Herculaneum VII.5. Steps to upper floor, above the so-named House of Galba.

Excavated 1873-74.

According to Cooley, thirty-two tablets were discovered on a balcony next to the House of Galba (they say at VII.8 or 9).

See Cooley, A.E. and Cooley, M.G. 2014. Pompeii and Herculaneum; a sourcebook. U.K. Abingdon, Routledge, 2nd ed.  (p.212).

VII.6 Herculaneum, on right, then VII.5, VII.4, VII.3, VII.2, VII.1 and then crossroads with Decumanus Inferiore.

May 2010. Looking south along Cardo III Superiore.

Waldstein and Shoobridge wrote

“Before leaving the town proper, we must say something of the small portion excavated in the nineteenth century, and still exposed, often called the “Scavi Nuovi”.

This part of the city sloped steeply to the south-west and ended in a sharp cliff; and strong and elaborate subterranean rooms were needed to keep the last houses level. Two streets were laid bare, crossing one another at right angles. That running down to the sea has a fine vaulted drain, 0.60m broad and 1.05m high, fed by various small drains and gutters. At the edge of the cliff it empties into a well-shaped opening of unknown depth, but certainly more than three metres.”

See Waldstein, C. & Shoobridge, L. (1908). Herculaneum, past, present and future. London, Macmillan & Co. Ltd., (p.76-77).

See Ruggiero, M. 1885. Storia degli Scavi di Ercolano ricomposta su’ documenti superstiti. Napoli. (pp. xlvi-li), for the whole description of “Scavi Nuovi”.

“The whole of sea street was strewn with fragments of bronze statues, human and equine, of various scales and there was also found a small silver bust of Galba, in tiny fragments, now carefully put together and in the Museo Nazionale”. (inventory number 110127, and see p.659 in Ruggiero, Scavi, etc., (record of 11 September 1874).

This portion of the site had been considerably tunnelled by the eighteenth-century excavators, and many of the larger works of art had been removed.

However, a marble bust, several pictures and a number of bronze statuettes were unearthed, and an almost bewildering number of domestic antiquities of the highest interest. These included not only fine bronze and clay vessels but a great variety of wooden objects: for example, a wooden chest of drawers, with bronze fittings, unfortunately empty. (See Ruggiero, Storia degli Scavi…. p.588, May 14 1869). There were also found a quantity of nets, ropes, cords, eatables, etc.

See Waldstein, C. & Shoobridge, L. (1908). Herculaneum, past, present and future. London, Macmillan & Co. Ltd., (p.77-78).

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli, Naples: Nicola Longobardi. (p.227-231 for various objects found in this area and found at differing heights during the excavation of the roadway).

VII.5 Herculaneum. September 2015.

Looking west to entrance doorway leading to steps to upper floor. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

VII.5 Herculaneum, on left. October 2023.

Doorways on west side of Cardo III, with VII.6, on right. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.

VII.5, on left, Herculaneum, and VII.6, on right. September 2016.

Looking towards entrances on west side of Cardo III Superiore. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

VII.4, on left, VII.5 and VII.6, Herculaneum. September 2015. Looking towards entrance doorways. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.

VII.5, on left, VII.6 in centre, and VII.7, Herculaneum. October 2014. Entrance doorways. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.