Herculaneum III.16. Casa dell’ Erma di Bronzo or House of the Bronze Herm.
Excavated between 1927-29.
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Maiuri wrote that this tiny and humble house with a narrow ground-plan, preserved up to its end the original structure and characteristics of a Samnite house, recognizable above all in the use of opus quadratum in tufa for the door-jambs of the portal, the doorways opening onto the atrium and the elegantly shaped impluvium basin.
Lack of space later compelled simplification of the original Samnite plan and the abolition of the rooms along the two sides of the atrium.
Internally, other than the two rooms near the fauces, there are at the other end of the atrium, a small tablinum, an open light-well and a large room, perhaps the triclinium, with some remains of the decoration. Near the tablinum is a vigorous portrait in bronze with coarse features, of local craftsmanship, almost certainly that of the owner of the house.
The living rooms were undoubtedly on the upper floor, reached by the stairs to be found in the simple blind corridor to the right of the tablinum, in the corner of which there is also a well-head.
See Maiuri, Amedeo, (1977). Herculaneum. 7th English ed, of Guidebooks to the Museums Galleries and Monuments of Italy, No.53 (p.29).
According to Guidobaldi, this house of modest dimensions has a Tuscan atrium reached along a fauces with a room on either side.
In the atrium, paved in cocciopesto, with a tufa impluvium basin, and walls that were decorated with pictures in the Third Style, the cast of a bronze herm of the owner of the house is displayed. Of notable interest are the tablinum for its marble flooring, and the triclinium at its rear that preserved central figurative paintings, including one with a maritime landscape, which were found painted in the period of the Fourth Style.
See Guidobaldi, M.P, 2009: Ercolano, guida agli scavi. Naples, Electa Napoli, (p.67).
III 16, on left, Herculaneum May 2009. Looking north from entrance doorway along Cardo IV Inferiore. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Looking west to entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
III 16, Herculaneum, October 2014. Entrance doorway on west side of Cardo IV Inferiore. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III 16, Herculaneum, June 2008. Looking west towards entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
III 16, Herculaneum, June 2005.
Façade on south side of entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Bench on south side of entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2006. Looking west to entrance doorway with doorjambs of tufa opus quadratum.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015.
Upper façade of entrance wall on west side of Cardo IV Inferiore, including a terracotta window, on left.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Terracotta window on south side of entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Terracotta window.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Window in façade on north side of entrance doorway.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Bench on north side of entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Threshold to entrance doorway. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Threshold of doorway.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking through entrance doorway, along corridor (room 1, the fauces) to atrium.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Looking west across atrium from entrance corridor. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee
lll.16 Herculaneum, October 2012.
Looking west to atrium from entrance corridor. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2006. Looking west across atrium towards tablinum.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 1, north wall of entrance corridor.
lll.16 Herculaneum, October 2012. Room 1, north wall of entrance corridor. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 1, with doorway to room 2, in south wall of entrance corridor.
III 16, Herculaneum, October 2014.
Room 1, detail of painted stucco on south wall. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Doorway to room 2 in south wall of entrance corridor.
III 16, Herculaneum, October 2014.
Room 1, doorway to room 2 in south wall of entrance corridor. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III 16, Herculaneum, October 2014.
Room 1, south wall with remains of painted stucco, and doorway to room 2. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Doorway threshold to room 2 in entrance corridor.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Looking east across atrium 9 towards entrance doorway, centre.
On the right is a second doorway into room 2 in the south-east corner of the atrium.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. South wall of atrium with doorway to room 2, on left.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 9, doorway in south-east corner of atrium, leading to room 2.
III 16, Herculaneum, September 2015.
Room 2, looking towards doorway in north-east corner leading to entrance corridor, and window in east wall.
III 16, Herculaneum, October 2014.
Room 2, looking towards doorway in north-east corner leading to entrance corridor, and window in east wall.
Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Room 2, window in east wall.
III.16, Herculaneum, June 2005. Room 2, window in east wall. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018. Room 2, detail of window in east wall. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2015. Doorway from room 2 into south-east corner of atrium 9.
III.16, Herculaneum, September 2019.
Room 9, south wall of atrium, with room 2 on left, and corridor 6, on right. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018.
Room 9, looking towards south wall of atrium, with corridor 6, centre, and tablinum, on right. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
III.16, Herculaneum, May 2018.
Room 9, detail of painted decoration on upper south wall in south-west corner. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
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