Pompeii, Its Life and Art

by August Mau

Fig. 80.—The temple of Isis, restored. In the background, the Large Theatre.

No statue was found in the cella or in the two niches in front. We may suppose that the images of the four divinities, being of relatively small size, were carried off by the priests at the time of the eruption; had they been removed afterwards, the excavators would have taken also the other objects in the cella used in the services of the temple. Among these were two skulls, probably made use of in the ceremonies attending initiation into the Mysteries, and a marble hand, about four inches long, but whether a right or a left hand, the journal of the excavations does not say. A left hand was carried in the procession in honor of Isis, described by Apuleius; as the weaker of the two, and so less ready to do evil, it symbolized the even justice (aequitas) with which the deity governs the world. There were also two wooden caskets, one of which contained a diminutive gold cup, measuring less than an inch across the top, a glass vessel a trifle over an inch and a half in height, and a statuette of a god about half as high; in the other were two bronze candlesticks about ten inches high, the use of which may be inferred from the painting described above, and a bronze lamp with places for two wicks.

The walls of the colonnade were painted in bright colors on a deep red ground. The lower part of the columns was red, but above they were white; the temple also was white, the purpose obviously being to give the appearance of marble. Nevertheless the same decorative framework appears both in the white stucco of the temple and the painted decoration of the colonnade: a division of the body of the wall into large panels, with a continuous garland of conventional plant forms above. In the colonnade there was a yellow base, treated as a projecting architectural member; above it large red panels alternated with light, fantastic architectural designs in yellow on a red ground. The frieze was black, with garlands in strong contrast—green, blue, and yellow—enlivened with all sorts of animal forms. In the middle of each of the large panels was a priest of Isis; in the lower part of the intervening architectural designs were marine pictures,—galleys maneuvering, and seafights. Similar pictures are found in other buildings, as the Macellum, but marine views were especially appropriate here, because Isis was a patron divinity of seamen. Apuleius gives an interesting description of the spring festival, by which the navigation of the opening season was committed to her guardian care.

Opposite the entrance of the temple the colonnade presents an interesting peculiarity of construction, which is found also in other buildings at Pompeii, as the Stabian Baths. The place of the three middle columns on that side is taken by two large pillars, higher than the rest of the colonnade, each of which is backed by an attached half-column. This arrangement made the approach to the temple more imposing, and also furnished an appropriate setting for the shrine of Harpocrates against the wall.

The principal altar, on which sacrifice was offered to the divinities worshipped in the temple, is that near the foot of the steps in front (e). The officiating priest stood on a block of stone at the side of it, with the temple at his right; on this altar were found ashes and fragments of calcined bones. The two smaller altars near by were probably consecrated to the gods whose images were placed in the exterior niches.

Two rectangular pits were used as receptacles for the refuse of sacrifices. One was quite small, and no trace of it can now be found; it was near the large altar, and contained remains of burnt figs, pine kernels and cones, nuts, and dates, with fragments of two statuettes representing divinities. The wall about the other (b), when excavated, was built up at each end in the form of a gable, and evidently once supported a wooden roof; in this pit also were charred remains of fruits. What divinities were worshipped at the altars between the columns, it is impossible to determine. The small base standing against the corner column near the entrance (seen in [Fig. 79]) was probably a pedestal, not an altar.

At the left of the steps leading up to the temple, and facing the large altar, is a small pillar of masonry fifteen inches square and nearly two and a half feet high. A similar pillar, which formerly stood at the right, had thin slabs of stone on three sides. One of these, that on the front of the pillar (now in the Naples Museum), was covered with hieroglyphics. It is a memorial tablet, which Hat, 'the writer of the divine word,' hierogrammateus, set up in honor of his parents and grandparents; it contains symbolic representations in three divisions, one above the other. In the upper division Hat, his brother and colleague Meran, their father and grandfather, are praying to Osiris, 'Lord of the Kingdom of the Dead'; below, Hat is bringing to his parents and grandparents offerings for the dead, while in the lower division Meran and two sisters unite with him in prayer to Osiris. The tablet could hardly have been designed for a temple, but still, by reason of its contents, it was considered appropriate for this place. It was doubtless intended that a similar tablet should be affixed to the pillar at the left, but perhaps none happened to be available; statuettes of divinities were probably placed on the pillars.

The presence of a statue of Bacchus in the niche in the rear wall of the cella is easily explained; this divinity was identified with Osiris. Two ears are moulded in the stucco beside the niche, symbolic of the listening of the god to the prayers of his worshippers.

Against the west wall of the colonnade, near the corners, were two pedestals, with statues of female divinities about one half life size. At the right was Isis, in archaic Greek costume, with the inscription: L. Caecilius Phoebus posuit l[oco] d[ato] d[ecurionum] d[ecreto], 'Set up by Lucius Caecilius Phoebus, in a place granted by a decree of the city council'; the name indicates that the donor was a freedman. The other statue, at the left, represents Venus drying her hair after the bath; it is of a common type and possesses small value as a work of art, yet is of interest because of the well preserved painting and gilding. Venus, as many other goddesses, was identified with Isis.

In the same corner with the statue of Venus, against the south wall, stood the herm of Gaius Norbanus Sorex, a marble pillar with a bronze head. According to the inscription, he was an actor who played the second part (secundarum, sc. partium), and was also magister of the suburb Pagus Augustus Felix. He was probably a generous supporter of the temple. A duplicate of the herm is found in the Eumachia building, to which also he may have made a contribution. The low social standing of the various benefactors of the temple is noteworthy; it indicates in what circles the worship of the Egyptian divinities found its adherents. As yet this was by no means an aristocratic cult, although it became such later, especially after the time of Hadrian.