The entablatures of the temples built in the Tufa Period, as of those erected in later times, have all perished. The entablatures of the colonnades, however, are at least in part well preserved in a number of instances, and are of two types, the Doric, characterized by the use of triglyphs, and the Ionic, distinguished by the dentils of the cornice.
Both types are found also in the wall decoration, the first rarely, the second very frequently. On the altar of the temple of Zeus Milichius, which is of tufa coated with stucco, the Doric entablature appears in association with the characteristic decoration of the first style, the imitation of large blocks of marble; on the top are terminal volutes of Ionic origin, as generally upon Roman altars and altar-shaped tombs ([Fig. 251]). On walls decorated in the first style, however, only Ionic entablatures are seen,—sometimes even twice upon the same wall, as in the example shown in [Fig. 122]. From this we infer that in the temple construction of the Tufa Period, the simple and elegant Ionic entablature was the prevailing type.
Notwithstanding its free adaption of Greek forms, the Tufa Period availed itself very sparingly of polychrome decoration for architectural members. The stucco of the Ionic capital in the house of the Faun is white; white likewise are most of the capitals of pilasters found in the houses, and also the numerous Ionic cornices on the walls.
There are, nevertheless, scanty traces of the application of color. In the wall decoration of the house of Sallust we find a Doric frieze with the metopes painted red. The frieze under the Ionic cornices on the walls also is usually made prominent with color,—red, yellow, or blue; and a red frieze is seen in the peristyle of the house of the Black Wall, above the pilasters of the garden wall. The lower stripe of the painted architrave in the house of the Faun, already referred to, is yellow.
It seems probable that in some cases color was applied to the projecting figures of the peculiar capitals used in houses; at the time of excavation, traces of coloring were distinctly seen upon those belonging to the alae of the house of Epidius Rufus ([p. 309]). The exposed capitals at the entrances ([Fig. 178]), if originally painted, would naturally have lost all traces of the coloring before the destruction of the city, unless it were from time to time renewed. Notwithstanding these exceptions, we must conclude that the stucco coating upon public buildings and temples was generally white, in the case of capitals and cornices as well as of the shafts of columns and outside walls; colors were used to a limited extent, upon friezes and perhaps other parts of entablatures.
The architectural remains of the half century immediately succeeding the Tufa Period, between the founding of the Roman colony at Pompeii and the establishment of the Empire, present nothing specially characteristic outside of the peculiarities of construction mentioned in [Chap. 6].
In the earlier years of the Empire, the Pompeians, as Roman subjects everywhere, commenced to build temples and colonnades of marble. The style, which was distinctively Roman, can be studied to better advantage elsewhere; the remains at Pompeii are relatively unimportant, and the chief points of interest have been mentioned in connection with our study of individual buildings.
Fig. 252.—Capitals of columns, showing variations from typical forms.