great treasure of silver, which through the liberality of Baron Edm.
de Rothschild has reached the Louvre. It falls into two categories,
in the first place such vessels as can be designated objects of use
(these however also merit careful observation on account of the fine
ornament that appears on them); and secondly a series of cups, bowls,
and other utensils which are adorned with artistic representations.
Though the others are also interesting we can here deal only with
the latter of the two classes, so far as representations of them are
available. Chief among them is a bowl that in size and shape compares
best with the Minerva bowl of the Hildesheim Treasure. In quite free
form there raises itself from the ground as a centrepiece the bust of
a goddess who wears on her head the spoils of an elephant, so that the
trunk projects over the centre of her forehead and the tusks on both
sides over her temples. She is clad in a light chiton with many folds,
fastened over the arm by numerous studs; the overlapping portion of the
chiton is gathered together at the breast into a roll in which appear
ears of corn with grapes and all kinds of fruit. In her left hand the
goddess holds a cornucopia containing bunches of grapes, pomegranates
&c., in her right a Uraeus serpent. There is no question that the
tutelary deity of Alexandria alone can be intended by the figure (fig.
100).
[Illustration: Fig. 101. Mirror with the Bust of Ariadne (p. 71).]
A second bowl has as its central ornament the upper portion of a
man’s body boldly projecting from the surface, which may be noted as
extremely characteristic. The shortcropped hair lies closely on the
head, the large ears protrude, many a wrinkle furrows the brow, clearly
marked crow’s feet enable us to infer that the subject is pretty well
advanced in age. The cheeks have fallen in, and so leave the cheek
bones standing forth in strong relief. The attribution of the figure
to the Emperor Claudius is assuredly groundless, still the features
remind one of members of the House of the Claudii, and above all this
one thing cannot be questioned that we have to deal with a Roman and
no Greek. Of the companion bowl with a woman’s bust the centrepiece
has come to London. On the other hand the Louvre has secured two hand
mirrors once belonging to the _mundus muliebris_, the toilet apparatus
of a Pompeian lady; one with elegant handle formed of twigs intertwined
bears as an ornament in the middle of its back a wonderful bust of
Ariadne (fig. 101); the head slightly inclined towards the left arm
is crowned with a wreath of ivy, and the drapery leaves free the left
breast shaped with wondrous beauty. A second mirror bears as ornament
for the back (the polished front always serves as the actual reflecting
surface) the representation of Leda with the swan. Leda almost nude is
seated on a rock, and while she supports herself on the rock with her
left hand, holds out with her right a bowl to the swan standing before
her.
[Illustration: Fig. 102. Cup with Olivewreath (p. 73).]
[Illustration: Fig. 103. Cup with Still Life (p. 73).]
Besides these there are comprised in the treasure four eggshaped cups
with large handles rising above the rim, and twisted feet, two of
which have the exterior adorned with storks in low relief which are
seeking food in the neighbourhood of their nest, while both the others
represent the life of cranes, how they search for food, struggle over
their booty, and engage their rivals with powerful blows of their
beaks. Other vases remind us of the great bell-shaped vessel of the
Hildesheim treasure. From a graceful calyx grows up a flower-stem
divided into joints, on which as they spread out are introduced groups
of animals fighting, while elegant arabesques springing from flower
cups fill the body of the vase with their charming windings and
twinings. Of wonderfully fine execution also are two low vessels, each
provided with two handles, round the body of which twine two olive
branches with berries. (Fig. 102.) Other cups are ornamented with
so-called “Still Life” (fig. 103); others have allusions to literary
efforts. There we see skeletons of poets as Euripides and Menander
(fig. 89), or philosophers as Zeno and Epicurus in various actions,
with inscriptions appended which show the connection. One and all
preach the doctrine of Epicurus, enjoy life while you may, life passes
away only too quickly. The placing of such scenes on vessels destined
to minister to the keener enjoyment of life is for antiquity no unusual
thing; I need refer only to the above mentioned mosaic of a death’s
head which served as the ornament of a table, and to the well-known
scene from Trimalchio’s Banquet (in Petronius), who has a silver
skeleton with movable limbs brought upon the table, and invites his
guests to brighter enjoyment of life with the words “Alas for us poor
wretches! What a nothing we are! Like this skeleton shall we all be as
soon as Orcus carries us off; so let us enjoy life while we may!”
