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The entrance pathway leads round in a gentle curve past an original section of town wall where the houses border the ancient shoreline, to arrive at Cardo III at the south-west corner of the site. Insula II lies to the west of this street and extends to the junction with the lower decumus as indicated on the schematic.
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House of Aristides (Ins II, 1)
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The first building on the left is the House of Aristides. The entrance opens directly onto the atrium, but the remainder of the house is not particularly well preserved due to damage caused by previous excavations. The lower floor was probably used for storage.
The view opposite shows Cardo III with Insula II to the left. The building on the right is the House of the Inn.
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The streets are different from Pompeii, having fewer carriage tracks and no stepping stones. They are also more arcaded, witness the column bases visible in the left hand footway.
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House of Argus (Ins II, 2)
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The next house got its name from a fresco of Argus and Io which once adorned a reception room off the large peristile. The fresco is now sadly lost, but its name lives on.
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This building must have been one of the finer villas in Herculaneum and had a large peristyle with columns and pillars as illustrated here.
The discovery of the house in the late 1820s was notable because it was the first time a second floor
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had been unearthed in such detail. The excavation revealed a second floor balcony overlooking Cardo III. Also wooden shelving and cupboards.
Sadly with the passing of time, these elements have now been lost.
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