PON! PEII, or Ponzteiwn, an ancient city of Naples, is said to have derived its name from the triumphant pomp in which Hercules led his captives along the coast after he conquered Spain. It %%as partly destroyed by an earth quake in A. D. 63, and afterwards rebuilt ; but in A. D. 79, it was completely buried by another eruption from Mount Vesuvius, and the same one which destroyed Herculane um.
Till the middle of the 18th century the very name of the town had been almost forgotten ; but a spirit of re search having been at that time excited respecting Hercu laneum and Pompeii, great and curious discoveries have been made respecting both these ancient towns.
As Pompeii seems to have been destroyed by a shower of ashes, the excavations were more easily effected than at Herculaneum, which was covered with lava, and con sequently a greater progress has been made in clearing out the public buildings.
On entering the city, the attention of the traveller is first arrested by the remains of ancient barracks, which had been the quarters of a legion of Roman soldiers. Be hind these barracks are two theatres, one small, and sup posed to have been covered, and the other large ; but both of them were lined with marble, finely paved, and every way highly finished. They were nearly entire when they were first discovered ; hut though all their decorations have been removed, they still retain their characteristic features. Their form is exactly the same as that of the Teatro Olim pico of Palladio at Verona, having, like that theatre, a narrower proscenium and three entrances of different sizes from the scenery behind to the stage.
A temple of Isis stands behind the little theatre, and oc cupies an angular space between two streets. Various statues of Venus, Priapus, &c. were found in niches of this temple; but they have been transported, along with furniture, marble, and pictures, to Portici.
Behind this temple, and on one side of it, is a court surrounded with a portico, and supported with sixteen Doric columns. A sort of pulpit which exists on one side of it has given rise to the opinion that it had been the place of meeting of some public assemby. There is also
here another court, with a similar portico, surmounted by more than 60 stone pillars of the Doric order, but border ing, in their proportion, on the Tuscan. This court com municates with the grand portico of the theatre; and near it are strewed several fragments of columns of a much larger size, and of a much bolder proportion, which may perhaps have belonged to the temple of Neptune, and may have been thrown into their present situation by the earth quake of A. D. 63. The street, which extends from the neighbourhood of the soldiers' barracks, is only about thirteen feet wide. It is paved with large stones, which are not of a square shape, hut are fitted to each other in their original form. On each side are foot pavements nearly three feet wide, and elevated two feet above the middle pavement, which is marked by two deep ents or furrows, which prove that the carriages always kept the same line, and that there was not room for two.
On both sides of the street the houses stand quite in contact with each other, as in modern times. They are nearly of the same height and dimensions, being similarly paved and painted. They seem also to have had shops of different kinds. The houses, which are all on a small scale, consist generally of one, but sometimes of two sto ries. The principal apartments are always behind, sur rounding a court, with a small piazza about it, and having a cistern of marble in its centre.
An edifice, supposed to be the house of Sallust, has an unusually showy appearance. The rooms are painted with the figures of gods and goddesses, and the floors decorated with marbles and mosaic pavements. In another house, which is large, but less sumptuous in its ornaments, many of the domestic utensils have been preserved, and the kitchen and the offices are under ground. Two houses had glass windows; but in others shutters only were used. The decorations are principally basso relievos in stucco, and paintings in medallions.