[Illustration: Fig. 104. House of Pansa (p. 75).]
Fine tables laden with such and similar vases must have been found
in every one of the better class of houses in Pompeii, so they could
not be passed over in describing the furniture. Yet some may miss in
the catalogue of furniture the mention of looking-glasses. In Pompeii
however these would be sought in vain. There were indeed mirrors enough
for the toilet, as we have seen in the treasure from Bosco Reale, but
only hand mirrors, mostly of metal, occasionally, as it seems, also of
glass, yet always only so small that even if fixed on a stand they are
to be treated as articles of the toilet, not as constituent parts of
the furniture. We may suppose that refined luxury in individual cases
may have led to the employment of larger mirrors (cf. Lessing, _Rettung
des Horaz_), but these things have nothing to do with Pompeii, to judge
at least by what has been found there.
[Illustration: Fig. 105. Bakery with Mills (p. 76).]
[Illustration: Fig. 106. House of the Tragic Poet (p. 76).]
Now that we have gained an idea of the Pompeian house in general and
of its equipment, it is possible to examine more thoroughly individual
houses of special note. We begin with the Casa di Pansa, or, as the
house has been officially named from a painted inscription, which has
now disappeared, the Domus Cn. Allei Nigidi Mai. For two appellations
have usually to be distinguished, a popular one, often due to the
presence of people of rank on the occasion of the excavation (e. g.
in the case of the Casa dell’ Imperatore di Germania), or derived
from special objects discovered (Casa del Fauno); frequently too the
electioneering inscriptions which are written on the houses have led
to (unauthorised) conclusions as to the owner. On the other hand the
second, the official appellation, is founded on the discovery of
seals or inscriptions within the house that allow of a conclusion
as to the former possessor. The so-called House of Pansa then (fig.
104) is situated in the Street of Nola, opposite the Baths. It
displays a façade of tufa, of the Samnite epoch, with unusually lofty
doorway, which runs back from the street and so forms a _vestibulum_.
Through the doorway we catch sight of the _Atrium_ with its very deep
_impluvium_, and behind this the _tablinum_, from which two steps lead
to the peristyle. The tufa columns of the peristyle are of the Ionic
order, but by a coat of stucco were turned into Corinthian. Behind the
peristyle an entrance leads to the kitchen garden, the beds of which
were still discernible at the time of the excavation. A large portion
of the ground pertaining to the house is taken up by shops and a bakery
with three mills. It is worth while to examine such a bakery somewhat
more in detail.
[Illustration: Fig. 107. Pompeian Loaves (p. 76).]
Every bakery was connected with several mills, in which was prepared
the flour required for baking. Each mill consists of a conical support
(_Meta_) and upper part forming a double funnel (_Catillus_); the
latter is so placed over the supporting cone that the upper cavity
serves to receive the corn as it is poured in, while by the rubbing
between the lower funnel and the fixed cone the grains of corn are
reduced to powder. That the turning may proceed more easily the
external double funnel rests by means of a cross bar of wood upon an
iron point fixed in the cone beneath, at the narrowest point of the
_catillus_ holes are made in which are fixed bars by means of which
the turning of the mill is effected by a donkey. For this reason the
ground round about is paved. Near the space in which the mills stand
is the oven, and by this is seen a hollow for the reception of water
(fig. 105); to the left was a room in which the bread was put into
shape. Here are also often remains of a peculiar contrivance for the
kneading of dough, a cylindrical vessel of lava in which the dough was
kneaded by means of a roller turning round an iron rod. Shelves on the
wall, of which there are still to be seen traces served to display the
baker’s wares. It may here be remarked that in the villages of Sardinia
at the present day mills are in use which correspond almost exactly
to those at Pompeii, and also that the machine for kneading dough is
still employed in a similar form at Palermo. From a well closed baking
oven eighty-one loaves were taken which naturally were somewhat stale,
inasmuch as they were put into the oven as early as the 24th of August
79! (Fig. 107.) Some of them are exhibited in the museum at Pompeii.
Next to the House of Pansa comes the House of the Tragic Poet, which
plays a part in Bulwer’s romance as the house of Glaucus (fig. 106).
