A NEW POMPEII

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 17, 15 October 1919, Page 7

A NEW POMPEII

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN NORTH AFRICA. ;. All during the war a work of great in-' !v tl ~n s hmi f ' llie,:l >' proceeding in the Italian colony of Cyrenaica, on the North African littoral (writes the Rome correspondent of the London "Observer ). The tumult of the last years has given little opportunity for the voices of art and archaeology to make themselves heard, but during this time the Italians have made discoveries of antique statues and monuments in the neighbourhood of Cvrene, which in more iTnjiqnil times would have made no little stir in the newspapers. Those interested in nrchaelogoy and the ancient Greek and Roman civilisations must know that the excavations in Cyrenaica .dur- ; nig the last few years have revealed to us another stratum of Greco-Roman life. Cyrene and its environs have yielded a series of discoveries comparable almost m importance with the great orchneological finds of men like Schliemnnn, Evans, and Wood. It is the Alexandrine or colonial phase of Greek civilisation which has yielded these w\y treasures. The work has been carried on uninterruptedly during the war under the aegis of Professor. Lucio Mnriani. Direc- • tor of the Archaeological Services of the Ministry of the Colonics. I had the pleasure of an interview with the illustrious professor the other day, when he spoke to me of the importance of these Cyroiiean discoveries with the modesty of a highly-cultured man who knows everything that is to be known of his subject. Cyrene may prove to be n new Pompeii, i only larger; and richer in statues ana monuments,, than the excavated city at the feet of Vesuvius. Work is still proceeding at Cyrene with renewed vigour, and the shortly-expected colonial report of tho most recent discoveries promises to be a document of the highest interest. The operations on the spot are and • have been for some time conducted under tho personal supervision of Professor Etfore Ghislanzoiii, chiefly with indigenous labour, with the assistance of somo Italian engineers and soldiers. The well-stocked museums of Bengasi (the ancient Berenice) and Cyrene will demand a visit from all students of archaeology and Greco-Roman life; in fact, from all tourists who now feel it their duty to visit Pompeii. The most celebrated finds are the statues of the Graces, the Hermes- of Cyrene, the Alexander the Great, the Eros, and most remarkable of all, the marvellous Anhrodite of Cyrene. ' This latter statue, discovered just before the war. now stands in the National Museum in Rome, and is considered by connoisseurs to .be one of the loveliest of all the famous Aphrodites of antiquity, not unworthy to enter the category of such celebrated statues as the Venus de Milo and Venus of Cnidus, It was discovered quite by accident. On the night of December 27, 1913. a torrential downpour of rain assailed Cyrene, and, washing away banks of earth.' broke open a spot in the hillside, revealing to the,ltalian soldiers a beautiful Greek statue of tho Aphrodite Anndyo : niene, with its head and arms missing! It was taken to Bengasi,. and ttienco eventually to Rome. Thus, as Professor GhisliuiKoni in his official report for the Ministry oft the Colonies says, Venus, who was born from the water, owes to the/water.her resurrection.