BASILICA - POMPEII

This is the oldest existing Basilica, dating back to the 2nd century B.C. The seat of the law courts was here and commercial and financial transactions also took place. After a portico comes the main entrance, which opened on the forum and, differently from the majority of basilicas, is located on one of the building’s short sides. The tribunal, part of the Basilica where the law-courts were, was on the short side, opposite the entrance, and consisted in a two meter high podium on top of which were six Corinthian columns. There are no stairs to the podium, this suggests that it could only be reached through wooden stairs, which could be removed in order to separate the judges from the rest of the people. Another hypothesis is that the podium was simply a sacellum for religious statues. The 28 Columns of the portico are made of cut tiles. Judging from their diameter they must have been at least eleven meters tall. They probably supported the big beams of the roof, although some believe the central nave of the building was open to the sky. The walls are decorated with panels of painted stucco. The Basilica had two other entrances on the long sides, one looking south and one north on Via Marina.

 

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The name of the temple derives from its original function in the Samnite period. Following the town’s colonisation, the temple became a Capitolium, a temple dedicated to the capitoline triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, in accordance with the religious tradition of Rome which required the centre of every town to have a temple dedicated to the most important gods on Mount Olympus. With its dominant position in the Forum and lofty Mount Vesuvius looming ominously behind it, the Temple of Jupiter is emblematic image of the destruction of Pompeii. The Temple stands on an Italic podium measuring about 17 metres along the front by 37 metres down the sides and has rows of st ... continue

(Apic. 4, 2, 25) Ingredients:

• 500 g scallion
• Liquamen (o 1 tblsp soya sauce + 1 tblsp anchovy paste)
• 3 tblsp oil
• 1/2 glass water
• 2-5 fillets smoked herrings
• 2 tblsp honey
• 2 tblsp red wine (like dry Marsala)
• Savory

Instructions:
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Clean the scallion. Put in a pan Liquamen, oil and water; mesh and warm. Cut in a half and dispose it in a pyrex-dish. After boiling, add smoked herrings, cut in fillets, between the scallion. Do not mesh, but only shake and tilt the pan. Melt honey in wine and pour on s ... 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.