. Pompeii : its life and art . , in the upper part of the side walls a section of wall con-taining a window alternated with a short series of columns inwhich the columns, for the sake of greater solidity, were settwice as close as the half-columns in the lower division of thewall, the intercolumniations being left entirely open (Fig. 25);over the entrances at the front the wall was continuous but was THE BASILICA 75 divided into sections by half-columns corresponding with thecolumns below, a window being placed between every two half-columns in order to conceal the difference in width between
. Pompeii : its life and art . , in the upper part of the side walls a section of wall con-taining a window alternated with a short series of columns inwhich the columns, for the sake of greater solidity, were settwice as close as the half-columns in the lower division of thewall, the intercolumniations being left entirely open (Fig. 25);over the entrances at the front the wall was continuous but was THE BASILICA 75 divided into sections by half-columns corresponding with thecolumns below, a window being placed between every two half-columns in order to conceal the difference in width between thesections of wall at the front and those at the sides. The arrange-ment was similar at the rear, on either side of the tribunal, asmay be seen from the section (Fig. 27). With this restoration of the outer walls completed we are ableto form a clear idea of the appearance of the main hall. Whetheror not the rafters could be seen from below is uncertain, but theprobability is that, as assumed in our restoration (Fig. 26), they. Fig. 25.— Exterior of the Basilica, restored. were hidden by a coffered ceiling. The simple and beautifulinterior abounded in fine spatial effects. The corridor and mainroom were almost as high as the main room was wide, thatis between 35 and 40 feet. The light streaming in throughthe openings in the upper portion of the walls was evenlydistributed throughout the hall; we may assume that whenthe sun became too hot on the south side it could be shut outby curtains. In our Basilica, then, we notice a wide divergence from theideal or normal plan. Instead of a clerestory above the mainhall a proportionally greater height is given to the normal height of a basilica corridor is represented by the 76 POMPEII lower division of the walls with the attached half-columns andtheir entablature; this, however, is here treated simply as alower member, and upon it, rather than upon the entablatureof the columns about the main hall, was placed an upperdivis
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyorkmacmillan
