and frequently furnished with movable arms and legs. It will be
noticed that most of these dolls have holes pierced in the top of
their heads for the passage of strings connected with the arms and
sometimes with the legs. These would produce a movement of the
arms and legs, and explain the term [Greek: neurospasta] ("drawn
by strings") applied to these dolls. In Xenophon's _Symposium_ a
travelling showman speaks of being kept by the profits drawn from such
puppets.[75] One, holding castanets, is illustrated here (fig. 232;
No. =593=). We get allusions in literature to these dolls and other
small terracotta figures, which show that one of their chief uses was
the amusement of children. One writer[76] speaks of "those who make
little figures of clay in the form of all kinds of animals destined
for the beguiling of little children." Such a figure is that of
the donkey with a sea-perch tied on its back (No. =594=) or the
fascinating group of the little boy on the goose (No. =595=), and the
old woman on the mule (No. =596=; fig. 233). Many of these toys bring
vividly to mind country scenes in Greece at the present day. Though
they were doubtless intended chiefly for little children, women did
not altogether disdain these terracotta toys. A Greek tombstone of
the fifth century B.C. has a relief showing a girl, quite grown up,
standing with a terracotta doll, exactly like those in this Case, in
her hands, while a young slave-girl holds the figure of a duck before
her.[77] Humbler but less breakable toys of Roman date are the wooden
horse (No. =597=) and rag doll (No. =598=) from Egypt. For the most
part these toys have been found in the tombs of children. The seated
figure of a girl (No. =599=; fig. 234), holding an ivory dove in her
hand, and surrounded by her spinning instrument for the knee (see p.
145), her shoes, and marriage-bowl, was found in a tomb near Athens,
probably of the fourth century B.C. The bowl is almost certainly the
[Greek: lebês gamikos], used by the bridal pair immediately after
marriage. It is therefore not unreasonable to conclude that the tomb
was that of a newly wedded bride. Another plaything in vogue among the
Greeks was the whipping top, an ancient model of which in terracotta
(No. =600=) is seen in the Case and is illustrated on the right of
fig. 235. On the left of the figure is another form of Greek whipping
top (of terracotta, found in the sanctuary of the Kabeiri at
Thebes), and in the centre a design from a vase, in which a woman is
represented whipping such a top. In a Greek epigram[78] the top is
mentioned as a boy's plaything, together with a ball, a rattle, and
the favourite knucklebones, and an inscription from the sanctuary
of the Kabeiri at Thebes speaks of four knucklebones, a top
([Greek: strobilos]), a whip, and a torch dedicated by a woman named
Okythoa.[79]
(=591=) _Cat. of Vases_, III., E 533 ff.; Benndorf, _Griech.
u. Sicil. Vasenbilder_, p 64; (=599=) For the [Greek: lebês
gamikos], see _Ath. Mitt._, XXXII. (1907), p. 111 f.; (=600=)
See _Ath. Mitt._, XIII., p. 426 f., and _Van Branteghem
Coll._, No. 167.
[Footnote 74: Paus. V. 20. 1.]
[Footnote 75: Xen., _Symp._ 55.]
[Footnote 76: Suidas, s.v. [Greek: Koroplathoi].]
[Footnote 77: Conze, _Att. Grabreliefs_, No. 880,
pl. clxx.]
[Footnote 78: _Anth. Pal._ vi. 309. [Greek:
euphêmon toi sphairan, eukrotalon te Philoklês
Hermeiê tautên pyxineên platagên,
astragalas th' hais poll' epemênato, kai ton helikton
rhombon, kourosynês paigni', anekremasen].
]
[Footnote 79: _Athen. Mitt._, XIII., p. 427: [Greek: Okythoa
astragalôs pettaras, strobilon, mastiga, daida,....]
]
XXII.--EDUCATION, WITH WRITING AND PAINTING.
(Table-Case J.)
=Education.=--Case J contains several objects illustrating that part
of the Greek child's education which was connected with the arts of
reading, arithmetic and writing. A Greek terracotta of the fourth
century B.C. with Silenus holding the child Dionysos by the hand (No.
