with a view to avoiding the use of numerous small weights. An example
is No. =477= (fig. 198), where one half of the bronze arm is graduated
with twelve divisions corresponding to scruples (1/24 of an ounce).
The sliding weight would thus be used to determine weights of less
than half an ounce. The bar of another balance (No. =478=) had 24 such
divisions for determining any weight below the ounce. A saucepan
from Pompeii (No. =479=) in the Naples Museum has the same principle
applied to its handle, for weighing the liquid contents. An
interesting little balance (No. =480=; fig. 198) may be mentioned
here. At one end is a fixed weight in the form of a head (of the
Sun-god?). This balance was adapted to test the weight of an object
weighing about 69 grains, perhaps a Roman coin such as the _denarius_
or _solidus_.
In the lower part of Cases 43, 44 it will be noted that the arm of a
steelyard and one of the arms of a balance are shown, with a bronze
fitting (No. =481=; fig. 199) designed to check the amplitude of the
oscillations. A corresponding piece may be seen on a railway platform
weighing machine. This piece was long misinterpreted as a standard,
etc., but its real intention is made certain by reliefs at Treves
(fig. 200) and Capua.
[Illustration: FIG. 199.--CHECK FOR STEELYARD (NO. 481).]
[Illustration: FIG. 200.--A STEELYARD IN USE.]
(457, 458) Amelung, _Sculpt. d. Vat._, pl. 30, p. 275 ff.;
(459) _Arch. Anzeiger_, IV., p. 102; (460) _Excavations in
Cyprus_, pl. xi., 368, etc. On Greek and Roman weights see
Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Pondus_; _Cambridge Companion
to Greek_ and _to Latin Studies_; (466) Cf. _Olympia,
V. (Inschriften)_, p. 801 ff.; (467) Newton, _Disc. at
Halicarnassus_, II., pp. 387 and 804; (469) _Mon. dell'
Inst._, 1855, pl. 1; (472) _C.I.L._, XIII., 10030 (10); (474)
_Cat. of Lamps_, 595; (481) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 2909. For
Treves relief (fig. 200) cf. Hettner, _Illustr. Führer_, p.
6; for Capua relief, cf. _Jahreshefte d. Oesterr. Arch. Inst.,
XVI., Beibl._, p. 10; for the standing balance, see also
Stuart and Revett, IV., p. 15.
[Footnote 52: See _Ann. of Brit. School at Athens_, VII.,
p. 42, fig. 7.]
XV.--TOOLS, BUILDING, AND SCULPTURE.
(Wall-Cases 45-48.)
=Tools.=--These are exhibited in Cases 45-46. The objects for the most
part speak for themselves, but attention may be called to one or two
of the most interesting. Such is the Roman bronze set-square (No.
=482=; fig. 201), furnished with a base to enable it to stand. Its
outer edges would be used by masons or carpenters to determine angles
of 90° and 45° respectively. The inner angle of 90° would be useful
for testing the true position of objects set at right angles to
one another, such as the sides of a box, etc. The simplest type of
set-square, that formed by two edges at right angles to one another,
is seen in No. =483=. Notice the set of bronze plummets (No. =484=),
which were suspended from strings. The one illustrated (fig. 201) has
_Bassi_, "belonging to Bassus," inscribed on it in punctured letters.
Two other inscribed tools are of interest. The one is the sickle-like
iron blade from, perhaps, a gardener's knife, with the inscription,
"Durra made me" (No. =485=), the other a finely made Greek bronze
chisel, bearing the name of Apollodoros (No. =486=).
[Illustration: FIG. 201.--ROMAN SET-SQUARE AND PLUMMET (NOS. 482,
484). 1:4.]
=Building materials and Sculptures.=--Cases 45-48 contain objects
illustrating the materials and methods of Greek and Roman builders and
sculptors. There are several Greek tiles dated by the impression of a
magistrate's name, _e.g._, "Under Aeschyliskos," "Under Apollodoros,"
the latter (No. =487=) bearing traces of the feet of a dog which has
run across the tile before it was dry.
