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Luciius Caecilius Iucundus

The fauces (a), which retains some faded remnants of its fresco decoration, is paved with a black and
white mosaic portraying a sleeping dog. The fauces opens onto a rectangular atrium (b) (pictured left
and below) which has rooms off all four sides. In the centre of the atrium is an impluvium with a fine
mosaic border.

On the rear wall of the atrium, adjacent to the tablinum, is a copy of a herm of the owner's father,
Lucius Caecilius Felix (pictured lower left). The original is in the National Archaeological Museum in
Naples.
To the left of the entrance is a lararium (e) (pictured above and left) around which were carved
reliefs showing the destruction of the Forum area and the castellum aquae which collapsed
during the earthquake of AD62. The lararium is now without the reliefs, one of which was stolen
- the other is in the Naples museum. The archive photograph below shows the reliefs in situ.
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On the rear wall of the atrium, facing the entrance, is the tablinum (h). The room (pictured upper right)
is open to the atrium over its full width and is decorated in the third style with three yellow panels with
decorative frames on each side above a lower black frieze. The side panels on each wall have small
scenes featuring satyrs and maenads in various poses (pictured below) while the central panels contain
larger mythological scenes including that of Iphigenia in Taurus (pictured opposite), now in the Naples
Archaeological Museum.
The tablinum has a fine mosaic floor in white mosaic with a decorative centre piece and a double lined
black border. The threshold between the atrium and tablinum is decorated in a simple geometric
pattern in black and white. On the north east side of the tablinum, in place of a decorative threshold, a
marble step leads up to a small garden (i) which is colonnaded on three sides (pictured below).

The column
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In the centre of the north west side of the peristyle is the triclinium (j). Each of the room's three walls is
decorated in the third style with three orange panels framed in red above a lower dark red frieze. The
side panel on each side held a medallion containing a small portrait while the large central panels
depicted scenes from mythology. The scene from the north east wall is of Theseus abandoning Ariadne
and can be seen in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. Of the remaining two frescoes, one is
completely lost while the other, on the north west wall is badly faded.

The floor of the triclinium consists of a black and white mosaic with a central panel of coloured tiles

In the north east corner of the peristyle is a short flight of stairs (pictured opposite) which descends to a
small cellar. The north east wall consists of a central exedra flanked by cubicula.

A cabinet with 154 waxed wooden tablets comprising receipts for the sale of land, animals and slaves
and for the payment of colonial taxes was found in one of the rooms at the back of the peristyle. (A
similar archive, the 'Tablets of Murecine' was discovered in the Inn of the Sulpicii). Financial activities
had been recorded up to and including the year of the earthquake. Here is one from AD 56:ictured
below which is now in the Naples Museum.