May 3, 1900] 



NA TURE 



excavations on the site of Pompeii were entrusted to the j popular, and it spread from Alexandria by way of the 

 hands of G. Fiorelli, and most of the excellent results i Delta into Syria, and from the same centre to Rome. As 



which have attended the excavations made during the 

 last forty years are due to the plan inaugurated by him. 

 At the present time, about one-half of the site of Pompeii 

 has been excavated, and, according to the calculations 

 which he made as far back as 1872, the work of clearing 

 the undisturbed parts in the western half of the ancient 

 city, and the whole of the eastern half, will not be com- 

 pleted much before the year 2000. The above facts 

 will enable the reader to grasp the magnitude of the 

 undertaking, and to appreciate the help which is forth- 

 coming from Prof. Mau's exhaustive work, of which we 

 must now speak briefly. 



It is well known that Prof. Mau has for more than a 

 score of years devoted all his winters to the study of the 

 antiquities of Pompeii, and there is little doubt that he is 

 Aft//^////?t£'/j among the experts in this special branch 

 of Roman archneology. His articles 



nd papers in the scientific period - 



als have secured for him a high 

 position among savants, even in his 

 own country, and his " Mittheil- 

 ungen" are at once the product of 

 good scholarship and enthusiasm. 

 The volume before us is not a 

 mere translation of one previously 

 issued, but is to all intents and 

 purposes a new work, now published 

 for the first time in English. Mr. 

 Kelsey, who is responsible for the 

 English work bearing Prof. Mau's 

 name, is more than the translator, 

 for he has abridged the German 

 manuscript which he had to work 

 from in many places, and a number 

 of additions to the text are due to 

 him. He has done his part of the 

 work faithfully, and the English 

 visitor to Pompeii has now available 

 in his own tongue a volume in which 

 lucidity of treatment goes hand in 

 hand with erudition and scholarship. 

 The English text is accompanied 

 by twelve plates, six plans, and two 

 hundred and sixty-three cuts, which 

 are inserted as near as possible to 

 the subject-matter illustrated by 

 them. We have only one fault to 

 find with the book— it is a little 

 heavy to carry about. Thus having 

 said our worst, we proceed to de- 

 scribe very briefly its contents. 

 The six first chapters really form the 

 introduction, which they are actually 

 called, and they treat of the early 



history and general situation of Pompeii, the overwhelm- 

 ing of the city, and the excavations undertaken during the 

 last hundred and fifty years. The last chapter of the 

 section on building materials and architectural periods is 

 particularly instructive, and will be read by more than 

 the tourist. Part i. contains twenty-five chapters, which 

 deal exhaustively with the public buildings and places of 

 Pompeii, including the Forum, the Basilica, the Comitium, 

 the theatres, the temples of Jupiter, Apollo, Zeus Milichius, 

 and, strangest of all, the temple of the Egyptian goddess 

 Isis. It will be remembered that the Ptolemies, by the 

 help of Manetho, an Egyptian priest, and of Timotheus, a 

 man who had peculiarly perfect knowledge of the Eleu- 

 sinian Mysteries, associated certain Egyptian religious 

 ceremonies with those of the Mysteries, in the hope of 

 binding his Greek and Egyptian slaves together in the 

 bonds of a common form of worship. The new cult, 

 though it was abominated by the philosophers, was very 



a result, we find that a college of priests of Isis, or 

 Pastophori, was founded at Rome in the time of Sulla, 

 about B.C. 80. The Romans objected to the introduction 

 of the Egyptian gods, and three times in the space of 

 eleven years was their temple destroyed. Oddly enough, 

 a temple in honour of Osiris and Isis was built in 

 Rome about n.c. 44, and before the end of the century 

 their festival was recognised by the public calendar. 

 But other cities of Italy were more tolerant than Rome, 

 for a temple in honour of Serapis was standing at 

 Puteoli B.C. 105, and not long after this date the temple 

 to Isis was built at Pompeii. In the earthquake which 

 took place a.d. 63 this temple suffered greatly, but 

 it was rebuilt by Numerius Popidius Celsinus at his 

 own expense " from the foundation." From the view 

 given by Prof. Mau on p. 166, we see enough to show us 



NO. 1592, VOL. 62] 



Fig. 4.T-The adoration of the holy water of the Nile during the worship of Isis. 



that although the building bore slight resemblance to an 

 Egyptian temple, there was, notwithstanding, a wish on 

 the part of the arcl>itect to produce an unwonted effect 

 on the mind of the beholder. The deities Osiris, Isis, 

 Anubis and Harpocrates were represented by statues, 

 and as they have never been found, it is probable they 

 were carried off by the faithful on that awful day in 

 August, x.V). 79. We know little of the ceremonies con- 

 nected with the initiation into the Mysteries, but two 

 skulls, a marble hand, two small boxes, a gold cup, a 

 small glass vessel, and a statuette of the god nearly one 

 inch in height seem to have played a prominent part in 

 them. We have not space to follow Prof. Mau through 

 his description of all the various parts of this interesting 

 temple, but we may note that the existence of the hiero- 

 glyphic sepulchral inscription, set up for the scribe Hat 

 on a pillar to the right of the altar, indicates the adop- 

 tion in Pompeii of a widespread Egyptian custom. The 



