DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0583
500
POMPEII
panian plain, later those imposed upon them by the forceful and
levelling administration of Rome. The literature which they
read, as we learn from quotations scratched upon the walls,
consisted of the Greek and Roman writers of their own or pre-
vious periods ; not a single line of an Oscan drama or poem
has been found. Their art was a reproduction of designs and
masterpieces produced elsewhere, — at first under Hellenistic,
later under Roman influence, — on a scale commensurate with
the limited resources of the place. Finally the countless appli-
ances of everyday life, from the fixed furniture of the atrium to
articles of toilet, were not rare and costly objects such as were
seen in the wealthy homes of Rome or Alexandria, but those of
the commoner sort everywhere in use. Any one of fifty cities
might have been overwhelmed in the place of Pompeii, and the
results, so far as our knowledge of the ancient culture in its
larger aspects is concerned, would not have been essentially
different.
The representative rather than exceptional character of the
remains at Pompeii make them either of less or of greater value,
according as we look at them from different points of view. If
we are seeking for the most perfect examples of ancient art, for
masterpieces of the famous artists, we do not find them. Many
of the Pompeian paintings appeal to modern taste; yet it would
be as unfair to judge of the merits of ancient painting from the
specimens which are worked into the decorative designs of
Pompeian walls as it would be to base an estimate of the value
of modern art upon chromos and wall papers. For the noblest
creations of ancient art in any field we must look not to provin-
cial towns, but to the great centres of population and of political
administration, where genius found encouragement, inspiration,
and adequate means. No large city, fortunately for its inhab-
itants, was visited by such a disaster as that which befell the
Campanian town; and the wealth of artistic types at Pompeii
bears witness to the universality of art in the Greco-Roman
world.
Since these remains are so broadly typical, they are invaluable
for the interpretation of the civilization of which they formed a
part. They shed light on countless passages of Greek and
POMPEII
panian plain, later those imposed upon them by the forceful and
levelling administration of Rome. The literature which they
read, as we learn from quotations scratched upon the walls,
consisted of the Greek and Roman writers of their own or pre-
vious periods ; not a single line of an Oscan drama or poem
has been found. Their art was a reproduction of designs and
masterpieces produced elsewhere, — at first under Hellenistic,
later under Roman influence, — on a scale commensurate with
the limited resources of the place. Finally the countless appli-
ances of everyday life, from the fixed furniture of the atrium to
articles of toilet, were not rare and costly objects such as were
seen in the wealthy homes of Rome or Alexandria, but those of
the commoner sort everywhere in use. Any one of fifty cities
might have been overwhelmed in the place of Pompeii, and the
results, so far as our knowledge of the ancient culture in its
larger aspects is concerned, would not have been essentially
different.
The representative rather than exceptional character of the
remains at Pompeii make them either of less or of greater value,
according as we look at them from different points of view. If
we are seeking for the most perfect examples of ancient art, for
masterpieces of the famous artists, we do not find them. Many
of the Pompeian paintings appeal to modern taste; yet it would
be as unfair to judge of the merits of ancient painting from the
specimens which are worked into the decorative designs of
Pompeian walls as it would be to base an estimate of the value
of modern art upon chromos and wall papers. For the noblest
creations of ancient art in any field we must look not to provin-
cial towns, but to the great centres of population and of political
administration, where genius found encouragement, inspiration,
and adequate means. No large city, fortunately for its inhab-
itants, was visited by such a disaster as that which befell the
Campanian town; and the wealth of artistic types at Pompeii
bears witness to the universality of art in the Greco-Roman
world.
Since these remains are so broadly typical, they are invaluable
for the interpretation of the civilization of which they formed a
part. They shed light on countless passages of Greek and