Excavations in Pompeii as Beginning of Modern Archeology

The ruins of Pompeii couldn’t be found until the architect Domenico Fontana discovered them in the 16th century. Excavations had begun in 1748 and those works were evaluated as the beginning of modern archeology in the mid-18th century. In the light of those excavations, the public buildings are mostly found in three parts of Pompeii: the Forum, the Triangular Forum and the Amphitheatre and Palaestra. The Forum was where the city’s urban life is spent, and the religious and the economic activities are held. Also, it is the part where one of the earliest temples in the city was located, the Temple of Apollo. Interestingly, during the 19th century the Temple of Apollo was called the Temple of Venus, due to misreading of inscriptions. However, this was corrected when the correspondence of ‘Apollo’ was discovered in the Oscan language. The Temple of Apollo was built in 120 BC and it was evaluated as the most important religious structure at those times. This temple was located on a high podium which embraced the Greek and Italic architectural structures and it consisted of 48 Ionic columns with a peripteros. According to the Oppis Campanus’s findings in Oscan, this temple is dedicated and named after the Greek and Roman god Apollo. The ancient Roman was polytheistic and hence there were lots of gods and goddesses that worshipped and it is believed that some of those gods and goddesses lived in the temples. On the other hand, the ancient Roman religion also adopted the idea of ‘reciprocity’ which requires taking care of gods and goddesses, sacrifice and some rituals in return for the care and protection of the gods. Further than this, Peter Chrisp argues that the Romans also believed that if the number of the gods they’ve been protecting would increase, they would be much more powerful. In that respect, dedicating temples in the name of gods can be plausibly linked to these beliefs. On the other hand, ‘the cult of Apollo’ in Campania, that was influenced by the Greek culture, was very common and the such findings in this area verifies its existence in Pompeii till the 6th century BC.

The location of the Temple of Apollo is referred to as ‘strategic’ since it is on the path of the Marina Gate that ends up in the ‘heart of the city’. Bearing the traces of Neronian renovation, the temple had been entirely renovated during the third and the second century BC. The temple is enclosed with a portico-style area which consists of an altar at the middle of a courtyard. Temple was connected to the Forum with a terrace, that might be possibly located in the monumental columns at the eastern wall’s doors. Also, gladiatorial games and festivals in the honor of gods were performed here.

There were several excavation studies in the Temple of Apollo, mainly in 1816-1817; 1931-1932; 1942- 1943; 1997; 2015.

The excavation in 1817 reports that the portico, which is a porch for entrance, of the temple consisted of paintings of the Trojan War. Those paintings called many of the visitors' attention and raised the significance of the temple in that present. However, neither of those paintings could survive today due to the failure of protection but the diminish of them praised an awareness for the protection of the following findings. Today, those paintings of the Trojan War can be found in the William Gell’s hand-drawings. Also today, Professor Anton von Steinbüchel von Rheinwall’s paintings were referred as the main source of the paintings in the Temple of Apollo. In that respect also the Atlas contains the illustrations of those decorative paintings. Later, those illustrations are also used in scientific and systematic analysis of the ruins of the Temple of Apollo by François Mazois, who is called in the 19th century as the most important illustrator of Pompeii.

On the other hand, during the 1817 excavations, the statue of Diana has found the north-east side of the Temple. The statue has unearthed in three major pieces then, and in the following year its missing parts (right foot, right hand, and parts of the left hand) also found three hundred meters away from the spot where the main parts were found. Also, in June 1817, the three major parts of the statue of Apollo were found at the northern side of the Forum. In the following year, its missing parts were found in the nearby northern city wall, however its bow and arrow have never found (which is also three hundred meters away from where the major parts were found). Although the statue of Apollo was found nearby of the Temple of Jupiter, the structure and the bronze materials are evaluated as similar; and this similarity was put forward as an evidence of their association with the Temple of Apollo. Also, the position of those statutes (in act of shooting), linked with the Greek and Roman art, the Death of the Niobid; and finding the both statue in pieces linked with the volcanic eruptions and the earthquakes.

The most important excavations for the Apollo temple were carried out in July 1998. Excavations in the garden in front of the temple were of great importance because garden archeology was used in depth to better understand this area. Generally, the temple and its surrounding excavations focused on the complex structure of the buildings, architecture and landscaping. Of course, it was a very difficult task to be able to excavate in this region at first because volcanic remains had to be cleaned and while doing this, it was necessary not to damage the sanctuary. It was not a great resource for garden ruins in the eastern part of the area, but it was important. In general, the trenches were tried to be opened in a way that would cause the least damage to the region. During the garden excavations there was a very thick layer of ash under the grass surface. Many finds including the period when the temple was built and the periods after that were found. The mobility in the area made it difficult for the work to proceed, so large trenches had to be opened.

