved her ambition, Poppea set about spending the entire Roman treasury. What is the point of being Empress unless you can flaunt it? However, this tale does not have a Happily Ever After.

Her triumph did not last as Nero began to spiral into madness. She began to worry about losing her looks and having another take her place. She and Nero fought bitterly over many things, including the time he spent at the races away from her. Things came to a head in 65, when heavily pregnant, Poppaea began to scream at Nero. A knock-down drag-out fight occurred. He apparently kicked her in the stomach. Although some accounts state he repeatedly jumped on her stomach until she was dead, modern historians think she might have had a late miscarriage. Shortly afterward Nero had her son by Rufrius put to death.

After Poppaea's death, Nero descended into complete madness, including dressing up a male slave as Poppaea and pretending that she remained alive. Monteverdi later made the tale into the tragic opera Poppaea which scandalised Venetian opera goers in the early 17th century.
The tale of Poppaea does go to show that the Romans really did know how to do scandal well.

Michelle Styles writes in the Roman, Viking, Regency, and early Victorian era for Harlequin Historical. Long-ago gossip is one of the bonuses of doing research. You can read more about her books on her website.

Disasters: Pompeii and Herculaneum

By Michelle Styles

August 24, 79 AD, and despite a few earth tremors, all was quiet and peaceful in one of the most popular and fertile regions of the Roman Empire. Due to the light soil rich in phosphorous and alkalis and the wonderful climate, the entire area of Vesuvius was considered to be a gigantic vineyard. Back in 19 AD, Strabo had written about the volcano, he also assumed that it had died having consumed all the inflammable material that fed it.

The population of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae was totally unprepared for the events that were about to unfold. Yes, they knew about the terrible earthquake in 62 AD, and perhaps some people had left the region. The Roman government had provided generous subsidises and they were rebuilding. The area continued to be popular with the elite.

The first they knew was a terrific thunderclap and a cloud of smoke and flames burst from the mountain. The entire area was covered in an eerie darkness. As Diones Cassio said, "People believed...the world was plunged once again into chaos, to be consumed by fire."

Pliny the Younger who was staying on the Bay of Naples watched the eruption and described it so accurately that such eruptions are now known as Plinian. These are violent eruptions with tons of lava pouring out along with vast quanitites of pumice and ash. All of this is accompanied by pyroclatstic material and mud flows.

The raining down of pumice and ash is what did for Pompeii which is 15 km from Vesuvius. Some people escaped but most were trapped. When the smoke cleared, the town had been covered in six metres of ash and pumice. It also meant the various bodies of people and animals who were trapped were preserved in a special way as the ash formed around the body. When excavating, the archaeologists were able to make highly evocative plaster casts.

Herculaneum on the other hand was only 7km from the volcano and became engulfed in pyroclastic flow which swept through the town, basically hot mud rained down and eventually solidified into tufa rock. The town was buried under 20 metres of rock which ensured various bits of wood survived. The inhabitants were first asphyxiated and then hermetically sealed together with all their possessions within this tufa rock.

Only three bodies were discovered in the town (compared to over 500 in Pompeii), and until 1981, it was thought most of the inhabitants had managed to leave. However they began to excavate the old harbour in 1981 and the true scale of the disaster became apparent as more and more skeletons emerged. In all about 149 skeletons had been found to date, including the remains of a sailor and soldier who appeared to have been trying to organise the doomed rescue attempt when the pyroclastic wave hit the town.

After the explosion, various relief was organised by the Emperor but the towns themselves remained cloaked in their robes of rock, deemed too difficult to rebuild. Other smaller towns were built on top and Vesuvius continued to erupt.

Eventually the names of Pompeii and Herculaneum were a distant memory. Then in 1709, Prince D'Elboeuf had a well dug and some Roman artefacts were discovered. Herculaneum was rediscovered and exploited. It was not until 1763 that Pompeii was discovered again. Because of the ease of excavation, after 1763, Pompeii received most of the attention.

Excavation work continues. In Herculaneum, much remains under tufa, impossible to excavate because of the modern town 20 metres higher. The Villa of the Papyri for example was excavated in the 18th century by the use of tunnels, and then it was sealed again in 1765. Work just recommenced in 1985 and continues today. New computer techniques are making it possible to read the badly damaged papyri and giving access to ancient knowledge. To visit the area is to walk back in time and to give a window into a vanished way of life. Unfortunately though the sites are not well protected and remain open to exploitation by unscrupulous people.

Michelle Styles has written four Roman-set historical romances including THE GLADIATOR'S HONOUR and SOLD & SEDUCED. Her latest UK release is COMPROMISING MISS MILTON, an early Victorian historical romance and is out now.

Arts and Music: Roman Wall Painting

By Michelle Styles

When most people think of Rome and art, they think about white marble statues, generally copies of Greek or busts of Roman senator. White on white. A bleached landscape.It is a shame because Rome was a city of vibrant colour. The place to see this colour is not in the statues but in the remaining mosaics and frescoes.

Until the Venetians invented painting on canvas, everything was either painted on wood or directly on plaster. The painting directly on to fresh plaster is known as a fresco. The Romans were masters at creating illusions with paint--trompe d’oeil.

The Romans did not live in a world of pastels but one where colour played an important part. Most of the frescoes that we can see today come from either Pompeii or Herculaneum. Some like the Maritime Villas from the House of Marcus Lucretius Fronto depict actual scenes. In this case, the seafront of Baia. (I found it very helpful when I was writing THE ROMAN'S VIRGIN MISTRESS as I had picture of the actual frontage from the right time period to use.) Others depict scenes from plays, or events or even idealised gardens.

Because of the very real problem of looting, most of the important frescoes have been removed from the sites and are now displayed in Naples. The ones left in Pompeii tend to be fragmentary. The other problem is that of conservation. The colours have become bleached with the passage of time.

However, the most evocative frescoes come not from Pompeii but from Rome, from the underground dining room of Livia's villa. The frescoes depict an idealised view of Livia's above ground garden in full bloom. From the paintings, scholars have been able to determine many of the plants that were being grown in Rome at the time. These include the bay laurel (Livia's favourite plant), the strawberry tree, oleander, date figs and cypress trees.

The frescoes were uncovered in the late 19th century and moved to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome. You can only see them through timed ticket but it is worth taking the time. The tour also takes you through some of the better mosaics and a few other painted rooms but it is Livia's dining room which is the real highlight.

The frescoes were kept underground and never exposed to the light, and are completely intact, it is possible to get a sense of what the Romans, in particular Augustus and Livia must have actually experienced. Photographs do not do it justice (or indeed any fresco) and tend to bleach out the vibrant greens and blues. In fact, unless you have special permission are not allowed to take photographs of the walls.

Standing in that room, surrounded by paintings which go from the ceiling to the floor, you suddenly realise how much colour the Romans used and how vibrant their walls were. There is also a depth to the frescoes which is lacking in modern reconstructions. I know when I stood in that room, my whole conception of what Roman life must been like changed.

Michelle Styles's Roman set A NOBLE CAPTIVE is out now at eharlequin and will be available as an ebook everywhere from April.