Insula Pompeiana IX 3 The Wall Paintings, Mosaics, and Upper Floors

The fieldwork by the Expeditio Pompeiana Universitatis Helsingiensis (EPUH) was undertaken in the Pompeian insula IX, 3 over two periods, 2002–2006 and 2009–2012, the first led by Prof. Paavo Castrén and the second by Dr. Antero Tammisto. After the intensive fieldwork period of those campaigns was completed, the results, excavation diaries other written documents, drawings, and photos were assembled, organized, and analysed back in Finland. Study periods of different length by individual researchers to check the details, visit archives, and recheck the material, whether on site in Pompeii or in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), and even in the UK, have been diligently carried out ever since. As is usual, many other duties occupied the researchers and delayed the time of publication. The first fruits were delivered, however, already in 2008, when the exhibition Domus pompeiana – una casa a Pompei was staged in Helsinki, accompanied by a catalogue in Finnish, Swedish, and Italian. The target was the general public, with the aim of introducing the results of the fieldwork in the luxurious House of Marcus Lucretius, centrally located in the insula IX, 3. The first large scientific contribution was published in 2019, when the inscriptions, works of art, and finds from the older and current Finnish excavations in the House of Marcus Lucretius were published in Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum, volume 136, under the auspices of the Societas Scientiarum Fennica. It is a great pleasure that this second volume, now also covering the wall paintings, their chemical analyses – undertaken with great care by the APUV project – the floor mosaics, and the upper floors was accepted to be published in CHL.