Location of the House (Ins III, 16) .. View of Cardo IV looking North, with the House of the Bronze Herma in the centre, next to the overhanging balcony of the House of the Opus Craticium Plan of the House .. ...........Plan of the House Key: A. Atrium B. Tablinum C. Tricrinium Description North of the exit from the House of the Inn on Cardo IV lies the House of the Bronze Herma. This is a narrow building, and can be regarded as a typical example of a small Samnite house. The house is squeezed in between the House of the Inn and the House of the Opus Craticium. Its entrance is at the extreme left of the photograph opposite. The building has survived in relatively good condition. .. .. .. At the rear of the atrium is the tablinum (B) which is paved in opus sectile. Placed next to the tablinum is the casting of the bronze herma (pictured above) after which the house was named. Done in a vigorous, albeit provincial style, it is most likely a portrait of the owner. (A herma, herm or herme is a sculpture with a head, and perhaps a torso, above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height. The form originated in Ancient Greece, and subsequently adopted by the Romans). To the left of the tablinum a passage leads to the triclinium (C) at the rear of the house which has frescoes painted in the fourth style, of which a seascape is the most notable. .. The property is centred round a tuscan style atrium (A) with a central impluvium (the renovated corresponding compluvium is pictured left). The walls of the atrium are decorated in the third style while the floor is opus signinum. .. Interestingly, high on the right hand wall of the atrium are two small windows which give light to the upper floors of the neighbouring property, the House of the Opus Craticium. .. ..

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