TEMPLE OF THE PUBLIC LARES - POMPEII

This temple was built after the earthquake of 62 A.D. and was dedicated to Pompeii’s tutelary gods as an act of expiation for the calamity the town had suffered. Although it had not been completed at the moment of the eruption, what remain suggests that its architecture was quite unusual. It was completely open on the side looking onto the Forum and could be reached through a portico adjoining the colonnade on the Forum, the bases of which are still visible. The temple had no roof and was floored with coloured marble arranged in a geometrical design. In the centre stood an altar, of which few remains can now be seen. In the rear wall a niche probably housed three statues of the town’s gods. On either side of the entrance were two alcoves with inset niches where the statues of other Lares undoubtedly stood.

 

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In the north-eastern corner of the Forum stood the covered market where the townspeople could buy the food they needed. Built during the Augustan age, its main entrances in the Forum and Via degli Augustali were lined with shops. It originally had a secondary entrance on Vico del Balcone Pensile which was later closed off when the Temple of the Public Lares was built. The entrance under the colonnade in the Forum was divided into two gateways by a votive aedicule and led into the open space which was originally surrounded by a portico. A number of shops opened out onto the right-hand side of Macellum while the rear wall was divided in three areas. The central room acte ... continue

(Apic. ) Ingredients:

• 1 fresh chicken (approx. 1-1.5 kg)
• 300 g minced meat (half beef, half pork)
• 100 g groats (of oat)
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml white wine
• 1 tblsp oil
• 1 tblsp privet
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp green peppercorns
• 50 g stone-pine kernels
• Liquamen or salt to taste

Instructions:
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Mesh ground pepper, privet, ginger, minced meat and cooked groats. Add eggs and mix until you have a smooth mass. Season with Liquamen, add oi ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.