Chapter XV: Introduction (2)

The hair was worn long by men until the fifth century, and the Spartans and Athenian gentlemen who admired Spartan ways continued the fashion. It was sometimes allowed to fall on the shoulders in curls or braids, but was more frequently braided in two plaits and wound around the head, or made into a sort of roll at the back and fastened by a gold pin. In the sixth century men wore pointed beards without moustaches, but later it became customary to shave the entire face, though short beards and moustaches were worn by older men. A warrior arming, on an amphora on the bottom of Case 4, has a pointed beard and long hair. His young squire, who stands behind him, is beardless but his hair is long and curling. The lyre-player on a large amphora on Pedestal R3 in the Third Room has long hair in a knot at the back, held in place by a band. A somewhat similar arrangement is seen in the bronze statuette of Apollo in Case C2 in the same room. The fashion of plaited hair wound around the head is illustrated by a terracotta relief of Phrixos on the ram’s back in Case E in the Fourth Room. In the fifth century short hair was usual for both young and old men; young men did not wear beards but older men frequently wore short beards with moustaches. A moustache without a beard was regarded as the mark of the barbarian. The marble heads of two young men, Nos. 12 and 14 in the Sculpture Gallery, and the athlete’s head on Pedestal H in the Sixth Room show the fashion for young men, and a comparison of the vases and small bronzes in the Third Room with those in the Fourth Room will make clear the gradual change of style from elaboration to simplicity.

The styles of women’s hair-dressing can be best understood by looking at the statues, vases, and terracottas in the collection. A variety of ornamental kerchiefs was worn, especially a very pretty band called sphendone, “sling,” from its shape (fig. 71). On the bottom of Case J in the Fifth Room is a large stamnos decorated with groups of women dressed in the Ionic and Doric chitons and wearing various kinds of head-dresses. Many of the terracottas in the Sixth Room and the head of a young goddess, No. 7 in the Sculpture Gallery, illustrate the “melon” coiffure which became the mode in the fourth century.

Fashions in dress were the same in general throughout the Greek world, although of course there were local peculiarities. In Sparta boys and men often wore only a small wrap without a chiton, and young men commonly went barefoot. The women wore the Doric chiton.

The jewelry in use included necklaces and bracelets, rings for the ears and fingers, and pins for the hair and clothes. The Doric chiton originally required two very large pins, which were inserted with the points upwards, but they went out of use in the sixth century when the Ionic chiton came into fashion and were not worn with the later Doric chiton. The fibula or safety-pin was used throughout the Greek and Roman world. A group of these pins of various types is exhibited in Case D in the Second Room. The fibula illustrated in the head-band is in the Gold Room. Greek jewelry of the fifth and fourth centuries was frequently of great beauty. Precious stones were used but seldom until the Hellenistic period, but the excellence of Greek workmanship has rarely been equalled by other craftsmen. The Greek gentleman permitted himself only a handsome ring which was useful as a seal, and the artistic value of these engraved seal rings of gold or of gold set with a semi-precious stone has made them favorites with collectors for many centuries. The rings and gems in cases in the rooms of the Classical Wing, and the beautiful jewelry in the Gold Room are proofs of the skill of Greek workmen and the fine taste of their patrons (fig. 70).

Roman dress was similar to that of Greece in its principal characteristics. The clothing of women was the same as that of the Greek lady of the Hellenistic age represented in the terracotta statuettes. The Ionic chiton, made usually of wool instead of linen, and called stola, was worn in the house, but the married woman’s stola had a wide piece like a flounce sewn on at the bottom. For the street the himation, called by the Romans palla, was worn over it. The Roman citizen wore a white woolen tunic like the Greek chiton, but it was usually provided with short sleeves. Senators, knights, and free-born children had this tunic ornamented with purple stripes running from each shoulder to the bottom, both front and back. In the statue of a camillus in the Eighth Room the stripes were inlaid in silver, of which traces remain. Over this was worn the toga, corresponding to the Greek himation and arranged in the same general way. The toga, however, was usually larger than the himation and was semicircular on the lower edge. For senators, knights, and children it was ornamented with a broad purple stripe following the straight edge. Shoes and sandals of various kinds were in use; a special kind of high shoe called calceus was always worn with the toga, and the tunic, toga, and calceus formed the regulation dress for citizens in public. The toga, being a very heavy, cumbersome garment, was not worn for traveling or active work, and for these purposes there were many small wraps and longer cloaks of various shapes.

Short hair was universally worn by men in Rome. Under the Republic women’s hair was simply arranged, but throughout the Imperial period a variety of styles prevailed at different times, most of which were conspicuous for their bad taste and so elaborate that the desired effect was produced by wearing wigs and wire supports. Some of the better styles may be seen on the portraits in the Sculpture Gallery, and on the heads of a girl and a woman on pedestals in the Eighth Room. During most of their history the Romans did not wear beards or moustaches, but under the Empire fashion fluctuated, following the style favored by the reigning emperor. After the time of Trajan beards were usual.

Roman ladies were fond of ornaments and wore a great many of them. Large sums of money were expended on precious stones and on shoes and other garments embroidered with pearls. During the Republican period the Roman wore a gold ring as the badge of his citizenship, but in the Imperial period, with the increase of luxurious bad taste, dandies sometimes covered all the joints of their fingers with rings.