=601=), may be supposed to represent the old pedagogue, the slave
whose duty it was to take the child to school. (Scenes in a music
school are shown on the vases E 171, E 172, in cases 55-56.)
[Illustration: FIG. 236.--TERRACOTTA GROUPS. READING AND WRITING
LESSONS (NO. 602). Ht. 4-1/4 in. and 4-3/4 in.]
=Reading.=--Another terracotta group of about the third century B.C.
(No. =602=, fig. 236, _right_) shows a kindly old schoolmaster seated
and teaching a boy who stands by his side to read from a roll. The
ancient book differed from our own in taking the form of a roll. The
reader would first unroll the beginning, and then, as he went on, roll
up the part he had finished, making thus a double roll, as it were,
of the part read and the part unread. See the tablet in Case 56 of
the child Avita, reading her scrolls, with her dog in attendance (No.
=603=).
[Illustration: FIG. 237.--SPELLING EXERCISE (NO. 605).]
A simple Greek alphabet is inscribed on marble (No. =604=) [Greek:
...de...thiklmnxoprstuphchps]. A fragment of a syllabic reading or
spelling exercise is shown on a piece of pottery (No. =605=; fig. 237).
Each letter of the alphabet is combined with each vowel in turn, as
[Greek: ra re rê r[i ro ru rô] sa se sê si s[o su sô]] and so on.
In the case of [Greek: rê] the syllable was miswritten [Greek: re] and
corrected. A school-boy's wax tablet (No. =606=; fig. 238) shows on
its right half how syllables constitute words as [Greek: the ôn] for
[Greek: theôn]. A large wooden board with an iron handle (No. =607=)
is inscribed with lines of Homer (_Iliad_ i., 468 ff.), no doubt for
use in school. A fragment of an 'Iliac table,' (No. =608=) with a
scene from the _Iliad_ (Achilles dragging the body of Hector round
Troy, and Achilles conversing with Athena) was probably also intended
for teaching purposes.
=Arithmetic.=--The left side of the tablet (No. =606=; fig. 238) gives
a multiplication table, from [Greek: a´ a´ a´], once one is one, to
[Greek: g´ i´ l´], thrice ten is thirty. The Greek numerals follow the
alphabet to [Greek: i´] = 10, followed by [Greek: k´] = 20, [Greek:
l´] = 30, and so on. Six is represented by the sign [Greek: stigma´
(f´)], which occupies the place of F in the Latin alphabet, and stands
for the old digamma or vau.
=Writing.=--The wax-coated tablet which contains the foregoing table
was the usual appliance for writing. A writing lesson is shown in
the terracotta group (No. =602=, fig. 236, _left_). The instrument
employed was a pointed implement, called by the Romans a _stilus_. An
example in ivory, here figured (No. =609=; fig. 239), was found in a
tomb of the fifth century B.C. at Eretria in Euboea. The broad flat
end was used for erasures, so that we find the Romans using the
phrase _vertere stilum_, "to turn the pen" in the sense of "to
erase." Numerous _stili_ in bronze are shown in the Case, and some
are illustrated in fig. 240. The fifth example from the top in the
illustration is in silver bound with gold wire, probably from France
and of late Roman date. These tablets were not as a rule used singly,
but strung together, so that the waxen surface was protected when the
two or more leaves were closed. The present tablet was composed of
two leaves, one of which is in the Department of Manuscripts with
a writing exercise upon it. The arrangement of several tablets in a
fashion anticipating the form of the modern book is well shown in the
relief of the pork butcher (Case 41).
[Illustration: FIG. 238.--TABLET WITH MULTIPLICATION TABLE AND READING
EXERCISE (NO. 606).]
[Illustration: FIG. 239.--IVORY _Stilus_ (NO. 609). 2:3.]
For documents of a more permanent character paper was made from the
papyrus plant, whence it takes its name. It was manufactured chiefly
at Alexandria from the time of the foundation of that town in the
fourth century B.C., and pen and ink were used to write on it. A
specimen of Greek writing on papyrus is seen in the Case (No. =610=).
It is a letter of the first century after Christ, asking that a supply
of drugs of good quality--"none of your rotten stuff that won't pass
muster in Alexandria"--should be sent to the writer, Prokleios.
