• Home
• Europe
• Italy
• Herculaneum

House of Aristide and the House of Argo (Casa di Aristide e Casa d'Argo) (Herculaneum)

Description of House of Aristide and the House of Argo

The house of Aristide and the house of Argus are two large villas that were excavated in the early days of archaeological excavations. Unfortunately, both houses were badly damaged during the eruption and subsequent excavations from the time of the Bourbons, which were no less destructive. Many murals were simply knocked down from the walls.

House of Aristide (Herculaneum)

The house of Aristide was named after the statue found here. Initially, it was believed that this was a statue of Aristide, but later it became clear that the statue belongs to the Greek politician Aeschineus. However, the name remains the same. Apparently the owner of the house was a prominent public and political figure who wanted to show respect for the teachers of the past. As you know, tradition and the past played an important role in the life of the Romans. It was the whole society.

The entrance (a) to the building opens from the west side of Cardo III Street directly onto a small atrium (b) or a living room complete with a central pool (home pool), but the rest of the house is not particularly well preserved. The bourbons destroyed the wall (s) on the north side of the atrium between the House of Aristide and the House of Argus, so you can enter the building through the northern wall of the atrium from the peristyle of the House of Argus and vice versa.

House of Argus (Herculaneum)

The house of Argus was named after a fresco depicting Io and Argus, which was located on the walls of the house next to a spacious garden-peristal, surrounded by a beautiful colonnade. Today the fresco is lost.

The entrance to the house of Argus, located on the western side of Cardo III, was initially a small gate (posticum), since the main entrance, which remains to be excavated. He led into the house from Cardo II Street in the west. The bourbons destroyed the section of wall (e) between the House of Aristide and the House of Argus, so you can now enter the building through the northern wall of the atrium of the House of Aristide. The entrance opens in the northeast corner of the square hall (a). There are several gypsum remains in the room, but there is no surviving decoration. On the south side of the hall, the door leads to the large peristyle (b) - the courtyard, which is surrounded on three sides by a colonnade. Along the eastern side of the peristyle is a series of small rooms.