Herculaneum, past, present & future . the west. On thenorth-east, Dall Osso was led to believe that, on an analogy otNaples and the Piraeus, where we have the clearest specimensfor the Hippodamian plan of laying out the city, the main street,running north-west and south-west, divides the town into twohalves. We might thus compute an equal distance to thenorth-east from the main street as the portion towards the seanow gives us. But the outlines of both Naples and the Piraeusare not so regular as to give any certainty in this respect in thecase of Herculaneum. The same uncertainty is to be foun
Herculaneum, past, present & future . the west. On thenorth-east, Dall Osso was led to believe that, on an analogy otNaples and the Piraeus, where we have the clearest specimensfor the Hippodamian plan of laying out the city, the main street,running north-west and south-west, divides the town into twohalves. We might thus compute an equal distance to thenorth-east from the main street as the portion towards the seanow gives us. But the outlines of both Naples and the Piraeusare not so regular as to give any certainty in this respect in thecase of Herculaneum. The same uncertainty is to be found inattempting to define the south-eastern limits. Beloch may beright in considering the large building at the south-east(marked in La Vegas map with a cross,- and thought by himto be a temple) a villa outside the town, and thus defining thetown limits to the north-east of that building. On the whole it was agreed that the exact limits ot the 1 See Book I. Chapters I. and IV., and Plates 10 and See Book I. Chapter I., Plate 21- - CHAP. II BEFORE EXCAVATION 157 town itself could not be defined with certainty. Nor was thisdeemed essential. It was felt by all that, as regards the town, the mostimportant point was the main street running from north-westto south-east. This street was already discovered in theeighteenth century.^ Now it was, above all, important torediscover this street. The first suggestion made was, that, by working up the streetof the Scavi Nuovi, we must strike the main street at rightangles, probably at a point between two buildings (the Curiaeor temples) - and immediately opposite the Basilica.^ Thiswould at once give us the most important central points of thetown. We know also that the excavation of the Basilica wasnot completed in the eighteenth century,?* and that we mighthere expect to make important finds. In connection with this desistance of the early excavators,it was also maintained that we know that some years werespent in digging tunnels a
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