Requisites for the toilet do not differ greatly from one period to another, since the purposes for which they were intended remain practically the same; so we find much that seems familiar among those of the Greeks and Romans. Probably the oldest article in this group is a razor with a crescent-shaped blade, made in Italy in the early Iron Age. The shape seems to have been a common one (fig. 73). Tweezers, of which an example is shown in Case 5, were used for removing superfluous hair. An article of daily use in ancient times, though we have no modern utensil to correspond with it, is the strigil or flesh-scraper (Case 5, fig. 72). It was used especially by athletes after exercise, to remove the dust and sand of the wrestling-ground, so that the strigil, oil-flask, and sponge became in Greece a kind of symbol for the athlete’s life, which was, practically speaking, the life of all well-to-do young men. On a gravestone, No. 7 in the Sculpture Gallery, the dead youth is represented with a strigil in his hand, while his little slave holds his towel and oil-flask. Both men and women used strigils in the bath for scraping off the fuller’s earth or lye powder used as soap. A silver strigil was included in the tomb furniture of an Etruscan lady which is exhibited in Case F in the Sixth Room. There is an example in glass of Roman date in Case 5.

It was customary among the Greeks and Romans to rub the body with oil after the bath. The small jar called aryballos (Case G in the Fifth Room, fig. 75) and the taller alabastron (Case 2, and Case A in the Fourth Room, fig. 74) were used for holding oil and perfumes for toilet use. Some small glass toilet bottles in Case J in the Third Room are so charming in shape and coloring as to make a modern woman envious (fig. 76). In the Gold Room are two crystal scent bottles from Cyprus, one of which has a gold stopper. The toilet box or pyxis held ointment, rouge, face or tooth powders, or small toilet articles or ornaments. These charming boxes were made of metal, as the silver box in Case F in the Sixth Room (fig. 77), or of painted terracotta. The latter are often triumphs of the potter’s and vase painter’s art; for example, the white pyxis in Case V in the Fourth Room (fig. 78) and the red-figured pyxis in Case A in the same room, with its interesting drawings of women working wool (compare fig. 39). Others of a variety of shapes and decoration will be found in Cases C and G in the Fifth Room.

The bronze boxes known as cistae are Etruscan. Some of those which have been found in tombs are very large and are elegantly decorated with engraved scenes. They seem to have been a kind of dressing-case, for holding all of a lady’s toilet equipment. A small one was included in the tomb furniture of an Etruscan woman which is shown in Case F in the Sixth Room.

Bronze spatulae were useful in a variety of ways for mixing and applying the cosmetics which were employed so constantly by Greek and Roman ladies (fig. 79). An instrument corresponding to our medicine droppers are the dipping-rods of bronze or glass. They could be inserted into bottles or jars to take out a small quantity of liquid. A disk about half way up the rod kept it from slipping into the bottle (fig. 80). Examples of both utensils will be found in Case 5.

Ancient mirrors were as inferior to the modern in power to reflect as they are superior in beauty. Disks of highly polished metal, usually bronze, were employed for this purpose, for the process of making a mirror by backing a sheet of glass is not older than the fourteenth century. Sometimes the mirror consists of a simple disk, plain or ornamented on one side with an engraving or a design in relief, or again it is made in one piece with a long handle or with a short tang to be inserted into a bone or ivory handle, or it is provided with a ring. The disk is often protected with a cover which bears the principal decoration. Etruscan mirrors most frequently have handles but no covers, and are decorated with engraved scenes, usually taken from Greek mythology (fig. 82). Greek mirrors are of two types: either a simple disk without a handle, fitting into a cover, usually ornamented with a relief (fig. 83), or a disk supported on a stand, often in the form of a human figure (fig. 81). In Case A in the Fourth Room are two fine examples of the latter, two stands from which the mirrors have been lost, and a mirror with a cover decorated with a woman’s head in relief. Another charming stand of Etruscan workmanship is in Case H in the Third Room. In Case A in the Fifth Room are four very beautiful Greek mirrors of the fourth century, and in Case C in the Sixth Room are examples of both Greek and Etruscan types. A pretty terracotta statuette of a lady using a mirror is in Case G in the same room; she is arranging her hair while balancing her mirror on her knee.

VII

AMUSEMENTS, MUSIC, AND DANCING

CASES 1, 3, AND 5

As at the present time, festivities frequently centered around dining. In Greece, many dinners were given by men to their friends, followed by the symposium, at which the guests drank wine mixed with water, told jests, sang, and often watched hired performers, such as jugglers, tumblers, and dancers. A kylix in Case E in the Fourth Room is decorated with a scene from a symposium (fig. 84). The special game for this occasion was “kottabos,” which was played with the aid of a bronze contrivance like a candelabrum, of which an example stands in the Fifth Room (fig. 85). The players held their cups by one handle and tried to throw a small quantity of liquid on the bronze disk at the top of the shaft, so that it fell down with a ringing sound. The game was also played by throwing the liquid into nutshells or small saucers floating in a krater full of water, so as to make them sink. Many games of chance were known to the Greeks and Romans. Perhaps the most popular were those played with the knucklebones (astragaloi) of sheep and goats. They could be used like dice, and also like “jacks,” being thrown up and caught on the back of the hand. A toilet box on the middle shelf of Case 3 (fig. 87) shows three women playing, one of whom has an astragal on the back of her hand. The knob on the cover of the box is appropriately made in the same form. Nine very small examples of glass are in Case 1 (fig. 86). The invention of draughts was ascribed to Palamedes, one of the heroes of the Trojan War, a story which at least proves that they were played in Greece in very early times. Nuts and coins were also used as counters in various games, and games of dice were played in various ways. Astragals could be used as dice, and had the advantage of needing no marks, as the sides were naturally different.

