POMPEIANA de William Gell (éd. de 1832)

Plate LX - Street of the Mercuries

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The plan of the Street of Mercury, or rather of the Street of the Mercuries, from the many figures of that deity represented in it, forms the principal feature of the plan Plate LX. The object, in giving it of this size, was that of showing all the new discoveries in sufficient detail, without giving a separate plate for each subject.

The house of Ceres, the arch of Caligula, the houses of refreshment opposite the baths, the house of the Tragic Poet, and the whole insula, or group of dwellings, including the fullonica, and the two houses with the fountains, are here represented. On the opposite ride of the street, the houses of Firmus, Pomponius, and the Lupanare are given, and the plan terminates at the vicus, or alley, which runs at the end of the garden of Pansa, and which the Custodi, at present, call the vicoletto dei Mercurii. The general appearance of the street is rectilinear, but, upon measuring it, nothing will be found absolutely symmetrical, and scarcely any two walls parallel.