TEMPLE OF JUPITER SERAPIS. 



submerged. Their undisturbed position proves that the subsidence 

 must have taken place in a tranquil manner." * 



122. Another most interesting and remarkable example of the 

 alternate elevation and depression of the surface of the earth, 

 manifested within historic times, is presented in the case of the 

 ground upon which the temple of Jupiter Serapis stands, at 

 Pozzuoli, near Naples. These ruins, standing on the northern 

 shore of the Bay of Baise, at a short distance from the Solfa- 

 tara, consist of the remains of a large building of quadran- 

 gular form, 70 feet in diameter, the roof of which was originally 

 supported by 46 columns, 24 of which were granite, and 22 

 marble, each column consisting of a single stone. Many of 

 these pillars are broken, and their fragments strewn about 

 the pavement, but three of them still remain standing (fig. 

 52). Their base is near the level of the sea. The surface of 

 the columns, the tallest of which is 42 feet in height, is smooth up 

 to an elevation of 12 feet from the pedestal, where a band of 

 perforations 9 feet wide commences, made by a species of mussel, 

 called the Modiola Uthophaga, which could only have lived in 

 sea- water. Above this band, at the height of 21 feet from the 

 pedestal, these cavities are discontinued, and the remainder of the 

 pillars are smooth, like the lower part. The cavities, many of 

 which still contain shells, sand, and microscopic shields, are of 

 elongated elliptical shapes, and so numerous and deep as to prove 

 that the pillars must have been submerged in sea-water to a 

 height more or less above the limit of these borings, for a long 

 period of time. The lower part of the columns, which are not 

 similarly affected, must have been protected, while they were 

 submerged, from the depredations of these boring mussels by 

 surrounding accumulations of rubbish and tufa, while the upper 

 parts projected above the water, and were consequently beyond 

 the reach of these animals. 



The platform of the temple is now about one foot below high- 

 water mark, and the sea, which is only 40 yards distant, penetrates 

 the intervening soil. The upper part of the band of perforation is 

 .at least 23 feet above the level of the sea. 



It appears from all this, that the ground on which the temple 

 .stands must have changed its level more than once, being alter- 

 nately heaved upwards and downwards. It is clear that when 

 Ihe temple was built, the ground of its foundation must not only 

 liave been high and dry, but remote from the shores of the bay, 

 and at some subsequent period must have sunk gradually, and so 



* Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, by the 

 Tlev. Samuel Parker, A.M. New York, 1838. 



93 



