TEMPLE OF THE PUBLIC LARES - POMPEII

This temple was built after the earthquake of 62 A.D. and was dedicated to Pompeii’s tutelary gods as an act of expiation for the calamity the town had suffered. Although it had not been completed at the moment of the eruption, what remain suggests that its architecture was quite unusual. It was completely open on the side looking onto the Forum and could be reached through a portico adjoining the colonnade on the Forum, the bases of which are still visible. The temple had no roof and was floored with coloured marble arranged in a geometrical design. In the centre stood an altar, of which few remains can now be seen. In the rear wall a niche probably housed three statues of the town’s gods. On either side of the entrance were two alcoves with inset niches where the statues of other Lares undoubtedly stood.

 

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We know for certain that this temple was consecrated to Apollo thanks to the dedication in Oscan by quaestor Oppius Campanus that was found in the cell. One enters the scared area from Via Marina through a tuff portal from the Samnite period. Interestingly, the view of this sacred building is blocked by the central column of the portico’s short side, which suggests that the main entrance was once directly from the Forum. This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact the main facade of the altar at the bottom of the temple steps faces the Forum. The sacred area is surrounded by a portico with 48 Doric columns, in the centre of which, on a podium in the Italic style, is the a ... continue

(Apic. 9,10 ,10) Ingredients:

• 250 gr. mixed livers (chicken, hare, lamb)
• ½ tsp ground pepper
• Salt
• Oil

Instructions:
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Cook the mixed livers in a little bit of water or broth. Drip and whip, adding pepper, salt and oil until You obtain the desired thickness. Press into an oily fish-shape mould. If it should be preserved for a long while, cook in oven, 110°C, for 30 minutes. Keep in the fridge. Sprinkle with virgin oil before serve.

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.