The characteristic stamps on the Roman bricks of the Empire were
impressed by wooden blocks in which the legend was engraved direct
with a broad lettering, tending to exaggeration in the 3rd century and
later. The beginning of the inscription is marked by a small raised
circle, and the information given includes the name of the estate
(often imperial) from which the clay comes, the name of the potter and
his kiln, and sometimes the date by the consulship, though all these
pieces of information do not necessarily occur on the same tile. As
typical examples may be given: No. =488=, here illustrated (fig.
202), bearing the device of a pine-cone between two branches, and the
inscription _ex fig(linis) M. Herenni Pollionis dol(iare) L. Sessi
Successi_, "From the pottery of M. Herennius Pollio; baked by L.
Sessus Successus"; and No. =489=, with the device of Victory, and the
inscription: "Brick from the Publinian pottery (made with clay from)
the estate of Aemilia Severa." A large number of the estates from
which the clay came were, it should be noted, owned by women.
[Illustration: FIG. 202.--ROMAN STAMPED TILE (NO. 488). Ca. 1:3.]
No. =490= is an example of a dated brick--_Imp. Antonino II (= iterum)
et Br(u)ttio Co(n)s(ulibus)_ _i.e._, 139 A.D. The stamp was first
engraved by error with the name of Balbinus, consul of 137 A.D., and
afterwards corrected by re-engraving +RTTIO+ on +ALBIN+. No. =491=
refers to the _portus_, _i.e._, the depot of Licinius.
Many of the bronze accessories of building are shown here, such as two
pairs of bronze door-knockers from Syria (No. =492=).
The bronze dowels (No. =493=) were employed for fastening together
stone sections, such as the drums of columns. They are often in the
form of truncated cones placed base to base, the thickest part being
thus in the position where the strain was greatest (fig. 203_a_).
Other dowels from the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos are in the form
of bronze cylinders in collars of bronze, rigidly fixed by three
key-pieces. The cylinders were set in the great stone which closed the
entrance of the Mausoleum, and were intended to drop half their length
into the corresponding sockets in the lower sill of the entrance (Nos.
=494-495=).
[Illustration: FIG. 203.--BRONZE DOWEL AND DOOR-PIVOT (NOS. 493, 496).
1:2.]
A series of bronze coverings (No. =496=) for the pivots of doors
reminds us of the fact that in ancient times most of the doors worked
on a different principle from our own. The bronze-covered pivots (fig.
203_b_), rigidly fixed to the door by a key-piece, turned in bronze
sockets(_c_) fitted into the lintel or threshold. This arrangement
explains the allusions to the grating of doors met with in ancient
writers.[53] Hinges of the modern type were, however, well known.
Examples are to be seen in Cases 47, 48, among them a hinge with the
fragments of the wood, to which it was originally attached, still
adhering (No. =497=).
Towards the end of the Republic and under the Empire the Romans
devoted much attention to the adornment of their buildings, public and
private. For this purpose marbles of every variety were imported from
all parts of the world, while an elaborate system of wall-painting was
also developed. Mamurra, an officer of Julius Caesar, is said to have
been the first to veneer the walls of his house with marble. A few
selected examples from the Tolley collection of polished specimens of
the materials used in ancient Rome are here exhibited (No. =498=). The
whole collection comprises some 700 specimens, so that we cannot be
surprised that Pliny declines to enumerate the varieties known in
his day, on account of the vastness of their number.[54] The simpler
building materials used at Rome were, besides the tiles or bricks
already mentioned, the hard limestone rock known as travertine and the
volcanic tufa and peperino. A specimen of the last is shown here.
The place of hanging pictures in ancient houses was largely taken by
fresco wall-paintings, several fragments of which are here shown.
The floors of the houses were not covered with carpets, but were
frequently decorated with mosaics, which might range from simple
geometric patterns in black and white (as in many of the specimens
here seen) to elaborate pictorial designs. The construction of these
pavements, out of small stone cubes (_tesserae_) set in cement, is
clearly seen in the examples exhibited. Genuine mosaic was sometimes
imitated in painted plaster. One or two such fragments can be seen in
the Case.
