Part 12

[Footnote 51: Cf. Plin., _H.N._ xxxiii. 26: nunc cibi quoque ac potus anulo vindicantur a rapina.]

XIII-XVIII.--TRADE AND THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

(Wall-Cases 41-53, Table Case H.)

XIII.--TRADE.

The part of the collection now to be described deals generally with commerce and the industrial arts. We have already seen the bird-catcher (p. 115), the baker (p. 117), and the shoemaker at work (p. 130).

In the corners of Cases 41 and 48 are casts of reliefs from the gravestone of L. Cornelius Atimetus, a Roman cutler of the first century A.D. One relief (No. =457=; fig. 192) shows the cutler's workshop, with two men working at some object placed on an anvil in front of a furnace. One man holds the object with the tongs, the other hammers it into shape. Above them hang a knife, sickle, tongs, etc. Behind on the left is the bellows. The other relief (No. =458=; fig. 193) represents the cutler's shop, with numerous knives and sickles hanging in an open cupboard. The cutler on the right, who wears the tunic only, is showing a knife to a customer on the left, who wears the toga, as a mark of dignity.

In Case 41 is a cast of a relief of a pork-butcher's shop, in the Dresden Museum (No. =459=). On the left, the butcher's wife, seated in a high chair, is busy with a set of tablets, for the accounts. The butcher is jointing a side of bacon on a massive block. Portions of bacon hang on hooks. Behind the butcher is a spare chopper and a steelyard, at present hung out of the way. The details of the steelyard such as the weight, the alternative hook for suspension, and the scalepan are shown (see below p. 161).

XIV.--WEIGHTS AND SCALES.

(Wall-Cases 41-44.)

=Greek Weights.=--In Case B of the First Vase Room will be seen the plaster model of a large stone object of triangular form, pierced towards the apex with a hole.[52] It has the design of an octopus on either side, and may with some probability be regarded as a standard hanging weight (64 pounds). This object was found by Sir A. Evans at Knossos in Crete, in the "Palace of Minos," and may be dated roughly at 2000 B.C. A set of very early weights of the Mycenaean period from Cyprus is in Case 41, consisting of haematite objects in the form of sling bolts (No. =460=), passing in a series of gradations from large to small. No definite system can, however, be deduced from these weights.

The Greek weights of the historic period here shown are mainly of two leading standards, known as the Aeginetan and the Solonian or Attic. The standard weight of the Aeginetan system was the heavy mina of 9,722 grains (about 1-2/5 lb. avoirdupois). The Solonian (Euboic) mina weighed normally 6,737 grains (nearly 1 lb. avoirdupois), but there was a special heavy mina in use which weighed exactly double the normal. This last was the original mina introduced by Solon, which gradually gave way to the light mina of half its weight. Weights of the Aeginetan and Solonian systems are here exhibited. Through incompleteness or inaccuracy they often show considerable variation from the norm. The mina was subdivided into 100 drachmae, and the drachma into 6 obols. Certain stamped devices distinguish these Attic weights, viz., the astragalos or knuckle-bone, the amphora, the tortoise, the dolphin, and the crescent. Fig. 194 shows three weights of the later Solonian standard: (_a_) a mina in lead stamped with a dolphin and inscribed [Greek: MNA] (7,010 grs.) (No. =461=); (_b_) a half mina in lead (3,399 grs.) with the device of a tortoise and the inscription [Greek: DÊMO] (= [Greek: dêmou]), "of the people," (No. =462=); and (_c_) a bronze weight of 4 drachmae (283 grs.) stamped with an amphora and the word [Greek: TESSARES] (No. =463=). Sometimes a half tortoise occurs, as in No. =464=, a quarter mina, or a half amphora, as on No. =465=, a one-third mina. Various other standards are represented in this Case, _e.g._ that of Kyzikos in Asia Minor, but these need not be particularly described. A noteworthy weight is the bronze one (No. =466=), in the form of a series of rising steps, inscribed on the top [Greek: DIOS]. This probably is a temple-weight, very likely used to weigh votive objects. Weights of a similar type have been found at Olympia. The peculiar series of stone weights (No. =467=) decorated with female breasts was found in the precincts of the temple of Demeter at Knidos, and may be regarded as temple-weights, probably made as a votive offering. They do not seem to correspond to any known standard.

Some weights are marked as standards. A lead weight of 10,863 grains, with a design of two cornucopias (No. =468=) is inscribed [Greek: Etous dls' dêmosia mna], _i.e._, "In the year 234 a public (or standard) mina." The date is probably by the Seleucid era, and equivalent to 78 B.C. Another example is the large square weight from Herakleia in Bithynia, with a head of Herakles in relief (No. =469=; fig. 195). It is inscribed "To the divine Augusti and the people" ([Greek: theois Sebastois kai tô damô]) on the rim in front, and on the sides with the names of the aediles P. Clodius Rufus and Tertius Vacilius (weight 41,494 grs., nearly 6 lb. avoirdupois).

