A GUIDE TO THE EXHIBITION ILLUSTRATING GREEK AND ROMAN LIFE.
_SECOND EDITION._
[Illustration:
_Frontispiece._ TERRACOTTA BOATS FROM AMATHUS (p. 34).
]
BRITISH MUSEUM.
DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.
A GUIDE
TO THE EXHIBITION ILLUSTRATING
GREEK AND ROMAN LIFE.
_SECOND EDITION._
WITH A FRONTISPIECE AND TWO HUNDRED AND
SIXTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES.
1920.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. 1,
AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. 1.
ERRATA.
P. 121, l.17. _For_ =339= _read_ =339*=
Pp. 143, 144, 145. _For_ =421-426= _read_ =421*-426*=
P. 216 near foot. _For_ =655= _read_ =655*=
PREFACE.
In this Exhibition an attempt has been made to bring together a number
of miscellaneous antiquities which formed a part of the collections of
the Department, in such a method as illustrates the purpose for
which they were intended, rather than their artistic quality, their
material, or their place in the evolution of craft or design.
Such a series falls naturally into groups, and it has been found
convenient to treat these groups in accordance with a general scheme,
the illustration of the public and private life of the Greeks and
Romans.
The materials forming the basis of this scheme are, primarily, objects
which already formed part of the Museum collections: for this reason
it has not been possible always to preserve that proportion in the
relation of the sections to the whole which would have been studied
if the objects had been selected for acquisition with this purpose
in view. Further, it is necessary to warn visitors that they must not
expect to find the subject in any sense exhaustively treated here:
the complete illustration of every detail of ancient life would be
impossible for any museum as at present constituted. All that can here
be done is to shape the available material into a system which may at
least present a fairly intelligible, if limited, view of ancient
life. Several new acquisitions, made since the appearance of the first
edition of this Guide, have strengthened the exhibition in directions
in which it was deficient, and it is hoped that this process will be
continued. Meanwhile, some of the gaps have been filled by means of
casts and reproductions of objects belonging to other categories in
this Museum, or preserved elsewhere.
The preparation of the first edition of this Guide (1908) was
entrusted to different members of the Departmental Staff. Mr. Yeames
prepared a great deal of the necessary preliminary work: Mr.
Walters wrote the sections on Athletics, the Circus, Gladiators, and
Agriculture: Mr. Forsdyke those on Coins, Arms and Armour, Dress
and the Toilet. The remaining sections were mainly the work of Mr.
Marshall.
In the present edition the section on Arms and Armour has been
re-written by Mr. Forsdyke, and the remainder has been mainly revised
by myself. The proofs have been read by Mr. Walters and Mr. Forsdyke.
A. H. SMITH.
BRITISH MUSEUM,
_March, 1920._
CONTENTS.
_The references in brackets are to the numbers of the Figures._
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
I. POLITICAL INSCRIPTIONS AND SLAVERY 1
Treaties, etc. (1); Proxenia Decrees (2-3);
Dikasts' Tickets and Ostraka (4-6);
Votive Arms (7-8); Military Diploma (9_a_, 9_b_);
Corn Largesse (10); Slaves (11).
II. COINS 14
Greek Coins (12); Roman Coins (13-15).
III. DRAMA 25
Greek Comedy (16); Roman Plays (17-18); Actors
and Masks (19-22).
IV. SHIPPING 33
Greek Shipping (Frontispiece and 23-26); Roman
Shipping (27-28).
V. RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION 39
Implements and Methods of Worship. Votive
Altars (29); Sacrifices and Apparatus (30-31);
Prayer; Theoxenia (32); Augury; Shrines (33-34).
Votive Offerings (35-45).
Superstition and Magic. Magical Inscriptions;
Bronze Hand (46).
VI. ATHLETICS 58
Pugilism (47); Sports of the Pentathlon (48-51);
Boxing Gloves (52); Prize Vase (53).
VII. GLADIATORS AND THE ARENA 64
Types of Gladiator (54-58); Helmet (59); Tesserae
(60); Animal Contests (61).
VIII. CHARIOT-RACING AND THE CIRCUS 70
Chariots in the Circus, and Charioteers (62-65).
IX. ARMS AND ARMOUR 74
Early Armour (66); Helmets (67-79); Cuirasses
(80-85); Greaves, etc. (86-89); Shields (90);
Standards (91-93).
Early Weapons. Mycenaean Swords and Daggers
(94-96); Mycenaean Spears and Arrows (97-98);
Early Italian Swords and Spears (99-100); Greek
Swords (101-105); Greek and Roman Spears (106-108);
Roman Swords (109); Sling-shot and Arrowheads
(110-111); Calthrop (112).
X. HOUSE AND FURNITURE 109
General Furniture. Couch (113).
Lighting. Lampstands (114-115); Lamps (116-119);
Candlesticks and Lanterns (120-123).
The Kitchen. Implements. Fish Plate (124).
The Bath. Strigils (125-126); Water Supply.
Pumps (127-128); Heating. Shapes of Vases.
XI. DRESS AND TOILET 122
Greek Female Dress (129-133); Greek Male Dress
(134-138); Roman Dress (139-140); Footwear (141-2);
Fibulae (143-158).
Jewellery. Bracelets (159); Earrings (160);
Bullae, Necklaces, Studs, Pins (161-163).
Toilet. Combs (164); Toilet Boxes (165);
Mirrors; Razors (166-168); Miscellanea (169-170).
XII. DOMESTIC ARTS 142
Spinning and Weaving (171-177); Sewing Implements
(178-182); Cutlery (183); Locks and Keys
(184-190); Seals (191).
