excavations (since 1898) have resulted in the discovery of a temple
which certainly was dedicated to the guardian goddess of the Roman
colony, Venus Pompeiana. At the time of the catastrophe of the year 63
it was thrown down, and was to have been completely rebuilt, as the
building stones lying around indicate. It would assuredly have been the
largest and most splendid sanctuary of the city, if the outbreak of
Vesuvius had not prevented the carrying out of the plan.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. The Temple of Fortune (p. 29).]
[Illustration: Fig. 39. The Temple of Isis (p. 29).]
[Illustration: Fig. 40. The smaller Theatre (p. 32).]
[Illustration: Fig. 41. The larger Theatre (p. 32).]
[Illustration: Fig. 42. Scene from a Comedy. Mosaic of Dioscurides (p.
32).]
Of first rank among the other public buildings are the two theatres,
which closely connected with each other lie between the _Forum
Triangulare_ and the Street of Stabiae (a broad flight of steps
designed for festive processions leads from the _Forum Triangulare_ to
the Theatres). The smaller theatre (fig. 40), formerly roofed over,
served probably for musical performances, while the larger (fig. 41)
was employed for scenic exhibitions. Of these figure 42, an extremely
fine mosaic from Pompeii may perhaps serve as a specimen. It is to be
observed that, as in the case of most theatres, the seats have at the
back a hollow for the feet of those sitting above. The broad low steps
of the lowest row were utilised for the arrangement of _bisellia_,
that is wide seats properly intended for two persons, the use of which
was a privilege of the Decurions. Above, on the edge of the enclosing
wall, stones are to be seen which served to carry the masts from which
awnings were stretched for protection against the glare of the sun. It
is to this that the promise _vela erunt_ refers in the advertisements
of the theatre.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Interior view of the Amphitheatre (p. 34).]
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Barracks of the Gladiators (p. 36).]
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Weapons of Gladiators (p. 36).]
Together with the theatres should be named the amphitheatre, situated
at the southeast extremity of the city, a building of very great size,
which was calculated to meet the requirements of the neighbouring
towns as well. Apparently it originally lay without the walls, and
was included in the time of fortification only at a later period as
forming a point of danger. Seen from without the building produces
a comparatively mean impression (fig. 57), since to avoid having to
raise the outer walls too high the arena or fighting place has been
dug out (fig. 43). From the outside steps lead to the upper tiers,
the lower tiers are reached by means of steps from a vaulted corridor
which runs round the whole amphitheatre under the second tier. This
is interrupted in the middle of both the longer sides, on the west
by reason of a small entrance to the arena by which the corpses of
the slain gladiators were dragged out. To the arena itself two wide
entrances led from north and south, one of which, the southern, turns
at a right angle on account of its nearness to the city wall. At the
northern entrance a small separate passage could be made in order to
keep the spectators apart from the gladiators who passed in and out at
this point. This was effected by means of a latticed partition, for
which purpose stones with holes in them were used, which are still
to be seen. Small dark rooms at the entrances, provided with very
low doorways, may have served as cages for wild beasts. Here too, as
in the Theatre, the steps of the first row were broad and low, being
intended for the arrangement of _Bisellia_. The wall which separated
the spectators from the arena were found when first excavated to be
adorned with paintings, which are now indeed completely destroyed,
but are preserved in copies made immediately after their discovery.
Without exception they represent scenes from the Amphitheatre, partly
fights between wild beasts, partly combats of gladiators. (See fig. 56
as to which it is doubtful whether it was found in the amphitheatre;
the gladiator standing on the right being badly wounded has let fall
his shield; standing quietly he raises the thumb of the left hand to
entreat the mercy of the people, for only if he looks death in the
face unmoved can he hope to be granted his life; in our case his death
seems certain, for his opponent steps up to him with drawn dagger
to give him the _coup de grâce_.) On the breastwork wall traces were
still visible of a lattice by means of which the spectators were to be
protected against possible attacks of the wild beasts in the arena.
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Wall at the Stabian Baths (p. 37).]
[Illustration: Fig. 47. The Apodyterium (p. 37).]
In connection with the amphitheatre may be mentioned also the barracks
for gladiators, situated to the south of the large Theatre (fig. 44).
To all appearances the large space surrounded by columns belonged
originally to the Theatre, and was intended to afford protection to
visitors to the Theatre in case of rain occurring suddenly. But when
the passion for gladiatorial exhibitions had so prevailed that even
smaller cities thought themselves obliged to keep special bands of
gladiators, the second row of columns that no doubt originally existed
was done away with and in its place paltry cells erected for them.
