House of the Surgeon

Along with the rest of the city, it was buried and largely preserved under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

It was an elite residence as evidenced by the atrium being surrounded by rooms on all four sides and its rather exclusive vestibulum.

[2] For a long time, the house was thought to be one of the oldest examples in Pompeii with a date of the fourth–third century BC derived from the wall construction.

[7] The house seems to have been allowed to fall derelict, as the floor between the atrium and tablinum had fallen into a large cistern below, wooden posts were inserted into the floors of many rooms to support a damaged roof, and one room was used as a lime-storage tank.

[8] It was shown that the atrium was modified in the 2nd century BC to provide more light to the interior, by adding a compluvium and accompanying impluvium to the previously full roof covering.