XIII. TRADE 158
Shops (192-193).
XIV. WEIGHTS AND SCALES 159
Greek Weights (194-195); Roman Weights;
Scales and Steelyards (196-200).
XV. TOOLS, BUILDING AND SCULPTURE 166
Tools (201); Building Materials (202-203).
XVI. HORSES AND CHARIOTS 169
Chariots and Carts (204-205); Horse Trappings
(206-208).
XVII. AGRICULTURE 174
Ploughs (209); Wine Making (210); Olive Harvest
(211-212); Goat-herd, etc. (213).
XVIII. INDUSTRIAL ARTS 180
Metal-working (214-215); Pottery (216-222);
Gems and Pastes; Wood-working; Lathe-work.
XIX. MEDICINE AND SURGERY 185
Greek and Roman Medicine (223-226).
XX. MEASURES AND INSTRUMENTS 191
Measures (227); Compasses (228); Stamps (229).
XXI. INFANCY. TOYS 193
Infants (230-231); Dolls, etc. (232-234); Tops (235).
XXII. EDUCATION, WITH WRITING AND PAINTING 197
Reading and Writing Lessons (236-238); Arithmetic;
Writing Materials (239-241); Painting.
XXIII. GAMES 203
Knucklebones (242-243); Dice (244); Ivory
Pieces (245).
XXIV. MARRIAGE 207
Greek Marriage (246-249); Roman Marriage
(250-251).
XXV. MUSIC AND DANCING 213
Musical Instruments. Kithara and Lyre (252-253);
Flutes and Cymbals (254); Dancing (255).
XXVI. DOMESTIC AND PET ANIMALS; FLOWERS 218
Performing Animals (256); Flowers.
XXVII. METHODS OF BURIAL 220
Greek Burials (257-258); Italian Burials. Hut
Urns (259); Canopic Urn (260); Funeral Masks
(261); Etruscan Urn (262); Roman Burials and
Funeral Urns (263); Roman Grave Relief (264).
GREEK AND ROMAN LIFE
The exhibition is arranged in the central rectangle of what was
formerly the Etruscan Saloon; it includes Wall-Cases =25-64=,
=94-119=, and Table-Cases =E-K=. The subject naturally divides itself
into the two chief headings of public and domestic institutions, and
each of these occupies one half of the room. On the West side are
grouped the sections relating mainly to Public Life, on the East those
of Private Life: of the former, the section illustrating the monetary
system of the ancients and its development naturally leads up to
the Department of Coins and Medals. For the general scheme of the
exhibition, reference should be made to the Table of Contents.
NOTE.--_The references at the end of each section correspond
to the numbers of the objects in this Guide. These numbers,
which are placed near the objects in the Cases, are
distinguished by being in red upon a white ground. Numbers
attached to the objects (such as B 77 on a vase) refer to
the British Museum Catalogues, which should be consulted for
fuller details than can be given in the Guide._
I.--POLITICAL INSCRIPTIONS AND SLAVERY.
(Table-Case K.)
A section of Table-Case K contains a series of inscriptions which
illustrate various sides of Greek and Roman political life.
It must be borne in mind that the Greek state was generally of very
small dimensions. As a rule all life was centred within a city, which
had but a moderate extent of outlying country. Aristotle describes the
perfect city or state (the words are interchangeable) as the union
of several villages, supplying all that is necessary for independent
life.[1] Greece, though small in area, was thus divided up into a
large number of states, whose interests were constantly in conflict.
It thus came about that it was provided with systems of treaties,
arbitrations, and consular representation such as marked a fully
developed international system.
=Treaties.=--The bronze tablet No. =1= dates probably from the
second half of the sixth century B.C., at a time when the Eleians and
Heraeans of Arcadia were still dwelling in villages, and were not yet
united each into a single city. It is written in the Aeolic dialect of
Elis, and records a treaty between the two peoples named. There was to
be a close alliance between them in respect of all matters of common
interest, whether of peace or war. Any breach of the treaty, or any
damage to the inscription recording the treaty, would involve a fine
of a talent of silver to be paid by the offender to Olympian Zeus,
the supreme Greek deity. The tablet was brought from Olympia by Sir
William Gell in 1813.
No. =2= is a cast of a similar treaty between the communities of the
Anaiti and Matapii, for a fifty years' friendship. In case of a breach
of the treaty the priests at Olympia have arbitrators' powers.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--TREATY OF CHALEION AND OEANTHEIA. (NO. 3.)]
No. =3= (fig. 1) is a bronze tablet, with a ring at one end for
suspension, recording a treaty made between the cities of Chaleion and
Oeantheia on the Gulf of Corinth. It is in the Lokrian dialect, and
can be dated to about 440 B.C. The main object of the treaty was
to regulate the practice of reprisals between the citizens of the
respective towns, and, in particular, to prevent injury to foreign
merchants visiting either port. There are also provisions for ensuring
a fair trial to aliens. The tablet was found at Oeantheia (Galaxidi),
and was formerly in the Woodhouse collection.
=Colonization.=--This was a feature of peculiar importance in Greek
life. In the course of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. numerous
colonists had left their homes on the mainland of Greece or on the
coast of Asia Minor, and had settled principally in Southern Italy
and Sicily, or round the shores of the Black Sea. The reasons for
such emigration were sometimes political, but more often commercial.
