The construction of the house was part of a complicated series of events, and is a typical example of a home of a high-ranking family.
The atrium has frescoes with scenes from the Iliad and the Odyssey. The peristyle is rhodium-shaped, with the north side higher. The house owes its name to a picture of Menander, an Athenian playwriter, placed in the portico. The house has a small thermal area below which there is a basement, perhaps a cellar, where a box was found with 118 pieces of silverware, now on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

This treasure had been hidden before the restoration works began and constituted the family heritage. The crockery included shapes to serve wine but mostly plates and cups used at banquets. The south side leads to the rustic area, where the reconstruction of a wagon is exposed. The house belonged to Quintus Poppaeus Sabinus of the Poppei family, relatives of the Empress Poppea Sabina, Nero's second wife

Date of excavation: 1928; 1930; 1932.