The Life in Ancient Times: Discoveries of Pompeii, Ancient Greece, Babylon & Assyria. T. L. Haines
be made out. The same wall has a feature not observed in any other Pompeian house, namely, a square aperture of rather more than a foot reaching down to the floor, and opening upon an enclosed place with a canal or drain for carrying off the water of the adjoining houses. It seems also to have been a receptacle for lamps, several of which were found there.
Adjoining this room is a large exedra with a little impluvium in the middle, which seems to indicate an aperture in the roof, a construction hitherto found only in atria. The absence of any channels in the floor for conducting water seems to show that it could not have been a fountain. This exedra is remarkable for its paintings. In the wall in front is depicted Narcissus with a javelin in his hand, leaning over a rock and admiring himself in the water, in which his image is reflected; but great part of the painting is destroyed. A little Cupid is extinguishing his torch in the stream. In the background is a building with an image of the bearded Bacchus; and near it a terminal figure of Priapus Ithyphallicus, with grapes and other fruits. This picture was much damaged in the process of excavation.
On the left wall is a painting of a naked Hermaphroditus. In his right hand is a little torch reversed; his left arm rests on the shoulders of Silenus, who appears to accompany his songs on the lyre, whilst a winged Cupid sounds the double flute. On the other side is a Bacchante with a thyrsus and tambourine, and near her a little Satyr, who also holds a torch reversed.
But the best picture in this apartment is that representing Ariadne discovered by Bacchus. A youthful figure with wings, supposed to represent Sleep, stands at Ariadne's head, and seems to indicate that she is under his influence. Meanwhile a little Faun lifts the veil that covers her, and with an attitude indicating surprise at her beauty, turns to Bacchus and seems to invite him to contemplate her charms. The deity himself, crowned with ivy and berries, clothed in a short tunic and a pallium agitated by the breeze, holds in his right hand the thyrsus, and lifts his left in token of admiration. In the background a Bacchante sounds her tympanum, and invites the followers of the god to descend from the mountains. These, preceded by Silenus, obey the summons; one is playing the double flute, another sounding the cymbals, a third bears on her head a basket of fruit. A Faun and a Bacchante, planted on a mountain on the left, survey the scene from a distance.
The adjoining triclinium, entered by a door from the exedra, had also three paintings, one of which however is almost destroyed. Of the remaining two, that on the left represents Achilles discovered by Ulysses among the damsels of Lycomedes. The subject of that on the right is the Judgment of Paris. It is more remarkable for its spirit and coloring than for the accuracy of its drawing. This apartment has also six medallions with heads of Bacchic personages.
In the same block as the house just described, and having its entrance in the same street, stands the house of Cornelius Rufus. It is a handsome dwelling, but as its plan and decorations have nothing to distinguish them from other Pompeian houses, we forbear to describe them. The only remarkable feature in this excavation was the discovery of a Hermes at the bottom of the atrium on the left, on which was a marble bust of the owner, as large as life and well executed, having his name inscribed beneath.
Not far from the houses just described, in the Street of Stabiæ, at the angle formed by the street leading to the amphitheatre, stands the House of Apollo Citharœdus, excavated in 1864. It derives its name from a fine bronze statue, as large as life, of Apollo sounding the lyre, which was found there, but has now been placed in the Museum at Naples. In this house the tablinum and a peristyle beyond are on a higher level than the atrium; consequently the fauces, or passage leading to the latter, ascends. In the peristyle is a semicircular fountain, on the margin of which were disposed several animals in bronze, representing a hunting scene. In the centre was a wild boar in flight attacked by two dogs; at the sides were placed a lion, a stag, and a serpent. These animals, arranged in the same way in which they were found, are now preserved in the Museum.
Adjoining the House of Lucretius are several stores. That next door but one appears to have belonged to a chemist or color-maker. On the right of the atrium is a triple furnace, constructed for the reception of three large cauldrons at different levels, which were reached by steps. The house contained a great quantity of carbonized drugs. At the sides of the entrance were two stores for the sale of the manufactured articles. In one of these stores was discovered, some yards below the old level of the soil, the skeleton of a woman with two bracelets of gold, two of silver, four ear-rings, five rings, forty-seven gold, and one hundred and ninety-seven silver coins, in a purse of netted gold.
Painted by J. Coomans
Engraved & Printed by Illman Brothers.
HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET—SALLUST
FOR THE MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITY
General Survey of the City.
Proceeding southward along the Street of Mercury, we pass under the triumphal arch of Nero, and crossing the transverse street which leads towards the Gate of Nola, enter the Street of the Forum, a continuation of the Street of Mercury, leading straight to the triumphal arch at the north end of the Forum, and bounding the island of the Baths on the eastern side. This street is one of the most spacious in Pompeii. A long list of articles was found here in the course of excavation. One of the houses about the centre of the street nearly opposite the entrance to the Thermæ, is of more consequence than the rest, and has been named the House of Bacchus, from a large painting of that god on a door opposite to the entry. Channels for the introduction of water were found in the atrium, which has been surrounded by a small trough, formed to contain flowers, the outer side of which is painted blue, to imitate water, with boats floating upon it. The wall behind this is painted with pillars, between which are balustrades of various forms. Cranes and other birds perch upon these, and there is a back ground of reeds and other vegetables, above which the sky is visible. The greater portion of the eastern side of the street is occupied by a row of shops with a portico in front of them. It is flanked on either side by footpaths, and must have presented a noble appearance when terminated by triumphal arches at either end, and overlooked by the splendid Temple of Jupiter and that of Fortune elevated on its lofty basis.
It is to be noticed that the last-named edifice does not stand symmetrically either with the Street of the Forum or with the Street of the Baths running past the House of the Pansa. "The portico," we quote again from Gell, "is turned a little towards the Forum, and the front of the temple is so contrived that a part of it might be seen also from the other street. It is highly probable that these circumstances are the result of design rather than of chance. The Greeks seem to have preferred the view of a magnificent building from a corner, and there is scarcely a right-angled plan to be found either in ancient or modern Italy." In the Street of the Forum has been established a temporary museum of articles found in Pompeii. Adjoining it is a library containing all the best works that have been written on the city.
GOLD BREASTPINS FOUND AT POMPEII.
The street running westward between the baths and the Forum presents nothing remarkable, except that in it are the signs of the milk-shop and school of gladiators. There is also an altar, probably dedicated to Jupiter, placed against the wall of a house; above it is a bass-relief in stucco, with an eagle in the tympanum. Eastward of the Forum this street assumes the name of the Street of Dried Fruits, from an inscription showing that dried fruits were sold in it; and, indeed, a considerable quantity of figs, raisins, chestnuts, plums, hempseed, and similar articles were found. It is now, however, usually called the Street of the Augustals.
Near the point at which this street is intersected by that of Eumachia, running at the back of the east side of the Forum, there is a remarkably graceful painting of a youthful Bacchus pressing the juice of the grape into a vase placed upon a pillar, at the foot of which is a rampant animal expecting the liquor, apparently meant for a tiger or panther, but of very diminutive