That we have to do with gladiators and not, as has been supposed, with
soldiers, a garrison for Pompeii, has been indisputably proved by the
discovery of gladiators’ weapons (now in the Naples Museum, fig. 45 and
60) of paintings and _Graffiti_ relating to gladiators. The cells were
raised in two stories, and in such a way that the upper were approached
by means of a wooden gallery. In one cell on the west side a great set
of fetters was found used for chaining prisoners; in the same room, but
not as is commonly reported fastened in the fetters, some skeletons
were found, those therefore of prisoners who when the catastrophe
came had not been able to escape. The surrounding columns are painted
red and yellow, only the two centre ones of the east and west sides
are blue, perhaps because these served as marks in certain military
exercises.
[Illustration: Fig. 48. The Tepidarium of the Forum Baths (p. 38).]
[Illustration: Fig. 49. Arrangement of a Caldarium (p. 38).]
The baths too, which played so great a part in the life of the
ancients, must not be forgotten among the public places of resort.
Of large Public Baths three have up to the present time been found
in Pompeii, the so-called Central Baths, which at the time of the
eruption of Vesuvius were still in course of construction, the Baths
by the Forum, and the Stabian Baths, at the corner of the Stabiae
and Abbondanza streets. These last named are the best preserved, and
deserve on this account a more thorough consideration. We come first
into a large courtyard surrounded with pillars, the Palaestra, devoted
to gymnastic exercises; here there was a stone track constructed, for
rolling stone balls, further a swimming bath (_Natatio_), with the
dressingrooms appertaining thereto (fig. 46). The reliefs in stucco,
which are preserved on the outer walls of these rooms, merit special
notice. On the right of the principal entrance two doors lead to the
men’s bath, which consisted of the _Apodyterium_, where people took
off their clothes (the niches served to keep them in, fig. 47), the
_Frigidarium_ or cold bath, the _Tepidarium_ or lukewarm bath, and the
_Caldarium_ or hot bath. (Fig. 48 represents the Tepidarium of the
Baths near the Forum; here the heating is derived from a large brazier
presented by Vaccula.) Both these rooms received their heating through
the hollow pavement and hollow walls, i. e. the pavement rests on
small pilasters about two feet high, and the walls are overlaid with
tiles, which being provided with raised sidewalls form a kind of flue
on the wall (figs. 49 and 50). By this method the heat introduced from
beneath, could penetrate under the pavement and between the double
walls. Of late it is true this way of heating has been disputed.
[Illustration: Fig. 50. Section of the Caldarium (p. 38).]
[Illustration: Fig. 51. Ground Plan of the House of Pansa (p. 39).]
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Atrium Tuscanicum (p. 41).]
The women’s bath adjoins the men’s, with the same rooms required for
bathing; between the _Caldarium_ of the men’s bath and that of the
women’s bath lies the furnace-room; here were placed three large
caldrons for hot, tepid, and cold water. Of such a furnace-room and
the arrangement of caldrons an idea may also be formed from the well
preserved bathing plant excavated in a Roman villa at Bosco Reale
(where was made the great discovery of silverplate, now at Paris). This
has recently been set up at Pompeii, in a small house behind the Temple
of Jupiter in the street called Del Foro.
Besides these public bathing establishments there were of course
also in the better class of houses private baths which show the same
arrangements, though naturally more or less curtailed.
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Cave Canem (p. 40).]
[Illustration: Fig. 54. Doorknockers (p. 40).]
[Illustration: Fig. 55. Roman Dwellinghouse. Vista from the Atrium to
the Peristyle (p. 42).]
[Illustration: Fig. 56. Scene from the Amphitheatre (p. 35).]
[Illustration: Fig. 57. External View of the Amphitheatre (p. 34).]
[Illustration: Fig. 58. Iron Strongbox (p. 42).]
[Illustration: Fig. 59. Domestic Shrine (p. 42).]
The private houses are of course, according to the wealth of the
owners, of very various descriptions, and planned on a sometimes
more, sometimes less imposing and costly scale, since here one, there
another circumstance must have influenced the building of the house
and altered its form. Something however remains common to all, and out
of the variety it is possible to reconstruct the design of a standard
Pompeian house. The house has in general the form of a rectangle of
which the small side faces the street, see fig. 51. The door is in the
middle of this side, and is flanked right and left by one or two rooms,
which are either used as shops and then open outwards for their whole
width, or are entered from the interior and form part of the house.
