TEMPLE OF ISIS - POMPEII

Just behind the Large Theatre there’s the Temple of Isis with its entrance in the street of the same name. Originally dating from between the late 2nd and early 1st centuries B.C., it was totally rebuilt after the earthquake of 62 A.D. at the expense of an ex slave who had since made his fortune. The cult of Isis became fairly wide spread during the Hellenistic era due to the religious links the Greeks had with Egypt and the Orient, and it had a particularly large following in Pompeii as the town has strong trading ties with the East. The temple stands on a tall podium situated in the centre of a porticoed courtyard. The cella, which is greater in width than in length and can be reached by means of stone stairway to one side, is situated behind a portico with four columns to the front and two niches for the statues of divinities from the cult of Isis. Behind the temple there is a large meeting room which was probably used during preparation for the rites. Excavation work between the entrance columns unearthed a marble hand, a golden goblet, a statuette, two bronze candlesticks, and two human skulls, which were probably used in cult rituals. To the sides of the room there are two other rooms which were obviously connected with the cult as four wooden statues with marble heads, hands and feet were found in one of them. In front of the temple in the left-hand corner of the portico we find a room that was designated for purification ceremonies where water from the river Nile was kept in containers in the basement underneath. The main altar is situated between the temple and the purgatorium, while the others are generally located between the columns. All the finds from the temple as well as the decorations removed from the walls are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

 

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This building is situated along the west side of the Civic Forum to the north of the Temple of Apollo. An open portico, it faces on the Forum square and on the façade has eight large piers in brick which frame eight entrances. It was to house the warehouses and the grain market, but it had not yet been finished when the eruption of 79 A.D. struck. The internal walls are of rough masonry with no trace of intonaco and the roof had not yet been built. At present covered by a modern shed roof and closed by a gate, the portico is used as the storeroom for the archaeological finds. It contains a large quantity of amphoras and pottery of daily use, oil presses, capitals an ... continue

(Apic. 6, 2, 1) Ingredients:

• 1 large duck
• 1 l water
• bunch of dill
• Olive oil (or 50 g butter)
• Liquamen (or, in this case, duck stock)
• 2 sprigs of oregano finely chopped
• bunch of coriander
• 100 ml defritum (or red wine boiled)
• large pinch of black peppercorns
• large pinch of lovage (or celery seed)
• large pinch of cumin
• large pinch of coriander seeds
• 1 laser root (or garlic)
• Sprig of rue (or rosemary)
• Caroenum (wine reduced of 1/3 plus honey)
• Honey ... 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.