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Show Now riuds at Pompeii. At Pompeii some mural paintings 'of more than ordinary interest have recently recent-ly been disclosed. In the Eighth Region, between Nos. 16 and 21 of the Second Insula, .via IU and IV, the remarkable discovery has been made of a house five stories high. The upper floor, which is entered from the higher level formed by a mound of prehistoric lava, is profusely decorated, and the principal hall displays on one wall the myth of Bellerophon, a nude figure, who, holding with one hand the bridle of his horse, is in the act of receiving the letters and orders of King Prcetus, who is seated on a throne before him. . , The lower part of the house, looking toward Stabiae and the sea, was used 03 a bathing establishment. Three steps led into the frigidarium, which is perfect, per-fect, the lower part of the surrounding walls being painted blue and the upper red. The middle of the right wall is occupied oc-cupied by a picture representing a nymph, semi-nude, borne over the waves on a sea horse. The horizontal band dividing di-viding the blue from the red surface is a kind of frieze of comio or caricature scenes, representing dwarfs or pigmies, in scenery evidently of the Nile country, fighting with various animals. One dwarf is in the act of throwing a large stone at an ibis, while another is trying to save by drawing to the land a figure (probably a woman) fallen into the river, wheri, seized himself by a crocodile, he has tied himself with a rope to another dwarf standing behind,' who is striving withnight and main to prevent his comrade com-rade from being drawn down into the I water. London Athenasum. |