Insula II

For the visitor to the site, the entrance pathway leads round in a gentle curve past an original section of town wall where the houses border the ancient shoreline, to arrive at Cardo III at the south-west corner of the site.

Insula II lies to the west of this street and extends to the junction with the lower decumus as indicated on the schematic. Among the buildings in this insula are the House of Aristides and the House of Argus.

House of Aristides (Ins II, 1)

The first building on the left on reaching Cardo III is known as the House of Aristides.

The entrance to the building opens directly onto the atrium, but the remainder of the house is not particularly well preserved due to damage caused by previous excavations.

The lower floor was probably used for storage.

The view (left) shows Cardo III with Insula II to the left. The photograph was taken just outside the House of Aristides (on the left) looking north, with the entrance to the House of Argus just beyond. The building on the right of Cardo III is the House of the Inn.

The streets are different from Pompeii, having fewer carriage tracks and no stepping stones. They are also more arcaded, witness the column bases visible in the left hand footway.

House of Argus (Ins II, 2)

The next house along Cardo III derived its name from a fresco representing the myth of Argus and Io which once adorned a reception room that opened onto the large peristyle. .. The fresco is now sadly lost, but its name lives on. ..

.. This building must have been one of the finer villas in Herculaneum and had a large peristyle with columns and pillars as illustrated here. The discovery of the house in the late 1820s was notable because it was the first time a second floor had been unearthed in such detail. The excavation revealed a second floor balcony overlooking Cardo III. Also wooden shelving and cupboards. Sadly with the passing of time, these elements have now been lost.

House of the Genius (Ins II, 3)

To the north of the House of Argus lies the House of the Genius, the final house in Insula II before it reaches the lower decumanus.

It has only been partially excavated but it appears to have been a spacious building. The remainder of the building extends under the cliff of volcanic debris.

The house derives its name from the statue of a cupid (or guardian spirit) that decorated a candlestick found in the building.

In the centre of the peristyle are the remains of a rectangular basin with apses on either side.

Insula III

Insula III lies directly across Cardo III from Insula II and is bound by Cardo IV to the east and the lower decumanus to the north.

It contains several interesting buildings in a reasonable state of preservation, of which the House of the Skeleton, the House of the Inn, the House of the Bronze Herma, the House of Opus Craticium and the House of the Wooden Partition are the most notable.

House of the Skeleton (Ins III, 3)

Only the ground floor of this two storey building still remains. The roofed atrium is without the usual impluvium and has no floor. To the left, at the far end of the atrium, there were once two nymphaea; one overlooking the triclinium (above) and another with an ornamental sacellum to provide light for the apsed hall. The detail (right) is a picture of the central fresco shown on the above photograph of the triclinium.

Across Cardo III from the House of the Genius is the House of the Skeleton. This building, probably the aggregation of three smaller buildings, derives its name from the discovery of human remains in a second floor in 1831. This was the first body to be found in the town which had assumed to have been abandoned when the eruption began. Further bodies have since come to light down by the waterfront. ..

House of the Inn (Ins III, 1 and 9)

Next to the House of the Skeleton lies the House of the Inn, which is set in a waterfront location. Although named the House of the Inn, the building was really a private house, probably being thought to be otherwise because of its size. It is in a poor state of repair not only due to the effects of the eruption, but also to the tunnels and passageways dug in the course of early excavations. ..

.. Built some time in the first century B.C., it consists of numerous rooms radiating from the atrium. On the right of the atrium is a private thermae decorated with frescoes in the Second Style (the only private thermae to be found in Herculaneum). The property also had a porticoed terrace and a large peristyle with a sunken garden (above and right) now planted as an orchard, where the carbonised trunk of a pear tree was discovered.

House of the Bronze Herma (Ins III, 16)

	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 is a typical example of a Samnite house. The house is squeezed in between the House of the Inn and the House of the Opus Craticium (pictured below). It has survived in relatively good condition. ,,
	The herma (pictured right), after which the house was named, is in the tablinium. Done in a vigorous, albeit provincial style, it is most likely a portrait of the owner. The photograph on the left is a view of the atrium of the house looking out towards Cardo IV. .. To the left of the vestibule in the picture, a stairway leads to the upper rooms. Further to the left is the tablinum. ..

House of the Opus Craticium (Ins III, 13-15)

The House of the Opus Craticium is interesting because of its construction; the use of opus craticium. Cheap and quick to build, opus craticium consists of filling a brick and wood framework with a pebble and rock mixture known as opus incertum. Examples of this type of wall construction are visible both upstairs and downstairs. This is the best preserved example of this type of construction to be seen in Herculaneum. The entrance can be seen in the photograph opposite. ..
	The house, intended to be used by more than one family, comprises two separate apartments that can be reached via nos 13 and 14 of Cardo IV. Both were lit by way of a small courtyard. ..
	In the first apartment, a brightly lit, second floor room overlooking Cardo IV has some partially preserved furniture including a bed and cupboard. .. The second apartment must have been rather dark except for the room on the second floor overlooking the street. It contains a triclinium couch and a small lararium. .. The picture (left) is a second example of opus craticium to be found at the corner of CardoV and rhe Decumanus Maximus.

House of the Wooden Partition (Ins III, 11 and 12)

The large Tuscan order atrium, as shown in the accompanying photograph, has a patterned floor and a double impluvium alongside a marble table. A cubiculum off the atrium has a fine mozaic floor and a marble table. An elegant wooden partition, in which two of the three panels were hinged and had bronze handles, can be seen in the foreground of the photograph. It was used to close off the tablinum from the atrium. Off the tablinum is a small garden enclosed within a portico. Several rooms, including the triclinium, face onto this porticoed garden.

This house, which overlooks Cardo IV was preserved to the level of the third floor. Its facade, which ends with a cornice decorated with ova, is one of the most sophisticated in the region. Built in the Samnite period, it was considerably altered in the Augustan age.