“The main courtyard area underneath the grass surface was layer 1, a layer 25 cm thick of ashy soil that contained not only ancient finds of varying dates, including Attic red-figure pottery, black-glazed Campana ware, and Italian sigillata, but also modern debris”.

In the western part of the area, there was an area that had not been researched before. Unfortunately, many remains were damaged in this region as a result of volcanic eruptions. The foundation excavation, which was carried out in 1817 and called the foundation excavation, revealed the foundation Roman building debris. This debris was examined with a substance called painted liquid, and many body parts, vegetal remains and colorful motifs were found. According to the findings, the temple was decorated with a white frieze. There were moldings and plant motifs in three different colors on the frieze holding the griffins and wreaths placed on the root parts. A rubble was unearthed on the west side of the wall in the area, that is, inside the cistern. This rubble had collapsed and was of loose structure. It was revealed that the griffins standing in this area had various body parts, wreaths in creamy white and light blue colors and floral motifs in the background. Some of the plaster unfortunately adhered to tuff fragments, but it was stated that the temple was decorated with a white frieze in general. The decoration of the temple is a whole. Many different academics have confirmed this, although the temple was badly damaged after the earthquake. It has even been revealed that this order in the temple is a mixture of Doric and Ionic styles.

“In the western part of the trench was a line of painted stucco pressed to a depth of 10 cm into layer 12 below. It ended in the south in a long cut with a straight edge. This line was over 3 m long and aligned north-south, parallel to the east- ern colonnade and ca. 6 m distant from the edge of the stylobate on which the columns stood. Examining the surface of the underlying layer 12 more closely, it could be seen that there was a rough strip measuring 1.6 m in width running immediately east and parallel to the plaster line with the impressed stucco running along its west”.

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As understood from the plaster, the drawings along the upper edge caused a protrusion from the entablature and reflected. No evidence has yet been found of the collapsed heaters that should have been found in the south. There was a layer over the entire area, but some of it was destroyed in old excavations. It was clear that this layer covered a cistern. This layer has not been excavated much. As a result of the excavations, a rectangular text-like finding was found under the layers. Symmetrical holes were found in the center of the base area, and these were the markings of the posts. The purpose for which these poles were erected has not been resolved yet. Some traces of diagmatic pottery were found, but there were problems regarding the date to be attributed to these findings. These are thought to date from the middle of the second century, roughly before Christ. Since the excavations can proceed sequentially and in an orderly fashion, the archaeological information took place in that direction. The discovery of a plaster line approximately 80cm below the ground was very important. In 1817, it led to a lot of things that happened in the original excavation. This layer by layer is often used to aid ornate fringe blocks or it was used to search for other structures such as foundations around the altar.

The process that solved the mystery of the Temple of Apollo was the research and excavations carried out in 1997 around Pompeii and the Forum. Reviewing the structures that have survived until today and strategic studies have revealed the importance of Pompeii. Studies in this field have settled in order and their chronology has been determined according to Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman periods with the development of Archeology. However, these arrangements and studies are still ongoing. In the light of the studies carried out, the cisterns built in the Hellenistic order in the first half of the first century BC were either destroyed or deliberately demolished.

At the second trench in this excavation, both ancient and modern relics are found in layer 1. Right under this layer a tufa water channel, which is believed to have been cut off in previous excavations, had been found. Since there is no coverage found in this channel, it is believed that this channel might be built for the protection of lead, terra-cotta, or wood pipe. Maureen Carroll and David Godden report the findings underneath the layer 13 as “a hard trampled surface from which two terra-cotta fragments of an antefix and a frieze panel painted in brownish-red, dark brown-black, and cream’. They appreciate the similarity of these findings with Maiuri's excavation of another temple, as the subsidence may have occurred around the same time. Hence, pit works in the 13th layer report the dating as 50 BC and the end of the first century AD due to its ingredients (i.e., Italian wine amphora). Also, the findings in the following layers’ (no.22 and 23) ingredients verifies the dating of Maiuri. Further research in this issue, held in the Pompeii Forum Project in 1997 and in another excavation in 1998.

