DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61387#0099
THE RUINS OF POMPEII
55
white mosaic. In the centre of the door-sill are traces of bolts for folding
doors. The temple, as will be seen, is placed on a lofty basement, or
podium, ascended by many steps; a feature which essentially distinguishes
the temples of Pompeii from those of Greece. That it was of a later date,
and built after the Roman occupation, is shown by the stucco on the pillars;
with which indeed most of the buildings round the Forum are covered.
There are the remains of an ancient temple in the Greek style, evidently
belonging to the early days of Pompeii, in the place called the Triangular
Forum, near the theatres, at the southern extremity of the town. It is in
a very dilapidated state, but there are remains enough to make out the
method of its construction. Its style is the pure Grecian Doric, resembling
that of the celebrated temple at Paestum, and the columns are of solid stone.
This building, however, is also placed upon a podium; a method which, by
raising the floor to a level with the eye, brought at once the whole order
into view, from the stylobate or platform of the columns to the roof. In
the case of the temple of Jupiter, a side door in the basement, formed by the
podium, led to vaults beneath the temple.
On the right hand side of the triumphal arch another arch gave access
for foot passengers to the pavement and portico which surrounded the
Forum. On the extreme right of the view is seen the entrance to a large
temple, which has been very commonly called the Pantheon; but was more
probably the temple of Augustus. The former name was derived from
twelve pedestals placed in a circle in the middle of the large area which
the visitor enters, on which are supposed to have stood statues of the twelve
greater gods. But, not to mention that this would have been a somewhat
odd arrangement, and that we should rather have expected to see the shrines
of these aristocratic deities ranged round the sides of the building, as in
the Pantheon at Rome—which, however, did not contain the twelve Magni
Dii—so that each might receive with more majesty and decorum the adora-
tion of his worshippers, the pedestals themselves do not seem fitted for the
reception of statues, and especially of those of such mighty divinities. Nor
are the chambers or cells on the south side of the building supposed to
have been those of the priests of these deities, twelve in number, but only
eleven. Overbeck, therefore, seems rightly to have concluded that the
objects in question were no pedestals, but pediments for supporting some light
wooden roof or building, though we cannot agree with him that it might
have been a temple of Vesta; a notion which seems to have been suggested
55
white mosaic. In the centre of the door-sill are traces of bolts for folding
doors. The temple, as will be seen, is placed on a lofty basement, or
podium, ascended by many steps; a feature which essentially distinguishes
the temples of Pompeii from those of Greece. That it was of a later date,
and built after the Roman occupation, is shown by the stucco on the pillars;
with which indeed most of the buildings round the Forum are covered.
There are the remains of an ancient temple in the Greek style, evidently
belonging to the early days of Pompeii, in the place called the Triangular
Forum, near the theatres, at the southern extremity of the town. It is in
a very dilapidated state, but there are remains enough to make out the
method of its construction. Its style is the pure Grecian Doric, resembling
that of the celebrated temple at Paestum, and the columns are of solid stone.
This building, however, is also placed upon a podium; a method which, by
raising the floor to a level with the eye, brought at once the whole order
into view, from the stylobate or platform of the columns to the roof. In
the case of the temple of Jupiter, a side door in the basement, formed by the
podium, led to vaults beneath the temple.
On the right hand side of the triumphal arch another arch gave access
for foot passengers to the pavement and portico which surrounded the
Forum. On the extreme right of the view is seen the entrance to a large
temple, which has been very commonly called the Pantheon; but was more
probably the temple of Augustus. The former name was derived from
twelve pedestals placed in a circle in the middle of the large area which
the visitor enters, on which are supposed to have stood statues of the twelve
greater gods. But, not to mention that this would have been a somewhat
odd arrangement, and that we should rather have expected to see the shrines
of these aristocratic deities ranged round the sides of the building, as in
the Pantheon at Rome—which, however, did not contain the twelve Magni
Dii—so that each might receive with more majesty and decorum the adora-
tion of his worshippers, the pedestals themselves do not seem fitted for the
reception of statues, and especially of those of such mighty divinities. Nor
are the chambers or cells on the south side of the building supposed to
have been those of the priests of these deities, twelve in number, but only
eleven. Overbeck, therefore, seems rightly to have concluded that the
objects in question were no pedestals, but pediments for supporting some light
wooden roof or building, though we cannot agree with him that it might
have been a temple of Vesta; a notion which seems to have been suggested