POMPEIA 



6242 



POMPEY'S PILLAR 



Pompey's younger son, Sextus 

 Pompeius Magnus (d. 35 B.C.), 

 escaped from the battle of Munda 

 (45 B.C.), and 

 for some time 

 lived in retire- 

 ment in Spain. 

 In the second 

 civil war he 

 emerged from 

 r e t i r e m ent 

 and, collect- 

 ing a power- 

 Sextus Pompeius ful fleet, seized 



From a ilalue tnthr Sicily and 



Lotn. parit seriously in- 

 terfered with the supply of grain 

 to Rome. In 36 the fleet of Pom- 

 peius was severely defeated. Pom- 

 peius fled, hut eventually was 

 captured in Asia and put to death. 



Pompeia. Wife of Julius Caesar, 

 by whom she was divorced in 61 

 B.C. While the mysteries of the 

 Bona Dea were being celebrated in 

 her house, the profligate Clodius 

 succeeded in gaining entrance dis- 

 guised in woman's clothes. There 

 was no real evidence of any in- 

 trigue between Pompeia and Clo- 

 dius, but Caesar divorced Pompeia 

 on the grounds that " Caesar's 

 wife must be above suspicion." 



Pompeii. Ancient city of Cam- 

 pania, Italy. Its ruins lie 1 m. 

 from the sea, at the S.E. foot of 

 Mt. Vesuvius, 15 m. by rail S.E. of 

 Naples. Founded by the jOscans, 

 it was partially Hellenised, con- 

 quered by the Samnites, and taken 

 from them by the Romans in 

 290 B.C. Having joined the Italian 

 revolt in 90, it was made a Roman 

 colony in 80 B.C. A small but 

 flourishing town and seaport, it 

 became a pleasure resort of 

 wealthy Romans, though never a 

 place of great importance. Wrecked 

 by an earthquake, A.D. 63, it was 

 hastily rebuilt, though many of its 

 buildings were still ruinous when 

 it was overwhelmed by the great 

 eruption of Vesuvius, Aug. 24, 79. 

 A torrent of mud was followed by 

 showers of ashes and glowing 

 cinders, which burnt the upper 

 parts of the buildings, the city 

 being buried at an average depth 

 of 20 ft. Of about 20,000 inhabi- 

 tants, perhaps 2,000 perished. 



In 1748 the discovery of some 

 statues led to the exploration of 

 the site. Desultory search gave 

 place to systematic excavation on 

 the French occupation in 1806, but 

 it is only since the Italian govern- 

 ment took up the work in 1861 that 

 it has been scientifically prosecuted. 



The city, built on a low hill of 

 lava, stood at the mouth of the 

 river Sarnus. The walls, with 

 towers and eight gates, enclosing 

 an irregular oval, are nearly two 

 miles long, but had been pulled 



Pompeii. Plan of the ruins of the ancient Roman city 



down on the sea side. The streets 

 are narrow and generally straight, 

 and are paved with lava. Of the 

 two fora or market-places, the 

 larger is surrounded on three sides 

 by a colonnade, and facing it are 

 the principal temples, the muni- 

 cipal buildings, the macellum or 

 provision market, and other 

 public edifices. The smaller, or 

 triangular forum, partly sur- 



applied chiefly 

 to paintings dis- 

 covered in the 

 ruins of Hercula- 

 neum and Pom- 

 peii, but also to 

 decorations in the 

 same style and 

 period unearthed 

 in Rome. The 

 style is derived 

 from Alexandrian 

 art, its principal 

 characteristics 

 being gaiety of 

 colour and a Greek 

 gracefulness in 

 design. Bright 



reds, blues, and yellows predomin- 

 ated. The paintings were on 

 stuccoed walls, and represented 

 mythological beings, landscapes, 

 and studies from bird or plant life. 

 Fantastical architectural motives 

 were often woven into the design. 

 See lo ; Iphigenia ; Issus ; Lytton, 

 Edward Bulwer, 1st Baron. 



Bibliography. Pompeii, T. H. 

 Dyer, 1867 ; Buried Cities of 



Pompeian Decoration. Room of house at Pompeii, showing mural painting 

 suggesting open windows and raised columns, a style still popular in Italy 



rounded with a portico, contains 

 scanty remains of a Greek temple. 

 Near it are two theatres and the 

 gladiators' barracks. At the E. end 

 of the city is an amphitheatre. 



There are three thermae, or 

 public baths, one of which was 

 in course of construction when the 

 catastrophe occurred, and without 

 the walls are two streets of tombs. 

 The most interesting remains are 

 the private houses, which illus- 

 trate with extraordinary vividness 

 the life of all classes. Their outer 

 walls are generally blank or faced 

 by shops, but within the larger 

 houses are courts and gardens, and 

 lavishly decorated rooms. 



Pompeian Decoration is a term 



Vesuvius : Herculaneum and Pom- 

 peii, J. F. Home, 1895 ; Pompeii, 

 Its Life and Art, A. Mau, Eng. 

 trans. F. W. Kelsey, 2nd ed. 1902 : 

 Greek and Roman Methods of 

 Painting, A. P. Laurie, 1910. 



Pompey. English form of the 

 Latin name Pompeius, specially 

 applied to Gnaeus Pompeius, called 

 Pompey the Great. See Pompeia. 



Pompey's Pillar. Monument 

 nt Alexandria, Egypt. It was set 

 up in 302 in honour of the emperor 

 Diocletian. A red granite column 

 with a Corinthian capital, it is 99 

 ft. in height. The name is due to 

 a mistaken idea that it marked the 

 site of Pompey's tomb. See 

 Alexandria ; Pillar. 



