Petite but picture perfect

A small, ornately decorated house has been uncovered in Pompeii during ongoing excavations of the Insula of the Chaste Lovers, in the centre of the ancient city. Archaeological investigations of this newly discovered residence are still under way, but it is believed to cover an area of just c.120m2. Despite its size, the house’s wall paintings rival those of larger homes like the adjacent House of the Painters at Work. The frescoes revealed so far, in a room at the rear of the house, feature several mythological scenes, including one depicting Hippolytus and Phaedra (shown here), which has given the building the provisional name ‘the House of Phaedra’. Others comprise an embrace bet