Chapter XXVII: Methods of Burial 220 (6)

(=502=) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 2695; (=503=) _ibid._, 2696 ff.;
(=504=) _ibid._, 2520; (=505=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, C
612; (=506=) _Cat. of Sculpt._, III., 2310; (=507=) _Cat. of
Bronzes_, 357; (=508=) Cf. Pernice, _Griech. Pferdegeschirr_,
pll. ii. and iii. (56th _Winckelmannsfestprogramm_); (=509=)
_ibid._, pl. i. and pp. 6-16; (=510=) Cf. _Rev. Arch._, 1900
(36), p. 296 ff; Smith, _Dict. of Ant._^3, s.v. _Solea_.

[Footnote 55: See _Journal of Hell. Stud._, xix., pl. 8.]

[Footnote 56: _E.g._, on _B.M. Coins of Ionia_,
pl. xx. 7 (Coin of Magnesia: Gordianus Pius).]

[Footnote 57: Xen., _De re eq._ x. 6: [Greek: prôton men
toinyn chrê ou meion duoin chalinoin kektêsthai; toutôn
de estô ho men leios, tous trochous eumegetheis echôn, ho de
heteros tous men trochous kai bareis kai tapeinous, tous d'
echinous oxeis, hina hopotan men touton labê, aschallôn tê
trachytêti dia touto aphiê].]

[Footnote 58: _De re eq._ v. 3.]

[Footnote 59: Xen., _op. cit._, iv. 3.]

[Footnote 60: Thuc., vii. 27, 5.]

[Footnote 61: Suet., _Ner._ 30.]

XVII.--AGRICULTURE.

(Wall-Case 52.)

Farming, the rearing of live stock, the cultivation of corn, vines and olives were practised by the earliest civilisations of the Aegean, and of Greece.

The use of the plough was also known at that distant period. In this Case are shown three bronze ploughshares (No. =512=), which belong to the Mycenaean Age, and were found in Cyprus. A plough in its most primitive form was merely the trunk of a tree which served as the pole, with two branches on opposite sides, one forming the share, the other the handle. This was the plough in one piece spoken of by Hesiod. The Mycenaean ploughshare belongs to a later development, when the plough is made up of several parts, the "joined plough" of Homer and Hesiod. Such is the plough seen in the very primitive bronze group (No. =513=), where it is in the act of being turned at the end of the furrow. To effect the turning the two oxen are pulling the yoke in opposite directions. A black-figured vase of the sixth century, here exhibited (No. =514=), shows the later plough in a simple form, which has changed but little for many centuries, as may still be observed in the East. The different parts can be seen more clearly from a bronze votive plough of the third century B.C. at Florence (fig. 209). It is made up of (1) a horizontal share-beam, to which is fastened the iron share, (2) a pole, at the end of which is the yoke, (3) the vertical handle. This type of plough is exactly described by Virgil in the _Georgics_.[62]

The ploughman was followed by the sower, who is represented on the vase mentioned above (No. =514=) with a basket from which he scatters the seed in the furrow. At harvest-time a sickle was used to cut the grain, of which instrument two iron specimens are shown in the Case, from Lycia in Asia Minor (No. =515=). Winnowing the grain was accomplished either by means of a shovel or a basket of peculiar shape ([Greek: liknon], _vannus_); on a terracotta relief in the Museum (D 525, Case 75, Terracotta Room Annexe) the infant Dionysos is being rocked in one of these objects instead of a cradle, by a Satyr and a Nymph.

Of fruit crops the vine and the olive were by far the most important in the Greek and Roman world, and great attention was paid to their cultivation. The operations involved in the manufacture of both wine and oil find many illustrations among ancient works of art. The gathering of grapes is illustrated by a Roman terracotta relief (No. =516=) exhibited in the Case, where a Satyr is picking grapes from a vine. Another relief of the same class (No. =517=) depicts the treading out of the grapes in the wine-press, also by Satyrs, two of whom are balancing themselves by holding a ring between them while they tread the grapes in an oblong trough to the tune of flutes. An elderly Satyr brings up fresh supplies in a basket. The massive bronze rings commonly known as "athletes' rings" may have been used at the wine-press (No. =517*=).

The must or new wine was partly used for drinking as soon as ready, partly decocted into a sort of jelly (_defrutum_), and partly stowed in cellars in large casks or jars (_dolia_); in the latter case after being fermented for nine days it was covered up and sealed. The commoner kinds were drunk direct from the _dolia_, the finer sorts drawn off into amphorae and stored up. On the marble reliefs here given (No. =518=; fig. 210) we have a representation of the conversion of the must into _defrutum_: two men are attending to a caldron placed over a fire, while a third is pouring wine from an amphora into another caldron, and a fourth is waiting to fill a jug from the same. In the lowest part of the Case is exhibited the upper part of an amphora with long neck and two handles (whence the frequent term _diota_), as an example of those used for the storage of wine. The terracotta figure of a man carrying a wineskin and one of these _diotae_ (No. =519=), and a Roman lamp depicting slaves carrying casks of wine, should also be noted (No. =520=).

The cultivation of the olive is well illustrated by a black-figured vase of the sixth century B.C. (No. =521=; fig. 211), showing a primitive method of gathering the fruit: a youth has climbed to the top of the tree, and he and two men are beating the branches with sticks to bring the fruit down, while another youth collects it in a vessel. This method is expressly condemned by Varro, an early Roman writer on agriculture.[63]

In order to extract the oil from the pulp of the fruit, it was necessary to use a press of some kind, such as we see on the terracotta relief here exhibited (No. =522=; fig. 212), of the first century B.C. Here the press consists of flat stones between which layers of olives are placed; to the uppermost stone is fastened a long pole, which serves as a lever, and is being worked by two Satyrs; round the press a rope is wound many times. Compare the large vase in the Hall of Inscriptions (_Cat. of Sculpture_, 2502).

