. Pompeii : its life and art . ortfor an upper gallery; elsewhere in pre-Roman Pompeii moreslender proportions are preferred, even for the Doric shaft is well shaped, with a moderate swelling {entasis).Only the upper part is fluted ; as the sharp edges of the flutingsnear the bottom might easily be marred, the divisions of the sur-face on the lower third of the shaft were left flat. THE FORUM 5i The architrave is relatively low, the result of an interestingpeculiarity in the method of construction. Blocks of tufa longenough to span the intercolumniations were too weak to sustainthe w
. Pompeii : its life and art . ortfor an upper gallery; elsewhere in pre-Roman Pompeii moreslender proportions are preferred, even for the Doric shaft is well shaped, with a moderate swelling {entasis).Only the upper part is fluted ; as the sharp edges of the flutingsnear the bottom might easily be marred, the divisions of the sur-face on the lower third of the shaft were left flat. THE FORUM 5i The architrave is relatively low, the result of an interestingpeculiarity in the method of construction. Blocks of tufa longenough to span the intercolumniations were too weak to sustainthe weight of the rest of the entablature. To meet this diffi-culty a line of thick planks was placed in old Italic fashion abovethe capitals of the columns, and on these were laid short tufablocks. Thus in our illustration (Fig. 14), while the upper ofthe two bands of the architrave is seen to be of stone, the lowershows the modern timber supplied in the place of the the planks were in reality no thicker than has been. Fig. 14.— Remnant of the colonnade of Popidius, at the south end of the Forum. assumed in the reconstruction is proved beyond question by thelater colonnade on the west side, which, although entirely ofstone, corresponds throughout in its proportions with the olderone ; the architrave is equally narrow, and is likewise dividedinto two parts. This explanation is curiously confirmed by an architecturalpainting on the garden wall of one of the finest houses of theTufa Period, the house of the Faun. Here we find pilastersand entablature, except the architrave, painted white ; but the 5 2 POMPEII architrave is painted in two bands, of which the lower is yellow,as if to represent wood. Nothing would have been easier than toleave the architrave, moulded in stucco, of one color as if it wereall of one material; but special effort was made apparently toindicate the appearance of a lower division of timber. Fromthis we may infer that in actual construction no pa
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