A FIND AT POMPEII.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 398, 23 September 1911, Page 5

A FIND AT POMPEII.

Dr Jchann Bergman, who for some I time has been in charge of a Swedish | archaeological mission at Pompeii, j reports a very interesting discovery | made by Italian excavators in the buried city. Some workmen employed in vineyards belonging to a wealthy Italian stumbled upon traces of_ a large building, and careful excavation has laid bare ten rooms of what Dr Bergman describes as the most magnificent villa that has been found on the site of Pompeii. One of the rooms that have been dug out is almost uninjured. It is very large, and contains a beautiful mosaic floor, while the walls are decorated with exceptionally fine frescoes. The _ paintings present a series of life-size human figures, not fewer than twenty-nine in number, and the style of the work shows that the villa belonged to the period of Augustus, about a century before the overthrow of the city. On a large end wail there are pictures representing Ariadne and Dionysius, but the allegorical meaning of the figures on the side walls is not clear, though they ore related in someway to those on the larger wall. On one of the side walls there is the sitting figure of an elegantly attired woman, and before, her stands a small boy, probably a Cupid, reading from_ a roll of papyrus. On the opposite wall there are a number of stately female figures, which are evidently intended to pourtray movement Some are nude, and the ciothing of others is falling off. A few of tnem are bound with cords, and one is in an attitude which suggests her momentary expectation of being beaten. Near this magnificent room, which may have been a great dining hall, the excavator have unearthed the largest kitchen that has been discovered in Pompeii. It is evident that the villa belonged to some wealthy person, and it has been suggested that it was probably _ one of the splendid dwellings which the Emperor Claudius possessed. It is hoped that further excavation will uncover inscriptions or other relics which will establish the identity of the owner.