Herculaneum, past, present & future . r in artistic quality.^ It must, however, neverbe forgotten that our knowledge of the domestic architectureof Herculaneum is very largely derived from the one streetnow uncovered, not, perhaps, a very fashionable one. Theold journals contain many vague but enthusiastic referencesto fine rooms, beautiful palaces, and the like.® Moreover, even if we suppose that the average Hercu-lanean house was originally of no greater interest than theaverage Pompeian one, the conditions of the eruption havecaused the former to be far better preserved. This matterwill be
Herculaneum, past, present & future . r in artistic quality.^ It must, however, neverbe forgotten that our knowledge of the domestic architectureof Herculaneum is very largely derived from the one streetnow uncovered, not, perhaps, a very fashionable one. Theold journals contain many vague but enthusiastic referencesto fine rooms, beautiful palaces, and the like.® Moreover, even if we suppose that the average Hercu-lanean house was originally of no greater interest than theaverage Pompeian one, the conditions of the eruption havecaused the former to be far better preserved. This matterwill be discussed at greater length in our third chapter. Hereit will be enough to remark that the upper storeys and the 1 Cf. Ruggiero, Scavi, Introduction, for all these For this aqueduct, whose connection with Pompeii is very probable, though onlyconjectural, see Mau-Kelsey, p. 233. 3 So Dall Osso in Tribuna, March 11, 1907. ?* Mau-Kelsey, pp. 38 and 43. 5 Cf. Introduction, p. 11. ^ See Ruggiero, ^cavi, etc., p. °^ ?-• H ? < S I . H £ C 2f Z °- < S J o CHAP. I TOPOGRAPHY 69 woodwork (roofs, furniture, window-cases, etc.) seem all tohave survived at Herculaneum, the wood in a state ofcarbonisation ; whereas at Pompeii they have almost entirelyperished. And, owing to the carelessness and ignorance evenof the nineteenth - century excavators, this whole field ofresearch, full of interest and importance to students of ancientarchitecture and ancient life, is still practically untouched. In the columns, pavements, and incrustation-work of thetheatre and other buildings, a great variety of rare and beautifulmarbles was freely used. The principal public buildings hitherto discovered arethe following. First, the small, but marvellously rich andbeautiful theatre, of noble style and proportions, coveredwith marble incrustation. It was peopled with finemarble and bronze statues, including six great equestrianstatues of gilded bronze, on the very highest tier
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