Later on, parchment, prepared from the skins of animals, and made
principally at Pergamon, in Asia Minor, began to rival papyrus as
writing-material. Specimens of ancient reed and bronze pens (No.
=611=) are given in the illustration above (fig. 240), and a series of
ancient inkpots is here figured (No. =612=; fig. 241). The pens, whose
split nibs have a curiously modern appearance, are all of Roman date.
The reed pens come from Behnesa, in Egypt, and one of the bronze pens
was found in the Tiber at Rome. The inkpots are also of Roman date.
The middle one of the lower row has its hinged cover still remaining,
with the inlaid vine-spray in silver round the rim. The one to the
right of it is in blue faïence, and was found in Egypt.
[Illustration: FIG. 240.--ROMAN PENS AND _Stili_. 1:2.]
Writing was sometimes put directly upon wood. Such is the case with
the fragment of board from Egypt mentioned above. The lawyer's tablet
(No. =612*=), of about the fifth century A.D., which deals with loans,
etc., has the surface specially whitened for the writing and a space
for keeping the pen. Parts of the two outer leaves, which contained
between them eight inner leaves, are shown in the Case.
(=604=) _B.M. Inscr._, 323; (=605=) _Journ. Hell. Stud._,
XXVIII. (1908), p. 123; cf. Dumont, _Inscriptions céramiques_,
p. 405 (5); (=608=) _Cat. of Sculpt._, III., 2192; (=610=)
_B.M. Papyri_, ccclvi.
On Greek education generally, see Freeman, _Schools of
Hellas_, and the select bibliography there given. For ancient
books, cf. E. M. Thompson, _Handbook of Greek and Latin
Palaeography_. For relics of Graeco-Egyptian school-life, see
_Journ. Hell. Stud._, _loc. cit._
[Illustration: FIG. 241.--ROMAN INKPOTS (NO. 612). Ca. 1:2.]
=Painting.=--Adjoining the objects connected with writing, are
illustrations of the art of painting in Roman times. They include
a series of ancient colours, pestles and mortars, some paintings on
wood, one, painted by the encaustic process, enclosed in its ancient
wooden frame. The colours, as may be seen, were kept in a dry
condition, and had to be pounded with pestle and mortar before they
were mixed for the use of the artist. A good number of ancient colours
are shown here, the blue (silicate of copper) being particularly
prominent. The six saucers (No. =613=), found together in a tomb of
the Roman period at Hawara, Egypt, contain water-colour paints. These
are _dark red_ (oxide of iron), _yellow_ (ochre, oxide of iron),
_white_ (sulphate of lime), _pink_ (organic colour, probably madder,
in sulphate of lime), _blue_ (glass coloured by copper), _red_ (oxide
of lead). The saucers were found piled by the side of the owner's
body. Pestles and mortars for pounding the colours are shown in the
Case. A favourite form of pestle is that which resembles a bent leg or
thumb, such as the one from Rhodes (No. =614=), inscribed with what is
probably the owner's name. Near it is the terracotta figure of a dwarf
(No. =615=), seated (apparently in a violent passion) before a pestle
and mortar. We may imagine that he is a slave set to mix his master's
colours.
The methods of painting illustrated here are two, viz., painting on
a dry ground in water-colours, and what is known as "encaustic"
painting. For the first, water-colours were used, and the ground
material was generally a thin piece of wood, whitened to receive the
colours. Egypt has furnished many examples of this kind of painting.
Among them is the portrait of a woman from the Fayum, wearing a fillet
(No. =616=). This no doubt comes from a mummy of the Roman period,
such as the one exhibited in Case 72 next the entrance to the Gold
Room Corridor, which has a similar painted portrait (in encaustic,
however) placed over the face. Other water-colour paintings of Roman
date from Egypt are shown in Case J, such as the figures of Fortune
and Venus painted in several colours on a red ground (No. =617=),
and the fragmentary figure (No. =618=), wearing a jewel of gold and
pearls, and inscribed with the name of Sarapis ([Greek: SARAPI]). The
encaustic process was that employed in the case of the framed portrait
(No. =619=), found at Hawara in Egypt. The frame is carefully made,
the sides being joined by tenons and mortises. There is a groove for a
glass covering, and the cord by which it was suspended still remains.
