Caesaris ultor.

It is interesting to note that evidence of the worship of Augustus as Mercury has come to light also in Egypt. In an inscription from Denderah we find Helmîs Kaisar, 'beloved of Ptah and of Isis'; Helmîs Kaisar is apparently 'Hermes Caesar,' and in Egyptian inscriptions Augustus is elsewhere referred to as 'the beloved of Ptah and of Isis.'

CHAPTER XI
THE BUILDINGS AT THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE FORUM, AND THE TABLE OF STANDARD MEASURES

The large building at the northwest corner of the Forum ([Fig. 33], 1, 2, 3) was erected after the earthquake of the year 63. We do not know whether at the time of the eruption it had yet been roofed; the inside at least was in an unfinished state.

Fig. 33.—Plan of the buildings at the northwest corner of the Forum.
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This building is divided into three parts, one of which, that furthest north, at the corner, contains both lower and upper rooms. Below, at the level of the Forum, are two dark vaulted chambers, one at the rear of the other. The front chamber is dimly lighted by a slit in the ceiling and was entered from the Forum by a narrow door; there are traces of a strong iron grating in the doorway. It has been supposed, not without probability, that these were the vaults of the city treasury, the aerarium; if they had been built for prison cells, they would naturally have had separate entrances.

Above these chambers are two rooms which open not on the Forum, but on the street that runs past them on the north (1, 1). They resemble shops and would be classed as such without further question but for the fact that the level of the floor is nearly five feet above the sidewalk, so that they could have been reached only by means of steps. If the identification of the chambers below as the vaults of the city treasury is correct, these rooms must have been occupied by the treasury officials, who could here transact business with the public without admitting the latter to their offices.