The remaining objects in this Case are mostly illustrative of men or beasts of burden engaged in agricultural and kindred occupations, such as the goat-herd depicted on a Roman lamp, to whom the name of Titurus is applied, with reference to Virgil's first Eclogue (No. =523=; fig. 213). The bronze figure of a donkey (No. =524=) with panniers recalls the ornament of Trimalchio's dinner-table described by Petronius, and may have served a similar purpose. Model panniers, and terracottas of a donkey and a camel with the panniers laden with rural produce, should also be noted. Several model carts from Amathus, in terracotta, are either flat-bottomed, for general use, or in vase-shape, for the transport of wine or other liquids (No. =525=).

(=512=) _Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 15, 1477; (=516=,
=517=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, D 542, D 544; (=518=) _Cat. of
Sculpture_, III., 2212; (=520=) _Cat. of Lamps_, 1142; (=521=)
_Cat. of Vases_, II., B 226; (=522=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, D
550. Cf. Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Torcular_; (=523=)
_Cat. of Lamps_, 661; (=524=) Cf. Daremberg and Saglio, s.v.
_Clitellae_; (=525=) _Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 112.

[Footnote 62: i. 169 ff.; Cf. Gow, _Journ. of Hellenic
Studies_, xxxiv., p. 249.]

[Footnote 63: Varro, _Res Rust._ i. 55: de oliveto
oleam ... legere oportet potius quam quatere.]

XVIII.--INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

(Table-Case H.)

In Table Case H we have objects illustrating the craft of the metal worker, the potter, the turner, and the woodworker.

Towards one end of the case are objects illustrating the processes of metal work. A Greek vase of the sixth century B.C. depicts a man in the act of thrusting a mass of metal into a blazing furnace. Anvil, tongs, and hammers are visible (No. =526=). Beside it is a reproduction of a Vase in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, showing an armourer at work on a helmet (No. =527=). Two limestone moulds of a very early period are for casting primitive implements (No. =528=). Note also a mould (No. =529=) for a metal weight of a type similar to that with the head of Herakles in Case 41. The mould shows a female head with a cornucopia before it, apparently a personification of Profit ([Greek: Kerdos]), whose name appears above the head. Another mould (No. =530=) is intended for a series of lead weights of values [Greek: a'] to [Greek: ê'], that is, 1 to 8. (Compare a similar set in Case 42.) It should be observed that the moulds seen here are, for the most part, only half-moulds, or in some cases even less. A corresponding half-mould had to be placed in position before casting could be effected. This is well shown by a limestone half-mould from Rome (No. =531=; fig. 214) for casting lead counters, with designs representing Victory, Fortune, and Athena. Here can be seen the channels by which the molten metal was introduced, and the holes for the studs joining the two half-moulds together. In one of these a lead stud still remains.

The steatite mould for a ring of the Mycenaean period (No. =532=; Fig. 215) required a counterpart piece, and a third piece at the bottom to complete it. Some of the steatite moulds which have no channels for the molten metal, were probably used for the production of ornaments by pressing and rubbing thin foil into the forms.

=The Potter.=--At the end of the case are exhibits connected with potters and pottery. Here is seen the limestone figure of a Greek potter from Cyprus (No. =533=; fig. 216), seated and modelling clay on the wheel. He reminds us of Homer's description of the potter's action when he compares the whirling motion of dancers to the revolving of a potter's wheel--"a motion exceeding light, as when a potter sits and makes trial of a wheel fitted to his hands, to see whether it will run."[64] Immediately behind is a potter's wheel in terracotta (No. =534=; fig. 217), which has in the centre a depression for the insertion of the pivot on which it turned. It was found on a primitive site at Gournià in Crete. As the clay spun round on the wheel the potter moulded it into shape inside and outside with his hands. The foot, the handles, and the neck of the vase were moulded separately as a rule and attached afterwards to the body. A design on a sixth century Greek vase here exhibited (No. =535=; fig. 218), depicts a Greek potter in the act of attaching a handle to a cup which rests upon a wheel. When the vase or other object had been modelled in clay, it then had to be fired. For this purpose a kiln was required, such as one (probably Roman) excavated at Shoeburyness, a model of which is here exhibited (No. =536=). It consists of a barrel-shaped chamber, at about half the height of which is a horizontal table on a conical support, with eight round openings pierced in its circumference to allow the heat to penetrate above. Fuel was introduced below through a small fire-chamber constructed at the side (fig. 219). The packing of the objects to be fired required considerable care. For this purpose the so-called "cockspurs" (No. =537=) were used for the larger pieces. But sometimes there were failures, such as the two batches of Roman lamps seen in this Case, which have become fused together in the baking (No. =538=; fig. 220). If it survived the risks of manufacture, the pot often needed repair when in use, and several examples are shown of rivets, large and small, employed for this purpose (No. =539=). The cover of a toilet-box (No. =540=) shows the method of painting employed in the Greek red-figured vases; here the grotesque head has been outlined in black, but the background has not been filled in with black in the usual way. Two terracotta heads with projecting stumps (No. =541=) show the manner in which the terracotta figurines were built up of several parts. The heads were inserted into holes in the trunks, and were then fastened in position with clay. An unfinished clay relief (No. =542=) of a man with his dog, shows the first process in the production of modelled relief, such as those in the Room of Terracottas, Case 8.

A mould (No. =543=) for making a bowl of the ware called Arretine from its place of manufacture, Arretium in Central Italy, is shown, with a cast from the mould beside it. An impression is also shown of the mark of M. Perennius, the most noted of the Arretine potters, in combination with his slave Bargates (No. =544=). Near the mould are stamps, one with a design of a slave heating some fluid in a caldron, and others of a bear and lion (No. =545=; fig. 221). These stamps were used for producing the designs in the moulds, being impressed in the clay while it was soft. Several specimens of these moulds and bowls, which are of about the first century B.C., will be seen in Cases 39-40 of the Fourth Vase Room.

The moulds for parts of Roman lamps, show the way in which these objects were produced. The clay was pressed into the lower mould (such as No. =546=; fig. 222) and also into a corresponding upper mould (compare No. =547=), and then the two halves were joined together and ready for baking.

(=526=) _Cat. of Vases_, II., B 507; (=528=) _Excavations in
Cyprus_, p. 26, fig. 50; (=531=) Cf. _Bull. della Comm. Arch._
xxxiii. (1905), p. 146 ff; (=532=) _Cat. of Jewellery,_ No.
609; (=533=) _Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 93, fig. 145; (=535=)
_Cat. of Vases_ II., B 432; (=536=) _Proc. of Soc. of Ant._,
Ser. II., xvi., p. 40; (=542=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, B 376.
pl. 20; (=545=) _Cat. of Roman Pottery_, M 82, 83; (=546=)
_Cat. of Lamps_, 1401.

