To either side of this main entranceway, on the street front, are fixed masonry seats. Such seats have been assumed to have been for waiting clients. However, in Pompeii these seats are not always in front of the largest and most elaborate houses, that is those whose occupants were likely to have had clients. They were therefore likely to have served as a public facility available to anyone, including the house occupants. No loose finds were reported from this entranceway. The only visible sign of possible post-eruption disturbance to the volcanic deposit is a small hole towards the south end of the east wall of this ‘atrium’. However, the hole seems too small to have been the breach made by a post-eruption intruder. Maiuri noted, that the wall decoration of this ‘atrium’ was of a fresh and well-preserved Fourth Style executed after the last transformation of the house. The pavement was in lavapesta. Fixtures here included a central catchment pool (impluvium), revetted in white marble that was damaged either before or during the eruption, and a lararium aedicula in the north-west corner. According to Maiuri, the aedicula was constructed after the last well-preserved wall decoration, but Ling believes they are contemporary. At least forty-five small bronze studs were found in the north-west corner of this area. These had decorated the wooden lattice of the aedicula, now reconstructed in plaster. All the other recorded moveable finds were from the south side of this space. These included: a household storage jar; two clay lamps; bronze and iron fittings, possibly from the closing system for room 8, the so-called ‘tablinum’; and bone fragments probably from a piece of furniture. In the south-west corner were found a large bronze basin and a bronze patera, both of which were conceivably associated with bathing. Contrary to what might be expected, no statuettes of Lares or other representations were found in the lararium aedicula. Maiuri therefore concluded that these must have been made of wood. If this were so, then the excavators, who were able to make a cast of the wooden latticing, would surely also have observed any statuettes inside the aedicula, objects which would seem to have been more important than the latticing.
I.—Microscopic Structure of Irish Granites. No. 2. Granite of Aillemore, Co. Mayo
