The Surgeon's home

The House of the Surgeon, or "Casa del Chirurgo", is one of the oldest and most famous houses in Pompeii. It is situated on the east side of the Via Consolare, about 50 metres inside the Herculaneum Gate. The house, which is named after the wide range of surgical instruments (visible on the linked page) found in one of the rooms, dates from the Samnite period and retains many of the features of a typical Italic house. According to some neapolitan traditions, it seems to be the house of Iapyx, one of the most ancient doctors in history, that was described by Virgilio in the last book of the Aeneid (XII, 398 ss. e 411 ss.). The facade and the walls of the atrium are built of large hewn blocks of Sarno limestone while the interior walls are made of limestone framework. The surgical instruments, that were found there, are conserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, MANN). Forceps, scalpels, catheters, are part of this extraordinary ancient toolkit. The house was destroyed by the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and uncovered in 1770 by Spanish archaeologist Francesco La Vega.

  • A general view of Pompeii.
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  • The Surgeon's home.
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  • A view of the inside of The Surgeon's home.
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  • Sarno limestone
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  • Details of the decorations
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  • Photos by Filippo Bucciarelli moc.liamtoh|illeraiccuboppilif#| (December 2013)

Bibliography

- Foglia Alfredo - Foglia Pio - Coarelli Filippo, Pompei. La vita ritrovata, Magnus, Fagagna 2002, pp. 216-218
- Sampaolo Valeria - Bragantini Irene, La pittura Pompeiana, Electa Mondadori, Napoli 2009, pp. 102 e 346-347


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