The times., 1899-05-07
UNEARTHED AT PoMPEII.
Recent Discoveries of an Unfinished
Temple.
FrOm the London Times.)

From the London Times)
The excavations at Pompeii have been
continued during the last year, and have
resulted chiefly in the discovery of small
houses containing objects of secondary in
terest and Importance. In the neighbor-
hood of the Gate of Vesuvius q portion of
the city wall belonging to the earliest
period of Pompeiian building was laid
bare, and is interesting, as it is apparently
more ancient than such other portions OF
the wall as have been discovered. 1t ap
pears to be of Oscan construction being
built of large blocks of rough stone neatly
Joined without mortar. and resembles
somewhat the facade of ''The House of
the Surgeon" which is admittedly of Os-
can architecture though the stones are
larger and not so smoothly faced. This
section of the excavations being exhausted
the director determined to excavate the
small corner near the Sea Gate, (which
was the only unexcavated spot in that part
of the city. Experts had long been anx-
ious to see what lay buried there, for there
was a portion OF very large and hand
some red marble pillar which had long
been above ground, and had given rise to
sundry conjectures.
On removing the soil the site was found
to be occupied by the foundations OF tenn
| pie which was in course of construction
at the time OF the destruction of the city
| in 19 A. ID. This is particularly interesting,
because it was supposed that all the sa-
cred edifces of the city had been discover
ed long ago, no important deity being
without a representative temple; but, un-
fortunately there is nothing in the rudi-
ments OF the temple before us to indicate
to whom it was to be dedicated on its COM
pletion 1t is evident that though very
small, it was intended to rival in its dec
Grafton any temple which existed in the
city, and though it had scarcely risen
above the ground level the marble archi
traves, carved with the usual egg and
tooth molding, are lying around it ready
to be put up, and the Corinthian capitals,
some finished and others only partly exc
cuted, are displayed in the inclosure, as
well as the base of pillar upon which the
mason was at work at the time of the
catastrophe which overwhelmed the city,
The tool marks Of this base are clearly
perceptible. and look as if the workman
had only just left his task
AS to the handsome red marble pillar
| to which we have alluded, it is reasonable
! to conjecture that it was the base for the
statue of the god, as it is about four feet
long, and the only piece of colored marble
found ON the site. The partly executed
/ capitals are extremely interesting, as
{ showing the methods of the Roman artist
WHO was tuSdSStl upOu Nliit IHO5e
that are complete are very good specimens
indeed, considering that they belong to an
age of decline.
| II Pompei itself has not been produc-
tive of sensation this year. small eXcava-
( tion on private ground only few yards
outside the walls has more than made up
! for this by revealing one of the finest and
most interesting mosaics of antiquity.
Surrounded by most exquisite garden OF
l unxu ,Vit thpa ~,
here and there TO break the pattern. is a
picture representing a group of seven
philosophers, one of whom is seated with a
papyrus in his hand, and the others are
! grouped around listening to him. In the
background are some ruined pillars, and
/ in the right hand upper corner is repre-
| sentation of the Areopagus OF Athens,
/ with its rocks and buildings.
! The mosaic is polychrome and in diminu-
/ tive cubes of very fine workmanship, equal
! in merit to those by Dioscorides of Samos
! in the Naples museum, which are believed