Between the mother-city and the colony relations of an intimate
character were almost invariably maintained. Representatives from
either city attended the more important festivals held in the other
town, and the daughter-city not infrequently sought the advice of the
mother-city in times of difficulty and danger. The inscription on the
bronze tablet No. =4= illustrates the way in which colonists left one
Greek state to settle in another comparatively near at hand, and
also shows the relations existing between the colonists and the
mother-state. At a date probably previous to 455 B.C. colonists from
the Opuntian or Eastern Lokrians (inhabiting a district lying opposite
to the island of Euboea) left their homes to settle in Naupaktos, a
town situated on the narrowest part of the Gulf of Corinth, in the
territory of the Western Lokrians. The question arose as to how far
the colonists were to remain in connection with the mother-country.
The tablet shows that the settlers had the privilege of enjoying full
social and religious rights on revisiting their native city, although
during their absence they were exempt from paying taxes to it.
Under certain conditions they might resume their residence in the
mother-state without fee, and they also had a right to inherit
property left by a near relative in that state. Other provisions deal
with judicial arrangements affecting the new settlers.
=Proxenia.=--Just as modern states appoint consuls in foreign
countries in order that the interests of their citizens abroad may be
protected, so the various Greek cities appointed their representatives
in different foreign states. These representatives were chosen from
the citizens of the town in which they acted, and their appointment
was regarded as a special honour, carrying with it substantial
privileges. The main functions of the _proxeni_ were those of
dispensing hospitality to travellers and assisting them in cases of
difficulty, and of receiving ambassadors arriving from the state which
they represented. They were also expected generally to further that
state's commercial interests.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--GRANT OF _proxenia_ TO DIONYSIOS (NO. 5). Ht.
12-7/8 in.]
Two bronze tablets recording decrees of _proxenia_, passed by the
people of Corcyra, are here exhibited. No. =5= (fig. 2), probably of
the end of the fourth century B.C., records the grant of _proxenia_
to Dionysios, son of Phrynichos, an Athenian.[2] It mentions the date,
the appointment, and the right of possessing land and house property
in Corcyra, the last evidently a reward granted to the _proxenos_
for his services. No. =6= (fig. 3), of about 200 B.C., is a grant of
_proxenia_ to Pausanias, son of Attalos, a citizen of Ambrakia.[3]
He is accorded the usual honours, and the Treasurer is directed to
provide the money for the engraving of the decree on bronze. Both
these tablets were found in Corfu, the modern name of the ancient
Corcyra. The persons appointed acted, of course, in Athens and
Ambrakia respectively.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--GRANT OF _proxenia_ TO PAUSANIAS (NO. 6). Ht.
8-7/8 in.]
=Law-courts at Athens.=--One of the most striking features of
democratic Athens was its elaborate machinery for the administration
of justice. The system of popular control began in the fifth century
B.C., and reached its full development in the fourth. For petty
offences the various magistrates had the power of inflicting a small
fine, but graver charges were usually decided by a jury court. Those
who composed these jury courts were called _dikastae_. They were
chosen at first up to the number of six thousand from the entire body
of citizens over thirty years of age, but later on apparently any
citizen over thirty years of age was a qualified juryman. From the
time of Perikles each juryman received three obols (about 5d.) a
day for his services. The whole body of jurymen was divided into ten
sections, each of which was distinguished by one of the first ten
letters of the Greek alphabet (A to K). Each dikast received a ticket
([Greek: pinakion]), at first of bronze, but in Aristotle's day of
boxwood, inscribed with his name, his parish, and the number of his
section. In Aristotle's day the father's name was always given as
well.[4] Four of these dikasts' tickets (in bronze) are exhibited in
this case, together with a fragment of a fifth. Upwards of eighty are
known, all apparently belonging to the fourth century B.C. The tickets
shown are:
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--TICKET OF THUKYDIDES (NO. 10). L. 4-1/4 in.]
No. =7=, which belonged to Deinias of Halae, of the third section
([Greek: G]). The ticket is stamped with the Athenian symbol of an owl
within an olive wreath, two owls with one head, and a Gorgoneion.
No. =8=, belonging to Archilochos of Phaleron, of the fifth section
([Greek: E]).
No. =9=, belonging to Aristophon, son of Aristodemos, of Kothokidae.
His was the third section ([Greek: G]).
No. =10=, the ticket of Thukydides of Upper Lamptrae (fig. 4). He
belonged to the sixth section ([Greek: Z]). The ticket bears the
symbols of an owl within an olive wreath, and a Gorgoneion.
The lowest fragment is part of a ticket belonging to Philochares of
Acharnae of the fifth section.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--INSCRIBED POTSHERDS (OSTRAKA) AT ATHENS (NO.
11).]
=Ostracism.=--This was a peculiar device adopted by Greek city-states
for getting temporary relief from the influence of prominent citizens,
whose presence was for the time being considered undesirable. At
Athens ostracism was introduced by the statesman Kleisthenes about 508
B.C. The method of effecting it was as follows. The popular assembly
(Ekklesia) first decided whether they desired that ostracism should
be carried out. If they considered it expedient, they met and recorded
their vote. The name of the person they most wished to get rid of
was written on a potsherd (ostrakon), and if six thousand votes were
recorded against any one name, that man had to go into banishment for
ten years. In Case K is a coloured illustration (No. =11=) of three
ostraka found at Athens (fig. 5). The names written on the sherds are
well known in Greek history. _Themistokles_ (fig. 5_a_), of the deme
Phrearri, was the creator of Athenian sea-power. In consequence of
this ostracism (ca. 471 B.C.) he died an exile at Magnesia on
the Maeander. _Megakles_ (fig. 5_b_) of the deme Alopeke, son of
Hippokrates and uncle of Perikles, was ostracised in 487 B.C. as
"a friend of the tyrants." In the next year, 486 B.C., was banished
_Xanthippos_ (fig. 5_c_), son of Arriphron and father of Perikles,
on the ground of undue prominence. The Museum collection contains no
ostraka of historic importance, but the potsherd inscribed by one Teos
(No. =12=) gives an idea of the actual object (fig. 6).