=Gems and Pastes.=--In the next division of Case H are objects illustrating the processes of producing Gems and Pastes. These include a series of scarabs, scarabaeoids, and other beads at various stages of manufacture (No. =548=); a series of clay moulds for Graeco-Egyptian porcelain scarabs from Naukratis (No. =549=) and a fine specimen of a paste cameo head of Silenos (No. =550=). Here also are examples of stone socket-handles for a bow-drill (No. =551=). In this and the next compartment several pieces of work are incised with designs intended to be filled in with inlay (No. =552=). See also a series of fragments of an acanthus pattern in ivory, evidently intended to be inlaid. A piece of rock crystal is carved with ears of corn in intaglio, gilded (No. =553=). See also examples of enamel work, of the period of the Roman empire, on studs, seal boxes, etc. (cf. p. 135, 155).

=Woodworking, etc.=--An interesting wooden box of Roman date is derived from Panticapaeum, in the Crimea (No. =554=). This has two sliding lids, above and below respectively, each furnished with two catches. The interior was divided by a horizontal partition, and was again subdivided into numerous small divisions. An inlaid pattern decorates the border of the box. Another box of simpler construction (No. =555=) was found in a grave in Bulgaria. Various specimens of fretwork in jet and ivory are shown, and two pieces of an egg and tongue moulding, carved in wood, and coloured with scarlet and gilding, from a sarcophagus, also found at Panticapaeum (No. =555*=).

=The Lathe.=--In the next division are examples of work finished on the lathe, in a variety of materials, as marble, alabaster, coloured stones, crystal, bronze, ivory, bone, and wood; also a rough piece of alabaster from Cyprus, derived from a lathe mandrel.

[Footnote 64: _Il._ xviii. 600 ff.]

XIX.--MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

(Table-Case H.)

=Greek Medicine.=--From the earliest times, as indicated by passages in the Homeric poems, the Greeks practised simple forms of surgery in such matters as the treatment of the wounded.[65] In the historic age of Greece we find temple or wonder-working medicine, practised in temples of Asklepios, especially at Epidaurus; and at the same time a school of medicine, of the Asklepiadae, seated in the island of Kos.

A lively account of temple-healing is given in the _Plutus_ of Aristophanes, where the slave Karion relates the experiences of his master and himself when passing the night in the temple.[66] Examples of the votive offerings deposited in the temples by those who had been made whole have been mentioned in the section on Religion and Superstition, p. 47 ff., and are to be seen in Cases 103-106.

The more serious side of Greek medicine is inseparably connected with the name of Hippokrates (born 460 B.C.), though the Koan school had existed some time before his birth. The Asklepiadae were originally members of a single clan, but the admission of persons from outside soon made the clan into a medical school. The famous Hippokratean oath, imposed upon members of the Koan school, shows the standard set up before the medical profession: "I will conduct the treatment of the sick for their advantage, to the best of my ability and judgment, and I will abstain from all evil and all injustice. I will administer poison to none, if asked to do so, nor will I ever make such a suggestion. I will pass my life and exercise my art in innocence and purity." In Greece there were both public and private physicians. There were further dispensaries, or perhaps more accurately surgeries, called [Greek: iatreia]. These were furnished with the necessary surgical and medical appliances. The scene from a fifth century vase-painting (No. =556=; fig. 223)[67] depicts a young surgeon at work in an [Greek: iatreion]. He is operating on a patient's arm (perhaps bleeding him), while another man, also wounded in the arm, sits before him. A dwarf slave is ushering other patients into the surgery, where bleeding-cups are seen hanging on the wall. Patients also went to the [Greek: iatreia] to get draughts of medicine.[68] Before the Alexandrian age it is probable that medicine was in advance of surgery, for up to that time no scientific study of anatomy had been attempted. Aristotle observes that the internal organs of the human body were in his time very little known,[69] and what dissection there was must have been practised on animals. The terracotta model (No. =122=; fig. 36, above) of the heart, liver, lungs and kidneys shows how vague the ancient idea as to the position of these organs sometimes was.

=Roman Medicine.=--Medical science for a long time made but little progress in Rome. The Greek physician Archagathos, who began to practise there in 219 B.C., became extremely unpopular owing to his bold methods of surgery.[70] The Roman doctors were chiefly of Greek nationality, and not infrequently were slaves or freedmen. Julius Caesar encouraged foreign physicians to settle in Rome by granting them citizenship, and under the early Empire Rome was overcrowded with medical men, if we may believe Pliny and Martial.[71]

The objects illustrating Greek and Roman Medicine and Surgery are exhibited in part of Table-Case H. First in importance are the surgical instruments, a selection of which is shown in fig. 224. With rare exceptions these instruments are of bronze. The principal varieties are here represented. There are several knives or bistouries, an excellent example being the one from Myndos in Asia Minor, with the upper part of the handle inlaid with silver (No. =557=; fig. 224_g_). The lower part of the handle was in iron, and has fallen away. The heavier bronze blades must have been used for various purposes in connection with dissecting. The forceps is fairly common. The interesting variety seen on the right of the illustration (_k_) with its fine toothed ends (No. =558=) is probably an uvula forceps, used for crushing the part intended to be amputated. An instrument frequently found is the spatula or "spathomele" (No. =559=; fig. 224 _a-c_, _e_, _f_), so called from its flat broad end. This was principally employed for mixing and spreading ointments, while the olive-shaped ends were used as probes. Other instruments which call for notice are the fine-toothed surgical saw (No. =560=; fig. 224_h_), the sharp hook (No. =561=; fig. 224_d_), used for "seizing and raising small pieces of tissue for excision, and for fixing and retracting the edges of wounds." The bifurcated probes (No. =562=) were perhaps used for the extraction of arrows and other weapons. A curious instrument (No. =563=), the use of which was for long a puzzle, appears to be a folding drill-bow and has been completed accordingly.

