DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61387#0103
THE RUINS OF POMPEII. 59
of fine white caserta stone, of an ancient yellowish tufa, and of brick
plastered.
We will now proceed to examine the remaining buildings which sur-
round the Forum. On the eastern side, that which stands next to the
Pantheon, or Temple of Augustus, already described, has by some been
thought to be a temple dedicated to three divinities, the inference being
drawn from three recesses, designed apparently for statues, in three sides
of the building. The opinion of those, however, seems more probable who
hold that it was a Senaculum, or council-hall of the Decurions, the municipal
senate. Little remains of it but the outside walls, built of brick mostly in
the method called opus reticulatum (the bricks being set edge-ways, so as to
give the wall a net-like appearance), and some columns of the same material,
which were formerly covered with marble and stucco. The size of it well
adapts it for a senate-hall, its spacious area being eighty-three feet by sixty:
an altar stands in the centre, on which perhaps sacrifice was offered before
the debates of the Council began, as we know was the custom in the Curia
at Rome; where the statue of Victory, to which these sacrifices were made,
became in the declining days of the empire so bitter a subject of contention
between the Pagan and the Christian senators. The altar, from its position,
does not seem to favour the idea that it could have ministered to the statues
of divinities placed in the three recesses. Of these, however, the two on
each side, near the entrance, contain each a large basis apparently meant for
the statues of gods; while other smaller niches in the walls may have been
intended for statues of the emperors, or of deserving citizens. The building
terminates at the end opposite the entrance in an apsis, or semicircular
recess, in which there is a raised seat, probably intended for the president
of the assembly and the chief magistrates. On one side of this recess is a
chamber which may have served for records. The pavement was composed
of slabs of marble of different colours, symmetrically arranged, but of which
there only remains a piece in the middle. The front of the portico of this
edifice, composed of fluted white marble columns of the Ionic order, ranged
even with the pillars of the portico of the Forum, without interrupting the
promenade below.
The building next to that just described is undoubtedly a temple. It
comprises an almost square area, fifty-seven feet and a-half, by about fifty
feet and a-half, at the further end of which, elevated on a podium, is a small
chapel, or sacellum. Steps on each side of the basement lead to the plat-
of fine white caserta stone, of an ancient yellowish tufa, and of brick
plastered.
We will now proceed to examine the remaining buildings which sur-
round the Forum. On the eastern side, that which stands next to the
Pantheon, or Temple of Augustus, already described, has by some been
thought to be a temple dedicated to three divinities, the inference being
drawn from three recesses, designed apparently for statues, in three sides
of the building. The opinion of those, however, seems more probable who
hold that it was a Senaculum, or council-hall of the Decurions, the municipal
senate. Little remains of it but the outside walls, built of brick mostly in
the method called opus reticulatum (the bricks being set edge-ways, so as to
give the wall a net-like appearance), and some columns of the same material,
which were formerly covered with marble and stucco. The size of it well
adapts it for a senate-hall, its spacious area being eighty-three feet by sixty:
an altar stands in the centre, on which perhaps sacrifice was offered before
the debates of the Council began, as we know was the custom in the Curia
at Rome; where the statue of Victory, to which these sacrifices were made,
became in the declining days of the empire so bitter a subject of contention
between the Pagan and the Christian senators. The altar, from its position,
does not seem to favour the idea that it could have ministered to the statues
of divinities placed in the three recesses. Of these, however, the two on
each side, near the entrance, contain each a large basis apparently meant for
the statues of gods; while other smaller niches in the walls may have been
intended for statues of the emperors, or of deserving citizens. The building
terminates at the end opposite the entrance in an apsis, or semicircular
recess, in which there is a raised seat, probably intended for the president
of the assembly and the chief magistrates. On one side of this recess is a
chamber which may have served for records. The pavement was composed
of slabs of marble of different colours, symmetrically arranged, but of which
there only remains a piece in the middle. The front of the portico of this
edifice, composed of fluted white marble columns of the Ionic order, ranged
even with the pillars of the portico of the Forum, without interrupting the
promenade below.
The building next to that just described is undoubtedly a temple. It
comprises an almost square area, fifty-seven feet and a-half, by about fifty
feet and a-half, at the further end of which, elevated on a podium, is a small
chapel, or sacellum. Steps on each side of the basement lead to the plat-