Between these a passage leads from the door to the chief apartment
situated behind, viz., the _Atrium_. This passage is called _fauces_
or _prothyron_. In the superior class of houses the door is set back a
little so as to leave a free space in front, called _Vestibulum_. Then
there are usually two doors, one a wide folding-door corresponding in
size to the passage leading to the Atrium, and a smaller door at the
side intended for the _Ostiarius_, or porter, who could thus refuse
admittance to an importunate or unpleasant visitor, without exposing
the interior of the house to the gaze of those standing before the
door. A salutation such as _Have_ or _Ave_, “Hail” inlaid in the
threshold of the door, or a _Cave Canem_, “Beware of the Dog” with the
representation of a dog in mosaic (fig. 53) is a not unusual ornament
which meets the eye as one enters. A knocker on the door served to
summon the _ostiarius_. The _atrium_, a room usually square, contains
in the middle a rectangular tank sunk in the ground for the reception
of rainwater; for this an opening was left in the roof. Five classes
of _Atrium_ are generally distinguished. In the simplest, the _Atrium
Tuscanicum_, the roof sloping inwards was supported by two main beams
crossing the Atrium and two side beams resting on them (fig. 52; in
the new _Casa_ of Reg. V, Ins. IV the ancient construction of the roof
of the Atrium has been re-erected). If the opening thus formed was to
be large, or it was impossible on account of the breadth of the Atrium
to leave the weight of the roof to rest only on two beams, pillars
were placed under the four points of junction and on these pillars the
beams were laid; this is the _Atrium Tetrastylum_. If it was desirable
to make the aperture still larger, additional pillars were employed
besides the four at the corners, so that regular halls with colonnades
were produced (_Atrium Corinthiacum_). If the roof sloped outwards so
that above the _impluvium_ there rose walls supported by the principal
beams or the pillars, the Atrium was called _displuviatum_, from the
fact that in this case the rain flowed away outwards. Finally the
_atrium testudinatum_, a very rare form at Pompeii, had its roof
equally sloping outwards, but was devoid of the quadrangular opening.
This opening is called _compluvium_; the name _impluvium_ is given
to the tank sunk beneath to receive the water, and out of which the
water was conducted by pipes into the reservoirs under the atrium.
For protection against the intrusion of unbidden visitors who might
without difficulty let themselves down from the roof into the room
through the _compluvium_, the opening could be closed beneath by means
of an iron grating. On both sides of the _Atrium_, which receives
its light from above, are placed mostly small chambers, storerooms
or sleeping apartments; the last one on each side usually opened its
whole width to the atrium and is called _Ala_. Here in Patrician
houses of distinction the representations of ancestors were generally
placed. Opposite the entrance lies the _Tablinum_, usually opening
with full width on the _Atrium_, and closed only by curtains (fig.
55). This was specially the room of the master of the house, here he
kept his valuable documents, here he received visits, in front of the
_Tablinum_; in the _Atrium_ is as a rule the place for keeping the
_Arca_, or strongbox, made of iron, often artistically decorated, and
let into a huge stone, to prevent its being stolen (fig. 58). Past the
_Tablinum_ a narrow passage generally leads into the back rooms of the
house, which, grouped around the Peristyle, an oblong quadrangular
court surrounded by columns, comprising not only livingrooms and
bedchambers, but also diningrooms, often different ones for winter and
for summer. These are for the most part rather small, sufficing only
for the arrangement of the three couches around the little table, from
which the _Triclinium_ has its name. In this part a little on one side
is usually found the kitchen with other rooms required for domestic
purposes, and placed in close proximity to the kitchen for the sake
of supply and discharge of water. The wealthier establishments have
also one of the chambers lying round the Peristyle fitted up as a kind
of domestic chapel for the worship of the _Lares_, if there is not a
special _Sacrarium_ erected in the _Atrium_ for this purpose. Houses
of more moderate pretensions content themselves with having their
household gods, the _Lares_ and the serpents sacred to them, painted
in the kitchen above or near the hearth, in order to offer sacrifice
to them there (figs. 59 and 62). From the Peristyle we pass on further
to the garden, in which, where the owner was a rich man, there is
likewise no lack of architectural adornments, airy halls and porticoes.
Upper stories were generally in little favour, with the increase of
population however they could not have been dispensed with. For the
most part they were let, as a rule with the shops situated on the
street, on which account stairs leading upwards are often found in the
shops; in wealthier establishments the upper chambers were allotted to
the slaves. These upper stories, just as in our mediaeval towns, often
project considerably over the street; one such projecting apartment, as
was stated above, is well preserved (fig. 61).
[Illustration: Fig. 60. Helmets for Gladiators (p. 36).]
[Illustration: Fig. 61. House with _maenianum_ (p. 43).]
[Illustration: Fig. 62. Domestic Altar (p. 42).]