More elaborate than any of these are the examples of surgical appliances which have been found in the excavations at Pompeii, and are now at Naples. These are represented here by a group of electrotype reproductions, including anal and vaginal specula, and other objects (No. =564=).

The bronze cupping-vessel (No. =565=) should be noticed. Similar vessels are seen suspended on the walls of the surgery depicted in the vase-scene figured above (fig. 223). Burning lint or some other lighted substance was placed in the vessel to rarify the air, and its mouth was then applied to the part from which blood was to be extracted. One such cupping vessel appears on the marble relief in the Phigaleian Room, representing a physician named Jason treating a boy with a swollen stomach (Fig. 225). Compare a similar consultation on an engraved gem, under the immediate superintendence of Asklepios. The bronze box (No. =566=), probably from the Cyrenaica, was almost certainly used by a Roman physician for his drugs. It is divided into several compartments, each furnished with a separate cover, and has a sliding lid. Boxes of a precisely similar character have been found with surgical instruments. Compare also the cast from Athens of a votive relief with a fitted case of instruments (No. =567=).

A very interesting class of antiquities is furnished by the stamps of oculists (No. =569=). These take the form of square or oblong plates, generally of steatite or slate. On the edges are engraved inscriptions, giving the name of the oculist, the name of his specific, and its purpose. These salves were pounded on the stone into a paste. They generally bear a Greek name, such as Diasmyrnes, Crocodes, etc., indicating their composition. They appear to have been made up into the form of sticks impressed with the engraved edge of the stone, and put into cylindrical bronze boxes, which have from time to time been found with Roman surgical instruments. One or two examples of the stamps may be given: "Saffron ointment for scars and discharges prepared by Junius Taurus after the prescription of Paccius"[72] (fig. 226, bottom). "The anodyne of Q. Junius Taurus for every kind of defective eyesight."[73] Puff names for the drugs, such as "Invincible," "Inimitable," also occur. An engraved gem, from a drug compounder's ring has a seated Athena and the legend +HEROPHILI OPOBALSAMUM+--"Balsam of Herophilus" (No. =570=). Whether the balsam was named in honour of the founder of scientific anatomy, or of a more obscure oculist of the first century B.C., or of an unknown drug-seller cannot be determined. A set of Roman lead weights, probably used for the weighing of drugs, is here exhibited. They are marked 1 to 10, the unit probably being the _scripulum_ of 18 grains (No. =571=). Two small lead pots placed near the weights were used for holding eye-salves. One from Corfu bears the letters +A T+; the other, from Athens, has the tripod of Apollo, the god of healing, and is inscribed "The Lykian salve from Musaeos" (No. =572=). Near these pots are spoons with channels for melting and pouring the salves into wounds (No. =573=). A piece of stone with corrugated surfaces is thought to be for rolling pills (No. =574=). The ivory figure of a dwarf afflicted with a peculiar form of spinal curvature causing pigeon-breastedness is a work of considerable spirit, probably of the third century A.D. (No. =574*=).

(=563=) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 2674; _Journ. of Hellenic Stud._
34, p. 116; (=567=) Svoronos, _Athen. Nationalmus._
xlvii, 1378; (=568=) Cf. Espérandieu, _Signacula Medicorum
Oculariorum_; (=574*=) _Papers of the Brit. School at Rome_,
iv, pp. 279-282.

See on ancient medicine and surgery generally, Daremberg
and Saglio, s.v. _Chirurgia_, _Medicus_; Milne, _Surgical
Instruments in Greek and Roman Times_; Deneffe, _Étude sur la
trousse d'un chirurgien gallo-romain du III^e siècle_ (found
near Paris, 1880).

[Footnote 65: Cf. _Il._ iv. 218; xi. 844.]

[Footnote 66: Ar. _Plut._ 653 ff.]

[Footnote 67: See _Mon. Piot_, XIII. (1906), pl. xiii.,
p. 149 ff. From a vase in a private collection in Paris.]

[Footnote 68: Plat., _Leg._ i. 646: [Greek: tous eis ta
iatreia autous badizontas epi pharmakoposian].
]

[Footnote 69: _Hist. An._ i. 16.]

[Footnote 70: Plin., _H.N._ xxix. 12 f.]

[Footnote 71: Plin., _H.N._ xxix. 11:
hinc illae circa aegros miserae sententiarum concertationes,
hinc illa infelix monimenti inscriptio: turba se medicorum
periisse. Cf. Martial, v. 9.]

[Footnote 72: _Juni Tauri crocod(es) Paccian(um) ad
cicat(rices) et reum(a)._]

[Footnote 73: _Q. Jun(i) Tauri anodynum ad omn(em)
lippit(udinem)._]

XX.--MEASURES AND INSTRUMENTS.

=Measures.=--In Case H are a few examples of ancient measures and geometrical instruments. A Greek clay cup (No. =575=), inscribed [Greek: hêmikotylion], contains exactly half a pint. The Greek kotyle, therefore, according to this standard, measured exactly a pint. A copy of a well-known Roman standard gallon, the so-called Farnese Congius, is in Case 44 (No. =576=). Nos. =577= and =578= are two Roman bronze foot-rules, measuring respectively 294 mm. (11·6 in.) and 292 mm. (11·5 in.). The normal Roman foot measured 296 mm., and was adopted under Greek influence, whereas the early Italic foot had only measured 278 mm. (slightly under 11 in.). Fig. 227 (No. =578=) shows the subdivisions of these foot rules. One side is marked by dots into sixteenths (_digiti_); another into twelfths (_unciae_); another into fourths (_palmi_). The foot-rule illustrated has the remains of a catch (indicated in the fig.) for keeping it rigid, when opened. There are several pairs of ordinary compasses and dividers, and also two pairs of proportional (2:1) compasses (No. =579=). One of these is figured here (fig. 228). Notice the method of tightening by means of a wedge, with the object of keeping the compasses fixed in any particular position.

=Measures.=--(=575=) _Cat. of Vases_, IV, F 595; (=577=) Cf.
Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Pes_; _Hermes_, XXII., p. 17 ff.
and p. 79 ff.; _Ath. Mitt._, IX. (1884), p. 198 ff.