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--POTSHERD OF TEOS (NO. 12).]
=Dedications for Victory.=--The dedication in a temple of a part of
the spoils of victory was not merely a religious observance. It was
also the formal entering of a claim to victory. The Etruscan helmet
(No. =13=) dedicated at Olympia by Hieron of Syracuse, is an example
(fig. 7). It was found at Olympia in 1817, and was presented to the
Museum by King George the Fourth. On the side is a votive inscription:
[Illustration]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--ETRUSCAN HELMET DEDICATED AT OLYMPIA BY HIERON
AND THE SYRACUSANS (NO. 13). 1:4.]
[Greek: Hiarôn ho Deinomeneos kai toi Syrakosioi tô Di Tyran' apo
Kymas]--"_Hieron son of Deinomenes and the Syracusans offer to Zeus
Etruscan spoils from Kyme_." Hieron was tyrant of Syracuse from 478 to
467 B.C., in succession to his brother Gelon, and was one of the most
prominent figures of the age. Gelon had nobly upheld the supremacy of
the Greeks in the west by destroying a Carthaginian host at Himera, in
the same year and, as the tale went, on the same day as the battle
of Salamis. Hieron added to the brilliance of the Sicilian court, and
signalised his naval power in the great repulse of the Etruscans. The
ancient city of Kyme, near Naples, the earliest Greek colony in the
west, was hard pressed by the neighbouring barbarians and by the
civilised and powerful state of Etruria. The Greeks appealed for
help to Hieron, and he sent them a fleet of warships, which beat the
Etruscans in sight of the citadel of Kyme, and broke their sea-power
for ever (474 B.C.). From the arms and treasure taken in the battle
Hieron made the customary offering in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia,
and this helmet with its eloquent inscription was part of the
dedicated spoil.
For other votive helmets see below, p. 76.
The votive spear-head, No. =14=, dedicated by an unknown Theodoros to
(Zeus) Basileus, about 500 B.C., was probably found at Olympia. The
occasion of the dedication is unknown, but it nearly resembles No.
=15= (cast), which was dedicated at Olympia by the Methanians as
spoil from the Lacedaemonians.[5] The original is at Berlin. Several
spear-heads of this type have been found. They do not seem to be
effective for use in battle, and they are therefore supposed to
have been specially made for dedicatory purposes. It has also been
suggested that they are spear-butts, but this does not seem probable.
[Illustration: [Greek: Theodôros anethêke Basilei.]
FIG. 8.--SPEAR-HEAD DEDICATED BY THEODOROS TO (ZEUS) BASILEUS. (NO.
14). 1:3.]
=Emblem of Office.=--The bronze caduceus (No. =17=), (familiar as the
emblem of the herald Mercury), is inscribed "I belong to the people
of Longene," and was apparently the staff of the public herald of that
town. It was found in a tomb in Sicily, and is of the fifth century
B.C. The device is in the form of a staff, surmounted by a pair of
intertwined serpents.
=Roman military Life.=--This is illustrated by two of the Latin
inscriptions here shown. The oblong bronze tablet No. =18= (figs.
9_a_ and 9_b_) is part of a Roman _diploma_, a document recording
privileges in respect of citizenship and rights of marriage granted to
a veteran soldier. The _diploma_ derived its name from the fact that
it was composed of two tablets hinged together.
[Illustration: FIG. 9_a_.--FRAGMENT OF A BRONZE _diploma_ (NO. 18).
Ht. 5-1/2 in.]
We have in the present instance only the left side of one of the
tablets. The right side, which had two holes for the metal rings
attaching it to the other tablet, has been broken away. The
inscription[6] is a copy of one originally engraved on bronze and set
up on the wall behind the temple of Augustus _ad Minervam_ at Rome. It
is headed with the names of M. Julius Philippus, the Emperor, and of
his son, who had the title of Caesar. This is followed by the grant
of full matrimonial rights to the soldiers of ten cohorts and by the
date, equivalent to Jan. 7th, 246 A.D. Next comes the name of the
individual soldier to whom this copy of the original inscription was
given, one Neb. Tullius, a veteran of the fifth praetorian cohort
of Philip at Aelia Mursa in Pannonia. The grant of full matrimonial
privileges was a considerable one, for it meant that the veteran's
wife and children gained the privileges of Roman citizens, if, as was
often the case, the wife was not possessed of citizen rights at the
time of marriage. The two holes in the middle of the tablet were used
for the wire thread, which was passed round the tablets three times
according to the usual official custom, and had the seals of seven
witnesses affixed to it. Fig. 9_b_ is a restoration showing the
original form of the document opened, the exterior of the two tablets
being seen. This _diploma_ was found in Piedmont. Parts of similar
documents will be seen exhibited in the Room of Roman Britain.
Near the _diploma_ is a small bronze ticket (No. =19=), inscribed on
either side. One side bears the name of Ti(berius) Claudius Priscus,
the other records that he belonged to the fourth praetorian cohort and
the _centuria Paterni_.
[Illustration: FIG. 9_b_.--THE ABOVE _diploma_ RESTORED.]
