| Show ANCIENT POMPEII PEI I 1 EVIDENCES OF christianity n correspondence I 1 I 1 LZ were there christians residing in pompeii at the period of its destruct tion or rather are there any evi dences or remains which would lead people to accept this probability 7 9 there are several plausible reasons for conjecturing that christianity aright have reached pompeii in the acts of the apostles it is related that when st paul was on Ms his way to rome n consequence of h s appeal to caesar he landed at the modern where he m was as met by christians bret brethren who desired him to tarry with them some days ane distance beewen pozzuoli and pompeii is about thirty miles it Is not unreasonable therefore to ex hect that if there were christians in pozzuoli when st paul landed at it there might well be Chrict christians ians in pompeii during the twenty years that elapsed between that date and the destruction st of it in A D 79 christian ity made rapid strides and nd it Is quite natural to think it reached pompeii thirty miles from within the bace space of twenty vears the most interesting and indeed the most remarkable of discoveries more or less associated with this sub eject mas that made la in june 1883 1882 a fresco in which what seems the judg ment of solomon Is clearly depre dented though the figures are dwarfs when it was brought to light it was described as the first representation of a sacred subject yet found in pom pont it was transferred at once to naples museum where it may now be seen it is 5 feet 6 inches in length by 19 inches high and is surrounded by a black line about one inch in width the scene wrote mr E neville rolfe the british consul at naples who was I 1 bel eve the first to mal e its disco discovery verv I 1 to the english speaking world the scene Is laid upon a terrace in front of a house adorned with aref creeping ping plants and shaded with a white awning on a dais represented as being about four feet high sits the king holding a scepter and robed in white on each side 0 of him sits a councillor and behind them six soldiers under arms the king is represented as leaning over the front ot of the dais toward a woman in a green robe who kneels before him with disheveled hair and outstretched hands in the center of the court la to a three legged table like a butchers cal narrative had penetrated into pom pont pell pelt jews from alexandria dwelling in a roman city must have possessed the septuagint translation of the bl BI ble and niccolo lazzaro of naples declares that the facts of the old testament were unknown to the pa gans because they were jealously guarded by the israelites and they have come down to us by the trans transfer for matlon mation of juda sm m into christianity of another fresco dic discovered covered at the same time as the judgment of solo mon less has been said though it R ka V AW tag temple of venus has an importance in a house in one ol 01 the narrower streets ot of pom pont pell pelt in the quarter supposed to have been inhabited by the primitive chris fians there is also a fresco ol 01 a worn wom an riding on an ass with an infant in her arms and a man by her tier side in which some see a representation of the flight into egypt it if euch such be the subject of this early fresco it Is by some centuries the earliest representation sen tation in art oo 00 0 far as Is yet known of that memorable event and it la Is evident that the work must have been produced at a comparatively short time after the event it corn com me at a time indeed when the story of it might be told by content por aries the tendency of the evidence derived from these discoveries made at long intervals of time tak bakon n in con junction with the great probability that christianity had reached pom pont ped some years prior to the destruct tion of 0 that city is all towards toft ards fur bishing an affirmative answer to the question were there christians in pompeii of the other people of pompeii we know much it Is no exaggeration to say that of all the ancient cities of the earth no one has revealed so much of its inner life and manners and cus toms it ita vices and its arts its beliefs and its costumes and all that can be known as pompeii here on one side we wander into the temple of venus where the wor ship of that deity prevailed anon we pass into the semi ruined amp hithe ater once clamorous with the shouts t f maddened multitudes now abandon ed and silent save tor for its marvelous marre loua echo the empty houses with the painted columns rising into the blue air and now supporting nothing for the roofs are gone make the place desolate and lonely to the sensitive mind yet aa ae aa v 4 A J r J IN vt 4 A arch of block upon which lies an infant who Is held in a recumbent position in arite ot of his struggles ruggles Et by a woman wearing a turban A soldier in ar or mor and wearing a helmet with a long red plume holds the legs of the infant and is about to cleave it in two with his fal falchion chlon A group of spectators completes the picture which contains in all nineteen figures the drawing Is poor but the colors are particularly bright and the breser is excellent excel lert leit how such a subject came to be represented here is a puzzle italian archaeologists aid bald a writer are gen brally inclined to think that tiie tle babli A there Is a joy in wandering in and of these residences now in ruins one so elegant and refined and so alca in works of art such as the house of castor and pollux the house of 0 tbt th a recently excavated dwelling dwell ln restored in accordance with the an dent clent style of construction employed in the city and with nearly all its paintings and statues and gardens just as they were eighteen centuries ago Is one of the most interesting spectacles that the past nas ass bequeath eath ed to the present of the seven presidents france i hai ha had only one has served a full term A |
