DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0480
THE STREET OF TOMBS 409
to his heirs to add the memorial inscription, but the disaster
interfered with the fulfilment of his wishes. It was probably
intended to bury the cinerary urn either in the floor of the
niche or in the ground at the rear. The effect of the double
series of pilasters at the corners, placed one upon the other
without an intervening entablature, and of the fantastic stucco
decoration of the gable, is not unpleasing, although the designs
are far from classical; the tiles shown in the illustration are
modern. The inner wall is painted in red and black panels;
the vaulted ceiling, from which the stucco has now fallen, was
moulded to represent a shell.
Both the niche and the tomb of the Blue Glass Vase seem to
have belonged to the adjoining villa. The stucco decoration of
the villa in its main features is identical with that of the niche;
and the plot of ground behind the tombs is connected by a gate-
way with a garden of the villa (12 on the plan), which was too
richly adorned to have been intended for the use of the occu-
pants of the inn. In the middle of the garden was a pavilion
supported by four mosaic columns (now in the Naples Museum),
similar to that in the garden of the villa of Diomedes, and to
others belonging to city houses. A mosaic fountain niche was
made in the rear wall facing the entrance from the street, and
in two corners were short columns on which were placed small
figures, — on one a boy with a hare, in marble, on the other a
frog of glazed terra cotta.
Nevertheless, the garden seems to possess a distinctly sepul-
chral character. Besides the entrances from the tombs and
from the street, there was a third, which led into a court of
the villa, with which the peristyle and living rooms were con-
nected by a passageway; in the corner of the court nearest the
garden, and facing the entrance from the street (15), was an
elaborate domestic shrine, dedicated, as shown by the symbolical
decoration, to Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, and Mercury. The
relation of the garden with the living rooms of the villa was
only indirect; and we conclude that it was intended for gather-
ings and sacred rites in honor of the dead. Relatives could
partake of the sepulchral banquet under the pavilion.
The tombs of the third group, as may be seen from Plate IX,
to his heirs to add the memorial inscription, but the disaster
interfered with the fulfilment of his wishes. It was probably
intended to bury the cinerary urn either in the floor of the
niche or in the ground at the rear. The effect of the double
series of pilasters at the corners, placed one upon the other
without an intervening entablature, and of the fantastic stucco
decoration of the gable, is not unpleasing, although the designs
are far from classical; the tiles shown in the illustration are
modern. The inner wall is painted in red and black panels;
the vaulted ceiling, from which the stucco has now fallen, was
moulded to represent a shell.
Both the niche and the tomb of the Blue Glass Vase seem to
have belonged to the adjoining villa. The stucco decoration of
the villa in its main features is identical with that of the niche;
and the plot of ground behind the tombs is connected by a gate-
way with a garden of the villa (12 on the plan), which was too
richly adorned to have been intended for the use of the occu-
pants of the inn. In the middle of the garden was a pavilion
supported by four mosaic columns (now in the Naples Museum),
similar to that in the garden of the villa of Diomedes, and to
others belonging to city houses. A mosaic fountain niche was
made in the rear wall facing the entrance from the street, and
in two corners were short columns on which were placed small
figures, — on one a boy with a hare, in marble, on the other a
frog of glazed terra cotta.
Nevertheless, the garden seems to possess a distinctly sepul-
chral character. Besides the entrances from the tombs and
from the street, there was a third, which led into a court of
the villa, with which the peristyle and living rooms were con-
nected by a passageway; in the corner of the court nearest the
garden, and facing the entrance from the street (15), was an
elaborate domestic shrine, dedicated, as shown by the symbolical
decoration, to Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, and Mercury. The
relation of the garden with the living rooms of the villa was
only indirect; and we conclude that it was intended for gather-
ings and sacred rites in honor of the dead. Relatives could
partake of the sepulchral banquet under the pavilion.
The tombs of the third group, as may be seen from Plate IX,