Pompeii; its history, buildings and antiquities - an account of the destruction of the city, with a full description of the remains, and of the recent excavations and also an itinerary for visitors (14749985226)

Identifier: pompeiiitshist00dyer (find matches)
Title: Pompeii; its history, buildings and antiquities : an account of the destruction of the city, with a full description of the remains, and of the recent excavations and also an itinerary for visitors
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Dyer, Thomas Henry, 1804-1888
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Bell
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto



Text Appearing Before Image:
tructed. TheTemple of Fortune was erected by a Roman individual, asthe inscription sets forth; and the Pantheon, Temple ofMercury, with the building placed between them, as well asthe crypto-portico of Eumachia, which is partly built ofbrick, bear evident marks of a Roman origin. The Templeof Venus may be considered as Roman, its original Greekdesign having been changed by a coat of plaster, as we havealready observed. The theatres and amphitheatre are evi-dently Roman. That the former were so is ascertainedfrom inscriptions,* while the latter was, as we w^ell know, of * The insciiptioos do not necessarily mean that the theatres were built bythose whose names they record. At all events, if they are originally of Romanconstruction, their situation on the side of a hill is after the Greek fashion ;while their vicinity to the Greek temple shows that they were in the oldestpart of the city. The inscriptions will be found in Mommsens Inscrr. RegniNeapoUtani, p. 115. I THE AMPHITHEATRE. 247
Text Appearing After Image:
248 POMPEII. their own invention. The triumphal arches are of courseRoman, such buildings having been unknown to the Greeks.In private dwellings, as well as in public edifices, the samemixed character is evident, and adds to their interest. Butthis branch of the subject belongs to the next part. We may appropriately conclude this chapter with a recentlydiscovered picture of the amphitheatre, which is interesting,first, as being a contemporary representation of the building,and secondly, as showing the fight with the Nucerians, towhich we have already adverted (P. i. p. 33). The fresco,which is nearly 6 feet square, was found in 1869 in a meanhouse in the street leading from the Temple of Isis to theamphitheatre. It is now in the Terra-Gotta room of theMuseum. A birds-eye view of the building shows both theexterior and the interior, but the perspective is bad. Twotowers of the wall, between which it stands, may be seen,with the velarium or awning, for the spectators. The podiumis paint