This book examines how Pompeian peristyle gardens were utilized to represent
the socioeconomic status of Roman homeowners, introducing fresh perspectives
on how these spaces were designed, used, and perceived.
Pompeian Peristyle Gardens provides a novel understanding of how the
domus was planned, utilized, and experienced through a critical examination of
all Pompeian peristyles – not just by selecting a few well-known examples. This
study critiques common scholarly assumptions of ancient domestic space, such as

the top-down movement of ideas and the relationship between wealth and socio-
political power, though these possibilities are not excluded. In addition, this book

provides a welcome contribution to exploring the largely unexamined middle
class, an integral part of ancient Roman society.
Pompeian Peristyle Gardens is of interest to students and scholars in art
history, classics, archaeology, social history, and other related fields.
Dr Samuli Simelius is a teacher of ancient cultures at the University of Helsinki,
Finland, and a post-doctoral researcher in the project Law, Governance and
Space: Questioning the Foundations of the Republican Tradition (funded by the
European Research Council). He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Pompeian
peristyle gardens.