It has its name from a painting wrongly explained as a rehearsal (in
reality the myth of Admetus and Alcestis is represented), and also a
Mosaic relating to the theatre. On account, however, of the magnificent
paintings found in the Atrium which refer to Homeric themes (the
carrying off of Briseis, Zeus and Hera on Ida _etc._) it is also
called Casa Omerica. Here the photograph is taken from the Atrium; the
fountain close to the impluvium is seen in the foreground, behind, a
step higher, is the tablinum, with mosaic ornament, opening with its
whole width on the peristyle. There is still to be seen the little
chapel of the Lares in which a statuette of Silenus was found. From
this house comes the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, a painting represented on
an earlier page.
[Illustration: Fig. 108. Fullonica (Fulling-mill) (p. 78).]
[Illustration: Fig. 109. Casa del Fauno (p. 80).]
[Illustration: Fig. 110. The Fuller at his Work (p. 78).]
Bordering on the house of the Tragic Poet is the Fullonica, the
house of a fuller, where the arrangements necessary for carrying on
the trade are so completely preserved and so clearly illustrated by
wall-paintings that one can form an accurate idea of the process of
fulling. In figure 108 is given a picture of the second fulling-mill
situated in the Street of Stabiae. In the atrium are preserved the
marble table and the troughlike basin into which fell the stream of
water; in the peristyle beyond the tablinum we have a glimpse of
the vats of masonry in which the cleansing of the woollen stuffs
took place. In the small entrance which near the tablinum led to the
workroom was found at the time of the excavation a great mass of
whitish argillaceous earth (_terra fullonica_), which was used for
the cleansing of woollen stuffs. The pictures of the other Fullonica
(fig. 110) inform us as to the process itself. Vats placed in niches
are seen, standing in which the fullers partly wash the material
partly tread it with the feet. Beyond we see a workman carrying a
frame like a crinoline (on this the clothes were spread to be bleached
with sulphur), while another brushes or cards the garment hung up on
a bar; beneath on the left sits a woman who seems to be giving a girl
instructions as to the treatment of a piece of cloth. Another painting
represents the press with which the woollen material when washed was
smoothed; it is exactly like those in use at the present day.
[Illustration: Fig. 111. Casa dei Capitelli colorati (Casa
d’Arianna) (p. 81).]
[Illustration: Fig. 112. Casa dei Capitelli colorati (Casa
d’Arianna) (p. 81).]
[Illustration: Fig. 113. Casa del Centenario (p. 81).]
[Illustration: Fig. 114. Casa del Imperatore di Germania (p. 82).]
If one follows the Street of Nola further towards the East one soon
comes to a house which may be designated as one of the most famous and
best preserved of those in Pompeii, the Casa del Fauno (fig. 109), so
named from the bronze statue of the dancing faun found therein (fig.
77). In the footway before the threshold the visitor is greeted on
entrance with the word _Have_ (Hail!). The house has two entrances with
two _Atria_, of which the one here represented, the principal Atrium,
may serve at the same time as an example of the _Atrium Tuscanicum_,
inasmuch as no columns are placed around the impluvium as supports for
the beams of the roof.
[Illustration: Fig. 115. Wax tablet from the House of Caecilius
Jucundus (p. 83).]
The house is decorated in the first style, that is to say its
decoration consists of an imitation of marble slabs. It is a curious
fact that the walls are covered with sheets of lead beneath the stucco
to keep all dampness from it. Paintings are not to be found here; on
the other hand the house was rich in valuable finely executed mosaics,
among which is to be specially mentioned the greatest of all mosaics,
Alexander’s Battle. It was in the chamber opening upon the peristyle,
the red columns of which are visible in the illustration beyond
the tablinum. The columns seen behind belong to a second peristyle
embracing the whole breadth of the house, which has taken the place of
what must be supposed to have been originally a garden.
[Illustration: Fig. 116. House with several stories (p. 83).]
The Casa dei Capitelli Colorati, also called Casa d’ Arianna, is placed
obliquely with regard to the Casa del Fauno. We pass from the Street of
Nola first into the garden, which is surrounded by a colonnade (figs.
111 and 112); next comes the peristyle with the sittingrooms. The house
has received its name from the fact that in the last period of Pompeii
the capitals of the Ionic columns dating from the Samnite period were
newly covered with stucco and painted.
