Pompeii - Cultural Buildings
Located in Campagnia Tourist town especially for the rich but also a commercial town close to the sea Its sister city was Herculean.
It had a history that predated the Roman influence.
It goes back to the 8th C BC (iron age). It was run by a tribe Oskins and then a more powerful tribe the samnites - important for the city of Pompeii nad architecture their influence can be felt almost to the 1c BC. It fell to the Romans in 89 BC by Solar. The Samnite were thrown out of their homes and given to the Roman veterans
In the next 150 years saw the buildings of Pompeii's most famous buildings. Their was a lot of tradings wit a Greek town (modern day Naples)
In 62 AD there was a volcano eruption which was memorialized by many prominent people of Pompeii - friezes etc
They remade their city after that there was 17 tears of frenzied building to bring it back to its splendor. August 24th (disagreement over the date) AD 79 the dormant volcano of Vesuvius erupted and covered Pompeii and its sister cities. It was rediscovered in the 18th C. WEell to do art ? - cut paintings out , jewelry etc. Not long after that the plundering was stopped and the archaeologists took over excavating the city. A great tragedy for Titus who died three years later.
A Plan of the City in AD79
The shape is an irregular rectangle ad protected by a wall. The original Samnite city takes by the bottom left quadrant. We can see that they built northwards and westwards and the center of the city as it were is based around the old Samnite city (e.g. The Forum)
The Forum
Basilica Colonnade Rectangular [[character::Zeus::JupiterProperty "Architecture" (as page type) with input value "Colonnade</br>Rectangular</br>[[character::Zeus::Jupiter" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process. pushed up against a short wall Colonnade is two stories. Doric was chosen for the first story and Ionic - white limestone - Roman not Samnite. Large Bases around the colonnade. These would have supported great statutes. - Benefactors, politicians, military
Temple of Jupiter or Capitolium 150 BC - This triple cellar Jupiter, Juno and Minerva was added in 80 BC. Etruscan temple design with Greek elevation. Built from Tupor (stone)
Basilica 120 BC Splayed off the left bottom side of the forum. A rectangular space. Columns inside - organized axially as a focus it being the Tribunal where the judge would sit on a tall podium. In those days it had a roof. Corinthian order on the bottom and top story. The rest of Basilica had two stories of Ionic and Corinthian columns. This building did not have a clerestory and would consequentially quite dark.
Amphitheatre and something of the mysteries
The Amphitheatre was started almost immediately after the Roman capture of the city (270 BC) All the great stone amphitheatres are based on this design.
It is an oval shape. First, they excavated the center space and used the earth to build up the seats of the theaters and then built stone seats on top. Exits and entrances are called Vomitoria. The outer circle is encased in concrete. The facade is extremely well preserved. There are stairs leading up two sides leading to an apex. Blind Arcades - you cannot walk through. Walk in to the amphitheater by going up the stairs. No other stair case like it Roman architecture.