=Bronze Stamps.=--The large bronze stamps shown in Case H are somewhat akin to seals in their intention. But while the engraved ring was usually employed for purely personal purposes, such as the sealing of a letter or document, and the device of the seal was more or less ornamental, the bronze tablets were used for commercial or domestic purposes and seldom bear anything but the name of the person using them.

These tablets are of various forms, but the majority are rectangular, and bear the owner's name, like the one in this Case from Arles (No. =580=), with the name of Q. Julius Renatus; others have merely initials. Some are made in the form of a shoe or the sole of a foot, and this is a shape frequently employed by the potters of the Roman period in Italy for stamping their names on vases. Other forms to be here observed are a leaf (No. =581=), a ship (No. =582=), and a fish (No. =583=). The letters in most cases are in relief, producing an impression in _intaglio_ on a soft substance such as unbaked clay. They were probably used for the most part for stamping the plaster stoppers of wine jars, loaves of bread and such like objects.

An example of a rare form is the rolling stamp with the name of Alexander (No. =584=; fig. 229).

The remainder of the guide is devoted to the personal life of the individual from the cradle to the grave. Successive sections are devoted to Infancy and its Amusements; to Education and School Life--to which sections on Writing and Painting are annexed; to games, marriages, music, dancing, pet animals; and, finally, to objects bearing on death and burial.

XXI.--INFANCY. TOYS.

At the end of Case J are four terracotta models of cradles (No. =585=) with young children in them. One is a winged Eros, and one is swaddled. Beside the cradles are three cups (No. =586=), with spouts shaped as mouth-pieces, which may be supposed to be for milk or pap. Here also are two clay rattles (No. =587=), and a child's wooden clapper (No. =588=).

A set of small trefoil-lipped jugs (No. =589=) is painted with designs closely connected with child life. Children are shown playing with jugs of this type, with animals and toy carts, or other objects. It is probable that these jugs were given to Athenian children on the festival day of the wine god Dionysos, which went by the name of [Greek: Choes] ("Jugs"). Note No. =590= (fig. 230), with a child confined in a turret-shaped high chair, and No. =591= (fig. 231), with two children with draw-carts, each holding a jug.

=Toys.=--Children of all ages and nations bear a great resemblance to one another; consequently, it is not surprising, though it is always interesting, to find that Greek and Roman toys are often very similar to those of modern times. At the corner of Case J is a series of small reproductions of furniture, implements and the like in lead, bronze, pottery and terracotta (No. =592=). Often no doubt, they are simply toys, like the furniture of a doll's house. Sometimes, however, they must be supposed to have had a more serious votive character in a temple. In some cases, perhaps, they were of both kinds. Among the treasures of Hera at Olympia, the traveller Pausanias saw a small couch said to have been a plaything of Hippodameia,[74] and it was not uncommon for children on growing up to dedicate their toys in a temple.

The dolls that survive from Greek times were chiefly of terracotta, and frequently furnished with movable arms and legs. It will be noticed that most of these dolls have holes pierced in the top of their heads for the passage of strings connected with the arms and sometimes with the legs. These would produce a movement of the arms and legs, and explain the term [Greek: neurospasta] ("drawn by strings") applied to these dolls. In Xenophon's _Symposium_ a travelling showman speaks of being kept by the profits drawn from such puppets.[75] One, holding castanets, is illustrated here (fig. 232; No. =593=). We get allusions in literature to these dolls and other small terracotta figures, which show that one of their chief uses was the amusement of children. One writer[76] speaks of "those who make little figures of clay in the form of all kinds of animals destined for the beguiling of little children." Such a figure is that of the donkey with a sea-perch tied on its back (No. =594=) or the fascinating group of the little boy on the goose (No. =595=), and the old woman on the mule (No. =596=; fig. 233). Many of these toys bring vividly to mind country scenes in Greece at the present day. Though they were doubtless intended chiefly for little children, women did not altogether disdain these terracotta toys. A Greek tombstone of the fifth century B.C. has a relief showing a girl, quite grown up, standing with a terracotta doll, exactly like those in this Case, in her hands, while a young slave-girl holds the figure of a duck before her.[77] Humbler but less breakable toys of Roman date are the wooden horse (No. =597=) and rag doll (No. =598=) from Egypt. For the most part these toys have been found in the tombs of children. The seated figure of a girl (No. =599=; fig. 234), holding an ivory dove in her hand, and surrounded by her spinning instrument for the knee (see p. 145), her shoes, and marriage-bowl, was found in a tomb near Athens, probably of the fourth century B.C. The bowl is almost certainly the [Greek: lebês gamikos], used by the bridal pair immediately after marriage. It is therefore not unreasonable to conclude that the tomb was that of a newly wedded bride. Another plaything in vogue among the Greeks was the whipping top, an ancient model of which in terracotta (No. =600=) is seen in the Case and is illustrated on the right of fig. 235. On the left of the figure is another form of Greek whipping top (of terracotta, found in the sanctuary of the Kabeiri at Thebes), and in the centre a design from a vase, in which a woman is represented whipping such a top. In a Greek epigram[78] the top is mentioned as a boy's plaything, together with a ball, a rattle, and the favourite knucklebones, and an inscription from the sanctuary of the Kabeiri at Thebes speaks of four knucklebones, a top ([Greek: strobilos]), a whip, and a torch dedicated by a woman named Okythoa.[79]

(=591=) _Cat. of Vases_, III., E 533 ff.; Benndorf, _Griech.
u. Sicil. Vasenbilder_, p 64; (=599=) For the [Greek: lebês
gamikos], see _Ath. Mitt._, XXXII. (1907), p. 111 f.; (=600=)
See _Ath. Mitt._, XIII., p. 426 f., and _Van Branteghem
Coll._, No. 167.

[Footnote 74: Paus. V. 20. 1.]

[Footnote 75: Xen., _Symp._ 55.]

[Footnote 76: Suidas, s.v. [Greek: Koroplathoi].]

[Footnote 77: Conze, _Att. Grabreliefs_, No. 880,
pl. clxx.]

