The House of the Ephebe (I, 7, 10-12, 19) is constituted by several houses of modest size, joined together by their last owner at different times. It has entrances on two different alleys in the Regio I, which connect Via dell’Abbondanza with Via di Castricio. The most lavish room in the house is triclinium no. 17. It is distinguished by a sectile pavimentum of prized marbles, with an emblema formed of four square tiles. In the center of each tile is a blue-glass hexagon enclosing a millefiori glass rosette. Some relief elements of green glass paste, mostly made by means of molds, add a sophisticated three-dimensional touch and chromatic liveliness to this sector of the floor. The singularity of this decoration must have elicited admiration from the owner’s banquet guests, becoming a tangible sign of the dominus’s affluence and refined taste.