The portrait was painted in wax, by a process which can hardly have
been other than that called "encaustic" by Pliny.[80] The nature of
this process has been much disputed, but probably the colours were
ground in with the wax, which was fused by the heat of the sun or
artificial means, and then laid on by the brush. A stump (_cestrum_)
was also sometimes employed. Probably a box divided into compartments
was used for holding these wax-colours in their fluid state. Such a
receptacle may perhaps be recognised in the long terracotta vessel,
which has a groove in the middle for a brush (No. =620=).
(=613=) Petrie, _Hawara_, p. 11; (=619=) _ibid._, p. 10.
[Footnote 80: Plin. _H.N._ xxxv. 122, 149.]
XXIII.--GAMES.
(Table-Case J.)
[Illustration: FIG. 242.--TWO WOMEN PLAYING AT KNUCKLEBONES.]
Herodotus has a curious story to the effect that the Lydians invented
dice, knucklebones, balls, and other playthings to help them to pass a
time of famine, by playing and eating on alternate days.[81] Draughts
([Greek: pessoi]) are expressly excepted from his list, and were
ascribed to the fertile invention of Palamedes at the time of the
Trojan war. Games played with knucklebones (small bones forming part
of the ankle-joint in cloven-footed animals) may be described
first, since they were, as may be judged from the number of ancient
knucklebones found (No. =621= in this Case), extremely common. We are
told in the _Anthology_ of a boy who gained eighty knucklebones as a
writing-prize.[82] Among women too they were a favourite plaything.
The illustration (fig. 242), from a painting on marble found at Resina
(the ancient Herculaneum), shows two women engaged at knucklebones.
(See also the terracotta group D 161 in the Room of Terracottas, Case
32). This game was called "five-stones" ([Greek: pentelithoi]), a
name still given by children to a very similar game. The lexicographer
Pollux describes the game thus: "The knucklebones are thrown up into
the air, and an attempt is made to catch them on the back of the
hand. If you are only partially successful, you have to pick up the
knucklebones which have fallen to the ground, without letting fall
those already on the hand.... It is, above all, a woman's game."[83]
This description makes the illustration clear. Each woman has five
knucklebones, and the one whose turn it is to play has caught three
on the back of her hand; the two which are falling to the ground she
would have to pick up without shaking off those already on the hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 243.--KNUCKLEBONES AND DICE (NOS. 621-3). 1:1.]
Besides being used in various kinds of games, knucklebones were also
employed as dice. The four long faces of the knucklebone differed from
one another in form, one being convex, another concave, another nearly
flat, and the fourth sinuous and irregular. The values assigned to
these sides were: (_a_) to the flat side ([Greek: chion]), 1; (_b_)
the sinuous side ([Greek: kôon]), 6; (_c_) the concave ([Greek:
hyption]), 3; (_d_) the convex ([Greek: prênes]), 4. This is the order
in which they are shown in fig. 243, from left to right. Astragali
thus required no marks of value upon them, since their sides were
naturally distinguished. The ordinary cube-shaped dice, marked 1-6
(No. =622=) were also widely used by the Greeks and Romans (fig. 243).
The usual arrangement of numbers was, as now, 1 opposite 6, 2 opposite
5, and 3 opposite 4,[84] but other arrangements occur. Some dice are
interesting on account of their peculiar form, _e.g._, the squatting
silver figures (No. =623=, fig. 204), which are marked with the values
1-6 on different parts of the body. A Roman bronze dice-box is shown
in fig. 244 (No. =624=). The ordinary materials of dice were ivory,
bone, or wood. Of the multifarious ways of playing with dice known to
the Greeks and Romans, the one most in vogue may be mentioned. In this
three dice were used, and the object was to throw the highest number
([Greek: pleistobolinda]). The best throw, three sixes, became
proverbial. In Aeschylos' _Agamemnon_ the watchman, when he saw the
beacon-fire blaze forth which told of Agamemnon's victorious return,
exclaimed:----"I'll count my master's fortunes fallen fair, now that
my beacon watch has thrown a triple six."[85] With astragali, on the
other hand, the best throw was 1, 3, 4, 6, and was called "the throw
of Venus." For this each bone had to present a different face.[86] The
worst throw was the "Dogs," when four aces turned up.[87]
[Illustration: FIG. 244.--BRONZE DICE-BOX (NO. 624). 4:5.]