How was the Pompeian house decorated? Let us begin with the floor. In
most houses the flooring is provided with _opus signinum_, that is
pieces of tile are pressed into a mass of stucco and then the surface
is polished; in better houses their place is taken by mosaic, generally
only black and white, and comprising only patterns and ornaments;
more rarely a coloured picture is produced with smaller cubes in the
middle of the room. Quite peculiarly rich in mosaics, and indeed such
as artistically belong to the most splendid that have come down to
us in this department of art, was the so-called Casa del Fauno, in
which was discovered the famous Battle of Alexander, now in the Naples
Museum (fig. 64). The irresistible onset of the Greeks who in spite
of inferiority in number drive the Persians in headlong flight before
them is expressed with unsurpassable power. Alexander whose helmet has
fallen from his head in the impetuous attack has just transfixed with
a powerful thrust of his spear one of the leaders of the Persian host,
who was in the act of leaping from his dying horse and saving himself
on a fresh one offered to him by a faithful follower. His fall arouses
in the king who stands in his chariot, the deepest sympathy, so that
in his sorrow for his general’s death he almost loses sight of his own
escape. His charioteer however thinks only of bringing the chariot and
his lord to safety over dead and dying. From the same house comes also
the mosaic threshold in the Naples Museum, a portion of which we give
in figure 63. Leaves and fruits of all kinds are joined to a cylinder
held together by rings and garnished with various masks.
Figure 65 recommends itself by remarkable fidelity to nature. A cat has
seized a bird (apparently a partridge) with the intention of strangling
it. The cat probably belongs to the species of wild cats, since cats
as domestic animals were not common among the Greeks and Romans
before the fourth century of our era (hence is explained the fact that
no skeleton of a cat has been met with among the ruins of Pompeii).
Below two ducks are swimming, and mussels and other aquatic animals
are represented. At Pompeii too mosaic had begun to be employed for
the covering of walls, especially beside fountains. The paving of the
ground with slabs of marble, a practice very common at Rome since the
time of Sulla, seems to have been comparatively rare at Pompeii.
[Illustration: Fig. 63. Mosaic Threshold (p. 44).]
[Illustration: Fig. 64. Alexander’s Battle (p. 43).]
The eyes of visitors will be attracted by the walls even more than
by the pavements. Although, as said before, the greatest number of
the wall-paintings discovered have been cut out and brought to the
Naples Museum, yet sufficient material exists in Pompeii also to form
a judgment as to the effect of the Pompeian wall-painting, especially
in the more recently excavated houses, in which the colours are still
more fresh. (For the removal of wall-paintings a wooden frame is
placed over and around the pictures, and the stones are taken away from
behind till the stucco is reached; then plaster is poured in at the
back of the picture, and so the whole becomes one single mass and can
be removed.) We must not however forget that the rooms in which the
paintings are found have at the present day a much more glaring light
than in antiquity, a circumstance not without influence on the effect
of the painting.
[Illustration: Fig. 65. Pompeian Mosaic (p. 44).]
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Wall Decoration of the First Style (Casa di
Sallustio) (p. 47).]
[Illustration: Fig. 67. Wall Decoration of the Third Style (House of
Spurius Mesor) (p. 48).]
[Illustration: Fig. 68. Process of Plastering (p. 49).]
According to A. Mau four consecutive styles are to be distinguished.
1. Pre-Roman Period: Imitation of marble incrustation by means of
plastic stucco work; no pictures (fig. 66).
2. Period of the Republic: Imitation of Marble incrustation by means
of simple painting, together with representation of architecture, not
fantastical but as it might actually exist. This style is however but
scantily represented at Pompeii.
3. Period of the Early Empire, to about fifty years after Christ:
Egyptianising ornamental style distinguished by beautiful and pure
forms, and delicate, finely distinguished colours (fig. 67).
4. Ornamental Style of the last period of Pompeii, with special
preference for architectural painting, fantastically slender and of a
playfully ornamental fashion. The examples of this style are in Pompeii
by far the most numerous (fig. 69).
Above the plinth of uniform shape the walls are for the most part
divided into panels, which usually are painted alternately yellow and
red; in their midst they have figures of various kinds floating in
the air, women, satyrs, Loves, Victories and such like, or they are
adorned with imitations of easelpictures, the subjects being taken from
mythology. Numerous too are scenes from every day life, still more
numerous landscapes; the historical motive is as yet only very rarely
indicated. Very frequently mythological figures are introduced as
engaged in the avocations of daily life in the midst of the fantastical
architecture which covers the walls as ornament. The artistic value
is naturally very different, but in general it must be admitted that
the vividness of colour, the lightness of touch in creations which
are due assuredly to no famous artist cannot be sufficiently admired.
As to the process by which the wall-paintings were executed the most
multifarious conjectures were formerly made; now on the contrary the
view universally adopted is that we have to do almost exclusively with
fresco painting, i. e. painting on fresh plaster, only that here and
there recourse was also had to painting in tempera (fig. 68).
Some wall-paintings still in their original position will be dealt with
later when we come to speak of the respective houses; a few examples
out of the rich treasure removed to the Museo Nazionale in Naples may
here suffice.
[Illustration: Fig. 69. Wall Decoration. Fourth Style (p. 49).]
[Illustration: Fig. 70. Sacrifice of Iphigenia (p. 49).]