The colonnade about the court was built of tufa, and coated with white
stucco. It presents an odd mixture of styles, of which other examples
also are found at Pompeii; a Doric entablature with triglyphs was
placed upon Ionic columns having the four-sided capital known as Roman
Ionic. Here, as in the earlier colonnade about the Forum, the stone
blocks of the entablature were set upon beams; and in the blocks now
in place we may see the sockets made to receive the ends of the joists
of the second story floor. Evidently with the purpose of supporting
this second story, which was probably of the Corinthian order, the
Ionic columns below were made relatively short. No remains of an
upper gallery, however, have been found; and it is quite possible that
when the colonnade was restored, after the earthquake, the second
story was omitted. The upper floor could be reached from the second
story of the small colonnade north of the court, which was accessible
by means of a stairway leading from the Forum.
[Illustration: Fig. 30.--View of the temple of Apollo, looking toward
Vesuvius. At the left of the steps, the column on which was the
sundial; in front of the steps, the altar.]
When the restoration of the temple and its colonnade was undertaken,
the feeling for the pure and simple forms of the Greek architecture
was no longer present; the prevailing taste demanded gay and fantastic
designs, with the use of brilliant colors. The Pompeians improved the
opportunity afforded by the rebuilding to make the temple and its
colonnade conform to the taste of the times.
First the projecting portions of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals
were cut off; then shaft and capital alike were covered with a thick
layer of stucco. New capitals were moulded in the stucco, of a shape
in general resembling the Corinthian, and were painted in red, blue,
and yellow; the lower part of the shaft, unfluted, was also painted
yellow. The entablature, at least in the case of the colonnade, was in
like manner covered with stucco and ornamented with reliefs in the
same colors. All this gaudy stucco has now fallen off; and our
illustration (Fig. 31) is taken from Mazois, who made the drawing soon
after the court was excavated. The later capitals and stucco
ornamentation of the temple itself had wholly disappeared before the
excavations were made.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Section of the entablature of the temple of
Apollo, showing the original form and the restoration after the
earthquake.]
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