File:A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities.. (1849) (14779930014).jpg

Identifier: dictionaryofgree00smit_1 (find matches)
Title: A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities..
Year: 1849 (1840s)
Authors: Smith, William, 1813-1893
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Publisher: Boston
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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afterwards called Musivum opus. (Spartian. Pescen.Nig. 6 ; Trebell. Pollio, Trigin. Tyrann. 24 ;Augustin. De Civitate Dei, xvi. 8.) The floors ofthe houses at Pompeii are frequently composed ofmosaics, which are usually formed of black frets ona white ground, or white ones on a black ground,though some of them are in coloured marbles.The materials of which they are generally formedare small pieces of red and white marble and redtile, set in a very fine cement and laid upon adeep bed of mortar, which served as a base. Thethree examples here given, which are taken fromhouses at Pompeii, will convey a general idea oftheir form and appearance.
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Mosaic pavements, however, have been dis-covered at Pompeii, which represent figures andscenes of actual life, and are in reality pictures inmosaic. One of the most beautiful of these isgiven in its original colours in Gells Pompeiana,2nd series, plate xlv. It is composed of very finepieces of glass, and represents the choragus, ormaster of the chorus, instructing the actors in theirparts. A still more extraordinary mosaic paintingwas discovered in Pompeii in 1831 ; it is supposedto represent the battle of Issus. (Museo Borbonico,viii. t. 36—45.) (2.) The inner walls (parietes) of private roomswere frequently lined with slabs of marble (Plin.H. N. xxxvi. 7), but were more usually covered bypaintings, which in the time of Augustus weremade upon the walls themselves. The prevalenceof this practice is attested not only by Pliny(H. N. xxxv. 37), but also by the circumstance thateven the small houses in Pompeii have paintingsupon their walls. The following woodcut, whichrepresents the si

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