DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61387#0094
54
THE RUINS OF POMPEII
phal arch, we find ourselves in the Forum. The photographic view annexed
is taken from a spot at some distance beyond it, when the spectator, having
turned round, again fronts the north and the distant Vesuvius. Through
the archway is seen Nero’s arch already mentioned, at the top of the Street
of Mercury. The niches in the first arch were destined to hold statues.
There are similar recesses towards the street on the other side, which appear
to have held fountains as well as statues. This arch was doubtless also sur-
mounted by a statue. The temple seen on the left of the arch has been
called the Temple of Jupiter; but, as in most other cases, without any
adequate authority for the appellation. In fact, of the nine temples of which
remains exist at Pompeii, two only, that of Fortune, already mentioned,
and that of Isis, are certainly known, from inscriptions found in them, to
have been dedicated to the divinities whose names they bear.
The Temple of Jupiter is prostyle, or having a pseudo-dipteral portico
with six columns in the front of the Corinthian order, and four columns at
the sides, reckoning again the corner ones, and making in the whole twelve
columns; but for the most part only the lower portions of these columns
remain, as seen in the view. They are of lava, covered with stucco. There
are on each side of the interior of the cella, the front, and one of the side
walls of which are seen in the view, a row of eight apparently Ionic columns,
originally between sixteen and seventeen feet high. Over these again was
another row of Corinthian columns, some of the capitals of which have been
found. The lower columns supported a gallery to which there was access
by stairs at the back of the temple; while the higher ones are supposed by
some to have supported a light roof of painted wood; though others think,
perhaps not so probably, that the temple was hypcethral, or open to the sky.
At the further end of the cell are three small chambers for the service
of the priests, or they might have served for the public treasury. The clear
length of the cell between these chambers and the portico was about forty-
two feet, with a breadth of twenty-eight feet and a-half. In this cell was
the statue of the deity. The journals of the excavations record there
having been found in it, January 21st, 1817, several fragments of a colossal
marble statue, and a colossal head, in alabaster, of a Jupiter, beautifully
executed; a discovery which strengthens the supposition that the temple
may have been dedicated to that deity. The interior of the cell was painted,
black and red being the predominant colours. The pavement consisted of
diamond-shaped pieces of marble, enclosed in a broad border of black and
THE RUINS OF POMPEII
phal arch, we find ourselves in the Forum. The photographic view annexed
is taken from a spot at some distance beyond it, when the spectator, having
turned round, again fronts the north and the distant Vesuvius. Through
the archway is seen Nero’s arch already mentioned, at the top of the Street
of Mercury. The niches in the first arch were destined to hold statues.
There are similar recesses towards the street on the other side, which appear
to have held fountains as well as statues. This arch was doubtless also sur-
mounted by a statue. The temple seen on the left of the arch has been
called the Temple of Jupiter; but, as in most other cases, without any
adequate authority for the appellation. In fact, of the nine temples of which
remains exist at Pompeii, two only, that of Fortune, already mentioned,
and that of Isis, are certainly known, from inscriptions found in them, to
have been dedicated to the divinities whose names they bear.
The Temple of Jupiter is prostyle, or having a pseudo-dipteral portico
with six columns in the front of the Corinthian order, and four columns at
the sides, reckoning again the corner ones, and making in the whole twelve
columns; but for the most part only the lower portions of these columns
remain, as seen in the view. They are of lava, covered with stucco. There
are on each side of the interior of the cella, the front, and one of the side
walls of which are seen in the view, a row of eight apparently Ionic columns,
originally between sixteen and seventeen feet high. Over these again was
another row of Corinthian columns, some of the capitals of which have been
found. The lower columns supported a gallery to which there was access
by stairs at the back of the temple; while the higher ones are supposed by
some to have supported a light roof of painted wood; though others think,
perhaps not so probably, that the temple was hypcethral, or open to the sky.
At the further end of the cell are three small chambers for the service
of the priests, or they might have served for the public treasury. The clear
length of the cell between these chambers and the portico was about forty-
two feet, with a breadth of twenty-eight feet and a-half. In this cell was
the statue of the deity. The journals of the excavations record there
having been found in it, January 21st, 1817, several fragments of a colossal
marble statue, and a colossal head, in alabaster, of a Jupiter, beautifully
executed; a discovery which strengthens the supposition that the temple
may have been dedicated to that deity. The interior of the cell was painted,
black and red being the predominant colours. The pavement consisted of
diamond-shaped pieces of marble, enclosed in a broad border of black and