“STREET OF ABUNDANCE.”

Shannon News, 8 June 1923, Page 2

“STREET OF ABUNDANCE.”

IN RUINS OF POMPEII. BAR FOR HOT DRINKS FOUND Professor Aurigemma, wlio has supervised the excsavatin,g of a section of the “ Street of Abundance ” Pompeii, says quite a different light has been thrown on the life of the ancient inhabitants who were overwhelmed by an eruption of Vesuvius A.D.79. Excavating has been done with the utmost care, horizontally, by strata, so that not a single piece of stone, bnek, or cement belonging to the houses has been lost, and everything has been.doft in its proper place. VERANDAH ROOFS.

It has been discovered that the Pompeiian houses had balconies, pergolas, covered terraces with colonnades, or, in place of these, overhanging roofs over the street. This gave the pavement protection against the rain in winter and the sun in the summer and protected the entrance of the various shops, of whidh there are several in this section of the street. Life in ancient Pompeii must have been very similar to present-day life in Naples. Small statuettes and house hold articles are being placed exactly where they were found. Some of the house doors were left half open during the flight of the inhabitants, and others were bent by the weight of the ashes and pumice stone. The shop of a dealer, in drinks (a Pompeiian “bar”) is practically intact and the various urns, glasses, and other vessels are laid on the bench ready for use while at the end of the Bench Itself is a cauldron where the drinks were kept hot. A goldsmith’s house is remarkable with several beautiful rooms, one with wonderfully artistic frescoes of mythological subjects. There also is another house with a delicious little garden, in 'the middle of which a fountain still murmurs, the .water having again been allowed to run in the ancient pipes, which were found intact. VINES AND AQUARIUM. A very large villa has been discovered. It has a beautiful aquarium, with a fountain and a little cascade, the water passing through the mouth of a mask which is held by a deliciously sculptured marble child. The aquarium is surrounded by columns which support a pergola, and vines have been planted so that next autumn that part of the villa will look as if it never had suffered from destruction. In the same villa there is a room with frescoes representing the first and second war of Troy. There is also another wonderful little room thought to be the women's which has a lovely ceiling and beautiful frescoes on the walls. This room has two windows looking into the garden. Shutters made on Pompeiian models, have been fitted to the windows.

The armamentarium, or watchhouse, of the municipal militia has also been discovered. It consists of a large room opening upon the street. Outside it are two paintings of trophies, a naval one with an anchor on the left, while on the right there is a military trophy, the main feature in it being the painting of a Britannic warchariot, an “ essedum.” It is probable that the trophy was painted at the time of Julius Caesar.

Still another house has a beautiful subterranean apartment with a ceiling in bas-relief. Five corpses have been found near the windows in this house and casts have been taken which show the fate they met with. Immediately on the left of the entrance to the new excavations there is a fuller’s establishment. Two skeletons were found near an open strong box containing about 500 coins. Another shop is that of a manufacturer of felt.

The painting of Mercury recurs frequently in the street and the houses, so that there is little doubt that it was inhabited mostly by commercial people. There, also, is the shop of a dealer in bronze utensils and household articles.