=Corn Largesses.=--From the end of the second century B.C. it had
become a regular feature of Roman policy to supply the populace of the
city with corn either gratis or at an artificially cheap rate. After
the fall of the Republic the Emperors carried still further the policy
of free distributions (_congiaria_ or _liberalitates_). It has been
reckoned that the annual cost of their largesses averaged £90,000
from Julius Caesar to Claudius, and £300,000 from Nero to Septimius
Severus. Persius, who wrote in the time of Nero, notes with a sneer
that it was one of the privileges of the meanest Roman citizen to
exchange his ticket for a portion of musty flour. This policy of
the Emperors is illustrated by the inscribed corn-ticket (_tessera
frumentaria_) shown in this Case (No. =20=; fig. 10). It is inscribed
on one side, _Ant(onini) Aug(usti) Lib(eralitas) II._, i.e., the
second special largess of Antoninus, perhaps Antoninus Pius, who
reigned from 138-161 A.D. On the other side appears _fru(mentatio)
LXI._, i.e. the sixty-first monthly corn distribution, dating
doubtless from the accession of Antoninus. The letters were originally
inlaid with silver, as is shown by the remains of that metal in the
numerals. The sepulchral inscription mentioned on p. 224 should be
studied in connection with this corn-ticket.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--BRONZE CORN-TICKET (NO. 20). 1:1.]
=Official Emblem.=--The relief in Case =99= shows the _Fasces_ (that
is, the axes and the rods tied in a bundle) which were carried by the
lictors before the higher Roman magistrates.
=Slavery.=--The circular bronze badge (No. =21=) shows the Roman
method of dealing with runaway slaves after the softening influence
of Christianity had begun to make itself felt. In earlier times the
runaway slave had been punished with the cruel penalty of branding.
Apparently from the time of Constantine onwards an inscribed badge was
substituted, authorising the summary arrest of the slave if he were
caught out of bounds. The inscription on the badge exhibited runs:
"Hold me, lest I escape, and take me back to my master Viventius on
the estate of Callistus."
Two other objects may perhaps be brought into connection with slavery.
The scourge (No. =22=), with its lash loaded with bronze beads, was
frequently used for the punishment of slaves. It is the _horribile
flagellum_ of Horace. A scourge very similar to the present is seen on
a relief in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, representing a high-priest
of Kybele, whose devotees were in the habit of scourging themselves
in the service of the goddess.[7] The pair of iron fetters (No.
=23=), found in 1813 in a cave behind the Pnyx at Athens, bear a
close resemblance to those worn by a _bestiarius_ or beast-fighter
represented on a relief from Ephesus exhibited in Case 110, (_Cat. of
Sculpt._, II., No. 1286).
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--SLAVE BADGE (NO. 21). 3:5.]
Two small bronzes (No. =24=) show dwarf slaves undergoing the
punishment of the cangue, in which neck and wrists are fixed in a
board.
(1) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 264; Hicks and Hill, _Greek Hist.
Inscr._, No. 9; (2) Roberts, _Gr. Epigraphy_, No. 297; (3)
_Cat. of Bronzes_, 263; _B.M. Inscr._, 953; (4) _Cat. of
Bronzes_, 262; _B.M. Inscr._, 954; (5) _Cat. of Bronzes_,
333; (6) _ibid._, 334; (7) to (10) _ibid._, 329-332; Hicks and
Hill, 151; _I.G._, II., 886, 901, 885, 908b; (11) _Jahrbuch d.
Arch. Inst._, II., p. 161; (12) _B.S. Athens Ann._, V. pl. 5,
fig. 112; (13) _B.M. Inscr._, 1155; _Cat. of Bronzes_, 250;
(14) _B.M. Inscr._, 948A; _Journ. of Hellen. Stud._, II.,
p. 77; (15) Roberts, _Gr. Epigraphy_, No. 286; (17) _Cat. of
Bronzes_, 319; _I.G._ XIV., 594; cf. _Hermes_, III., p. 298
ff.; (18) _Eph. Epigraph._, IV., p. 185; _C.I.L._, III.,
Suppl. i., p. 2000. On the _diplomata_ generally, see Smith,
_Dict. of Ant._, and Daremberg and Saglio, _Dict. of Ant._,
s.v.; (19) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 901; _C.I.L._, XV., 7166;
Hübner, _Exempla_, No. 915; (20) _Cat. of Bronzes_,
3016; _C.I.L._, XV., 7201; _Klio_, Beiheft III., p. 21;
_Philologus_, XXIX., p. 17; (21) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 902;
_C.I.L._, XV., 7193.
[Footnote 1: _Pol._ i. 1, 8.]
[Footnote 2: [Greek:
Prytanis Stratôn. | meis Psydreus, hamera te | tarta epi deka;
prostatas | Gnathios Sôkrateus; | proxenon poei ha halia |
Dionysion Phrynichou | Athênaion auton kai | ekgonous. didôti
de kai | gas kai oikias empasin. | tan de proxenian grapsan |
tas eis chalkon anthemen | ei ka proboulois kai prodikois dokêi
kalôs echein.
Dionysion | Phrynichou | Athênaion.]
]
[Footnote 3: [Greek:
Edoxe ta halia, proxe|non eimen Pausanian At|talou Ambrakiôtan |
tas polios tôn Korkyrai|ôn auton kai engonous; | eimen de autois
kai ta | alla timia, hosa kai [tois] | allois proxenois [kai] |
euergetais geg(ra)|ptai. | tan de proxeni|an proboulous kai
pro|dikous grapsantas eis | chalkôma anathemen, | ton de
tamian domen | to genomenon analô|ma.