As examples of the processes of sculpture, note a half-finished
figure of a seated Sphinx (No. =499=); and a cast (No. =500=) of
a half-finished figure of Hermes, from a private collection. The
sculptor has made free use of the drill for the roughing out of the
figure, and at the same time has brought the exposed parts to a high
degree of finish. A piece of bead and reel moulding (No. =501=) is
also unfinished.
(=484=) Cf. Daremberg and Saglio, s.v., _Perpendiculum_.
(=488=) For the stamped Roman bricks see, _Cat. of
Terracottas_, E 148-153. For _C.I.L._ reff., see _ibid._ (but E
151 = _C.I.L._ xv. 214).
(=494=, =495=) Newton, _Disc. at Halicarnassus_, II (1) p. 97;
_Cat. of Sculpture_, II, 990, 991.
(=498=) Cf. Pullen, _Handbook of Ancient Roman Marbles_.
[Footnote 53: Virgil, _Ciris_, 222:
Marmoreo aeratus stridens in limine cardo.
]
[Footnote 54: _H.N._ xxxvi. 54.]
XVI.--HORSES AND CHARIOTS.
(Wall-Cases 49-51.)
=Chariots and Carts.=--The war-chariot plays a conspicuous part in
the Homeric poems, and the horse and chariot are there so closely
identified that we find the phrase "he leapt from his horses" used
as equivalent to "he leapt from his chariot." After the Homeric age,
however, the use of the chariot in war died out in Greece and it
thenceforward appears most conspicuously in the great Greek games,
where it was used for racing purposes. A very early example of this
racing chariot may be seen on a Boeotian bowl of the eighth century
(on the top of Case D, First Vase Room).[55] Here are depicted two
chariots with a high open framework at front and back, each drawn
(apparently) by a single horse, and driven by a man clothed in a long
robe distinctive of the Greek charioteer. There is little doubt that
in reality the chariots are meant to be drawn by two horses, and that
the deceptive appearance is due to the limitations of the artist.
On Greek monuments of a later date than this vase, the light racing
chariot is constantly represented. Some primitive chariots in
terracotta and stone from Cyprus are also shown in Case 50.
[Illustration: FIG. 204.--ROMAN RACING CHARIOT (NO. 502). L. 10-1/2
in.]
Roman chariots are represented by a good bronze model (No. =502=; fig.
204) found in the Tiber. This is a racing car, drawn at full speed by
two horses, one of which is now lost. It corresponds closely to the
cars used for racing in the circus, such as may be seen in Case 110.
At the end of the pole (appearing just behind the horse's mane) is
a decoration in the form of a ram's head, an ornament of the same
character as the four bronze objects placed with the horse-muzzles in
the upper part of Case 51 (No. =503=). These have decorations in the
form of the bust of a Satyr blowing a horn, and busts of a boy, an
Amazon, and a Cupid respectively. In the lowest parts of Cases 50 and
51 are various bronze decorations, which have no doubt belonged to
axle-boxes and other parts of a chariot, but their exact arrangement
is not clear.
[Illustration: FIG. 205.--ROMAN CAR FOR CARRYING IMAGES TO THE CIRCUS
(NO. 506). L. 2 ft. 10-1/2 in.]
Another form of Roman car is illustrated by the fine hanging bronze
lamp representing the Moon-goddess (Luna), drawn in her chariot by a
pair of bulls (No. =504=). The lamp was for three wicks, two on the
outer sides of the bulls, and one at the back of Luna's head. The
goddess is represented on coins of the second and third century after
Christ in a similar bull-car.[56] A terracotta (No. =505=) is in the
form of a four-wheeled hooded waggon, probably a travelling car of the
type called [Greek: apênê] by the Greeks and _raeda_ by the Romans.