“That there was rebuilding within the courtyard is significant in light of Dobbins's finds on the peripheries of the sanctuary, which clearly indicate an Augustan date for the construction of the western precinct wall and the tufa colonnade as part of a major redevelopment of the sanctuary. The possible planting pits east of the temple also date to the second half of the first century BC at the earliest, suggesting that landscaping within the precinct may be contemporary with the Augustan remodeling of the sanctuary”.

Although easily understood, the Apollo temple and its surroundings were in a phased state. The process by which this situation is understood is complex and unfortunately still not fully understood. According to the findings obtained in the light of archaeological studies, it was revealed that the eastern side of the temple did not fit into the chronological data.

The temple, which has reached today, was considered as the second center. The reason for this is the so-called period called the tuff period. According to the inscriptions found in Pompeii, the cisterns in front of the temple could not survive and must have been destroyed. Although not very easy to understand today, the temple itself, the row of columns, the western boundary wall, and the courtyard of the facade were modified to reach the present-day form of the sanctuary.

Revealing the soil in the lower tier is very important because some uncertainty about the conventional development of the city may be uncovered. Also, revision of the traditional Archaeological chronological system is necessary to make the stratigraphic sequences meaningful. Houses, monuments and masonry techniques found in the light of these studies are attributed to the third century BC. To support the character of the forum buildings and the possibility of the historic city center in the work carried out by the Pompeii Forum Project showed that it was rather arranged according to a Roman. In other words, this arrangement points out that there is much more than a Hellenistic plan. According to the findings, it can be suggested that the Temple of Apollo was built in the 2nd century BC, but the widely accepted situations for this entire sanctuary should be reconsidered in their present form by that date. As an adjacent building complex, one should not separate the forum and the Apollo temple.

There were many events such as the collapse of the portico, the destruction of the volcanic eruption and volcanic deposits, which enabled the investigation of this area and the archaeological excavations not to take place regularly. The same type of work was found in the area in the east portico, where the plaster renovation in the area was made. This shows that the same person or the same professional people worked in this field. In the last years before the Pompeii was completely destroyed, traces of a stylistic painted decoration system were encountered. This painting arrangement could probably be dated to the late Claudian or early Nero period. It is not easy for the city to undergo a complete regeneration after the volcanic disaster and to understand how this happened. Archaeologists and other scientists claim that there is a gradual improvement because there are differences in places. As a different and positive development, there were improvements on the east side of the forum. Massive tial repairs had been carried out and unpleasant incidents such as the loot that took place after the volcano eruption had been stopped. No cult statues were found inside the temple of Apollo, and it was understood that there was a lack of sculpture in the area called the sacred. Interestingly, the bronze statue of Apollo mentioned in written sources was found in a completely different side of the city, at the same time, the statue of Apollo's brother Artemis was found far from the sacred area. As far as the researchers know, it is not known in which order the structures are prioritized during the study stages, since it is not an official study. However, it can be easily said that the civic center is the main focus of the studies. In the light of the available data, it was first started from the east side of the area and buildings related to the imperial cult were discovered. After that, the restructuring work on other sides of the area has advanced. The work has been suspended due to the latest disaster in Pompeii, but archaeologists will not be comfortable until the mystery of this region is resolved.

To conclude, with the discovery of the architect Domenico Fontana, excavations in Pompeii became the birthplace of modern archaeology in the 18th century. In the Forum, where the city’s economic, urban and religious activities were held, one of the earliest temples in the city were located. Initially this temple was called the Temple of Venus however when the mistake in the reading of inscriptions was realized, it was corrected as the Temple of Apollo. This temple was built in around 120 BC and it bore the Greek and Italic structures’ traces. In the light of the findings, it is verified that this temple was dedicated to the Greek and Roman god Apollo. This dedication can be plausibly linked to the polytheistic religion and the idea of reciprocity of the ancient Romans. Several excavations were held in the Temple of Apollo, and in this paper two of them are examined. In the excavation in 1817, the paintings that decorated the entrance were remaining then however we have only their illustrated versions today. Also, in this excavation both of Diana’s and Apollo’s statues are unearthed and with their structures they were associated with the Temple of Apollo. The Excavation in 1998 is referred to as the most important excavations in the Temple of Apollo. In this excavation the structure of the buildings, architecture and the landscaping were the center of focus even though several volcanic eruptions hardened this excavation. In that respect the front of the temple examined to understand the area. In this study, the Doric and Ionic style of the temple of Apollo is revealed and both ancient and modern relics are unearthed. In the light of these findings more information about the chronological phase of the temple is understood. However, this excavation was suspended due to the disasters in Pompeii, and this is also an example to why investigations and excavations don’t take place regularly in Pompeii.