Traditional approaches to Roman wall paintings in ancient Pompeii tend to focus on stylistic categories or consider the content of a single painting. In their original setting, however, these paintings existed in a greater architectural and social-historical context. My thesis examines the frescoes and their greater context in one of the houses, the House of the Citharist, in Pompeii. In particular, this thesis concerns the program of wall paintings as they existed after the earthquake of A.D. 62 but before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. My thesis explores the history of both the city and house, in addition to the political climate at the time and affiliations of the owner of the House of the Citharist with the Roman emperor Nero, in relation to the frescoes that decorated the House of the Citharist.