We have instances of weights of artistic form in these Cases. The hanging weights from steelyards in particular (No. =470=; fig. 195) are often in the form of a head or bust.

=Roman Weights.=--The standard was here the _libra_ or pound, which weighed 5,050 grains (being ·721 of the pound avoirdupois, which is equal to 7,000 grains), and was subdivided into 12 _unciae_ or ounces, the ounce again being divided into 24 _scripula_ or scruples. The Roman weights are here grouped according to multiples or divisions of the pound, and generally have their values marked upon them in dotted characters. Thus the pound is marked +I+, the half pound +S+(_emis_), and so on. The series, beginning at the bottom of Case 51, runs 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-1/2, and 1 pounds. Fractions of the pound are 1/2lb. (semis) = 6 oz; 1/3lb. (triens) = 4 oz.; 1/4lb. (quadrans) = 3 oz.; 1/6lb. (sextans) = 2 oz.; and one ounce. Fractions of the ounce are 1/2oz. = 12 scruples; 1/3oz. = 8 scruples; 1/4oz. = 6 scruples; 1/8oz. = 3 scruples; 1/12oz. = 2 scruples; and one scruple. Some of the numerous dark stone weights have inscriptions, showing that they had been certified by proper authority. Thus one _libra_ (No. =472=) is inscribed: "On the authority of Q. Junius Rusticus, city-prefect" [167 A.D.]. In Sicily and Magna Graecia a weight called a _litra_ was used instead of the Roman pound, weighing rather less than the _libra_. A set of _litra_ weights in bronze, of late Imperial date, is shown in Case 41 (No. =473=). An ounce weight (marked [Illustration] in silver, and weighing 389 grains), belonging to this series, is seen in fig. 194 above.

=Weighing Instruments.=--Of these there are two chief varieties, the simple balance (_libra_), and the steelyard (_statera_). In the former weight is set against, weight, at equal distances from the point of suspension. In the latter the object to be weighed, suspended from the short arm of the lever, is set against a small weight in an appropriate position on the long arm. The Greeks seem to have used the former only; the Romans used both. The use of the balance is illustrated by the Greek vase with the design of Hermes weighing the souls of Achilles and Memnon, and by the Roman lamp showing a stork weighing an elephant and a mouse (No. =474=). The steelyard was widely used in the Roman world. Owing to its portability, it was doubtless much employed by hawkers and street-sellers, as at the present day. We have also seen it above (p. 158) in the pork-butcher's shop (No. =459=). Out of the several steelyards exhibited here, one example, from Catania in Sicily (No. =475=; fig. 196), may be described in detail. It consists of a bronze rod of square section, divided into two unequal portions. The shorter portion has (_a_) two hooks suspended from chains attached to the end of the rod by a movable collar working in a groove (the object to be weighed was of course attached to these hooks); (_b_) three hooks, placed at intervals of about 3/4, 1-1/2, and 3 in. respectively from the collar, and suspended from small movable rings. These hooks are in different planes, corresponding to three of the four edges in the longer portion of the bar. The bar is graduated on three of its four faces, viz., on the first with nine divisions, each subdivided into twelfths. This scale was used when the steelyard was suspended by the hook nearest the graduated bar (as in the fig.). Objects weighing up to nine Roman pounds could thus be weighed by moving a sliding weight along the bar. The figure V will be seen at the fifth pound, the half pounds are marked by three dots, and the twelfths correspond to the _unciae_. The second face begins with VI and goes up to twenty-three pounds. It was used when the steelyard was suspended by the middle hook. The third face starts with XXII pounds, and goes up to fifty-nine pounds. In the second and third scales, multiples of five and ten pounds are marked by the figures V and X. Fifty pounds is indicated by the letter [Greek: N] +N+, which has that numerical value in the Greek notation. This third scale was used in conjunction with the hook nearest the collar. The sliding weight (now lost) must have weighed about 17,000 grs. (2-3/7 lb. avoirdupois). All the other steelyards here shown work on this principle, though many have only two graduated scales and two suspending hooks.

Fig. 197 shows a highly ornate example of a steelyard (No. =476=), lately acquired from the neighbourhood of Smyrna. The weight is in the form of a bust of Silenus. The larger hooks are designed as heads of serpents, and the smaller hooks as heads of eagles.

The steelyard principle was also applied by the Romans to balances, 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.

(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=).

=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.

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=).

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.

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.

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.