The musical instruments in use were the lyre and kithara and the flute, with some other less common varieties of stringed instruments. The kithara, the instrument of professional musicians, had a sounding-board and hollow arms of wood. The strings extended from the “yoke,” a cross-piece connecting the arms, to the sounding-board. The kithara was usually played standing, and was hung by a band to the performer’s shoulders. He played with both hands, using the plectron or “pick” in his right. A rather rude terracotta from Cyprus in Case 1 represents a woman with a kithara, a terracotta statuette of Eros with a kithara is in Case K in the Seventh Room, and a wall-painting in the Eighth Room represents a lady playing one (see fig. 21). Kithara players in festal costume at the public games are represented on three vases in the collection (Case K in the Third Room and Cases E and Y in the Fourth Room). Another illustration is on an amphora on the bottom of Case P in the Fifth Room, where Apollo, the god of music, stands before an altar holding his favorite instrument (fig. 90). The best representation, however, is the kithara held by a gold siren who forms the pendant of an earring exhibited in the Gold Room. The details of construction are fully worked out and the attachment of the strings can be clearly seen. Those used at public festivals were often richly ornamented with carving and inlay of semi-precious stones.

The lyre was the usual instrument of the amateur. Boys learned to play it at school, and gentlemen were expected to be able to accompany themselves upon it at symposia. Its sounding-board was made of the shell of a tortoise covered on one side with wood. The upright pieces, curved outward and in again toward the top, were sometimes made of the horns of animals. It had a yoke near the ends of the uprights, and a bridge on the sounding-board. The strings, of sheep’s guts or sinews, varied in number from three to eleven at different periods, but seven was the usual number in the fifth century. The plectron was generally used in playing both instruments. Several good illustrations of the lyre may be seen in the Museum collection. A satyr with a lyre decorates an amphora on the shelf in Case J in the Fourth Room. On the bottom of Case O is an amphora showing Kephalos with a lyre (fig. 88), and on the shelf above a boy singing to the lyre will be seen in the interior of a kylix. A man holding a lyre, probably a guest at a symposium, decorates the inside of a kylix in Case E. An interesting little bronze figure in Case C 2 in the Third Room represents a musician in festival dress with the same instrument. The statuette was probably a votive offering for success in a contest.

The ancient flute differed from the modern in being played at the end, and in having a vibrating reed as a mouthpiece. The tone was shrill. Flutes were always played in pairs, and a kind of bandage was often worn by the player to support their weight. This can be seen on the psykter in Case 4 and on a terracotta statuette from Cyprus in Case 1. Flute music had a very wide use. It accompanied the voice in solo or chorus, and the kithara at public contests; it was employed in the theatre at Athens and at Rome, and was used to guide and accompany the exercises of the palaistra. The flute furnished music for dancers, and in Rome it was played at funerals. Meals were served and work such as the kneading of bread in bakeries was done to its music. Flute-cases are often represented in interior scenes in Greek vase paintings, as on the inside of a kylix in Case O in the Fourth Room, showing a boy playing the lyre, and on a lekythos in Case K in that room where a woman is playing the same instrument. Another instrument was the syrinx or Pan’s pipe, made of reeds arranged in graduated lengths, fastened together with cords and wax. It was especially the shepherd’s companion in his long, solitary days with his flocks. The little faun which forms the pendant of the bracelet in Case K 2 in the Seventh Room is playing the syrinx. Cymbals were used principally at religious ceremonies of an orgiastic type. There are two pairs in the collection, one being marked with the owner’s name, Kallisthenia (Case 5 and Case C 2 in the Sixth Room). Dancing formed a part of worship in ancient times. The rude clay groups of men and women dancing in a ring illustrate a feature of the worship of Aphrodite in Cyprus (Case 1). In Greece boys were taught the exercises preliminary to a dancer’s training as a part of their physical education, and the many public festivals gave opportunity for large numbers to progress further. Professional dancers, both boys and girls, were employed to furnish entertainment at symposia. On a kylix on the bottom of Case L in the Fourth Room is a girl dancing and playing the castanets, while a young man looks on (fig. 89). Women of good family danced at home for amusement, and at domestic festivals. The character of Greek dancing was largely mimetic, the movements of the arms and the use of the drapery being very important (see tail-piece, p. 75). The terracotta dancers in Case L in the Seventh Room and another in Case 1 are good illustrations of this (figs. 91-92). The Romans in early times practised religious dancing. The processions of the Salii or priests of Mars, and of the Arval Brothers are the best-known examples of such ritual performances. Dancing as an amusement, however, they adopted from the Greeks in its period of decadence, and consequently the sterner moralists opposed it. Under the early Empire it nevertheless grew very fashionable. Girls and women of noble family learned to dance as an accomplishment, and even men of high rank danced, though at the cost of their dignity. Professional dancers were greatly sought after and admired.