Pausanian Attalou | Ambrakiôtan.]
]
[Footnote 4: [Greek: Ath. Pol. 63: echei d' hekastos dikastês
pinakion pyxinon, epigegrammenon to onoma to heautou patrothen
kai tou dêmou kai gramma hen tôn stoicheiôn mechri tou k.]]
[Footnote 5: [Greek: Methanioi apo Lakedaimoniôn.]]
[Footnote 6:
Imp. Cae(sar) M. Iulius Phili[ppus Pius]
Fel(ix) Aug(ustus), pont(ifex) max(imus), trib(unicia)
p[ot(estate) III, cos., p.p. et]
M. Iulius Philippus nobil[issim(us) Caes(ar)]
nomina militum, qui milit[averunt in]
cohortibus pretoris Phil[ippianis de-]
cem I. II. III. IIII. V. VI. VII. VIII. VII[II. X. piis vin-]
dicibus, qui pii et fortiter [militia fun-]
cti sunt, ius tribuimus con[ubii dumta-]
xat cum singulis et primi[s uxoribus],
ut etiam si peregrini iur[is feminas]
in matrimon(io) suo iunxe[rint, proinde
liberos toll(ant), acxi (for _ac si_) ex duob(us) c[ivibus Ro-]
manis natos. a. d. VII. [idus Ian.]
C. Bruttio Presente et C. Al(b)[- - - - - cos.]
Coh(ors) V pr(aetoria) Philip[pian(a) p(ia) v(index).]
Neb. Tullio Neb. f. M(a) - - - - - - - -
Ael(ia) Murs[a].
Descript(um) et recognit(um) ex ta[bula aerea],
que fix(a) est Romae in muro [pos(t) templum]
divi Aug(usti) ad Mine[rvam].
]
[Footnote 7: Baumeister, _Denkmäler_, II., p. 801, fig. 867.]
II.--COINS.
(Table-Case K.)
The coins which are selected to represent the Greek and Roman
currencies extend over a period of just one thousand years, in the
course of which the coinage went through all the developments and
anticipated all the varieties of type and fabric which it has since
experienced, while in artistic merit it reached an excellence which
will probably never be surpassed. The Greek coinage, moreover, has the
great interest of being that upon which all later coinages have been
modelled--for the Chinese money, which originated about the same time,
and apparently independently, may be left out of account.
=Greek Coins.=--The character and provenance of the earliest coins
agree with the best ancient tradition of their origin, in so far as
it associates them with Asia Minor, although it is more probable
that they were invented by the Greek cities of the coast than by
the Lydians, to whom they have been credited in accordance with the
Herodotean tradition.[8] The most primitive pieces are found in Asia
Minor, and their metal is a natural mixture of gold and silver, called
electrum, which occurs in the mountains of Lydia, and was brought down
to the sea in the sands of the great rivers, the golden Hermus and its
tributary the Pactolus. The cities which the Greeks had planted on the
Asiatic shores grew in the seventh century B.C. to a high degree of
wealth, by reason of their position on a rich coastland, where they
were intermediary in the trade of east and west. There were great
bankers in these Ionian cities who had large stores of treasure; their
gold and silver would be kept in bars or ingots of definite weight
stamped with the device, in place of the written signature, of the
banker. From thus marking large ingots with his own signature, it
would be a short step for the banker to do the same with smaller
denominations of the same weights, so producing a private coinage for
his own convenience in calculation, which would come to have a limited
acceptance in the quarters where his credit was good. Such pieces
are probably to be recognised in the nondescript coins of which the
electrum stater is an example (No. =24=; fig. 12_a_); this is scored
on one side with parallel scratches and stamped on the other with
three deep punch-marks. There are many pieces in existence which have
even less design than this, although their weights conform to definite
coin-standards. We may perhaps regard this example as a private coin,
one of the last of its kind, which immediately preceded the adoption
of coinage by the state. The invention of coinage lies really in this
innovation, which, however obvious it may seem to us now, was then
of deep political significance. When once a state currency was
instituted, the private coinage fell out of use, for no individual
banker could compete with the guarantee of the state, and the state
would not tolerate imitation of its own types. We may therefore take
it that the successive stages in the "invention" of coinage were
somewhat as follows: first, the occasional practice of stamping
certain weights of metal with marks by which they could be identified;
this probably continued in private use for a long period before it was
adopted by a state; and finally the adoption all over the Greek world
of a series of state coinages.
The example, once set, was quickly followed by the more important
Greek cities, until by the middle of the sixth century the art of
coinage had travelled from Ionia across the mainland of Greece to
the colonies in Italy and Sicily. Owing to the peculiar political
conditions of Greece, where every town held a separate and independent
sovereignty, each state was jealous to assert its autonomy on its
coins, with the result that the Greek coinage presents an enormous
variety of types, held together, however, as the money of one people
by the uniformity of their general character and of the art in which
they are expressed.
We may now proceed to consider a few representative coins, which in
the midst of innumerable local issues were important enough by
their purity of weight and metal, or by their abundance, or by the
commercial reputation of their issuing states, to predominate in
the Greek world as a sort of international currency and standard of
exchange.
The earliest electrum stater of Ionia is interesting on account of its
fabric only, for it has no type. It is a bean-shaped lump of metal,
one side of which has been stamped with a flat die marked with
parallel scratches, the other with three punches, which have left
deep impressions (No. =24=; fig. 12_a_). The pieces which immediately
followed, such as the silver money of Aegina (No. =25=; fig. 12_d_),
have a real type on the obverse, while the punch-mark on the reverse
is more regular, and is often ornamented with some design of a special
character, though it does not contain a type until later.