One more house in the Street of Nola deserves special attention, the
Casa del Centenario, so entitled because it was excavated on the
occasion of the celebration of the eighteenhundredth year after the
overwhelming of Pompeii (fig. 113). Here also are two _atria_ with a
large peristyle behind, which had a low railing between the columns
as may be seen by the incisions in them. The claim of this house to
rank among the most important properties in Pompeii is established by
the discovery of many paintings and statuettes of bronze and marble,
as well as of ample baths, for warming which the heat from an oven was
employed, besides a Shrine of Lares of some importance, in which was
a small portable altar. Here too was discovered the picture given on
an earlier page, which represents Bacchus entirely made up of grape
clusters, in close proximity to a mountain, in which may be recognised
the present Monte di Somma before the eruption of Vesuvius.
[Illustration: Fig. 117. Kitchen with Hearth (p. 84).]
To the north of the Casa del Centenario lies the Casa delle Nozze d’
Argento, also called Casa dell’ Imperatore di Germania, because the
house was excavated in 1893 on the occasion of the Silver Wedding of
the King and Queen of Italy in the presence of the Emperor of Germany
(fig. 114). The Atrium is _Tetrastylum_, that is the roof beams rest on
four columns which are excellently preserved; behind comes the tablinum
with a mosaic pavement, and thence one reaches a peristyle which is in
an equally good state of preservation.
Here too let there be described a house in the Street of Stabiae, the
little garden of which adorned with statuettes has been mentioned
above (fig. 76). The house has received its name from a painting
representing a letter with the address of Marcus Lucretius, _M.
Lucretio flam. Martis decurioni Pompei_; on the left of this is
represented a _diptychon_, a doubled wax tablet with the style for
writing, on the right, beneath, an inkpot with pen. The house of
Lucretius had many well preserved paintings of the last period of the
city. Together with this letter the wax tablets may also be mentioned
which have been found in the house of Caecilius Jucundus. Figure 115
represents such a tablet.
[Illustration: Fig. 118. Plan of the House of the Vettii (p. 83).]
From another point of view the house depicted above (fig. 116) is
noteworthy. As said above on p. 6 the citywall is on the west and
southwest sides for the most part broken down and its place taken by
houses. Since these houses thus overlapped the wall and descended to
the level of the plain below, they gained at the back an additional
story on this lower level; and the top of this story formed a terrace
from which a marvellous view over plain and sea could be enjoyed. And
so many more houses in Pompeii might be examined in detail, were it
not that the very abundance warns us to observe due moderation.--We
must not however leave Pompeii without taking sufficient notice of one
more house, a house that on account of the good condition in which
it has risen out of the ashes from Vesuvius, and on account of its
great number of paintings, and the decoration of its peristyle will
leave a lasting impression on every beholder. This is the house of the
Vettii only recently excavated, in which everything that could be left
has been left in its original position, in order to produce the most
complete idea of a Pompeian house.
The new house lies to the east of the so-called Casa del Labirinto,
and is entered from the east side, the Vicolo which represents the
continuation of the Vicolo degli scienziati. We first enter the
vestibulum (fig. 118 at _a_). To pass hence into the ostium proper
persons either availed themselves of the wide opening principal door,
or were admitted through a smaller sidedoor on the right. Thence they
stepped into the Atrium (_c_), in the centre of which is placed the
impluvium with a wastepipe passing into the street; right and left
are seen large slabs of stone with remains of the iron chests let
into them, the strongboxes of the master of the house. Right and left
of the ostium two small chambers open on the atrium, so also on the
west of the two strongboxes are situated the two alae and a chamber
by each strongbox, one of these chambers, however, has in later times
been cut off from the atrium by a low wall, and turned into a kind of
storeroom. But here ends the symmetrical arrangement of the atrium;
while on the left an apartment opens widely on the atrium as a winter
triclinium, on the other side appears the entrance to a second atrium
provided with its own impluvium, and at the back with the shrine of
the Lares. On this small atrium open several rooms intended for the
slaves, and therefore left without ornament; there too lies the kitchen
with wide hearth of masonry, on and near which have been found a large
number (fig. 117) of utensils serving for boiling and grilling &c. The
little room, that could be entered only from the kitchen, evidently the
cook’s room, is now kept under lock and key, on account of the somewhat
objectionable paintings with which this household dignitary had had his
apartment adorned.
