Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-10-22
Excavations at POmpeii.

Those who remember the three bodies,
incrusted in their coating OF lava ana
ashes. in one of the houses at Pompell,
will feel interested in knowing that other
bodies have recently been uncovered One
is that of woman, found lying on her
face. with her hands raised above her. as
If to shield her eyes from the falling
ashes. The form of man is clearly visl-
BILE in one of the bodies, which was found
resting on its side. Another discovery
was that of a dog, petrified in Its very
agony, with one foot in his mouth. After
Sleep of nearly 1900 years these forms
are excavated from their stony bed, to be
the wonder of the nineteenth century
Other curiosities have been recently
brought to light. Several houses and
shops have been uncovered. In two OF
tile houses have been found tablets bear
ing inscriptions. They were of wood, and
had been joined together by means OF
cords. The writing is still leglble, and
after 800 years we can read the contracts
of loans and acquittance made between
merchants in the first Christian era. One
house, supposed to have been that OF rich
banker, contained beautiful marbles, freS-
Goes and bronzes. A portraitbust in
bronze was found and several richly
painted heads, fresco OF " Adriadne
abandoned by Theseus;'' "The Judgment
of Paris" and hunting scene. A writer
in Applet0ns' Journal speaks Of these dis
coveries, and also records that LII this
beautiful dwelling marble half bust OF a
man was found, where the dog before
alluded to was guarding the doorway.
But the chief ornament of the dwelling
was a fresco Of Orpheus, colossal in size,
playing on a harp and descending flight
of stone steps, followed by lion on one
side and a tiger on the other, while below
are boar and fawn, all evidently en-
tranced by the music. The face OF Or
pheus is very fine In the dining-room
is represented a temple containing burn
ing sacrifcial altar, directly over which a
full-length figure Of Diana is seen, While,
higher above, Minerva is lowering. The
decorations in another room are in the
Egyptian style; there are figures OF war
riors, an ibis, and a landscape, in which
is a Hermes Of Priapus. A statuette OF
Venus was found in house containing a
bakery, and also a fresco representa- g
Hercules landing at Sicily.
On the walls of other shops were fres-
Goes of Mercury and Bacchus, Venus and
Cupid and many inscriptions written in
vermilion. One building eXcavated was
we'll arranged kitchen, with bronze
kettle hanging over the fireplace. The
court had marble fountain and white
marble table. The marble water tanks on
the sides had openings for the pipes. A
quantity of substance on being analyzc1
proved to be soap. From the trescoes on
the wall it is believed that the shop was
that of dyer or cleaner.
The movable articles, especially the
bronzes there found, were conveyed to the
museum at Naples, to be placed beside
the charred bread and the mosaic dog, so
familiar to all visitors to that institution.
The work Of excavation goes on slowly,
but satisfactorily. The works of art, so
beautiful, even in their ruin, give evidence
of the skill of the workmen and the artis-
tic taste of the designers Of those days.
The unwilling of a whole city, with its
monuments, its houses and its deep-rutted
streets; the discovery of articles of daily
use, and the very bodies of men and
women engaged in pursuits of everyday
life, is something the world has never be:
fore witnessed. Yet under the Tiber and
buried beneath the soil of Rome are
doubtless, other and greater treasures
which time will yet reveal.-Brookty7
IN. ~ Union.