The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

TEMPLE OF ISIS AT POMPEII.

Two theaters, the smaller one particularly, are in an excellent state of preservation. The structure of this one is such as was usually adopted by the ancients, and is better arranged than some of modern construction, as it affords the spectators commodious seats, a free view of the stage, and facility of hearing. Although sufficiently large to contain two thousand persons, the plebeians, standing in a broad gallery at the top, were quite as able to see all that was passing on the stage, as the magistrate in his marble balcony. In this gallery the arrangements for spreading the sail-cloth over the spectators are still visible. The stage itself is very broad, as it has no side walls; and appears less deep than it really is. A wall runs across it, and cuts off just as much room as is necessary for the accommodation of the performers. But this wall has three very broad doors; the middle one is distinguished by its hight, and the space behind it is still deeper than in front. If these doors, as may be conjectured, always stood open, the stage was in fact large, and afforded besides the advantage of being able to display a double scenery: if, for example, the scene in front was that of a street, there might have been behind a free prospect into the open field.

The cemetery lies before the gate of the high road. The tomb of the priestess Mammea is very remarkable: it was erected, according to the epitaph, by virtue of a decree of the decemvirs. In the midst of little boxes of stone, in square piles, and on a sort of altar, the family urns were placed in niches; and without these piles the broken masks are still to be seen. In front of the cemetery, by the road-side, is a beautiful seat, forming a semicircle, that will contain twenty or thirty persons. It was probably overshaded by trees eighteen hundred years ago; under which the women of Pompeii sat in the cool evenings, while their children played before them, and viewed the crowds which were passing through the gate.

To the above particulars from the pen of the elegant and lively Kotzebue, the following details, given by a later and accurate traveler, are subjoined. The entrance into Pompeii is by a quadrangular court; and this court is surrounded on every side by a colonnade which supports the roof of a gallery; and the latter leads to several small apartments, not unlike the cells of a prison. The columns are of brick, stuccoed over, and painted of a deep red: they are in hight from ten to twelve feet, are placed at about a like distance from each other, and are of the Doric order, fluted two-thirds from the top, and well proportioned. After a variety of conjectures relative to the purpose to which this building was applied, it has been ascertained that it was either a barrack for soldiers, (various pieces of armor having been found in some of the cells,) or the prætorium of the governor, where a body of military must have been stationed. Adjacent to it stood the theaters, the forum, and one or two temples, all connected by very neat and well-paved courts. The smaller of the theaters is to the right, and is called the covered theater, because it was so constructed, that by the means of canvas awnings, the spectators were defended from the sun and rain. A door through the wall leads to the different galleries, and to the open space in the center, resembling the pit of a modern theater. The interior is beautifully neat; and with the exception of the spoliation of the marble slabs, removed to the palace at Naples, with which the whole of the inside, not excepting the seats, had been covered, it is in excellent preservation. On each side are the seats for the magistrates; the orchestra, as in modern theaters, is in front of the stage; and the latter, with its brick wings, is very shallow. This theater was calculated to contain about two thousand spectators. From its level a staircase leads to an eminence on which several public buildings are situated. The most conspicuous of these is a small temple said to have been dedicated to Isis, and having a secret passage, perforated in two places, whence the priests are supposed to have delivered to the deluded multitude the oracles of that deity.

Within a paved court is an altar, of a round shape, on the one side, and on the other side a well. A cistern, with four apertures, was placed at a small distance, to facilitate the procuring of water. In this court, sacrifices and other holy rites are conjectured to have taken place, various utensils for sacrifice, such as lamps, tripods, &c., having been found, when the place was first excavated. One of the tripods is of the most admirable workmanship. On each of the three legs, a beautiful sphinx, with an unusual head-dress, is placed, probably in allusion to the hidden meanings of the oracles which were delivered in the above-mentioned temple. The hoop in which the basin for the coals was sunk, is elegantly decorated with rams’ heads connected by garlands of flowers; and within the basin, which is of baked earth, the very cinders left from the last sacrifice (nearly two thousand years ago) are seen as fresh as if they had been the remains of yesterday’s fire!

From the above court, you enter on a somewhat larger, with a stone pulpit in the center and stone seats near the walls. The spot, therefore, was either the auditory of a philosopher, or the place where the public orators pleaded in the presence of the people. Everything here is in the highest order and preservation.

The great amphitheater proudly rears its walls over every other edifice on the same elevated spot. It is a stupendous structure, and has twenty-four rows of seats, the circumference of the lowest of which is about seven hundred and fifty feet. It is estimated to have contained about thirty thousand spectators. The upper walls are much injured, having partially projected above ground long before the discovery of Pompeii.

A corn-field leads to the excavated upper end of the high street, which consists of a narrow road for carts, with foot-pavements on each side. The middle is paved with large blocks of marble, and the ruts of the wheels proclaim its antiquity, even at the time of its being overwhelmed. The foot-paths are elevated about a foot and a half from the level of the carriage-road. The houses on each side, whether shops or private buildings, have no claim to external elegance: they consist of a ground-floor only, and, with the exception of the door, have no opening toward the street. The windows of the private houses look into an inner square court, and are in general very high. The apartments themselves are, with the exception of one in each house, which probably served as a drawing-room, both low and diminutive. In point of decoration they are neat, and, in many instances, elegant: the floors generally consist of figured pavements, either in larger stones of various colors, regularly cut and systematically disposed, or are formed of a beautiful mosaic, with a fanciful border, and an animal or figure in the center. The geometrical lines and figures in the design of the borders, have an endless variety of the most pleasing shapes, to display the fertile imagination of the artists. Their tesselated pavements alone must convince us that the ancients were well skilled in geometry. The ground is usually white, and the ornaments black; but other colors are often employed with increased effect.

The walls of the apartments are equally (if not still more) deserving attention. They are painted, either in compartments, exhibiting some mythological or historical event, or simply colored over with a light ground, adorned with a border and perhaps an elegant little vignette, in the center or at equal distances. But few of the historical paintings now exist in Pompeii; for wherever a wall was found to contain a tolerable picture, it was removed and deposited in the museum at Naples. To effect this, the greatest care and ingenuity were required, so as to peel off, by the means of sawing pieces of wall, twenty and more square feet in extent, without destroying the picture. This, however, was not a modern invention; for, among the excavated remains of Stabiæ, the workmen came to an apartment containing paintings which had been separated by the ancients themselves from a wall, with the obvious intent of their being introduced in another place. This was, however, prevented by the ruin of the city; and the paintings, therefore, were found leaning against the wall of the apartment.