I pavimenti della c.d. "Casa di Umbricio Scauro II" (VII, 16, 12-14) di Pompei. Considerazioni sulle scelte decorative a cavallo fra tarda età repubblicana e primo impero

This article deals with the study of the evolution of specific floor decorations (especially vermiculata and mosaics with marble slabs or vegetal scrolls) from the Late Republic to the beginning of the Augustan era, starting by the analysis of a Pompeian house’s pavements (Casa VII, 16, 12-14). The aim is to establish the models chosen by the house-owner between 70-60 and 40-30 BC, knowing that the decorative choices of a small town elite were the contemporary echo in a smaller scale of Roman aristocracy’s choices too. In this way we should recognize the changes in taste, but also in ideology, which mark the end of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Empire.