[Footnote 78: _Anth. Pal._ vi. 309. [Greek:

euphêmon toi sphairan, eukrotalon te Philoklês
Hermeiê tautên pyxineên platagên,
astragalas th' hais poll' epemênato, kai ton helikton
rhombon, kourosynês paigni', anekremasen].
]

[Footnote 79: _Athen. Mitt._, XIII., p. 427: [Greek: Okythoa
astragalôs pettaras, strobilon, mastiga, daida,....]
]

XXII.--EDUCATION, WITH WRITING AND PAINTING.

(Table-Case J.)

=Education.=--Case J contains several objects illustrating that part of the Greek child's education which was connected with the arts of reading, arithmetic and writing. A Greek terracotta of the fourth century B.C. with Silenus holding the child Dionysos by the hand (No. =601=), may be supposed to represent the old pedagogue, the slave whose duty it was to take the child to school. (Scenes in a music school are shown on the vases E 171, E 172, in cases 55-56.)

=Reading.=--Another terracotta group of about the third century B.C. (No. =602=, fig. 236, _right_) shows a kindly old schoolmaster seated and teaching a boy who stands by his side to read from a roll. The ancient book differed from our own in taking the form of a roll. The reader would first unroll the beginning, and then, as he went on, roll up the part he had finished, making thus a double roll, as it were, of the part read and the part unread. See the tablet in Case 56 of the child Avita, reading her scrolls, with her dog in attendance (No. =603=).

A simple Greek alphabet is inscribed on marble (No. =604=) [Greek: ...de...thiklmnxoprstuphchps]. A fragment of a syllabic reading or spelling exercise is shown on a piece of pottery (No. =605=; fig. 237). Each letter of the alphabet is combined with each vowel in turn, as [Greek: ra re rê r[i ro ru rô] sa se sê si s[o su sô]] and so on. In the case of [Greek: rê] the syllable was miswritten [Greek: re] and corrected. A school-boy's wax tablet (No. =606=; fig. 238) shows on its right half how syllables constitute words as [Greek: the ôn] for [Greek: theôn]. A large wooden board with an iron handle (No. =607=) is inscribed with lines of Homer (_Iliad_ i., 468 ff.), no doubt for use in school. A fragment of an 'Iliac table,' (No. =608=) with a scene from the _Iliad_ (Achilles dragging the body of Hector round Troy, and Achilles conversing with Athena) was probably also intended for teaching purposes.

=Arithmetic.=--The left side of the tablet (No. =606=; fig. 238) gives a multiplication table, from [Greek: a´ a´ a´], once one is one, to [Greek: g´ i´ l´], thrice ten is thirty. The Greek numerals follow the alphabet to [Greek: i´] = 10, followed by [Greek: k´] = 20, [Greek: l´] = 30, and so on. Six is represented by the sign [Greek: stigma´ (f´)], which occupies the place of F in the Latin alphabet, and stands for the old digamma or vau.

=Writing.=--The wax-coated tablet which contains the foregoing table was the usual appliance for writing. A writing lesson is shown in the terracotta group (No. =602=, fig. 236, _left_). The instrument employed was a pointed implement, called by the Romans a _stilus_. An example in ivory, here figured (No. =609=; fig. 239), was found in a tomb of the fifth century B.C. at Eretria in Euboea. The broad flat end was used for erasures, so that we find the Romans using the phrase _vertere stilum_, "to turn the pen" in the sense of "to erase." Numerous _stili_ in bronze are shown in the Case, and some are illustrated in fig. 240. The fifth example from the top in the illustration is in silver bound with gold wire, probably from France and of late Roman date. These tablets were not as a rule used singly, but strung together, so that the waxen surface was protected when the two or more leaves were closed. The present tablet was composed of two leaves, one of which is in the Department of Manuscripts with a writing exercise upon it. The arrangement of several tablets in a fashion anticipating the form of the modern book is well shown in the relief of the pork butcher (Case 41).

For documents of a more permanent character paper was made from the papyrus plant, whence it takes its name. It was manufactured chiefly at Alexandria from the time of the foundation of that town in the fourth century B.C., and pen and ink were used to write on it. A specimen of Greek writing on papyrus is seen in the Case (No. =610=). It is a letter of the first century after Christ, asking that a supply of drugs of good quality--"none of your rotten stuff that won't pass muster in Alexandria"--should be sent to the writer, Prokleios. Later on, parchment, prepared from the skins of animals, and made principally at Pergamon, in Asia Minor, began to rival papyrus as writing-material. Specimens of ancient reed and bronze pens (No. =611=) are given in the illustration above (fig. 240), and a series of ancient inkpots is here figured (No. =612=; fig. 241). The pens, whose split nibs have a curiously modern appearance, are all of Roman date. The reed pens come from Behnesa, in Egypt, and one of the bronze pens was found in the Tiber at Rome. The inkpots are also of Roman date. The middle one of the lower row has its hinged cover still remaining, with the inlaid vine-spray in silver round the rim. The one to the right of it is in blue faïence, and was found in Egypt.

Writing was sometimes put directly upon wood. Such is the case with the fragment of board from Egypt mentioned above. The lawyer's tablet (No. =612*=), of about the fifth century A.D., which deals with loans, etc., has the surface specially whitened for the writing and a space for keeping the pen. Parts of the two outer leaves, which contained between them eight inner leaves, are shown in the Case.

(=604=) _B.M. Inscr._, 323; (=605=) _Journ. Hell. Stud._,
XXVIII. (1908), p. 123; cf. Dumont, _Inscriptions céramiques_,
p. 405 (5); (=608=) _Cat. of Sculpt._, III., 2192; (=610=)
_B.M. Papyri_, ccclvi.