Our representations of pet animals are all on articles of Greek manufacture. An old gentleman walking with his sharp-nosed Melitean dog decorates the interior of the kylix by Hegesiboulos in Case K in the Fourth Room. Cocks and quails were kept for fighting by boys and young men. Ganymede on an amphora in Case J in the Fifth Room carries his cock on his arm (see fig. 52). Quails, cranes, small birds, and rabbits were also household favorites. On the perfume vases in Cases Q and C in the Fifth Room, quails, cranes, and a rabbit appear among the groups of women. Cats were probably introduced from the East or from Egypt in the late sixth or the early fifth century, but they were rare and seemed to have been looked upon as curiosities rather than as pets. The goose was perhaps the commonest pet and children are often represented playing with one. Some small boys with two goats harnessed to a little chariot appear on the oinochoë in Case Y in the Fourth Room.

VIII

ARMS AND ARMOR

CASES 3, 4, AND 5

The Greek soldier did not wear a full suit of armor such as that of the medieval knight; the hoplite or fully armed infantryman wore only a helmet, a cuirass, and greaves for protecting the shins. Such an equipment may be seen in the statuette of a warrior of about 500 B.C. of which the original was found at Dodona (top shelf of Case 3, fig. 93). The Romans adopted this armor from the Greeks, with minor changes and variations, but very little Roman armor has come down to our times, since it was almost entirely of iron and has rusted away in the earth where it was buried.

The earliest Greek helmets were of the type called Corinthian because Athena is represented in this helmet on the coins of Corinth. It formed a complete covering for the head, having openings only for the eyes and mouth. A nose-piece extends downward from the top. Holes for attaching a leather or cloth lining may be seen along the edges of our three oldest examples in Case H 2 in the Second Room. In the later helmets (Case J in the Third Room and Case 4, fig. 98), the shape has improved and the workmanship is finer. These helmets must have been worn over a cap, as there are no holes for sewing in the lining. One example (No. 1530 in Case J in the Third Room) has three small loops for attaching the crest, which was generally made of horsehair. When not in battle the wearer pushed the helmet back until the front rested on his forehead.

The Corinthian helmet had the great disadvantage of covering the ears and its shape probably caused it to be easily displaced. An improved form known as the Attic appears during the sixth century. This helmet, of which No. 1535 in Case 4 is an early example, was lighter than the Corinthian, fitted the head better, and had openings for the ears (see tail-piece, p. 88). The cheek-pieces were often provided with hinges and could be turned upwards and away from the face; on the large amphora on a pedestal in the Fifth Room a young warrior is holding a beautiful Attic helmet with cheek-pieces which seem to be hinged (see fig. 103). An example with immovable cheek-pieces in the form of rams’ heads is in Case C 2 in the Sixth Room. Both the Corinthian and the Attic helmet continued in use at the same time, but the Attic type gradually superseded the other. Two helmets (Case 4 and Case C 2 in the Sixth Room) shaped like the pilos or felt cap worn by workmen show a Greek type of the fifth and fourth centuries. One of them (No. 1541) has holes for attaching a crest (fig. 96). The other helmets in the collection are Italic or Etruscan. An Italian helmet reinforced by bands in relief (No. 1558 in Case N in the Seventh Room) is of the same type as those in the British Museum which were found on the battle-field of Cannae (figs. 94, 95, 97).

The earliest Greek cuirass consisted of two curved bronze plates laced together at the sides. It reached to the waist and turned up around the edges so as not to hurt the wearer. The Dodona statuette shows this cuirass, and an Italic example in Case A in the Second Room belongs to the same general type, though it is longer and the lower part is slightly curved out to follow the line of the hips (fig. 101). This heavy and uncomfortable piece of armor was superseded in Greece in the fifth century by a cuirass made of leather or cloth upon which bronze scales were sewn. It was provided with shoulder-straps and a cloth or leather kilt reinforced with strips of metal hung below the corselet proper. A warrior on a krater on the bottom of Case S in the Fourth Room shows this type well (fig. 102). The earlier cuirass continued to be used in Italy, but in an improved form; the bronze plates, being moulded to follow the curves of the body, made a more comfortable as well as a beautiful piece of armor. Two examples, one with the lower part broken away, are in Case C 2 in the Sixth Room. In some parts of Italy a substitute for the cuirass was found in the use of a breastplate made of leather on which bronze disks were sewn. An armored belt accompanied the breastplate. On a krater from South Italy in Case Q in the Sixth Room is a warrior wearing such a belt, and an example is shown in Case 4. The small holes along the edges are for sewing in a lining (fig. 99).

Greaves were characteristic features of a Greek soldier’s equipment. The pair of greaves in Case J in the Third Room will show how their shape and elasticity caused them to stay in place on the leg (fig. 100). The greave in Case 4 has holes along the edges for sewing in a lining. On the upper part of a loutrophoros in Case J in the Fourth Room is a warrior wearing greaves of which the lining can be seen in a ridge around the foot.

