DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1083#0104
POMPEIANA. 215
inasmuch as it is said to have formed the prototype
of the original church for Christian worship \
At Pompeii the principal roof, called the tcstudo,
was upheld by twenty-eight columns, of the Ionic
order, 3 feet 7 inches diameter2. It rose above the
rest of the building, and each end was finished with
a pediment. This was surrounded at some distance
by a wall; between which and the columns on each
side was a low portico, and above the latter a
gallery for the convenience of spectators.
The roof over the gallery was formed to fall all round,
from the wall towards the centre; its eaves being
probably kept considerably below the architrave of
the principal structure, for the admission of light
between the capitals of the columns3.
The walls of the basilica are daubed with imitations
of red, green, and yellow marbles, in large blocks;
smaller semi-columns, of the Corinthian order,
1 Whittingham imagines these buildings to have been open at the sides.
A temple of Venus at Aphrodisias, converted to a church in the age of Cim-
stantine} shows this not to have been the case.
2 Upon this wall are scratched many inscriptions. Amongst them is C.
Pumidius Dipilus heic fuit ad nonas Oetobreis M. Lepid. Q. Catul. Cos.
These were consuls 77 A. C. the year Sylla died. In another part is the
word EASS'LICA.
3 The account Vitruvius gives of the basilica to which lie was architect
varies essentially from the rules he lays down for those usual in Italy; which
were constructed of two orders of columns, with a pluteum between, and the
floor of the gallery laid upon the lower pillars. But in that built by himself,
one order reached from the floor to the testudo, or roof, and accessory pilasters
were introduced for the support of the gallery. The great size of the columns
inasmuch as it is said to have formed the prototype
of the original church for Christian worship \
At Pompeii the principal roof, called the tcstudo,
was upheld by twenty-eight columns, of the Ionic
order, 3 feet 7 inches diameter2. It rose above the
rest of the building, and each end was finished with
a pediment. This was surrounded at some distance
by a wall; between which and the columns on each
side was a low portico, and above the latter a
gallery for the convenience of spectators.
The roof over the gallery was formed to fall all round,
from the wall towards the centre; its eaves being
probably kept considerably below the architrave of
the principal structure, for the admission of light
between the capitals of the columns3.
The walls of the basilica are daubed with imitations
of red, green, and yellow marbles, in large blocks;
smaller semi-columns, of the Corinthian order,
1 Whittingham imagines these buildings to have been open at the sides.
A temple of Venus at Aphrodisias, converted to a church in the age of Cim-
stantine} shows this not to have been the case.
2 Upon this wall are scratched many inscriptions. Amongst them is C.
Pumidius Dipilus heic fuit ad nonas Oetobreis M. Lepid. Q. Catul. Cos.
These were consuls 77 A. C. the year Sylla died. In another part is the
word EASS'LICA.
3 The account Vitruvius gives of the basilica to which lie was architect
varies essentially from the rules he lays down for those usual in Italy; which
were constructed of two orders of columns, with a pluteum between, and the
floor of the gallery laid upon the lower pillars. But in that built by himself,
one order reached from the floor to the testudo, or roof, and accessory pilasters
were introduced for the support of the gallery. The great size of the columns