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Insula IV lies across Cardo III from Insula III as shown in the schematic. Along the lower decumanus lie several small shops, while at its junction with Cardo V there is the remains of a thermopolium that sold food and drink. Eight earthenware jars that would have contained cereals and vegetables are set in the counter.
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House of the Alcove (Ins IV)
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The house is actually two buildings joined together. Subsequently it is a mixture of plain and simple rooms combined with some highly decorated ones.
The atrium is covered, so lacks the usual impluvium. It retains its original flooring of opus tesselatum and opus sectile. Off the atrium is a biclinium richly decorated with frescoes in the
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fourth style and a large triclinium which originally had a marble floor. A number of other rooms, one of which is the apsed alcove after which the house was named, can be reached via a hall which gets its light from a small courtyard.
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House of the Fullonica (Ins IV)
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Next door to the House of the Alcove is the House of the Fullonica (laundry) which still has the tubs used for washing and drying textiles. Like many other houses in Herculaneum, it served the double purpose of a place of work and the family home.
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Thermopolium (Ins IV, 15-16)
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The photograph opposite shows a view looking south down Cardo V with the lower decumanus going off to the right. A thermopolium at the north east corner of Insula IV can be seen. Beside it is a large travertine fountain.
The Thermopolium was a cafe/bar serving food and drink. Eight earthenware jars that contained cereals and vegetables are set in the counter.
A piece of Greek graffiti in the back of the bar states:
'Diogenes, the philosopher and cynic, seeing a woman being swept away by a river, exclaimed that a scourge was being swept away by a(nother) scourge.'
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