Shields were a necessary part of the defensive armor of ancient times, but remains of them are very scanty. Scenes of arming and of combat, however, are so frequent in Greek and Roman art that we are acquainted with their general appearance. Greek shields were usually circular or oval in shape, and made of wooden frames covered with hides and reinforced with bronze. The rim and a large boss in the center were the most essential metal parts, but the entire surface might be covered with bronze, or plates of various forms arranged upon it. The large bronze plates in Case 5 and in Case B in the Second Room seem to have been parts of shields. When using the shield as a defense the warrior thrust his left arm through the Loops in the inside, one of which was close to the rim at the left and another usually near the center of the shield; he held a third, which probably was stouter than the others, in his hand. The loops on the rim are shown in a painting on the amphora which stands on the pedestal in the Fifth Room, as well as the strap extending from side to side by which it was suspended around the wearer’s neck on the march (fig. 103). The Dodona warrior carries the so-called Boeotian shield which has depressions in the middle of each side. Various explanations are given of the origin of this form; a probable one is that it results from stretching a hide over an oval frame on which the top and bottom were fastened firmly while the sides were left free and were naturally drawn in by the pull from both ends. Another possibility is that the shield was cut out at the sides to provide peep-holes. Roman shields were rectangular and curved around at the sides to protect the wearer’s body. Only the boss and the rim were made of metal. The shield of the Greek soldier bore the device of his state, as the Koppa of Corinth, which was painted on the shields of her citizen-warriors; and the Roman soldier carried the sign of his legion in the same fashion. Interesting devices, frequently animals’ heads, were adopted like coats of arms by Greek nobles, and many of these can be seen on vases of the sixth century. An amphora on the bottom of Case 4 shows shields decorated with the heads of a bull and a boar.

The ancient warrior’s weapons were the dagger, sword, spear, javelin, bow, and sling. The weapons in the Classical Collection cannot strictly be called Greek or Roman because they were made at a remote period before the Greek and Roman states came into existence, but they are interesting in that they show the types from which later weapons were developed, and often there is very little difference between the early types and their descendants. The oldest cutting weapons are the bronze dagger-blades from Cyprus, and those from Crete in Case D 2 in the First Room. They were fitted into wooden or bone handles. A Cretan dagger-blade with an engraved design still holds the three dowels which fastened the haft. The tangs of the Cypriote blades are prolonged or hooked to prevent the blade from loosening in its socket (figs. 107-108). Spear-heads also were at first made to be inserted in the shaft, but later fitted over it. They have a slit on one side of the socket, probably to give elasticity (figs. 105-106). The bronze butt-spikes were used to fix the spear in the ground during halts. Examples of these weapons are in Case 4 and the wall-cases in the corridor.

The swords in the collection date from the Bronze or early Iron Age and so are pre-classical. The fine bronze sword (Case 4, No. 1460) belongs to an early Italian type (fig. 109), and the sword and sheath (No. 1461 in Case A in the Second Room) is also Italian. An iron sword from Cyprus (No. 1462 in the corridor) preserves the form of the bronze swords of the late Mycenaean period, as the early iron-workers at first imitated the shapes of bronze weapons. The pin in the shape of a sword illustrates the type in use during the fifth century in Greece (Case 4). The machaira which Xenophon often mentions had a curved blade and was especially useful as a cutting weapon for cavalry. A good illustration of this shape may be seen in a painting on an amphora in Case N in the Fourth Room representing a Greek and a Persian fighting. The Persian holds a machaira ready for the down-stroke (fig. 104). Roman swords were broad and flat. They were designed for thrusting, and were carried by common soldiers and officers.

The foot-soldier wearing helmet, cuirass, and greaves, and armed with sword, spear, and shield, that is, the familiar hoplite and legionary, formed the most important part of the Greek and Roman armies. Cavalry and light-armed infantry, however, who used the javelin, the bow, or the sling, became gradually more prominent as their importance was perceived in the wars with Eastern peoples and barbarous tribes. The use of the bow and the sling was taught in the palaistra at Athens, as a practical training for warfare, but ability in this direction was not rated very highly. Certain nations were especially skilful with these weapons and served as mercenaries to other states; both Xenophon and Caesar mention the Cretan archers, and Caesar speaks of slingers from the Balearic Isles who served under him in Gaul. The arrow-heads exhibited are Cypriote, but No. 4786 is Hellenic in type (Case 4, fig. 110).

Greek artists frequently represented the Amazons of legend in a dress similar to that of the Persians of their own day, and from such paintings on vases in the collection we find illustrations of various articles of dress and of weapons mentioned by Xenophon. On a polychrome lekythos in Case M in the Fourth Room is an Amazon shooting with a sling. Two spears are stuck in the ground beside her. An oinochoë in Case K in the Fifth Room shows three Amazons in their long trousers and tight-fitting sleeves covered with a pattern. One of them carries a battle-axe and two hold shields of plaited wicker-work, probably of the same sort as those which furnished fuel to cook the Greek soldiers’ breakfast on the morning after the battle of Cunaxa (Anabasis II, 1, 6) (fig. 111). Two large kraters in the Fourth Room decorated with combats of Greeks and Amazons show costumes and arms of the same type and a war chariot of the kind used by the Greeks.

