Location of the House (Ins V, 1-2) .. View of Cardo IV looking north, with the Samnite House on the immediate right, the entrance to No. 2 next to it and the House of the Tailor (with the canopy) beyond. Plan of the House .. .............Plan of the House Key: A. Entrance on Cardo IV B. Atrium C. Tablinum D. Stairs up to No.2. Description The Samnite House, which dates from the 2nd century BC, is one of the oldest buildings so far discovered in Herculaneum. The house originally occupied all of the southern part of Insula V and included a three sided peristyle, perhaps with a hortus, which once stood at the site of the later House of the Great Portal. .. .. During the course of the first century the building was sub-divided, the upper floor being rented out with its own entrance at No.2. It also appears that the eastern section of the property, including the area around the peristyle, was sold off, possibly for financial reasons. This re-arrangement allowed a separate residential property, the House of the Great Portal, to be built on the site of the original peristyle court. .. .. .. The short entrance hall (A) is decorated with frescos in the First Style imitating polychrome marble while the surrounding portal has tufa columns with Corinthian capitals. .. The hall opens onto an Hellenistic-style atrium (B), which has a gallery with Ionic columns closed off with a stucco lined tracery screen on three sides while it is open to the south. The atrium, decorated in the fourth stye, has a central marble impluvium and a tablinum (C) at the rear. .. The floor of the atrium is in opus signinum, while that of the tablinum is decorated with a rosette of diamond shapes centered around a round copper tile. .. .. To the right of the entrance is a room with a green momochrome fresco, decorated with architectural motifs, hangings and, in the centre, a small panel illustrating the Rape of Europa. .. A corridor on the east side of the tablinum once led to the peristyle area in the back, which consisted only of the colonnade and inner court, with no further rooms to the north. .. The elegant decoration of the ground floor is in stark contrast to that found on the upper floor entered at No.2. Several objects which came to light during the excavations are on display, including parts of a statuette of Venus and some dog-shaped table legs.

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