Insula Orientalis I

Insula Orientalis I lies across Cardo V from the House of the Deer in Insula IV and north of the Suburban Thermae.

Its northern side faces Insula Orientalis II across a narrow lane. Two notable buildings in the insula are the House of the Gem and the House of the Relief of Telephus.

House of the Gem (Ins oI, 1)

The house was named after a piece of jewelery found there. It dates from the Claudian period and bares the engraved effigy of Livia.

A row of columns separates the Tuscan order atrium, adorned with red and black frescos, from the tablinium. The tablinium itself leads into a cubiculum and onto a fine terrace which was originally enclosed by windows.

The photograph on the right shows the House of the Gem (centre) with its shrubbed garden.

The rooms that look onto the terrace are reached by way of the vestibule and hallway off the atrium. To the right of the atrium, a narrow passageway leads to the kitchen and the latrines (pictured left), where graffiti on one of the walls records the visit of Apollinaris, physician to the emperor Titus:


Among the rooms opening off the terrace is a large chamber with black and white mosaics forming a central panel, divided into twenty scenes, surrounded by a rosette.

House of the Relief of Telephus (Ins oI, 2-3)

The house is one of the largest in the excavated area. It has an irregular layout due mainly to its location. The atrium has a colonnade on two sides to support the upper storey. The spaces between the columns are decorated with circular marble panels.

The tablinum is on the far side of the atrium. On the left, two small doors lead to basic apartments, part of which were stables.

The rest of the house, laid out along a different axis, is on a lower level and is reached by way of a corridor off the tablinum. The peristyle surrounds a garden with a central basin.

Off the peristyle are three rooms decorated with marble.

Another corridor leads to a terrace overlooking the sea. Magnificient and exceptionally coloured marble flooring and wall panelling was discovered in a room opening off this terrace.

The relief (left) depicting an episode from the myth of Telephus (after which the house was named) was uncovered in an adjoining room. A copy is on display in the building.

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The eastern side of the insula is wholly taken up by the partially excavated Palaestra, whose entrance consists of a rectangular room with a vaulted ceiling, preceded by two columns. At the centre of the open area, surrounded by a portico on three sides and a cryptoporticus on the fourth, is a cruciform swimming pool complete with a bronze fountain consisting of a five-headed serpent entwined round a tree. The original fountain has now been replaced by a replica, a photograph of which is pictured below. Above and to one side of the pool is a rectangular basin which may have been used as a fish tank. In the centre of the portico, on the wall running parallel with Cardo V (the western side), is a recessed room containing a central marble platform. ..

.. The criptoporticus (pictured above looking west) has an upper storey comprising a gallery and a large room linking the Palaestra to the Decumanus Maximus. .. .. Most of the marble decoration that once adorned the Palaestra was destroyed or removed during the 18th century. Two panels, however, can be seen in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples.

The photograph (lower right) is an interior view of the cryptoporticus looking east, while the photograph upper right shows the bridge spanning the buildings carrying the pathway leading into the site from the town of Ercolano. It gives you an idea of how deeply Herculaneum was buried.


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