An interesting custom was that of setting up a trophy after a victory; a tree-trunk to which a cross-piece had been fastened was arrayed in armor taken from the battle-field, and remained standing there until destroyed by time or taken by the enemy. A terracotta lamp from Cyprus in Case 5 is decorated with a symbolic device representing Victory holding a trophy at an altar between two Lares militares, the protecting deities of the Roman state (fig. 112).

IX

ATHLETICS

CASES 3 AND 4

The strength, agility, and symmetry of the body were valued in the highest degree by the Greeks, and with them physical training occupied a much larger place than has been the case among other peoples. Athletics were closely connected with religion, since contests were held as a part of the funeral and memorial rites of heroes, and likewise of the worship of the gods. They also had an important practical end; Greek armies were always levies of citizens, and since there was no considerable length of time during which the Greek states were at peace before the period of Roman domination, the safety of the state depended to a great extent upon the training of its citizens. Gymnastic games and exercises were continued throughout the greater part of a man’s life, contributing to good health and physical development no less than to recreation.

This interest in athletics can be traced back to very early times in the Boxer Vase from Crete dated in the sixteenth century B.C. (a reproduction of this vase is in Case J in the First Room) and the scenes of bull-leaping and the ivory leapers from Knossos (reproductions on the south wall of the First Room and in Case H 2). The Homeric poems contain many references to athletics, as the funeral games of Patroklos in the Twenty-third Book of the Iliad, the games among the Phaeacians in which Odysseus took part (Odyssey VII), and Odysseus’ encounter with the beggar (Odyssey XVIII, vv. 15ff.); but at this time sports were unorganized and no rules had as yet been devised for them. The seventh century was especially the period of organization during which the great festivals became fixed in time and in the number and kind of contests, and by 570 B.C. the four great Panhellenic festivals—the Olympian, the Pythian, the Isthmian, and the Nemean—were established.

There are a large number of vases, especially those of the late sixth and early fifth centuries, ornamented with scenes from the wrestling-schools and gymnasia. The place is indicated by the objects hung on the walls, such as jumping-weights, a diskos, or an oil-flask and a strigil for removing sand and oil. The trainer is usually present, represented as a mature man, wearing a himation and carrying a forked rod. The flute-player in a long, spotted robe often accompanies the exercises or plays for the jumper.

The principal athletic contests were foot-races of various distances, including the torch-race, which corresponded to the modern relay race, broad jumping, throwing the diskos and the javelin, wrestling, and boxing. There were also the pentathlon (five contests), which consisted of the jump, the foot-race, throwing the diskos and the javelin, and wrestling; and the pankration, a combination of wrestling and boxing.

For jumping, weights called halteres were used; on the black-figured lekythos on the middle shelf of Case 4 decorated with a scene of athletes practising, two of the number hold halteres, the drawing being sufficiently detailed to show the shape well. On the psykter and a vase fragment on the same shelf are jumpers at the take-off (fig. 113), and a boy preparing for a jump decorates the interior of a kylix on the lower shelf in Case P in the Fifth Room.

A foot-race is represented on one of the Panathenaic amphorai in the Third Room (Case N), and the cast of a bronze statuette in Tübingen shows a contestant in the race for hoplites (heavy-armed foot-soldiers), at the starting-line (top shelf of Case 3). The shield which he carried on his left arm has been broken away.

Throwing the diskos was one of the oldest Greek sports. The object was to throw it as far as possible, as in putting the shot. So many representations of this sport have come down to us in statues, vase paintings, coins, and gems, that it is possible to work out the successive movements of the throw. The principle seems to have been always the same, though individuals were allowed certain differences in style. A bronze statuette in Case B in the Fourth Room (fig. 114) shows one stance; the athlete is about to swing the diskos down from the left to the right hand. The position preliminary to the swing downwards to the side, the athlete now holding the diskos in both hands, may be seen on the lekythos in Case 4; and one of the figures on the psykter is in the same position. The well-known statue by Myron, of which a cast stands in Gallery 22, shows the position just preliminary to the throw, an instant before the diskos leaves the hand.

The art of fighting in heavy armor, hoplomachy, was taught to Greek boys by a special master as part of their athletic training. A most interesting scene of this kind decorates the shoulder of a hydria of the late sixth or early fifth century where two men armed with helmet and shield are fencing with spears to the music of a flute-player (Case Y in the Fourth Room). Plato alludes more than once to the attention given to this branch of physical training in his day, and the prestige enjoyed by teachers of the art.

Throwing the javelin also had a practical value as preparation for warfare and was one of the commonest sports of the palaistra. In the pentathlon it was thrown for distance only, but there were competitions in throwing at a target at the Panathenaea and, no doubt, on other occasions. A thong, fastened near the center of gravity, and twisted around the hardwood shaft, acted like the rifling of a gun in insuring greater accuracy. One of the figures on the black-figured lekythos is preparing to throw a javelin, and the artist has represented the thong in such a way that the method of using it can easily be understood. The thrower holds the shaft in his hand with the first and second fingers inserted into loops in the end of the thong. As he throws, the thong unwinds, giving the missile a whirling motion (fig. 115).

The use of the bow and the sling, as has been said in the section on Armor, was also taught in the palaistra at Athens.

