MURRHĬNA VĀSA, or MURRĔA VĀSA, were first introduced into Rome by
Pompey, who dedicated cups of this kind to Jupiter Capitolinus. Their
value was very great. Nero gave 300 talents for a capis or drinking
cup. These murrhine vessels came from the East, principally from
places within the Parthian empire, and chiefly from Caramania. They
were made of a substance formed by a moisture thickened in the earth
by heat, and were chiefly valued on account of the variety of their
colours. Modern writers differ much respecting the material of which
they were composed, and some think they may have been true Chinese
porcelain.
MŪRUS, MOENĬA (τεῖχος), the wall of a city, in contradistinction to
PARIES (τοῖχος), the wall of a house, and _Maceria_, a boundary wall.
We find cities surrounded by massive walls at the earliest periods
of Greek and Roman history. Homer speaks of the chief cities of the
Argive kingdom as “the walled Tiryns,” and “Mycenae the well-built
city,” attesting the great antiquity of those identical gigantic
walls which still stand at Tiryns and Mycenae, and which have been
frequently attributed to the Cyclopes and Pelasgians. Three principal
species can be clearly distinguished:--1. That in which the masses of
stone are of irregular shape and are put together without any attempt
to fit them into one another, the interstices being loosely filled in
with smaller stones. An example is given in the annexed engraving.
[Illustration: Ancient Wall at Tiryns.]
2. In other cases we find the blocks still of irregular polygonal
shapes, but their sides are sufficiently smoothed to make each fit
accurately into the angles between the others, and their faces are
cut so as to give the whole wall a tolerably smooth surface. An
example is given in the annexed engraving.
[Illustration: Ancient Wall of Larissa, the Acropolis of Argos.]
3. In the third species, the blocks are laid in horizontal courses,
more or less regular (sometimes indeed so irregular, that none of
the horizontal joints are continuous), and with vertical joints
either perpendicular or oblique, and with all the joints more or less
accurately fitted. The walls of Mycenae present one of the ruder
examples of this sort of structure; and the following engraving
of the “Lion Gate” of that fortress (so called from the rudely
sculptured figures of lions) shows also the manner in which the gates
of these three species of walls were built, by supporting an immense
block of stone, for the lintel, upon two others, for jambs, the
latter inclining inwards, so as to give more space than if they were
upright.--
[Illustration: Ancient Wall at Mycenae.]
The materials employed in walls about the time of Pericles were
various sorts of stone, and, in some of the most magnificent temples,
marble. The practice of putting a facing of marble over a wall of a
commoner material was introduced in the next period of architectural
history. For buildings of a common sort, the materials employed were
smaller stones, rough or squared, or flints, as well as bricks. These
were bound together with various kinds of mortar or cement, composed
of lime mixed with different sands and volcanic earths. The history
of Roman masonry is not very different from that of the Greek.--The
most ancient works at Rome, such as the _Carcer Mamertinus_, the
_Cloaca Maxima_, and the Servian Walls, were constructed of massive
quadrangular hewn stones, placed together without cement. [CLOACA.]
Five species of Roman masonry may be distinguished; namely, 1. when
the blocks of stone are laid in alternate courses, lengthwise in one
course, and crosswise in the next; this is the most common; 2. when
the stones in each course are laid alternately along and across; this
construction was usual when the walls were to be faced with slabs
of marble; 3. when they are laid entirely lengthwise; 4. entirely
crosswise; and 5. when the courses are alternately higher and lower
than each other. As by the Greeks, so by the Romans, walls of a
commoner sort were built of smaller quarried stones (_caementa_) or
of bricks. The excellence of the cement which the Romans used enabled
them to construct walls of very small rough stones, not laid in
courses, but held together by the mortar; this structure was called
_opus incertum_. Another structure of which the Romans made great
use, and which was one of the most durable of all, was that composed
of courses of flat tiles. Such courses were also introduced in the
other kinds of stone and brick walls, in which they both served as
bond-courses, and, in the lower part of the wall, kept the damp
from rising from the ground. Brick walls covered with stucco were
exceedingly common with the Romans: even columns were made of brick
covered with stucco.
MUSCŬLUS was a kind of vinea, one of the smaller military machines,
by which the besiegers of a town were protected.
MŪSĒUM (μουσεῖον), the name of an institution founded by Ptolemy
Philadelphus, about B.C. 280, for the promotion of learning and the
support of learned men. The museum formed part of the palace, and
contained cloisters or porticoes (περίπατος), a public theatre or
lecture-room (ἐξέδρα), and a large hall (οἶκος μέγας), where the
learned men dined together. The museum was supported by a common
fund, supplied apparently from the public treasury; and the whole
institution was under the superintendence of a priest, who was
appointed by the king, and after Egypt became a province of the Roman
empire, by the Caesar. Botanical and zoological gardens appear to
have been attached to the museum.
MȲRĬI (μυρίοι), the name given to the popular assembly of the
Arcadians, which was established after the overthrow of the Spartan
supremacy by the battle of Leuctra, and which used to meet at
Megalopolis in order to determine upon matters affecting the whole
people.
MYSĬA (μύσια), a festival celebrated by the inhabitants of Pellene in
Achaia in honour of Demeter Mysia, which lasted for 7 days.
MYSTĒRĬA. The names by which mysteries or mystic festivals were
designated in Greece, are μυστήρια, τελεταί, and ὄργια. The name
ὄργια (from ἔοργα) originally signified only sacrifices accompanied
by certain ceremonies, but it was afterwards applied especially
to the ceremonies observed in the worship of Dionysus, and at a
still later period to mysteries in general. Τελετή signifies, in
general, a religious festival, but more particularly a lustration or
ceremony performed in order to avert some calamity, either public
or private. Μυστήριον signifies, properly speaking, the secret part
of the worship, but was also used in the same sense as τελετή, and
for mystic worship in general. Mysteries in general may be defined
as sacrifices and ceremonies which took place at night or in secret
within some sanctuary, which the uninitiated were not allowed
to enter. What was essential to them, were objects of worship,
sacred utensils, and traditions with their interpretation, which
were withheld from all persons not initiated. The most celebrated
mysteries in Greece were those of Samothrace and Eleusis, which are
described in separate articles. [CABEIRIA; ELEUSINIA.]