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Insula III lies across Cardo III from Insula II and is bound by Cardo IV to the south and the lower decumanus to the north. It contains several interesting buildings of which the following are the more notable.
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House of the Opus Craticium (Ins III, 13-15)
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The House of the Opus Craticium is interesting for its construction; the use of opus craticium. Cheap and quick to build, opus craticium consists of filling a brick and wood framework
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with a pebble and rock mixture known as opus incertum.
Examples of this type of wall construction are visible both upstairs and downstairs. This is the best preserved example of this type of construction to be seen in Herculaneum. The entrance can be seen in the photograph opposite.
The house, intended to be used by more than one family, comprises two separate apartments that can be reached via nos 13 and 14 of Cardo IV. Both were lit by a small courtyard, and drew their water from the same well.
In the first apartment, a brightly lit, second floor room overlooking Cardo IV has some partially preserved wooden furniture including a bed and a cupboard.
The second apartment must have been rather dark except for the room on the second floor overlooking the street. It contains a triclinium couch and a small lararium.
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House of the Wooden Partition (Ins III, 11-12)
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This house, which overlooks Cardo IV was preserved to the level of the third floor. Its facade, which ends with a cornice decorated with ova, is one of the most sophisticated in
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the region. Built in the Samnite period, it was considerably altered in the Augustan age.
The large Tuscan order atrium, as shown in the accompanying photograph, has a patterned floor and a double impluvium alongside a marble table. A cubiculum off the atrium has a fine mozaic floor and a marble table.
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An elegant wooden partition, in which two of the three panels were hinged and had bronze handles, can be seen in the right of the photograph. It was used to close off the tablinum from the atrium.
Off the tablinum is a small garden enclosed within a portico. Several rooms, including the triclinium, face onto the garden.
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