The pankration, a combination of wrestling and boxing, was one of the most popular Greek sports. In it ground-wrestling and hitting were allowed. Two scenes from the pankration are represented on a skyphos in Case 4. On one side the winner has thrown his opponent backward and is about to strike him, while the other holds up his hand, probably as a signal of defeat (fig. 116). On the other side the combatants have their hands covered with the thongs which served as boxing-gloves. The man on the ground has thrown the other by a neck-hold (see head-band, p. 89). There are two boxers in the group of athletes on a krater on the top shelf of Case Q in the Fifth Room, and a boxing scene is represented on one of the Panathenaic amphorai.

The value of the prizes given for athletic skill varied greatly, from the wreath of olive at Olympia and the parsley leaves of Nemea to articles of considerable value and, in a few cases, even money. At the Panathenaea the prizes were jars of oil in greater or less numbers, and the painted vases known as Panathenaic amphorai. Probably only one of these was given to a victor. They bear on one side a picture of the contest in which the vase was won, and on the other, the figure of Athena with an inscription, “From the games at Athens” (fig. 118). When the prize took the form of a wreath, the victor first bound a fillet or band of wool around his head and upon this the official in charge of the games placed the wreath. The act of tying the fillet was often represented by Greek sculptors; the most famous example is, of course, the Polykleitan statue known as the Diadoumenos, of which a cast stands in Gallery 22. The beautiful bronze statuette in Case D in the Sixth Room has the same motive (fig. 119), and on the psykter in Case 4 a boy who holds in his hands the palms signifying victory is being crowned by an official.

X

RACES AND RIDING

CASE 5

In the Homeric period cavalry was not employed in battle, but princes and nobles drove about the field in chariots from which they descended to fight. The bodies of these chariots were just large enough for the warrior and his driver to stand side by side, since lightness and quickness of movement were essential. The chariot in the Third Room (fig. 120) is of the type in use among the Etruscans; the Greek type in the earliest pictures which we have is more open and slightly different in shape. An excellent representation of the Greek chariot may be seen on a large amphora on Pedestal R 3 in the same room, and this drawing also shows the light harness in use and the method of arranging it. War-chariots were used on occasion for racing, as at the funeral games of Patroklos in the Twenty-third Book of the Iliad; and at a later period, when nobles no longer rode to battle and armies of citizens were the rule in Greece, the chariot remained as a racing vehicle. The principal feature of the Olympic games from the year 680 B.C. was the chariot race for four horses, and a victory in this event brought much-coveted renown to the owner of the horses and his city. The Greeks of Italy and Sicily were devoted to this sport, their interest being reflected in their coin types, of which the finest are the Syracusan (fig. 121). Some examples will be found in the Ward Collection in the Gold Room.

A very beautiful bronze statue found at Delphi, no doubt a dedication after a victory, represents a young charioteer in the long white chiton which was his traditional dress (Cast No. 462 in Gallery 22), and a fragment of a relief from the Mausoleum (Cast No. 741 on the east wall of Gallery 25) shows another with flying hair and garment as he strains forward toward the goal. One of the Panathenaic amphorai in the Third Room was a prize in a chariot race at Athens, as we know from the drawing on one side (fig. 123). Another event in the games at Athens was a race for two horses harnessed to a little cart in which the driver sat, but this contest was never so important as the race for four horses. At other games the chariot was the vehicle used for two horses as well as for four. These sports were naturally very costly, and under the Roman rule they gradually died out in Greece as races in the circus in Rome and other Italian cities took their place. Chariot races were the earliest of the free shows at Rome and were always the most popular, the great attraction of the circus being not the speed of the race, but its danger. Some clay lamps from Cyprus are decorated with reliefs of chariots and horses, showing how the passion for racing spread over the Roman world (Case 5, fig. 122).

Riding was the usual mode of travel in Greece, as it is still in many parts of that mountainous country; and, while carts and carriages of various kinds gradually came into service among the Romans, in Italy, too, the horse was the commonest means of travel. But although the Greeks and Romans were good horsemen, they were probably not the equals of the best modern riders, owing to the fact that they had no saddles and no stirrups. As a result of the absence of stirrups, able-bodied persons mounted with the help of a spear or staff, while old men were handed up by slaves. Women rode only upon a pillion, and probably not very often in that way. The custom of nailing metal shoes upon the hoofs of horses was not known, but shoes made of metal, leather, or rushes were adjusted before passing over a specially bad road, and could later be removed when no longer needed. Two bits are shown on the bottom of Case 4. One is quite simple, consisting of two bars joined by a double link, which probably belongs to the sixth century, though no doubt this type was in use for a long period (fig. 127); the other, probably of the fifth or fourth century, is very severe. Xenophon in his treatise on Horsemanship (X, 6) describes this variety and explains its use in training horses (fig. 124). Branding was practised even for valuable animals. On a small amphora in Case C in the Fifth Room decorated with a picture of the Sun in his chariot, one of the horses is branded with a sun surrounded by rays. It was customary to muzzle horses when they were taken out for exercise or for some other purpose without a bridle. Probably the muzzles were usually made of leather, but bronze was employed on special occasions or by the wealthy. Two bronze muzzles, one of a simple, the other of a more elaborate form, are exhibited (Case 4, fig. 125).