In the top of Case 49 is a marble relief (No. =506=; fig. 205)
representing a covered two-wheeled cart drawn by four horses. The
sides of the cart are decorated with reliefs, depicting Jupiter and
the two Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. Probably the car is a _tensa_,
used to convey images of the gods to and from the circus on the
occasion of the games, and for other religious purposes. The relief
formed part of a sarcophagus of about the third century after Christ.
=Horse-trappings.=--Case 50 contains two interesting sets of bronze
harness of an early date from Italy, probably of the eighth century
B.C. (No. =507=). They are mounted upon leather, and placed on models
of horses' heads; the sidepieces of the bits are themselves in the
form of horses. Of much later date, perhaps of the fifth or fourth
century B.C., is the Greek bit from Achaea (No. =508=; fig. 206). It
is remarkable for its severe character, but was certainly not out of
the ordinary, for a bit of precisely similar character is described
by Xenophon in his treatise on horsemanship (early fourth century
B.C.).[57] He says there were two varieties of this type of bit, the
mild and the severe. In the present example we may probably recognise
the severe variety, which had "the 'wheels' heavy and small and the
'hedgehogs' sharp, in order that the horse when he got it into his
mouth might be distressed by its roughness and give up resisting."
The "wheels" are clearly the central discs for pressing on the tongue,
while the prickly cylinders at the sides were aptly termed "hedgehogs"
by the Greeks. In this same Case there are also examples of the milder
Roman bit, one in iron and another in lead, perhaps intended for
votive use.
[Illustration: FIG. 206.--GREEK BIT (NO. 508). Width, ca. 9 in.]
Case 51 contains three examples of muzzles for horses (No. =509=),
nearly complete, with a fragment of a fourth. These muzzles are in
bronze, but we can hardly expect that this was the usual material.
Probably the bronze examples were reserved for state occasions or
else only used by the very wealthy. The muzzles depicted on vases
seem rather to be of some pliant material--leather, for example. It is
probable that all the bronze examples in this Case belong to the Greek
period, though the one here illustrated (fig. 207) has been assigned
to as late a date as the fourth century after Christ. The muzzle was
only used when the horse was being rubbed down or led, not when he
was ridden or driven. Xenophon[58] observes that "the groom must
understand how to put the muzzle on the horse, when he takes him out
to rub him or to roll him. And, indeed, wherever he takes him without
a bridle, he ought to muzzle him." The muzzles must have been fastened
to the horse's head by straps attached to the rings seen on each side
of them.
[Illustration: FIG. 207.--BRONZE HORSE-MUZZLE (NO. 509). Ht. ca. 9
in.]
It has been a subject of controversy whether Greek and Roman horses
were shod. There is no mention of horse-shoes in Greek literature,
and it seems improbable that they were used by the Greeks. Xenophon
advises the use of a specially constructed stone floor for hardening
the horse's hoofs,[59] but in spite of such precautions, it is not
surprising to hear that the Athenian cavalry horses sometimes went
lame as a result of continuous work on hard ground.[60] Horse-shoes
are occasionally (though rarely) spoken of in Roman literature. Their
use seems to have been quite exceptional as when Nero, for instance,
had his mules shod with silver.[61] In the lower part of Case 51 will
be seen a series of iron shoes of the Roman period (No. =510=; fig.
208), for the most part found in the south of France. It is impossible
to believe that these were ever used as ordinary horse-shoes. The
most plausible theory is that they were "hobbles," put on the feet of
horses and other quadrupeds to prevent them straying. The upper part
of this same Case contains sets of spurs (No. =511=), most of them
probably Roman. The arrangement for attaching the spurs to the heel
varies. Two have loops formed by the head and neck of swans, three
have discs or knobs, while another has holes for laces.
[Illustration: FIG. 208.--IRON HOBBLE (NO. 510). 1:4.]
(=502=) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 2695; (=503=) _ibid._, 2696 ff.;
(=504=) _ibid._, 2520; (=505=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, C
612; (=506=) _Cat. of Sculpt._, III., 2310; (=507=) _Cat. of
Bronzes_, 357; (=508=) Cf. Pernice, _Griech. Pferdegeschirr_,
pll. ii. and iii. (56th _Winckelmannsfestprogramm_); (=509=)
_ibid._, pl. i. and pp. 6-16; (=510=) Cf. _Rev. Arch._, 1900
(36), p. 296 ff; Smith, _Dict. of Ant._^3, s.v. _Solea_.