Dice of exceptional form are the twenty-sided one, inscribed with the
Greek letters [Greek: A] to [Greek: Y] (No. =625=), a fourteen-sided
one inscribed with Roman numerals (No. =626=), and an uninscribed
fourteen-sided crystal die from Naukratis. With these may be mentioned
the triple teetotum (No. =627=) and the four-sided triple die, one
side of which has been left plain (No. =628=).
[Illustration: FIG. 245.--IVORY PIECES FROM GAMES (NOS. 630-631).
2:3.]
Of the rules governing other games, represented here by several
pieces, we are entirely ignorant. The plaster pawns (No. =629=) found
at Panticapaeum (Kertch) in the Crimea, probably belonged to some game
analogous to our draughts. An interesting set of pieces is that of
the ivory discs (No. =630=; fig. 245), which bear on their obverse a
design in relief _e.g._ two Muses and the head of the Sun-god, and on
their reverse a number, from 1 to 15, in both Greek and Latin figures,
as well as a word descriptive of the design on the obverse. Thus the
two illustrated have on their reverse
+VI+
[Greek: MOUSAI]
[Greek: TH]
[Greek: F]
and
+II+
[Greek: HÊLIOS]
[Greek: B]
(_i.e._, VI.--Nine ([Greek: th´]) Muses--6, and II.--Helios--2)
respectively. It seems pretty clearly established that these discs
were used as pieces in a game, which probably resembled draughts or
backgammon. Fifteen of these pieces have been found together in a
child's tomb at Panticapaeum. The game appears to have been popular
in the first and second centuries after Christ, and probably had its
origin in Alexandria. It seems likely that it bore a resemblance to
the Roman game called _duodecim scripta_ ("twelve lines"), played with
fifteen pieces on either side. The moves were determined by the throw
of the dice, as in our backgammon. Another set of pieces belonging to
a game are the label-shaped ivories (No. =631=; fig. 245), inscribed
on one side with words, often of an abusive character, such as
_male (e)st_ ("bad luck"), _fur_ ("thief"), _nugator_ ("trifler"),
_stumacose_ ("ill-tempered fellow"), etc., and on the other with
numbers. The pieces mentioned have the numbers +XXIII+, +A+, +II+,
+I+, and +II A+ respectively on their reverse sides (see fig. 245).
The whole series of numbers on these ivories runs from 1 to 25, and
includes in addition 30 and 60; it is noteworthy that the highest
numbers have inscriptions of a complimentary character, _e.g._,
_felix_ and _benigne_. The pieces may have been used in the Roman game
called "the game of soldiers" (_ludus latrunculorum_).[1]
At the top of Cases 57-58 is an oblong marble board (No. =632=),
inscribed with six words of six letters each. It was found in a tomb
near the Porta Portese, Rome. The words are--
+CIRCVS PLENVS+
+CLAMOR INGENS+
+IANVAE TE+ ? _te(nsae)_
"Circus full," "Great shouting," "Doors bursting (?)."
Each word is separated from that opposite it by a flower within a
circle. Many such stones are known, always with six words of six
letters, so that it seems clear that they were used as boards for a
game, possibly the _duodecim scripta_ already mentioned. The pieces
used were probably the so-called "contorniates," bronze discs of coin
form, with designs in relief on either side within a raised rim and
a circular depression. Two examples of these contorniates (in
electrotype) are exhibited below the stone board (No. =633=). The
pieces are of late Imperial date, of about the time of Constantine.
Many have subjects closely connected with the circus, a fact which
harmonizes well with the inscription on the board described. One of
the two exhibited has a head of Alexander and a representation of a
chariot race, the other a head of Nero and a water organ (see below,
p. 216).
(=630=) Cf. _Röm. Mitt._, 1896, p. 238 ff.; _Rev. Arch._, 4th
Series V. (1905), p. 110 ff.; (=631=) _Röm. Mitt._, 1896, p.
