TEMPLE OF FORTUNA AUGUSTA - POMPEII

Leaving the Forum now and heading along Via del Foro to the corner of Via della Fortuna, we find the Temple of Fortuna Augusta built at the expense of Marcus Tullius, a relative of the famous orator Cicero. This benefactor, an eminent citizen of Pompeii and twice Duumvir in the Augustan age, even went so far as to create the position of minister of the cult. The temple consequently acquired a political connotation, which was spread through the diffusion of the imperial cult. Hence whenever a new emperor succeeded to the throne, the ministers immediately had a statue build and placed in the temple along with a stone slab to commemorate the event. This fairly small building, which was destroyed during the earthquake of 62 A.D. and was never fully rebuilt, had the same architectural layout as the Temple of Jupiter in the Forum. The cella was situated on a high podium and could be reached via a staircase containing a platform on which the altar stood. A niche on the rear wall of the cella housed the statue of Fortuna Augusta while honorary statues were placed in the four side niches.

 

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On Via della Fortuna, a short distance from the House of the Faun heading towards the Porta di Nola gate, we find a house named after the large and evocative fresco on the garden wall depicting a mountain landscape where an ancient hunt for wild beasts is in progress. It is a house of Samnite origin and contains some fine example of fourth style decoration. Personifications of autumn and winter are depicting on the walls of the second cubiculum on the right portray mythological subjects. On the left we can see Leda and the Swan, portrayed amid medallion with the busts of Jupiter and Diana and, on the right, Venus fishing between Mercury and Apollo. In the tablinum w ... continue

(Apic. 6, 1, 1) Ingredients:

• Ostrich meat (or small guinea fowl)
• Pepper
• Mint
• Cumin
• Fennel seeds
• 100 g stoned dates
• 1 tbsp honey
• 30 ml vinegar
• 30 ml passum (or passito wine)
• Liquamen ( or 2 tsp anchovy paste)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp starch

Instructions:
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Put the ostrich meat into a large stock pot, cover with water and simmer gently for 2½ hours until thoroughly cooked. Drain the bird and dry well. Grind the spices in a pestle and mortar. Add the ... 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.