On Greek education generally, see Freeman, _Schools of
Hellas_, and the select bibliography there given. For ancient
books, cf. E. M. Thompson, _Handbook of Greek and Latin
Palaeography_. For relics of Graeco-Egyptian school-life, see
_Journ. Hell. Stud._, _loc. cit._

=Painting.=--Adjoining the objects connected with writing, are illustrations of the art of painting in Roman times. They include a series of ancient colours, pestles and mortars, some paintings on wood, one, painted by the encaustic process, enclosed in its ancient wooden frame. The colours, as may be seen, were kept in a dry condition, and had to be pounded with pestle and mortar before they were mixed for the use of the artist. A good number of ancient colours are shown here, the blue (silicate of copper) being particularly prominent. The six saucers (No. =613=), found together in a tomb of the Roman period at Hawara, Egypt, contain water-colour paints. These are _dark red_ (oxide of iron), _yellow_ (ochre, oxide of iron), _white_ (sulphate of lime), _pink_ (organic colour, probably madder, in sulphate of lime), _blue_ (glass coloured by copper), _red_ (oxide of lead). The saucers were found piled by the side of the owner's body. Pestles and mortars for pounding the colours are shown in the Case. A favourite form of pestle is that which resembles a bent leg or thumb, such as the one from Rhodes (No. =614=), inscribed with what is probably the owner's name. Near it is the terracotta figure of a dwarf (No. =615=), seated (apparently in a violent passion) before a pestle and mortar. We may imagine that he is a slave set to mix his master's colours.

The methods of painting illustrated here are two, viz., painting on a dry ground in water-colours, and what is known as "encaustic" painting. For the first, water-colours were used, and the ground material was generally a thin piece of wood, whitened to receive the colours. Egypt has furnished many examples of this kind of painting. Among them is the portrait of a woman from the Fayum, wearing a fillet (No. =616=). This no doubt comes from a mummy of the Roman period, such as the one exhibited in Case 72 next the entrance to the Gold Room Corridor, which has a similar painted portrait (in encaustic, however) placed over the face. Other water-colour paintings of Roman date from Egypt are shown in Case J, such as the figures of Fortune and Venus painted in several colours on a red ground (No. =617=), and the fragmentary figure (No. =618=), wearing a jewel of gold and pearls, and inscribed with the name of Sarapis ([Greek: SARAPI]). The encaustic process was that employed in the case of the framed portrait (No. =619=), found at Hawara in Egypt. The frame is carefully made, the sides being joined by tenons and mortises. There is a groove for a glass covering, and the cord by which it was suspended still remains. The portrait was painted in wax, by a process which can hardly have been other than that called "encaustic" by Pliny.[80] The nature of this process has been much disputed, but probably the colours were ground in with the wax, which was fused by the heat of the sun or artificial means, and then laid on by the brush. A stump (_cestrum_) was also sometimes employed. Probably a box divided into compartments was used for holding these wax-colours in their fluid state. Such a receptacle may perhaps be recognised in the long terracotta vessel, which has a groove in the middle for a brush (No. =620=).

(=613=) Petrie, _Hawara_, p. 11; (=619=) _ibid._, p. 10.

[Footnote 80: Plin. _H.N._ xxxv. 122, 149.]

XXIII.--GAMES.

(Table-Case J.)

Herodotus has a curious story to the effect that the Lydians invented dice, knucklebones, balls, and other playthings to help them to pass a time of famine, by playing and eating on alternate days.[81] Draughts ([Greek: pessoi]) are expressly excepted from his list, and were ascribed to the fertile invention of Palamedes at the time of the Trojan war. Games played with knucklebones (small bones forming part of the ankle-joint in cloven-footed animals) may be described first, since they were, as may be judged from the number of ancient knucklebones found (No. =621= in this Case), extremely common. We are told in the _Anthology_ of a boy who gained eighty knucklebones as a writing-prize.[82] Among women too they were a favourite plaything. The illustration (fig. 242), from a painting on marble found at Resina (the ancient Herculaneum), shows two women engaged at knucklebones. (See also the terracotta group D 161 in the Room of Terracottas, Case 32). This game was called "five-stones" ([Greek: pentelithoi]), a name still given by children to a very similar game. The lexicographer Pollux describes the game thus: "The knucklebones are thrown up into the air, and an attempt is made to catch them on the back of the hand. If you are only partially successful, you have to pick up the knucklebones which have fallen to the ground, without letting fall those already on the hand.... It is, above all, a woman's game."[83] This description makes the illustration clear. Each woman has five knucklebones, and the one whose turn it is to play has caught three on the back of her hand; the two which are falling to the ground she would have to pick up without shaking off those already on the hand.

Besides being used in various kinds of games, knucklebones were also employed as dice. The four long faces of the knucklebone differed from one another in form, one being convex, another concave, another nearly flat, and the fourth sinuous and irregular. The values assigned to these sides were: (_a_) to the flat side ([Greek: chion]), 1; (_b_) the sinuous side ([Greek: kôon]), 6; (_c_) the concave ([Greek: hyption]), 3; (_d_) the convex ([Greek: prênes]), 4. This is the order in which they are shown in fig. 243, from left to right. Astragali thus required no marks of value upon them, since their sides were naturally distinguished. The ordinary cube-shaped dice, marked 1-6 (No. =622=) were also widely used by the Greeks and Romans (fig. 243). The usual arrangement of numbers was, as now, 1 opposite 6, 2 opposite 5, and 3 opposite 4,[84] but other arrangements occur. Some dice are interesting on account of their peculiar form, _e.g._, the squatting silver figures (No. =623=, fig. 204), which are marked with the values 1-6 on different parts of the body. A Roman bronze dice-box is shown in fig. 244 (No. =624=). The ordinary materials of dice were ivory, bone, or wood. Of the multifarious ways of playing with dice known to the Greeks and Romans, the one most in vogue may be mentioned. In this three dice were used, and the object was to throw the highest number ([Greek: pleistobolinda]). The best throw, three sixes, became proverbial. In Aeschylos' _Agamemnon_ the watchman, when he saw the beacon-fire blaze forth which told of Agamemnon's victorious return, exclaimed:----"I'll count my master's fortunes fallen fair, now that my beacon watch has thrown a triple six."[85] With astragali, on the other hand, the best throw was 1, 3, 4, 6, and was called "the throw of Venus." For this each bone had to present a different face.[86] The worst throw was the "Dogs," when four aces turned up.[87]

Dice of exceptional form are the twenty-sided one, inscribed with the Greek letters [Greek: A] to [Greek: Y] (No. =625=), a fourteen-sided one inscribed with Roman numerals (No. =626=), and an uninscribed fourteen-sided crystal die from Naukratis. With these may be mentioned the triple teetotum (No. =627=) and the four-sided triple die, one side of which has been left plain (No. =628=).

