Pompeii, Its Life and Art. August 1840-1909 Mau
identify as the Comitium; with these should be included also the original temple of Isis, which was destroyed by the earthquake of 63 A.D. Few houses dating from this period have been discovered; the provision made by the preceding period in this respect had been so generous that new houses were not needed.
Fig. 11.—Quasi-reticulate facing, with brick corner, at the entrance of the Small Theatre.
From the aesthetic point of view the fourth period falls far below that just preceding; the exhaustion of resources and the decline of taste due to the long and terrible war are unmistakable. Theatre, Amphitheatre, and Baths were alike built for immediate use, with crude and scanty ornamentation; and where richer ornament was applied, as in the case of the temple of Isis, it could not for a moment be compared with that of the Tufa Period in beauty and finish.
The wall decoration of the fourth period is of the second Pompeian style, which came into vogue just after the founding of the colony, and which we shall call the Architectural Style; for in part, as the first style, it imitated a veneering of marble, not however with the help of slabs or panels modelled in stucco, but by the use of color only, laid on walls finished to a plane surface; in part it made use of architectural designs which were painted either correctly or with at least some regard for proper proportions.
The fifth period extends from the last decades of the Republic to the earthquake of the year 63 A.D. In the entire period, covering more than a century, we are unable to distinguish a series of buildings which may be classed together in style and construction as constituting a homogeneous, representative group. Here and there we can point out a piece of masonry which, from its similarity to that of the fourth period, may be assigned to the end of the Republic; again, walls with reticulate facing of tufa and corners of brick-shaped blocks of the same stone belong to the time of Augustus (Fig. 12), while reticulate work with corners of brick (Fig. 95) is of later date; but there is a total lack of those distinguishing characteristics which would serve to set off by themselves all the buildings belonging to a particular time. Consequently in the case of each structure it is necessary to take into account all the circumstances, and then to form an independent judgment regarding its style and date.
Fig. 12.—Reticulate facing, with corners of brick-shaped stone. The filled arch is probably to bear the weight of the wall over a sewer.
The difficulty is further enhanced by the fact that three styles of wall decoration fall within the limits of the same period. The Architectural Style, already mentioned, remained in vogue to the time of Augustus; it then gave place to the third or Ornate Style, which is characterized by a freer use of ornament and the introduction of designs and scenes suggestive of an Egyptian origin. The fourth or Intricate Style came in about the year 50 A.D., and represents, with its involved and fantastic designs, the last stage in the development of Pompeian wall decoration. In the fifth period marble began to be employed as a building material; the earliest dated example of its use is the temple of Fortuna Augusta, erected about 3 B.C.
The sixteen years between the earthquake of 63 A.D. and the destruction of the city form the sixth period in the architectural history of Pompeii. The buildings belonging to it can be easily recognized, not only from their similarity in style and ornament, but also from certain external characteristics, as newness of appearance, unfinished condition, and the joining of new to broken walls. The only important building wholly new is the large bathing establishment, the Central Baths, at the corner of Stabian and Nola streets. For the rest, effort seems to have been directed toward restoring the ruined buildings as nearly as possible to their original condition. The wall decoration throughout is of the Intricate Style.
The measurements of buildings in the Roman Period conform to the scale of the Roman foot, while the dimensions of structures antedating the Roman colony in most cases reduce to the scale of the Oscan or old Italic foot. The Roman foot (296 mm.) may be roughly reckoned at 0.97 of the English foot (304.8 mm.); the Oscan foot (275 mm.) is considerably shorter. As the Roman standard is of Greek origin, we may perhaps find a structure conforming to it that was designed by a Greek architect before the Roman Period.
KEY TO PLAN II
A. The Forum.1. Pedestal of the statue of Augustus.2. Pedestal of the statue of Claudius.3. Pedestal of the statue of Agrippina.4. Pedestal of the statue of Nero.5. Pedestal of the statue of Caligula.6. Pedestals of equestrian statues.7. Pedestals of standing figures.8. Pedestal for three equestrian statues.9. Speaker's platform (p. 48).10. Table of standard measures (p. 92).11. Room of the supervisor of measures.
B. The Basilica.a. Entrance court.1. Corridor.2. Main room.3. Tribunal.4–4. Rooms at the ends of the tribunal.
C. The Temple of Apollo.1. Colonnade.2. Podium.3. Cella.4. Altar.5. Sundial.6. Sacristan's room.7–7. Rooms made from earlier colonnade.
D. D'. Market Buildings.
E. Latrina.
F. F. City Treasury.
G. Commemorative Arch.
H. Temple of Jupiter.
I. Arch of Tiberius.
K. The Provision Market—Macellum.1. Portico.2. Colonnade.3–3. Market stalls.4. Market for meat and fish.5. Chapel of the imperial family.6. Banquet room.7. Round structure with water basin—Tholus.8. Pen.
L. Sanctuary of the City Lares.1. Main room, unroofed, with an altar in the centre.2. Apse, with shrine.3. Recesses with pedestals.4. Niche opening on the Forum.
M. Temple of Vespasian.1. Colonnade.2. Altar.3. Cella.4. Portico.
N. The Building of Eumachia.See plan on p. 110.
O. The Voting Place—Comitium.1. Recess opening on the main room.2. Recess opening on the Forum.
P-R. Municipal Buildings.P. Office of the duumvirs.Q. Hall of the city council.R. Office of the aediles.
S. Fountain.
PLAN II.—THE FORUM WITH THE ADJOINING BUILDINGS.
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PART I
PUBLIC PLACES AND BUILDINGS
CHAPTER VII
THE FORUM
The Forum is usually approached from the west side by the short, steep street leading from the Porta Marina. Entering, we find ourselves near the lower end of an oblong open space (Plate I), at the upper end of which, toward Vesuvius, stands a high platform of masonry with the ruins of a temple—the temple of Jupiter; the remains of a colonnade are seen on each of the other three sides. Including the colonnade the Forum measures approximately 497 feet in length by 156 in breadth; without it the dimensions are 467 and 126 feet. The north side, at the left of the temple, is enclosed by a wall in which there are two openings, one at the end of the colonnade, the other between this and the temple; at the right the wall bounding the open space has been replaced by a stately commemorative arch, while the end