With the introduction of coinage into European Greece, a change was
made in the metal of the currency, for gold and electrum, which were
plentiful in Asia, were not common in Greece proper, and a silver
coinage was there the rule until Philip of Macedon took possession of
the Thracian gold mines. The few gold issues before his time were due
to exceptional circumstances; thus the gold coinage of Athens (No.
=26=) was occasioned by great financial stress, when treasure was
melted down to supply the currency. There was, however, no lack of
gold money in Greece, for after the first electrum issues came the
fine gold staters of Croesus, in the early sixth century (No. =27=;
fig. 12_b_), and, on his overthrow by Cyrus, an international gold
coinage was still available in the enormous issues of the Persian
darics (No. =28=; fig. 12_c_), which were in common use all over
the ancient world until the Macedonian gold replaced them. A few
subsidiary electrum coinages survived in Asia, the most famous being
the Kyzikene staters (No. =29=; fig. 12_m_), which were a standard
exchange in the Aegean and Black Sea regions. A peculiarity of this
coinage is that the distinctive type of the town, the tunny, is
relegated to a secondary place, while the main type is a constantly
changing design. In the piece illustrated the subject is taken from a
group of the Athenian tyrannicides, Harmodios and Aristogeiton, which
stood in the market place of their native city.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--GREEK COINS. 1:1.]
Another important currency, used especially in western Greece, the
"colts" of Corinth, took its type from the local myth that the winged
horse Pegasos was captured by Bellerophon at the fountain Peirene,
which flowed from the acropolis of the town (No. =30=; fig. 12_e_).
The original punch-mark on the reverse was soon replaced by the
helmeted head of Athena, who also had a part in the Pegasos myth, and
these two types were constant as long as the Corinthian state existed.
The money which enjoyed the fairest reputation was that of Athens,
which, at the time of the Athenian empire, superseded the issues of
the subject cities and became the standard currency in the Aegean
Sea. It penetrated into the far East, and there are extant examples of
native imitations from India and Arabia. The wide circulation of these
staters among barbarous peoples was the cause of their peculiar
style; for not only were the types of Athena's head and her owl and
olive-branch unaltered from the first sixth-century design, but the
execution was an imitation of the primitive manner, the stiffness of
archaic art being reproduced in an affected archaism. As the money of
Athens was the foremost in the Greek world, it is useful to note the
extraordinary number of denominations which were struck in silver at
its most flourishing period, the fifth century B.C. A large, but still
not complete, series is exhibited here (No. =31=). It consists of the
_Decadrachm_ (10 drachmae, fig. 12_f_), an early and rare coin, the
_Tetradrachm_ (4 drachmae, fig. 12_g_), which was the famous Athenian
stater or standard piece, the _Didrachm_ (2 drachmae), the _Drachm_
(fig. 12_h_), the unit of weight, which contained six obols, the
_Triobol_ (3 obols), the _Diobol_ (2 obols), the _Obol_ (fig.
12_i_), the _Tritemorion_ (3/4 obol), the _Hemiobol_ (1/2 obol), the
_Trihemitetartemorion_ (3/8 obol), and the _Tetartemorion_ (1/4
obol, fig. 12_k_), the half of the last piece being equivalent to the
largest bronze coin, the _Chalkous_ (No. =32=).
With the Athenian series is the bronze core of an ancient imitation of
a silver stater, of which the silver plating has perished (No. =33=).
False coining was punished with extreme penalties even in those early
days: in an extant monetary convention between Mytilene and Phocaea,
of the fourth century B.C., the crime of adulterating the money is
threatened with death.[9]
On the conquest of Athens by Macedon, at the end of the fourth century
B.C., the autonomous Athenian coinage was largely superseded by the
Macedonian regal issues, and did not recover its position until late
in the next century. It was renewed in a different form, with none of
the old archaism, of which the occasion was past. The coins of the new
style exemplify the thin flat fabric of the period, and although the
types of Athena and the owl are preserved, their arrangement is much
more complicated. The new head of Athena is a copy from the colossal
ivory and gold statue which Pheidias made, and on the reverse of the
coins the owl and olive spray are accompanied by many new devices, of
which the most remarkable are the names, symbols, and monograms of
the monetary magistrates; eminent personages sometimes figure in
this place. On the coins exhibited (No. =34=; fig. 12_l_) one of the
officials is Antiochos, who was afterwards Epiphanes, king of Syria.
In the interval between the old and new coinages, when the Athenian
money was scanty, the currency was supplied by the regal issues of the
Macedonian kings and their successors. Under Philip II. and his son
Alexander the Great, the Macedonian monarchy extended its dominion
by conquest, not only over the isolated Greek cities, but over the
ancient empire of Persia. The opportunity was thus provided for a
universal coinage, and it was realised in the gold and silver
issues of Philip and Alexander (Nos. =35=, =36=; fig. 12_n-q_). The
acquisition of the Thracian gold-mines gave Philip the means for an
abundant coinage of gold, the first considerable Greek issue of the
kind, which contributed in no small measure to his political success.
The style of these coins of Philip is not different from that of other
Greek money, except that they are inscribed with a personal name--of
Philip--instead of the name of a whole people, and the types, a
horse and jockey and a two-horse chariot, are also personal, as they
commemorate the racing successes of the king. The fine heads on the
obverse, however, are still divine, that of Zeus appearing on the
silver and the young Apollo on the gold, for the idea of representing
a living personage on a coin was still distant. Of this money the
gold especially was struck in enormous quantities, and the types were
imitated more and more crudely, as time went on, in Gaul and Britain.