[Footnote 55: See _Journal of Hell. Stud._, xix., pl. 8.]
[Footnote 56: _E.g._, on _B.M. Coins of Ionia_,
pl. xx. 7 (Coin of Magnesia: Gordianus Pius).]
[Footnote 57: Xen., _De re eq._ x. 6: [Greek: prôton men
toinyn chrê ou meion duoin chalinoin kektêsthai; toutôn
de estô ho men leios, tous trochous eumegetheis echôn, ho de
heteros tous men trochous kai bareis kai tapeinous, tous d'
echinous oxeis, hina hopotan men touton labê, aschallôn tê
trachytêti dia touto aphiê].]
[Footnote 58: _De re eq._ v. 3.]
[Footnote 59: Xen., _op. cit._, iv. 3.]
[Footnote 60: Thuc., vii. 27, 5.]
[Footnote 61: Suet., _Ner._ 30.]
XVII.--AGRICULTURE.
(Wall-Case 52.)
Farming, the rearing of live stock, the cultivation of corn, vines and
olives were practised by the earliest civilisations of the Aegean, and
of Greece.
The use of the plough was also known at that distant period. In this
Case are shown three bronze ploughshares (No. =512=), which belong
to the Mycenaean Age, and were found in Cyprus. A plough in its most
primitive form was merely the trunk of a tree which served as the
pole, with two branches on opposite sides, one forming the share,
the other the handle. This was the plough in one piece spoken of by
Hesiod. The Mycenaean ploughshare belongs to a later development, when
the plough is made up of several parts, the "joined plough" of Homer
and Hesiod. Such is the plough seen in the very primitive bronze group
(No. =513=), where it is in the act of being turned at the end of the
furrow. To effect the turning the two oxen are pulling the yoke in
opposite directions. A black-figured vase of the sixth century, here
exhibited (No. =514=), shows the later plough in a simple form, which
has changed but little for many centuries, as may still be observed in
the East. The different parts can be seen more clearly from a bronze
votive plough of the third century B.C. at Florence (fig. 209). It is
made up of (1) a horizontal share-beam, to which is fastened the iron
share, (2) a pole, at the end of which is the yoke, (3) the vertical
handle. This type of plough is exactly described by Virgil in the
_Georgics_.[62]
[Illustration: FIG. 209.--BRONZE VOTIVE PLOUGH.]
[Illustration: FIG. 210.--WINE BEING DECOCTED (NO. 518). L. 1 ft. 9
in.]
[Illustration: FIG. 211.--MEN GATHERING OLIVES (NO. 521). Ca. 1:2.]
The ploughman was followed by the sower, who is represented on the
vase mentioned above (No. =514=) with a basket from which he scatters
the seed in the furrow. At harvest-time a sickle was used to cut the
grain, of which instrument two iron specimens are shown in the
Case, from Lycia in Asia Minor (No. =515=). Winnowing the grain was
accomplished either by means of a shovel or a basket of peculiar shape
([Greek: liknon], _vannus_); on a terracotta relief in the Museum (D
525, Case 75, Terracotta Room Annexe) the infant Dionysos is being
rocked in one of these objects instead of a cradle, by a Satyr and a
Nymph.
Of fruit crops the vine and the olive were by far the most important
in the Greek and Roman world, and great attention was paid to their
cultivation. The operations involved in the manufacture of both
wine and oil find many illustrations among ancient works of art. The
gathering of grapes is illustrated by a Roman terracotta relief (No.
=516=) exhibited in the Case, where a Satyr is picking grapes from
a vine. Another relief of the same class (No. =517=) depicts the
treading out of the grapes in the wine-press, also by Satyrs, two of
whom are balancing themselves by holding a ring between them while
they tread the grapes in an oblong trough to the tune of flutes. An
elderly Satyr brings up fresh supplies in a basket. The massive bronze
rings commonly known as "athletes' rings" may have been used at the
wine-press (No. =517*=).
