Itinerary - part two

 

 

Triangular Forum and Theaters (9)

The Triangular Forum derives its name from its geometric shape. It is located on the volcanic ridge overlooking on its south the Pompeian countryside. The entrance was from Via dei Teatri, where a vestibule with six Ionic columns formed its monumental façade. It was built in the second century  B.C. like the civil Forum. The inner colonnade has 95 Doric columns and surrounds the area of an archaic Doric temple with limestone columns. The temple was first consecrated to Hercules alone and then also to Minerva. It collapsed, probably in the II century B.C., because of the corrosion of the southern slant of Pompeii. The ruins of the temple and the sacred source - to which an "heroon" was also added subsequently in sillana period, - were encircled in sannitic period with a tufa portico, that was used for sporting and recreational activities. In the III century B.C. it was built, close to the Triangular Forum, in the hollow of the slant, a first Greek theatre and, in sillana period, another one that was covered. The Big Theatre was completely reconstructed in the II century B.C. in tufa style. On the side of this theatre there was a big tufa portico that served as a “foyer” for the spectators. After 62 A.D. earthquake, the theatre's "peristilio" was transformed in a school of gladiators, with a field for exercises. In sannitic age there were also a gymnasium, a "sacello" to Isis and a small Temple to Zeus. After 62 A.D. the gymnasium was reduced to advantage the reconstruction of the Temple to Isis.

 

House of the Cryptoportico (10)

This house takes its name from a luxurious covered corridor  ("cryptoporticus"). During the last period of the city it was  used as a depot. That's why about sixty wine amphoras were found here. The elegant  three-winged underground passage was created to permit a walk even in case of severe weather conditions. The owner had a copy of a picture gallery painted on the walls. The decoration shows a labyrinth on the skirting board and a wall with large red slabs ("orthostats") separated by herms. The upper part shows scenes from the Trojan war, from the "Plague in the Achaean field" to the "Funeral games in honor of Patroclus". At the end of the corridor the visitor found at the center of the back wall a representation of the escape of Aeneas from Troy with his father Anchises and his little son Julus. This scene constitutes the link between the Greek myth and the history of Rome: it was after the fall of Troy and the escape of Aeneas towards the coasts  of Latium that his son Julus founded Alba Longa, from where Rome rose. This story represents the main theme in Virgil's Aeneid too. Among the several casts found in the garden of this house there is one of a mother protecting her little daughter and another of a slave with fetters at his ankle.

 

House of Menander (11)

This house, like the House of the Cupids, belonged to Quintus Poppćus. His family, the Poppći, were very influential and were relatives of the Empress Poppća  Sabina. In the right corner there is a lararium (domestic  oratory) in the shape of a little temple. A hall decorated with paintings of the Iliadic cycle opens on the atrium: "Ulysses tearing Cassandra away from the Palladium" (but it is Ajax in the Homeric version), "Cassandra", "The Trojan  Horse" and "Laocöon". The garden ("peristilium") is closed by a parapet decorated with herons. On the northern side there is a room ("oecus") with a green background and on top a frieze portraying the rape of the Lapiths women by the centaurs. At the center of the floor there is a small mosaic portraying pygmies on the Nile. At the bottom of the garden there is a library, a private votive chapel and a rectangular exedra framed by two other exedras with apse. In the central exedra there is a painting of two sitting poets: the one reciting is Menander, while the other one is probably Euripides. The exedras with apse are decorated with "Artemis" and "Aphrodite". The private votive chapel contains a domestic oratory made of masonry; there we can see two casts of the wooden portraits of the ancestors ("imagines  maiorum"). The reception rooms are on the eastern side of the garden. At the center there is a huge hall ("oecus triclinare"). The adjacent room exhibits the skeletons of the peasants who died in the attempt to sack the houses after the eruption. The house has a small bath area. A passage on the south side leads to the rustic quarters. The reconstruction of a farm cart (only parts in iron and bronze are original) is exhibited in the stable ("equile"). A case containing  118  pieces of silverware weighing 24 kilograms was hidden in the basement of the house. The  silverware is exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

 

House of Loreius Tiburtinus (12)

The entrance of this house is on Via dell'Abbondanza. It was attributed to Loreius Tiburtinus or to Decimus Ottavius Quartio, whose seal was found here. There is an elegant hall opening on the garden that is decorated with friezes portraying the expeditions against Troy: the larger one on top portrays the mythical expedition of Heracles against Laomedon, while the smaller one at the bottom portrays the historical expedition of the Greeks against Priam. The owner had himself portrayed on a wall of the house bald and dressed in a long linen-tunic like a priest of Isis ("linigerus calvus"). Furthermore, he ordered the building of a long (approx.  50  meter) bathing-pool in his garden. The pool had the shape of a river ("eurěpus") and was decorated with ancient Egyptian statues (ibis, sphinxes, lions, etc.). Thus, it is assumed that people initiated to the mysteries of Isis used to meet there to attend  artificial  floodings of the garden that simulated the sacred and fertile floods of the Nile.

 

House of Julia Felix (13)

This house opening on Via dell'Abbondanza was excavated in the 18th. century and brought completely to light in the years 1952-1953. There is a big and elegant garden with a portico supported by little marble pillars. At the center there was a summer dining-room ("triclinium") with marble beds and a fountain with a waterfall. A second entrance led into the bathroom ("balneum"). An announcement on its door states that it could be rented with part of the house: "Julia Felix daughter of Spurius, rents to respectable people an  elegant bathroom worthy of Venus, a workshop with apartment on the upper floor and mezzanine from the first of August. The lease will expire in five  years". Evidently Julia, who was of a noble and rich family, didn't hesitate to sublet part of her house to make up for the restoration costs of the building after the earthquake of 62 A.D.. A painting of "Apollo and the Muses" is in the Louvre in Paris today, while the other paintings are all at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

 

Amphiteater (14)

The amphitheater of Pompeii is the oldest of those we know from the Roman world. It was built after the  foundation of the settlement (80 B.C.) by order of the mayors Gaius Quintius Valgus and Marcus Porcius, those who also ordered the construction of the Odeion. After the earthquake it was restored by order of the mayors Gaius Cuspius Pansa, father and son. The building was erected in a peripheral area to avoid traffic jams in the city on the occasion of shows. The monumental stairs on the outside lead to the "cavea" with the spectators' seats. It could hold up to 20,000 spectators. The main part of the steps and of the upper balcony reserved for women is still intact. The level of the arena is lower than the outside area. This means that the theatre was  partly built upwards and partly set into the ground like the Coliseum. Fights between gladiators used to take place inside the arena. The games were opened by a solemn parade. The wrestlers wore heavy and completely decorated parade armours, helmets, dagger, shields and jambs. In 59 A.D. the spectators' enthusiasm led to a bloody brawl between the supporters of Pompeii and those of Nuceria. The event was "photographed" in a famous Pompeian painting. After the riots, Rome's  Senate  inflicted a ten-years "disqualification" on Pompeii's arena, but the measure was withdrawn in 62 A.D. because the earthquake had severely hit all citizens. Most of the gladiatorial arms exhibited at the National Archeological  Museum of Naples were found in the theaters'  "foyer", used as the "Gladiators' Barracks" during the last years of the city.

 


- A glance at history - A timeless city - Itinerary – part one -

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