The house of Sallust is located in Regio VI, Insula 2, 4 on the east side of the Via Consolare. It received its modern name from an election notice placed on the facade, recommending Gaius Sallustius for office. An alternative name is the House of A. Cossus Libanus, from a seal found in the ruins. The site was later damaged by a bomb in World War II, and was restored in 1970.

The oldest parts of the house have been dated to the 4th century BCE, but the main expansions were built in the 2nd century BCE during the Roman period. The long history of this structure provides important evidence about the development of elite residences in Pompeii.

circa 300 BCE- 79 CE

Samnite Period and Early History
The house was originally a single symmetrical atrium house from the Samnite Period made of tufa blocks. The axially-aligned structure featured a central fauces, set between frontage shops, that lead to an atrium with compluvium and impluvium, three cubicula and alae that flanked the atrium on each side. A tablinum was placed at the rear of the atrium with an oecus and andron on the left and right side of the tablinum respectively. Behind the tablinum was an outdoor garden enclosed by the property wall. It was decorated in the Pompeian First Style.

In successive building phases, additional shops were added on its west side and a peristyle (colonnaded porticus) was added to the garden.

Augustan and Subsequent Periods
In the late Augustan period the house was converted into a hospitium, a hotel on a grand scale. A counter accessible both from the street and the atrium was constructed to encourage potential guests passing by as well as to serve existing visitors. Rooms were grouped into suites around the atrium and larger spaces 22 and 35 off the northeast corner of the atrium (see plan) provided indoor dining spaces while an outdoor masonry triclinium (25) covered by a pergola supported by two pilasters at the north end of the peristyle garden provided outdoor dining space. A hearth was constructed nearby for hot food preparation.

A large window was installed in the tablinum (19) to provide guests with a view of the garden enhanced by the tablinum's elevation of three steps above the atrium floor. The tablinum was modified to allow access from either end of the colonnade and, although a relatively small 20 by 70-foot space, was painted on the back wall with a garden scene which served as a continuation of the real garden, incorporating garlanded columns, three fountains, and birds.

Even with the addition of these new features, such as the peristyle garden and the second atrium, which became popular around this time, its First Style decoration was retained in some of its public spaces over time, too, imitating the continued use of the First Style in Pompeii's temples, basilicas, and gymnasia into the imperial period.

The First Style marble incrustation decoration of the House of Sallust's spacious atrium was carefully preserved over as long as two centuries while the adjoining peristyle was richly and charmingly decorated in the "modern" style of the imperial period. The structure was eventually expanded to use almost all the garden space.

circa 300 BCE- 79 CE

Entrance
The principal entrance to the House of Sallust was on the western side, from the Via Consolare. The entrance was entrace was flanked by two shops (tabernae). The north shop was equipped with a counter with embedded jars, probably for wine or oil or food. The south chamber was connected to another cubicula in the rear.

circa 300 BCE- 79 CE

Atrium
The atrium (cavaedium) featured opus signinum floor pavement with painted Ionic columns supporting the roof giving the space a monumental appearance. Its walls were painted to emulate slabs of marble typical of the First Style.[6] The treatment of the entrances to the tablinum and the alae, with pilasters joined by projecting entablatures, the severe and simple decoration, and the admission of light through the compluvium increased the apparent height of the room and gave it an aspect of dignity and reserve.

The Republican atrium-tablinum-peristyle matrix remained in place in the House of Sallust despite its conversion to a primarily public establishment, so patron-client relationships may have persisted for its owner into the early Empire. The arrangement also facilitated the enticement of potential guests from the busy traffic on the Via Consolare. The expansions of the house to encompass more entertainment spaces, however, did emulate such proliferation by other wealthy residents during this period.

A scene of sacrifice greeted visitors on a false door to the left of the tablinum. A priest, with his head covered, pours the contents of a patera into a tripod. Opposite the priest, a young man plays a double flute, his foot upon a scabellum, a percussion instrument played by the foot in dramatic performances. On the left and right, two assistants dressed in white tunics with narrow red stripes pour a liquid from drinking horns into paterae.

The southeast quadrant of the house was obliterated in an Allied bombing raid in 1943, destroying the signature fresco of Actaeon and Diana. Only a small part of the atrium's once sumptuous decoration, that included dentil cornices and fluted pilasters that framed the alae and tablinum, survived.

circa 300 BCE- 79 CE

Bakery
In the north-weste corner of the residential structure, archaeologists identified a bakery complex with a millroom with three mills, with a stairway to an upper floor, an oven, a kneading room, and a kitchen. They also identified the enclosure of part of the upper left colonnade to form a room plan.