There is a remarkable group of houses near the north end of Mercury Street. The first in importance is the house of Castor and Pollux (VI. ix. 6), which is so named from the figures of the Dioscuri, holding their horses by the bridle, painted on the walls of the principal fauces. Between the two atriums, one of which is of the Corinthian type, lies a large peristyle; and behind the Corinthian atrium is a garden with a colonnade in front. The decoration of the house is especially effective; that of the larger tablinum was by one of the best artists who worked at Pompeii. The paintings in the two central panels of this room are often mentioned; on the right wall, the recognition of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes; on the left, the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. The representation of Venus Pompeiana shown in Fig. 4 is from the peristyle. Beyond the house of Castor and Pollux is that of the Centaur (VI. ix. 3), which received its name from a painting in which Hercules, Deianira, and Nessus appear; the end of a bedroom in this house is shown in Fig. 122. The rest of the insula belongs to the large house of Meleager, named from a picture representing Meleager and Atalanta. The walls contained numerous mythological pictures, part of which were transferred to the Naples Museum; those left on the walls have suffered from exposure to the weather. The house of Apollo also (VI. vii. 23), on the opposite side of the street, is noteworthy on account of its decoration, in the last style; the god appears in a series of paintings. Two houses in the next insula, on the south, have in their gardens fountain niches veneered with bright mosaics, the casa della Fontana Grande (VI. viii. 22) and the casa della Fontana Piccola (VI. viii. 23). [Illustration: Fig. 180.--Section showing a part of the peristyle of the house of the Anchor, restored.]