[Illustration: Fig. 119. Love on a Crab (p. 86).]
[Illustration: Fig. 120. Love with Dolphins (p. 86).]
On the other side of the atrium also follow rooms for the household;
there, close to a staircase by which the upper story was reached, a
passage leads to two chambers of uncertain destination. Noteworthy is
a fountain beside the staircase, by means of which the water could be
drawn directly for the upper story.
Out of the atrium in front of which in this instance no tablinum is
placed, we at once pass into the peristyle, the principal apartment
of the house, the portico of which is supported by seven columns
on the longer sides and four on the shorter; by this the garden is
enclosed. On the southeast, in the first place two rooms open on the
peristyle, and on the north two others, of which one, the large
Oecus, is a principal apartment of the building, further on the east
is a triclinium. From the peristyle a small suite of rooms is also
accessible, which, not without plausibility, have been designated
women’s apartments; here again a small garden is found. Let this
suffice for the orientation of the discovered chambers. How then as to
their decoration?
The possessor of the property has evidently set no store by the
decoration of the pavement, for the better class of mosaic has nowhere
been employed, but the floor consists almost exclusively of stucco in
which small bits of marble have been inserted. All the more richly are
the walls ornamented.
[Illustration: Fig. 121. Candelabrum, Wall-painting (p. 86).]
Just as we go in (to say nothing of smaller pictures) there is seen on
the pilaster at the entrance to the atrium a Priapus. Pictures of this
kind were usually placed just at the entrance of a building in order
to avert disaster and the evil eye. The walls of the atrium, owing to
the numerous openings leading from it to the surrounding rooms, are
almost entirely broken up into mere pilasters, which however display a
style of painting systematically arranged. Above an imitation of marble
reaching to no great height, rises the yellow plinth, in which are
inserted pictures on a red ground; there we see boys bringing dishes
with fruits, others playing with parrots or guinea fowl, carrying
glass jugs and dishes; another raises the cover of a vessel to spy
curiously into its contents, again another tastes the contents of the
vessel entrusted to his care, others seem equipped for a festival,
they are clad in gala fashion and decked out with garlands, they hold
garlands too in their hands. Above this plinth there next comes a small
field of black, displaying Cupids in their merry pranks as imitators
of human pursuits. Here one has harnessed a ram to a chariot, another
has his carriage drawn by two dolphins (fig. 120). A sacrifice to
Fortune too is offered by the little rogues with all earnestness;
again a duel between two hero Loves is depicted with every truth of
detail; bestriding goats and armed with shield and lance they charge
each other, but while one at full gallop couches his lance against his
adversary, the latter, causing his steed to swerve, seems to avoid the
blow; two other Loves attend the duel on foot. Another picture must
certainly contain the continuation of this warfare; one has fallen
with his steed, and in this helpless condition is sorely maltreated
not only by his original opponent, but also by his seconds, while his
own second has made off. Again a race is represented, but as fiery
coursers dolphins are harnessed to the chariots. A highly droll effect
is produced by a Cupid mounted on a crab (fig. 119) and another on a
locust, who urges his steed on with whip and rein. Then the Cupids
are busy hunting butterflies, in short every pursuit of adult and
child is imitated by them in their bright busy way, but with all the
seriousness that the situation demands. Above the moulding adorned with
masks and lionheads by which the upper part of the wall is divided from
the lower, there follow now in an upward direction red (partly burnt
black) stripes, with columns and candelabra (fig. 121). The vases out
of which these grow are apparently richly adorned with reliefs. Behind
them are introduced balustrades, to which steps lead up; above they
support large hoops, on which figures are seated. A somewhat larger
wall surface is preserved only behind the strongbox on the right, here
is seen above the plinth a hunting scene on a larger scale. Hounds are
pursuing a wild boar and a bear, others have pulled down a stag; then
comes a stripe with two Psyches, who bring fruits in baskets and empty
them into other baskets.
[Illustration: Fig. 122. Hero and Leander (p. 87).]
[Illustration: Fig. 123. Cyparissus (p. 88).]