Pompeii, Its Life and Art. August 1840-1909 Mau
in the Vatican Museum. After Tafel 130 of the Brunn-Bruckmann Denkmaeler.
The beautiful head of Jupiter found in the cella deserves more than a passing mention. In order to appreciate its character we may view it in contrast with the Otricoli Zeus, with which it is closely related. In both heads we feel the lack of that majestic simplicity, that ineffable and godlike calm, which rested on the features of the Zeus of Phidias. Here man has much more obviously made God in his own image; the face shows less of the ideal, with more of human energy and passion.
It is not for us to decide whether the Otricoli mask is from the school of Praxiteles, or shows more of the influence of Lysippus; it is sufficient here to notice that the type was developed in the second half of the fourth century B.C., the century after Phidias. The similarity between these two examples of the type is apparent at first glance. The shape of the two heads is, in general, the same, and there is the same profusion of hair and beard, symbolic of power; but the differences in detail are striking.
In the Otricoli Zeus the peculiar shape of the forehead—prominent in the middle up to the roots of the hair and retreating at the sides—seems to suggest, not so much the power of a world-encompassing and lofty intellect, as absorption in great, unfathomable thoughts. In the lines of the massive face irresistible force of will is revealed, and the capability of fierce passion lurks beneath the projecting lower part of the forehead and uneven eyebrows, threatening like a thundercloud. But for the moment all is deep repose, and the lids seem partly closed over eyes that look downwards, as if not concerned with seeing. The sculptor has conceived of Zeus as the occult power of nature, alike the origin and law of all things, or as the personification of the heavens veiled by impenetrable mists.
Fig. 22.—Bust of Jupiter found at Pompeii.
Naples Museum.
Great force of will is seen also in the face of the Pompeian god; but it is will dominated by alert and all-embracing mind. The forehead expands in a broad arch; the eyes, wide open, look out with full vision under sharply cut brows. Here we have no secret brooding; a powerful yet clearly defined and comprehensible personality is stamped upon features carved in bold, free lines. And this personality is not lost in mystical self-contemplation; the god is following with closest attention the course of events in some far distant place, affairs that in the next moment may require his intervention; excitement and expectancy are seen in the raised upper lip. The ideal of this artist was the wise and powerful king, whose watchful and all-protecting eye sees to the furthest limits of his kingdom. Surely this variation of the Otricoli type must have been conceived in a monarchical period, the period when the Greek world was ruled by the successors of Alexander.
The Pompeian god is more a sovereign; the Zeus of Otricoli is more poetic, more divine.
CHAPTER IX
THE BASILICA
The Basilica, at the southwest corner of the Forum, was the most magnificent and architecturally the most interesting building at Pompeii. Its construction and decoration point to the pre-Roman time; and there is also an inscription scratched on the stucco of the wall, dating from almost the beginning of the Roman colony: C. Pumidius Dipilus heic fuit a. d. v. nonas Octobreis M. Lepid. Q. Catul. cos.—'C. Pumidius Dipilus was here on the fifth day before the nones of October in the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus,' that is October 3, 78 B.C.
The purpose of the building is clearly indicated not only by its plan and the details of its arrangement but also by the word Bassilica scratched a number of times by idlers on the stucco of the outer wall at the right of the south entrance. This sure identification lends to the edifice a special significance; it is without doubt the oldest example that we have of an important architectural type whose origin is lost in obscurity, but of which the derivative forms may still be recognized in the architecture of to-day. What the temple developed by the Greeks was to pagan antiquity, that the basilica became to the Christian Church—a type dominating a system of religious architecture. Pagan worship was individual—a narrow chamber sufficed for the image of the god and the requirements of religious service; but Christian worship was social, and its functions demanded a larger room, in which a congregation could be assembled. The religious architecture of the Church therefore broke with the religious architecture of pagan antiquity, and turned for its model to the basilica.
Our knowledge of the history of the basilica begins with the erection of the Basilica Porcia in Rome by Cato the Elder, in 184 B.C.; other basilicas followed, and in Caesar's day a number stood about the Forum. Regarding its development prior to the time of Cato only conjectures can be offered. The name basilica (basilike stoa, 'the royal hall') points to a Greek origin; we should naturally look for the prototype of the Roman as well as the Pompeian structure in the capitals of the Alexandrian period and in the Greek colonies of Italy. But no ruin, no reference in literature comes to our aid. The supposition that the King's Hall (basileios stoa) in Athens, the official residence of the King Archon, was the prototype of all basilicas, has little to support it; our information in regard to the form of this building is quite inadequate, and the name alone warrants no positive conclusion. It is more probable that both the name and the architectural type came from the 'royal hall' of one of the successors of Alexander.
A basilica was a spacious hall which served as an extension of a market place, and was itself in a certain sense a covered market. It was not limited to a specific purpose; in general, whatever took place on the market square might take place in the basilica, the roof of which afforded protection against the weather. It was chiefly devoted, however, to business transactions and to the administration of justice. The form is known partly from the remains of the basilicas in Rome—Basilica Julia, Basilica Ulpia, the Basilica of Constantine—and in Africa, but more fully from the treatise of Vitruvius and the description of a basilica which he himself erected at Fano.
Fig. 23.—Plan of the Basilica.
View larger image
a. Entrance court.
1. Corridor.
2. Main room.
3. Tribunal.
4. Rooms at the ends of the tribunal.
According to these sources the plan of a typical basilica is essentially that of the building before us (Fig. 23). An oblong space is divided by columns into a broad central hall and a corridor which runs around the four sides. The height of the columns, in the typical basilica, is equal to the width of the corridor, which is covered by a flat roof; the inner edge of this roof is carried by the entablature above the columns. The main room is higher than the corridor. Above the entablature is a low wall on which there is a second row of columns; these carry the main roof and form a clerestory, the light being admitted through the intercolumniations.
The main hall and the corridor were devoted to trade; the dealers perhaps occupied the former, while in the latter the throng of purchasers and idlers moved freely about. The place set aside for the administration of justice, the tribunal, was ordinarily an apse projecting from the rear end. In our Basilica, however—and in some others as well—it was a small oblong elevated room back of the central hall, toward which it opened in its whole length.
This ideal plan would answer very well for that of the early Christian basilicas, excepting in one respect; instead of a corridor on all four sides they have only aisles parallel with the nave, an arrangement which had already been adopted in some basilicas designed for markets. The Christian basilicas would give us a still truer idea of the arrangement and lighting of the pagan prototype if in most cases a part of the numerous windows had not