The must or new wine was partly used for drinking as soon as ready,
partly decocted into a sort of jelly (_defrutum_), and partly stowed
in cellars in large casks or jars (_dolia_); in the latter case
after being fermented for nine days it was covered up and sealed. The
commoner kinds were drunk direct from the _dolia_, the finer sorts
drawn off into amphorae and stored up. On the marble reliefs here
given (No. =518=; fig. 210) we have a representation of the conversion
of the must into _defrutum_: two men are attending to a caldron
placed over a fire, while a third is pouring wine from an amphora into
another caldron, and a fourth is waiting to fill a jug from the same.
In the lowest part of the Case is exhibited the upper part of an
amphora with long neck and two handles (whence the frequent term
_diota_), as an example of those used for the storage of wine. The
terracotta figure of a man carrying a wineskin and one of these
_diotae_ (No. =519=), and a Roman lamp depicting slaves carrying casks
of wine, should also be noted (No. =520=).
The cultivation of the olive is well illustrated by a black-figured
vase of the sixth century B.C. (No. =521=; fig. 211), showing a
primitive method of gathering the fruit: a youth has climbed to the
top of the tree, and he and two men are beating the branches with
sticks to bring the fruit down, while another youth collects it in a
vessel. This method is expressly condemned by Varro, an early Roman
writer on agriculture.[63]
In order to extract the oil from the pulp of the fruit, it was
necessary to use a press of some kind, such as we see on the
terracotta relief here exhibited (No. =522=; fig. 212), of the first
century B.C. Here the press consists of flat stones between which
layers of olives are placed; to the uppermost stone is fastened a
long pole, which serves as a lever, and is being worked by two Satyrs;
round the press a rope is wound many times. Compare the large vase in
the Hall of Inscriptions (_Cat. of Sculpture_, 2502).
[Illustration: FIG. 212.--SATYRS AT OIL-PRESS (NO. 522). Ht. 7 in.]
The remaining objects in this Case are mostly illustrative of men or
beasts of burden engaged in agricultural and kindred occupations, such
as the goat-herd depicted on a Roman lamp, to whom the name of Titurus
is applied, with reference to Virgil's first Eclogue (No. =523=; fig.
213). The bronze figure of a donkey (No. =524=) with panniers recalls
the ornament of Trimalchio's dinner-table described by Petronius, and
may have served a similar purpose. Model panniers, and terracottas
of a donkey and a camel with the panniers laden with rural produce,
should also be noted. Several model carts from Amathus, in terracotta,
are either flat-bottomed, for general use, or in vase-shape, for the
transport of wine or other liquids (No. =525=).
[Illustration: FIG. 213.--GOATHERD WITH FLOCK (NO. 523). Diam. 3-3/4
in.]
(=512=) _Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 15, 1477; (=516=,
=517=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, D 542, D 544; (=518=) _Cat. of
Sculpture_, III., 2212; (=520=) _Cat. of Lamps_, 1142; (=521=)
_Cat. of Vases_, II., B 226; (=522=) _Cat. of Terracottas_, D
550. Cf. Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Torcular_; (=523=)
_Cat. of Lamps_, 661; (=524=) Cf. Daremberg and Saglio, s.v.
_Clitellae_; (=525=) _Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 112.
[Footnote 62: i. 169 ff.; Cf. Gow, _Journ. of Hellenic
Studies_, xxxiv., p. 249.]
[Footnote 63: Varro, _Res Rust._ i. 55: de oliveto
oleam ... legere oportet potius quam quatere.]
XVIII.--INDUSTRIAL ARTS.
(Table-Case H.)
In Table Case H we have objects illustrating the craft of the metal
worker, the potter, the turner, and the woodworker.
[Illustration: FIG. 214.--LIMESTONE HALF-MOULD, WITH CAST FROM SAME
(NO. 531). Ht. 4-1/2 in.]