The forum at Pompeii was the centre of the life and movement of the city. Hence it was surrounded on all sides by public build ings or edifices of a commanding character. It was not, however, of large size, only 467 ft. in length by 126 in breadth (excluding the colonnades). The nature of its pavement, composed of broad flags of travertine, into which was let an inscription in large bronze letters, shows that it was only intended for foot-passengers. It was adorned with numerous statues. It was surrounded on three sides by a series of porticos supported on columns; and these porticos were originally surmounted by an upper storey, traces of the staircases leading to which still remain. Both this portico and the adjacent buildings were undergoing a process of restoration after the earthquake of 63, involving material changes in the original arrangements, which was still incomplete at the time of their final destruction. The north end of the forum, where alone the portico is wanting, is occupied in great part by the imposing temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, or Capitolium. It was raised on a podium I o ft. high, and had a portico with six Corinthian columns in front. This magnificent edifice had, how ever, been evidently overthrown by the earthquake of 63, and is in its present condition a mere ruin, the rebuilding of which had not been begun at the time of the eruption. On each side of it were two arches, affording an entrance into the forum, but capable of being closed by gates. On the east side of the forum were four public edifices. The first (from the north), is a macellum or meat market, consisting of a rectangular court surrounded by a colon nade, with a twelve-sided roofed building (tholes) in the centre. On the south side were shops, and in the centre of the east side a chapel for the worship of the imperial house. Next to this comes the sanctuary of the Lares of the city, a square room with a large apse; and beyond this a small temple. Beyond this again, bounded on the south by the Strada dell' Abbondanza, is a large and spacious cloth-exchange, erected by a priestess named Eumachia. It is an open court, oblong, surrounded on all four sides by a colonnade ; in front is a portico facing the forum, and on the other three sides there is a corridor behind the colonnade with windows opening on it. On the south side of the Strada dell' Abbondanza was the Comitium. At the south end of the forum are three halls side by side, similar in plan with a common façade —the central one, the curia or council chamber, the others the offices respectively of the duumvirs and aediles, the principal officials of the city; while the greater part of the west side is occupied by two large buildings—a basilica, which is the largest edifice in Pompeii, and the temple of Apollo, which presents its side to the forum. The former, a building of the 2nd cent. B.C., was an oblong edifice divided by columns into a central hall and a corridor running round all the four sides with a tribunal opposite the main entrance; and, unlike the usual basilicae, it had, instead of a clerestory, openings in the walls of the corridor through which light was admitted, it being almost as lofty as the nave. The temple was an extensive edifice, having a comparatively small cella, raised upon a podium, and standing in the midst of a wide space surrounded by a portico of columns, outside which again is a wall, bounding the sacred enclosure. Between this temple and the basilica the Via Marina leads off direct to the Porta Marina.
The remains of five other temples have been discovered. The most interesting, though the least perfect, is not only by far the most ancient edifice in Pompeii, but a true Greek temple (6th century B.c.). Unfortunately only the foundation and a few Doric capitals and other architectural fragments remain; they were coated with brightly painted stucco. The reverence attached
to it in later periods is shown by its being left standing in the midst of a triangular space adjoining the great theatre, which is surrounded by a portico, so as to constitute a kind of forum (the so-called Foro Triangolare). Not far off, and to the north of the great theatre, stood a small temple, dedicated to Isis, rebuilt after the ruinous earthquake of 63. It is interesting as the only temple of Isis that has come down to us in a good state of pre servation. The decorations were of somewhat gaudy stucco. The plan is curious, the internal arrangements being adapted for the performance of the peculiar rites of this deity. Close to this was the small temple of Zeus Milichius. The temple of the Fortune of Augustus (Fortuna Augusta), which stood north of the Forum, suffered very severely from the earthquake, but we learn from existing remains that its walls were covered with slabs of marble, and that the columns of the portico were of the same material. The fifth temple, that of Venus Pompeiana, to the west of the basilica, was in process of rebuilding at the time of the eruption. Before the earthquake of 63 it must have been the largest temple of the whole city. It was surrounded by a large colonnade, and the number of marble columns in the whole block has been reckoned at 296. Venus was the protectress of the young men of Pompeii, who had formed a society for gymnastics and other sports. They met in a hall (the Schola Iuventutis Pompeianae) in the Strada dell' Abbondanza.
All the temples above described, except that ascribed to Her cules, which was approached by steps on all four sides, agree in being raised on an elevated podium or basement—an arrange ment usual with all similar buildings of Roman date. Among the other public buildings, the most conspicuous are the theatres, of which there were two, placed, as was usual in Greek towns, in close juxtaposition with one another. The largest of these, which was partly excavated in the side of the hill, was in great part cased with marble, with seats of the same material for about 5,00o spec tators. It was erected in Roman times by two members of the same family, M. Holconius Rufus and M. Holconius Celer, both of whom held important municipal offices at Pompeii during the reign of Augustus. Their work was only a reconstruction of a more ancient edifice (probably 5th cent. B.e.), while its first alteration belongs to the "tufa" period, and three other periods in its history can be traced. The smaller theatre (for 1,500 spec tators) was erected by two magistrates specially appointed for the purpose by the decuriones of the city, soon after the estab lishment of the Roman colony under Sulla. It was permanently covered.
Adjoining the theatres is a large rectangular enclosure, sur rounded by a portico, at first the colonnade connected with the theatreg, and converted, about the time of Nero, into the barracks of the gladiators. Remains of armour and weapons were found in some of the rooms, and in one, traces of the stocks used to con fine insubordinate gladiators with three skeletons in them (63 were found in the whole building). The amphitheatre was erected by the same two magistrates who built the smaller theatre, C. Quinctius Valgus and M. Porcius when no permanent edifice of a similar kind had yet been erected in Rome itself, and is indeed the oldest structure of the kind known to us. It is in great part ex cavated in the surface of the hill, instead of the seats being raised on arches. Nor are its dimensions (460 by 345 ft.) such as to place it in the first rank, nor are there any underground chambers below the arena. The seating capacity was about 20,000 (for illus tration see AMPHITHEATRE).