Floor Plan of Villa of the Labyrinth in Pompeii

In A.D. 62: Pompeii, this floor plan represents the villa of the Tullius family. From left to right:

At the far left, the rectangular area that extends beyond the rest of the plan represents the slave quarters and kitchen.

The large open rectangle in the center is the open air peristyle/garden, surrounded by a colonnade. Just to the left of this peristyle are the family sleeping quarters and a rectangular triclinium (dining room). The Corinthian oecus (reception room) is the small square room that has a colonnade on three sides; see the photographs below for the mural and floor mosaics in this room.

The top right square represents the formal atrium/ reception area where guests would enter the house; it is surrounded by offices, the master's library, reception rooms, and additional sleeping cubicles.

The bottom right atrium/courtyard (and the rooms that surround it) was described in the story as an older, run down part of the house used for storage.

The bottom edge of the plan shows the family bath complex and a long service corridor.

In the story, I placed this villa a short distance outside the town walls and made minor modifications to the floor plan. This villa is actually located within the excavated part of Pompeii, inside the city walls; it is not open to visitors. This floor plan is adapted from one shown in Wallace-Hadril, A. (1994), Houses and society in Pompeii and Herculaneum, Princeton University Press.

The mural and mosaic show below were found in the Villa of the Labyrinth. All other murals and mosaics described in the novel correspond to works of art found elsewhere in Pompeii or other excavations of first century Roman sites.

For a description of the layout and rooms in typical Roman houses, see: The Roman House

Below is a mural and the remains of some of the columns in the Corinthian oecus of the House of the Labyrinth.

The villa was named for a mosaic that depicts Theseus in the Minotaur's maze (on the floor of the Corinthian oecus).