Researchers release 3D replica of ancient mansion in Pompeii

EVER wondered how the rich lived in ancient times? Thanks to modern technology, now we can take a peek inside.

Matt Young

2 min read

October 11, 2016 - 7:37PM

A Swedish University has digitally mapped a Pompeii mansion for the first time.

WE KNOW them as rubble and ruins, but amazing 3D technology has allowed researchers to delve inside the lives of the rich in the doomed city of Pompeii before it was destroyed by a volcano 2000 years ago.

Combining modern technology with archaeology, researchers at Sweden’s Lund University recreated a digital replica of the opulent residence of Pompeian banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundu s — and it’s every bit as impressive as you may imagine.

Iucundus lived in Pompeii from around 20-62 AD. His mansion, on Stabiae Street in Pompeii, includes amenities including a garden room, guest area, pool and gigantic money chest.

Despite being partially destroyed by Mt Vesuvius’ volcanic eruption in 79AD, much of it was preserved, allowing the Swedish Research Project to digitally map the house and its nearby suburbs to better understand the inner workings of the ancient society.

“He was certainly a rich man, but he didn’t belong to the upper most elite of the town,” according to the university.

ONLINE ONLY Pompeii, aerial view, naples, archeologic ruins of Pompeii in Italy. Picture: istock

Lucius Caecilius Iucundus - banker of Pompeii. Picture: Creative Commons

A shrine in the house features a replica of the Temple of Jupiter, a temple in Roman Pompeii. during the 62AD earthquake. Its atrium was decorated with paintings while the floor is covered in a black and white mosaic.

A message on the wall reads: “May those who love prosper; let them perish who cannot love; let them perish twice over who veto love.”

“In the morning, the big entrance room must have contained many dependant people coming around to salute the owner, and probably also business companions from Rome and Pompeii,” the university explains.

“In the afternoon the [main] room must have changed character, with weaving women and a lot of household work going on.

“The light conditions changed throughout the day. The daylight flowing in through the upper part of the room together with rain water that was collected here.

And in the night? “Only oil lamps”.

Lund University has created a 3D tour of Pompeii. Picture: Lund University/Youtube

Among Pompeii’s rubble they’ve found traces of a tavern, a laundry and bakery. The goal of the program is to survey, map and analyse an entire Pompein city-block, dubbed Insula V1.

Iucundus’s mansion is the first model to have been completed.

In one of the city gardens, researchers discovered taps that lead to a “stunning” fountain that was running at the time of the eruption; water gushing as the sky rained of ash.

In another shop were three untouched, intact windows; amazingly preserved.

“By combining new technology with more traditional methods, we can describe Pompeii in greater detail and more accurately than was previously possible,” Nicoló Dell’Unto, digital archaeologist at Lund University said.

“We can understand more deeply what life was like in Pompeii of the past.”