User:Katewallace3/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Kraters

• Not everything seemed to be totally relevant in my article, it sort of goes off on a tangent while talking about the usage of the krater and ends up talking about symposiarchs and what they do more than the actual kraer itself.
• Overall the article feels pretty neutral and doesn't hold too much of a bias.
• The article has a whole paragraph explaining wine social practices and the amount of wine and water that was mixed for their drinks and doesn't mention kraters by name even once which is suspicious. The fact that none of it is sourced in also a concern.
• One link does not work (unless I made some kind of mistake!) and a few links are not in English which makes checking sources for this article difficult.
• According to the Talk page, some people were discussing things to add in about glazing and wine mixing. Most of the updates to this page happened in the mid 2000's and the last edit was in 2012 I believe, so it hasn't been up to date in a while and might be a bit out of date.
• The article has not yet been rated for quality or importance but is a part of the WikiProject Food and Drink collaborative.
• The Wiki articles differs from what we've discussed in class because this article doesn't seem to want to stay on topic of the art or pottery itself and wants to go on tangents, which we don't seem to do i class.

Article: The Temple of Apollo (Pompeii)

I chose the page on the Temple of Apollo located in Pompeii to edit and work on. The article already has some useful information but feels pretty bare still, it doesn’t even have different sections for its content, just all of the very general information located all together in one chunk. I’m hoping to add a few sections using my sources to fill it out. I want to add a section on perhaps the location, and one on the history of the temple and its building and repairs, a section detailing the style and architecture of the temple, and one dedicated to the Cult of Apollo for which the temple was made.

The Temple of Apollo in Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius is to the far left.

Temple of Apollo (Pompeii)

The Temple of Apollo is a Roman temple dedicated to the Greek and Roman god Apollo in the ancient Roman town of Pompeii, in southern Italy.

Location

Facing the northern side of the town, the temple is the town's most important religious building and has very ancient state of origin. It is located near the Temple of Jupiter and the Building of Eumachia.

Architecture and Style

The elegant Doric architrave of metopes and triglyphs resting on the columns was transformed into a continuous frieze with griffins, festoons and foliage. Today the remains of the templefront appear as they originally did, since almost all of this transformation in plaster has disappeared. Some statues of deities have been recovered, facing the columns of the portico, including Apollo, Diana, Aphrodite, and Hermes. These are now in the National Archeological Museum of Naples, though copies of two of them – Apollo and the bust of Diana – have been placed where the originals were found.

Temple of Apollo, with the replica statue of Apollo shown

The temple itself, a peripteros with 48 Ionic columns, was on a high podium and entered up an imposing set of steps, in a fusion of Greek and Italic architectural ideas. Unusually, the cella is sited further back with respect to the peristyle. In front of the steps may still be seen a white marble altar on a travertine base, with a Latin inscription giving the names of the quattuorviri who dedicated it. The ground is paved with a mosaic of interlocking diamonds or lozenges, which was a motif used in several other temples and buildings. To the side of the steps is an Ionic column that supported a sundial.

In the side of the perimeter wall of the Temple of Apollo, facing onto the town's Forum, a niche is extracted containing the "mensa ponderaria" (the table with the town's official measures, to guarantee the citizen against fraud by shopkeepers and merchandise).

History

Construction

The temple was built for the cult of Apollo which originated in Greece before spreading and gaining popularity in Rome. The Temple of Apollo is believed to have been originally built in the 6th century during the Samnite period, with the ground plan for the temple dating back to the 2nd century BC. Over time, the temple has undergone many modifications and repairs since its initial construction.

Plan of the Temple

The rectangular shaped temple is enclosed on all sides by forty-eight wide columns that have changed appearance over the years, originally designed with Ionic capitals before being remodeled with stucco and the capitals changing to Corinthian style and painted red, yellow, and blue.

Repairs and Alterations

One major change to the temple is the addition of a high wall that was built on the west side of the temple to shield it from view from overlooking properties nearby. This alteration was made around 10 BC. During Emperor Nero’s reign in the 1st century AD, the temple was extended out and embellished. In 62 AD there was a massive earthquake that significantly damaged the town of Pompeii, including the Temple of Apollo. Repairs and reconstruction began not long after, with several big changes happening to the building. It is suspected that when the colonnade was rebuilt after the earthquake, the second story was done away with entirely, as remains of the upper area that was there previously are now absent. During the restoration process, a coating of stucco was used inside and outside of the temple in order to achieve a marble-like look.

When the temple was first designed, it was adorned with frescoes painted in the First Style that were eventually destroyed in the earthquake. When renovations took place, new frescoes were painted in the Fourth Style, now depicting scenes from the Iliad.

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

In 79 AD, the nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius, unexpectedly erupted and completely decimated most of Pompeii. Most of the city was destroyed by the heat and tons of ash and pumice that descended upon the city in the 24 hours following the eruption, and many of the town's inhabitants that attempted to stay behind and wait out the disaster were swiftly killed as well. The tons of ash buried the city, preserving bodies, every day objects, and many works of art and architecture, including the Temple of Apollo. It was common in these times for people to rebuild and repopulate areas after disasters, but the destruction must have been so great in Pompeii and the neighboring cities that they would never be re-inhabited again and the temples remained buried under the thick layer of ash. There is evidence that ancient looters and excavators took many objects of value including some art from the destroyed sites after the eruption, but many were left untouched and preserved such as in the Temple of Apollo. These well-preserved works of art were not uncovered for over a millennia until in 1599, when all of Pompeii was finally rediscovered and official excavations began.

External links

Apollo Category:Temples of Apollo Category:2nd-century BC establishments