Greek boys received lessons in riding in the course of their athletic training, which was, of course, a preliminary military training as well. In Attica a troop of ephebes, young men in military service, patrolled the borders as a mounted guard. The decoration on a krater in Case P in the Fifth Room and a relief in Case A in the Sixth Room represent members of this troop in their short cloaks fastened on the shoulder and their broad-brimmed hats. The fine relief, No. 13 in the Sculpture Gallery, also represents an ephebe (fig. 126) or one of the Diaskouri in this guise. Hunting deer and boars from horseback was a favorite sport which required skill in the rider, and riding-races of various types were a feature of the games. One of the Panathenaic amphorai was a prize for a horse-race at Athens, as the decoration shows.

The bronze statuette of a horse at the head of the main staircase allows us to see the type of animal bred in Greece, and is at the same time a work of the greatest spirit and delicacy.

XI

GLADIATORS

CASES 3 AND 5

Combats of gladiators formed part of the funeral rites of the Etruscans, and in Campania they were offered as entertainment to guests at feasts. The Romans adopted the custom from their neighbors, the first public show of gladiators taking place in 264 B.C. For six centuries they continued to be a favorite amusement in Italy and the provinces, until Honorius made them illegal in 404 A.D. The great popularity of the sport is proved by the frequency with which it was represented on articles of common use, such as vases, dishes, lamps, seal-rings, and in sculpture, mosaic, and painting for the decoration of walls.

In early times the combatants were prisoners of war who fought with their own arms and equipment for the entertainment of their conquerors, and later, when men were recruited in other ways, the arms of the early enemies of Rome were in a great measure retained as belonging especially to this sport. Gladiators received a careful training in schools kept for the purpose. They were divided into several classes, according to their weapons and manner of fighting, and were called by the name of the peoples whose arms they had adopted. They usually fought in pairs, each from a different class, though occasionally a number engaged in a mêlée. The most important class was the Samnites, who wore a helmet, one greave, a guard on the right arm, and fought with sword and shield. The lamps from Cyprus in Case 5, Nos. 2639, 2642, 2643, are decorated with figures of Samnites in relief (fig. 128). The Thracian was distinguished by a dagger which was curved or bent at right angles. He wore two greaves with leather coverings for the thighs, and an arm-guard, and carried a little shield (lamp No. 2636, fig. 129). The hoplomachus seems to have been a variety of Samnite who had a large shield, and was generally paired with the Thracian (lamp No. 2637, see tail-piece, p. 108). Another class not illustrated was the retiarius (net-thrower), equipped with a dagger, a trident, and a large net in which he tried to envelop his adversary, the secutor (follower), who was armed like a Samnite.

A combat between a Samnite and a Thracian decorates one of the lamps (No. 2641). Another (No. 2647) shows a wounded Samnite on one knee. On a third (No. 2644) a Thracian has brought his opponent to the ground, and by holding up his thumb, seems to signify that he will spare him, or perhaps asks permission of the spectators to do so. A fourth lamp (No. 2651) is decorated with two swords and two pairs of greaves. Four gladiatorial combats appear in relief upon a glass cup, made in Gaul in the second century A.D., which is on the top shelf of Case 3 (see head-band, p. 106). The names of the combatants are placed over their heads, so we may suppose that they represent actual gladiators who were famous in their day. Gamus, a Samnite, stands over Merops, who is lying on the ground and holding up his thumb to ask mercy from the spectators. Next come Calamus, a Samnite, paired with Hermes, a Thracian, then another pair of Samnite and Thracian, Tetraites and Prudes. The latter has lost his little shield. In the fourth combat Spiculus is victorious over Columbus.

XII

TRADES AND CRAFTS

CASES 1, 3, AND 5

In this division is assembled a series of miscellaneous objects illustrating trades and crafts, political life, agriculture, and other occupations.

The processes of agriculture and craftsmanship in Greece and Italy were much like those of Europe and America a century ago, before mechanical devices became common. Cultivation of grains, the olive, and the grape has been practised in Aegean lands from prehistoric times. A bronze farmyard group in Case 3 shows the animals and utensils most necessary to a farmer, and though Roman, will serve as an illustration of Greek life as well. The animals include two bulls, two cows, a pig and a sow, a ram and a ewe (fig. 130). There are also two double yokes, a cart, and a plough. The plough-tail has been lost, but a hole shows the place of attachment. The remainder is in one piece, though the joints of the rude wooden original are carefully represented, the pole which is fastened to the yoke being attached to the share-beam by pegs and the share-beam to the share by thongs or ropes. This primitive wooden plough is still used in Greece today (fig. 131). The cart is merely a platform with a front-board and tail-board, mounted on solid wheels. A terracotta cart from Cyprus, though of the early Iron Age, is much like the Roman cart (fig. 132). A small bronze sickle with indented edge from Cyprus belongs to a type common in Minoan Crete (Case 5). The bronze shepherd’s crooks in the same case recall the important place held by the care of sheep and goats in ancient country life. A stone model of a sheep-fold in Case 40 in the Cesnola Collection, containing sheep and a drinking-trough, was intended as a votive offering, probably for increase of flocks.