227 ff.; (=632=) Cf. _Num. Chron._ (4th Series), VI., p. 232
ff.; _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1887, p. 118.
On ancient toys and games generally, see Becq de Fouquières,
_Les jeux des anciens_; Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Ludus_.
[Footnote 81: Herodot., i. 94.]
[Footnote 82: _Anth. Pal._ vi. 308: [Greek:
Nikêsas tous paidas, epei kala grammat' egrapsen,
Konnaros ogdôkont' astragalous elaben.]
]
[Footnote 83: Pollux, ix. 126 (reading [Greek: ephistatai] and
omitting [Greek: ê]).]
[Footnote 84: Cf. _Anth. Pal._ xiv. 8: [Greek:
hex, hen, pente, dyo, tria, tessara kybos elaunei.]
]
[Footnote 85: Aesch., _Agam._ 32: [Greek:
ta despotôn gar eu pesonta thêsomai,
tris hex balousês têsde moi phryktôrias.]
]
[Footnote 86: Mart., xiv. 14:
Cum steterit nullus vultu tibi talus eodem,
Munera me dices magna dedisse tibi.
]
[Footnote 87: Prop., iv. 8, 45 f.:
Me quoque per talos Venerem quaerente secundos,
Semper damnosi subsiluere canes.
]
[Footnote 88: _Latro_ originally meant "a mercenary soldier."]
XXIV.--MARRIAGE.
(Wall-Case 53.)
=Greek Marriage.=--Though neither Greek nor Roman marriage was
definitely associated with the religion of the state, it was, however,
among both peoples closely associated with religious rites of a
domestic character. Plato in his _Laws_ makes it the distinguishing
mark of the legally wedded wife that "she had come into the house with
gods and sacred marriage rites." These rites are sometimes represented
upon Greek vases, as may be seen from the objects and illustrations
placed in this Case. The ceremonies may be conveniently divided into
those concerning (_a_) the preparation of the bride; (_b_) the removal
of the bride from the house of her father to that of her husband;
(_c_) the reception at that house; and (_d_) the presents given on the
day following the marriage ([Greek: epaulia]).
[Illustration: FIG. 246.--DECKING OF A GREEK BRIDE (NO. 635).]
(_a_) On the day before her wedding the bride not infrequently made an
offering of the playthings of her childhood to some deity, presenting
her toys to Artemis in particular. On the day before marriage, too,
water for the bridal bath was brought in procession in the special
form of tall vase called a [Greek: loutrophoros]; a small model is
seen in Case 59 (No. =634=). The vase is also seen standing on the
chest in the room of the bride here depicted (No. =635=; fig. 246).
The scene is taken from the design on a toilet box of the fifth
century B.C. (E 774), which shows the bride being adorned for her
marriage. Besides the tall amphora already mentioned, two vases called
"marriage bowls" ([Greek: lebêtes gamikoi]) are seen standing on tall
stems before the door, on the further side of which one of the bride's
friends is turning the magic wheel intended to inspire the bridegroom
with a greater longing of love. So Theocritus sings:
"Draw to my home, O mystic wheel,
the man that I long for."[89]
(_b_) The arrival of the husband, who comes to fetch the bride to his
home, may probably be recognised in the design on the fifth-century
vase No. =636=. It is, however, a special and sacred occasion which
is here represented. The bride, who is seated and holds a sceptre, is
probably the Basilinna, wife of the Basileus, the magistrate at Athens
who was charged with the supervision of the state-religion. She turns
back to look at the bridegroom, who is none other than the wine-god
Dionysos, holding his thyrsos or staff crowned with the pine-cone. Two
love-gods fly towards the pair with wedding gifts, while on the right
approaches a Victory holding lighted torches, which served to light
the night-procession to the bridegroom's house. The subject is
explained by a ceremony which took place at the Attic wine-festival
of the Anthesteria, celebrated annually in February and March. On the
second day of the festival there was a mystic marriage between the
wine-god Dionysos and the wife of the Basileus,[90] and it can hardly
be doubted that the present design refers to this.
[Illustration: FIG. 247.--THE WEDDED PAIR DRIVING TO THE BRIDEGROOM'S
HOME (NO. 637).]