Of the rules governing other games, represented here by several pieces, we are entirely ignorant. The plaster pawns (No. =629=) found at Panticapaeum (Kertch) in the Crimea, probably belonged to some game analogous to our draughts. An interesting set of pieces is that of the ivory discs (No. =630=; fig. 245), which bear on their obverse a design in relief _e.g._ two Muses and the head of the Sun-god, and on their reverse a number, from 1 to 15, in both Greek and Latin figures, as well as a word descriptive of the design on the obverse. Thus the two illustrated have on their reverse

+VI+
[Greek: MOUSAI]
[Greek: TH]
[Greek: F]

and

+II+
[Greek: HÊLIOS]
[Greek: B]

(_i.e._, VI.--Nine ([Greek: th´]) Muses--6, and II.--Helios--2) respectively. It seems pretty clearly established that these discs were used as pieces in a game, which probably resembled draughts or backgammon. Fifteen of these pieces have been found together in a child's tomb at Panticapaeum. The game appears to have been popular in the first and second centuries after Christ, and probably had its origin in Alexandria. It seems likely that it bore a resemblance to the Roman game called _duodecim scripta_ ("twelve lines"), played with fifteen pieces on either side. The moves were determined by the throw of the dice, as in our backgammon. Another set of pieces belonging to a game are the label-shaped ivories (No. =631=; fig. 245), inscribed on one side with words, often of an abusive character, such as _male (e)st_ ("bad luck"), _fur_ ("thief"), _nugator_ ("trifler"), _stumacose_ ("ill-tempered fellow"), etc., and on the other with numbers. The pieces mentioned have the numbers +XXIII+, +A+, +II+, +I+, and +II A+ respectively on their reverse sides (see fig. 245). The whole series of numbers on these ivories runs from 1 to 25, and includes in addition 30 and 60; it is noteworthy that the highest numbers have inscriptions of a complimentary character, _e.g._, _felix_ and _benigne_. The pieces may have been used in the Roman game called "the game of soldiers" (_ludus latrunculorum_).[1]

At the top of Cases 57-58 is an oblong marble board (No. =632=), inscribed with six words of six letters each. It was found in a tomb near the Porta Portese, Rome. The words are--

+CIRCVS PLENVS+
+CLAMOR INGENS+
+IANVAE TE+ ? _te(nsae)_

"Circus full," "Great shouting," "Doors bursting (?)."

Each word is separated from that opposite it by a flower within a circle. Many such stones are known, always with six words of six letters, so that it seems clear that they were used as boards for a game, possibly the _duodecim scripta_ already mentioned. The pieces used were probably the so-called "contorniates," bronze discs of coin form, with designs in relief on either side within a raised rim and a circular depression. Two examples of these contorniates (in electrotype) are exhibited below the stone board (No. =633=). The pieces are of late Imperial date, of about the time of Constantine. Many have subjects closely connected with the circus, a fact which harmonizes well with the inscription on the board described. One of the two exhibited has a head of Alexander and a representation of a chariot race, the other a head of Nero and a water organ (see below, p. 216).

(=630=) Cf. _Röm. Mitt._, 1896, p. 238 ff.; _Rev. Arch._, 4th
Series V. (1905), p. 110 ff.; (=631=) _Röm. Mitt._, 1896, p.
227 ff.; (=632=) Cf. _Num. Chron._ (4th Series), VI., p. 232
ff.; _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1887, p. 118.

On ancient toys and games generally, see Becq de Fouquières,
_Les jeux des anciens_; Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Ludus_.

[Footnote 81: Herodot., i. 94.]

[Footnote 82: _Anth. Pal._ vi. 308: [Greek:

Nikêsas tous paidas, epei kala grammat' egrapsen,
Konnaros ogdôkont' astragalous elaben.]
]

[Footnote 83: Pollux, ix. 126 (reading [Greek: ephistatai] and
omitting [Greek: ê]).]

[Footnote 84: Cf. _Anth. Pal._ xiv. 8: [Greek:

hex, hen, pente, dyo, tria, tessara kybos elaunei.]
]

[Footnote 85: Aesch., _Agam._ 32: [Greek:

ta despotôn gar eu pesonta thêsomai,
tris hex balousês têsde moi phryktôrias.]
]

[Footnote 86: Mart., xiv. 14:

Cum steterit nullus vultu tibi talus eodem,
Munera me dices magna dedisse tibi.
]

[Footnote 87: Prop., iv. 8, 45 f.:

Me quoque per talos Venerem quaerente secundos,
Semper damnosi subsiluere canes.
]

[Footnote 88: _Latro_ originally meant "a mercenary soldier."]

XXIV.--MARRIAGE.

(Wall-Case 53.)

=Greek Marriage.=--Though neither Greek nor Roman marriage was definitely associated with the religion of the state, it was, however, among both peoples closely associated with religious rites of a domestic character. Plato in his _Laws_ makes it the distinguishing mark of the legally wedded wife that "she had come into the house with gods and sacred marriage rites." These rites are sometimes represented upon Greek vases, as may be seen from the objects and illustrations placed in this Case. The ceremonies may be conveniently divided into those concerning (_a_) the preparation of the bride; (_b_) the removal of the bride from the house of her father to that of her husband; (_c_) the reception at that house; and (_d_) the presents given on the day following the marriage ([Greek: epaulia]).

(_a_) On the day before her wedding the bride not infrequently made an offering of the playthings of her childhood to some deity, presenting her toys to Artemis in particular. On the day before marriage, too, water for the bridal bath was brought in procession in the special form of tall vase called a [Greek: loutrophoros]; a small model is seen in Case 59 (No. =634=). The vase is also seen standing on the chest in the room of the bride here depicted (No. =635=; fig. 246). The scene is taken from the design on a toilet box of the fifth century B.C. (E 774), which shows the bride being adorned for her marriage. Besides the tall amphora already mentioned, two vases called "marriage bowls" ([Greek: lebêtes gamikoi]) are seen standing on tall stems before the door, on the further side of which one of the bride's friends is turning the magic wheel intended to inspire the bridegroom with a greater longing of love. So Theocritus sings:

"Draw to my home, O mystic wheel,
the man that I long for."[89]