Jing Du Jun: Love is heat, being loved is light.
Pompeii, italy, was destroyed on August 24, 79 AD, and now only a ruin remains.
▲ Oil painting "The Last Day of Pompeii", 1830-1833 By the Russian painter Brylov, now in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg
Pompeii is bordered by the sea in the west, and there is a gate in the southwest corner of the city called "Porta Marina", and the sea gate is not far from the grand port of the lagoon, where the Sano River enters the sea. Entering the Sea Gate is the Via Marina, the Ocean Road is a bit short, not a few steps away from the central market intercepted, through the big market and then east to the Via dell'Abbondanza, the end of the rich road is the eastern gate of the ancient city: Porta Sarno.
▲ Pompeii is like a big fish
The "Gate of the Sea" is built on a high slope, with a large and a small arch corridor attached together, the arch of the left hand is small, which is the entrance and exit for tourists, and the large arch of the right hand is the gate for transporting goods. To the east of the sea gate is the high wall of the Temple of Venus, and the sea sparkles outside the wall. Turn right into the Sea Gate and there is the temple dedicated to Venus, which is the Heavenly Concubine Palace in Pompeii.
▲ Imaginary map of the restoration of Pompeii
Venus was the queen of the heavenly wives of the merchants and sailors of Pompeii, and before going to sea, they always went to the Temple of Venus to worship. After the return trip, people with hearts will also come to the temple to make a wish, offering spices, silk and ivory brought back from the sea, and carving a pious sentence on the wall of the temple: "Thank you Lady Venus!" ”
▲ Pompeii mural "Venus in a Shell" (1st century AD) An anon. Found in the ruins of Pompeii "Venus House"
As a patron saint, Venus is loyal to his duties, dressed neatly every day, standing on the temple on the eastern slope of Haimen, holding a bronze rudder, facing the sea of impermanence, staring at the drum sail merchant ship, protecting the people on board. Venus was one of the most luxurious and exquisite in Pompeii: the temple was covered with a floor of colored marble, surrounded by white mosaic frames, surrounded by a three-sided stone pillar cloister, and the surface of the pillar was also wrapped in white marble.
▲ Ruins of the Temple of Venus in Pompeii
▲ German Maison porcelain sculpture "Temple of Venus" (1727) Johann Gotrib Kirchner Design is now in the Dutch National Museum in Amsterdam
Unfortunately, Pompeii is at the foot of Mount Vesuvius: the last earthquake had just shook the newly built basilica, and the next eruption had sprung up the newly erected colonnades. As a result, the Temple of Venus was rebuilt twice and destroyed twice, and there were merchants and sailors who brought back countless treasures from overseas to offer to Venus, so the temple was looted many times. In the process of the third restoration, another great earthquake occurred, and Mount Vesuvius erupted again, so the Temple of Venus as seen by the Pompeians was always a "growing ruin", they jokingly described: the foundation of the Venus Temple was always waiting for people to fill it with basalt with their mouths open.
▲ Pompeii fresco "Venus the Riding Elephant" (1st century AD) An anon. An anthology found in the ruins of Pompeii
Although the goddess Venus is the patron saint of Pompeii, with duties close to that of the Queen of Heaven and the city god, the Pompeians love her more or less like worshipping a female star: her "big poster" "Venus the Elephant" is painted on the wall in front of the tailor shop on Pompeii's rich avenue! She is depicted as if triumphant, wearing a crown, a peacock blue robe, and a scepter, standing on a chariot pulled by four elephants, two little cupids buzzing around her, and the goddess of luck, Fortuna, embracing the fertile horns, stepping on the peacock blue earth, leading the way in front of the elephants.