(_See_ the series shown in the Room of Roman Britain.) The coinage of
Alexander was even more widely spread. His types were more orthodox
than those of Philip: the head of Athena and a Victory on the gold,
and the head of young Herakles, wrapped in the lion-skin, with a
figure of Zeus enthroned, on the silver staters, although in the head
of Herakles there is some suggestion of the features of Alexander.
These coins were struck all over the world which Alexander conquered,
and lasted after his death as the money of his successors and of
independent cities, in some cases even for two centuries; but the
kings who divided his great empire modified the type by introducing
real portraits of Alexander, as a deified hero, and later of
themselves, as living deities, so that the representation of a
ruler's head on coins, which is still practised to-day, began with
quasi-religious Greek coin-types. The regularity of the Greek coinage
which Alexander established was only temporary, and his influence was
fast disappearing when the subjection of the world by the Romans in
the first century B.C. merged all provincial issues in the complete
uniformity of the Imperial mint.
=Roman Coins.=--As gold in the Asiatic coastlands and silver in
European Greece, so in Italy the native medium of exchange was bronze.
In the earliest times the raw metal was circulated in broken knobs of
indefinite weight (_aes rude_), which required in all transactions the
use of scales. The rude metal was afterwards superseded by cast ingots
of an oblong shape, which bore a device to indicate their purpose as
money (_aes signatum_). Yet the weights were still irregular, and
no mark of value accompanied the types, so that the pieces were not
strictly coins. A survival of this primitive currency is seen in the
large ingot which has on one side a tripod and on the other an anchor
(No. =37=; fig. 13). This piece itself belongs to a later period, when
the lighter coined money was already in use. The special purpose for
which this and similar pieces were intended is quite uncertain. The
first coinage of Rome was less massive than this, but being entirely
of bronze, was still inconveniently large and cumbrous (_aes grave_).
The Roman of the fourth century B.C., when he found it necessary to
transport any considerable sum, took his money about with him in a
waggon.[10] The use of bronze for a token currency, as in Greece, was
not possible without a superior coinage of gold or silver to secure
its value.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--AES SIGNATUM (NO. 37). 1:3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--AES GRAVE (NO. 38). AS, SEMIS, QUADRANS, AND
UNCIA. 1:2.]
A typical series of the Roman heavy bronze money is exhibited (No.
=38=; fig. 14) The system is based on the pound of twelve ounces, and
the denominations of the various pieces are distinguished by the
heads or obverse types, and by the marks of value which they bear. The
series consists of the _As_, or pound (+I+), the half, _Semis_ (+S+),
the third, _Triens_, of four ounces (····), the quarter, _Quadrans_,
of three ounces (···), the sixth, _Sextans_, of two ounces (··), and
the _Uncia_, or ounce, the lower unit (·) (_cf._ p. 160). Each of
these is further differentiated by the obverse head. The _as_ has the
double head of Janus, the god of beginnings, whose coin opened the
series of money, as his month begins the year. The _semis_ has the
head of Jupiter, wearing a laurel wreath; the _triens_, Minerva armed;
the _quadrans_, Hercules in the lion-skin; the _sextans_, Mercury, the
messenger, with wings in his cap; and the _uncia_, a head of Bellona,
the goddess of battle. All the reverses have a common type, the prow
of a ship. This device may mark the date of the introduction of the
Roman coinage, which coincided with Rome's first essays on the sea,
in the middle of the fourth century before Christ. It remained as the
reverse type of the bronze money all through the Republic, and even
in later times, when a coin was tossed, the cry was "heads" or
"ships."[11]
The heavy bronze coinage of the city of Rome was only one among
many similar currencies of the central Italian states. As the Romans
conquered the neighbouring territories, where there existed local
weight-systems, which, in the interests of commerce, it was well
to preserve, instead of imposing their own money, they inaugurated
subordinate issues at the dependent mints. On this principle it was
natural that when the march of Roman conquest came upon the peoples of
South Italy, where a silver currency had been long ago introduced by
the Greek colonists, a local issue for those parts was instituted as
a subsidiary coinage. To this class of Roman money belongs the silver
stater or didrachm with Campanian types (the head of Mars and the
bust of a horse) which was struck by the Romans--as the legend
+ROMANO+(_rum_) shews--in Capua for the use of the Campanian district
(No. =39=; fig. 15_a_). With the extension of power and territory the
old bronze pieces were inadequate, and in the year 268 B.C. a silver
coinage was begun at Rome itself. At the same time the Campanian mint
was closed, and the heavy bronze coins, being subordinated to
the silver unit, were issued as token-money in a reduced and more
convenient size.
The first Roman silver coinage bears the types of the goddess Roma,
wearing a winged helmet, and on the reverse the patron deities of
trade and commerce, Castor and Pollux, the Heavenly Twins or Dioscuri
(No. =40=; fig. 15_b-d_). They are armed with spears and ride on
horseback, with their stars above their heads. These types occur on
all three denominations of the earliest silver, the _Denarius_ (marked
+X+), which was worth 10 _asses_; its half, the _Quinarius_ (+V+); and
the _Sestertius_ (+IIS+) of 2-1/2 _asses_, which became the unit in
reckoning accounts. The two smallest silver pieces were not always
struck; but the _denarius_, with the reduced copper for small
denominations, remained in use during the period of the Republic
at Rome and long into the Empire. Although both series had a great
variety of types, the fabric and general appearance were unaltered.