Of the government of Pompeii in the earliest times, before the Samnite conquest, nothing is known. The names of various magistrates in the Samnite period, however, particularly the period of alliance with Rome (290-90 B.C.), are learned from inscriptions. Mention is made of a chief administrative officer (_mediss_, _mediss tovtiks_); of quaestors, who, probably, like the quaestors in Rome, were charged with the financial administration and let the contracts for public buildings; and of aediles, to whom, no doubt, was intrusted the care of streets and buildings, together with the policing of the markets. The Latin names of the last two officials suggest that their offices were introduced after 290. There was also an assembly called _kombenniom_, with which we may compare the Latin _conventus_; but whether it was an assembly of the people or a city council cannot now be determined. [Illustration: Fig. 4.--Venus Pompeiana. From a wall painting.] After the establishment of the Roman colony, Pompeii was named _Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum_, from the gentile name of the Dictator Sulla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix) and from the goddess to whom he paid special honor, who now, as Venus Pompeiana, became the tutelary divinity of the city. This goddess is represented in wall paintings. In that from which our illustration is taken (Fig. 4), she appears in a blue mantle studded with golden stars, and wears a crown set with green stones. Her left hand, which holds a sceptre, rests upon a rudder; in her right is a twig of olive. A Cupid stands upon a pedestal beside her, holding up a mirror.