Part 14

More elaborate than any of these are the examples of surgical appliances which have been found in the excavations at Pompeii, and are now at Naples. These are represented here by a group of electrotype reproductions, including anal and vaginal specula, and other objects (No. =564=).

The bronze cupping-vessel (No. =565=) should be noticed. Similar vessels are seen suspended on the walls of the surgery depicted in the vase-scene figured above (fig. 223). Burning lint or some other lighted substance was placed in the vessel to rarify the air, and its mouth was then applied to the part from which blood was to be extracted. One such cupping vessel appears on the marble relief in the Phigaleian Room, representing a physician named Jason treating a boy with a swollen stomach (Fig. 225). Compare a similar consultation on an engraved gem, under the immediate superintendence of Asklepios. The bronze box (No. =566=), probably from the Cyrenaica, was almost certainly used by a Roman physician for his drugs. It is divided into several compartments, each furnished with a separate cover, and has a sliding lid. Boxes of a precisely similar character have been found with surgical instruments. Compare also the cast from Athens of a votive relief with a fitted case of instruments (No. =567=).

A very interesting class of antiquities is furnished by the stamps of oculists (No. =569=). These take the form of square or oblong plates, generally of steatite or slate. On the edges are engraved inscriptions, giving the name of the oculist, the name of his specific, and its purpose. These salves were pounded on the stone into a paste. They generally bear a Greek name, such as Diasmyrnes, Crocodes, etc., indicating their composition. They appear to have been made up into the form of sticks impressed with the engraved edge of the stone, and put into cylindrical bronze boxes, which have from time to time been found with Roman surgical instruments. One or two examples of the stamps may be given: "Saffron ointment for scars and discharges prepared by Junius Taurus after the prescription of Paccius"[72] (fig. 226, bottom). "The anodyne of Q. Junius Taurus for every kind of defective eyesight."[73] Puff names for the drugs, such as "Invincible," "Inimitable," also occur. An engraved gem, from a drug compounder's ring has a seated Athena and the legend +HEROPHILI OPOBALSAMUM+--"Balsam of Herophilus" (No. =570=). Whether the balsam was named in honour of the founder of scientific anatomy, or of a more obscure oculist of the first century B.C., or of an unknown drug-seller cannot be determined. A set of Roman lead weights, probably used for the weighing of drugs, is here exhibited. They are marked 1 to 10, the unit probably being the _scripulum_ of 18 grains (No. =571=). Two small lead pots placed near the weights were used for holding eye-salves. One from Corfu bears the letters +A T+; the other, from Athens, has the tripod of Apollo, the god of healing, and is inscribed "The Lykian salve from Musaeos" (No. =572=). Near these pots are spoons with channels for melting and pouring the salves into wounds (No. =573=). A piece of stone with corrugated surfaces is thought to be for rolling pills (No. =574=). The ivory figure of a dwarf afflicted with a peculiar form of spinal curvature causing pigeon-breastedness is a work of considerable spirit, probably of the third century A.D. (No. =574*=).

(=563=) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 2674; _Journ. of Hellenic Stud._ 34, p. 116; (=567=) Svoronos, _Athen. Nationalmus._ xlvii, 1378; (=568=) Cf. Espérandieu, _Signacula Medicorum Oculariorum_; (=574*=) _Papers of the Brit. School at Rome_, iv, pp. 279-282.

See on ancient medicine and surgery generally, Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Chirurgia_, _Medicus_; Milne, _Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times_; Deneffe, _Étude sur la trousse d'un chirurgien gallo-romain du III^e siècle_ (found near Paris, 1880).

[Footnote 65: Cf. _Il._ iv. 218; xi. 844.]

[Footnote 66: Ar. _Plut._ 653 ff.]

[Footnote 67: See _Mon. Piot_, XIII. (1906), pl. xiii., p. 149 ff. From a vase in a private collection in Paris.]

[Footnote 68: Plat., _Leg._ i. 646: [Greek: tous eis ta iatreia autous badizontas epi pharmakoposian]. ]

[Footnote 69: _Hist. An._ i. 16.]

[Footnote 70: Plin., _H.N._ xxix. 12 f.]

[Footnote 71: Plin., _H.N._ xxix. 11: hinc illae circa aegros miserae sententiarum concertationes, hinc illa infelix monimenti inscriptio: turba se medicorum periisse. Cf. Martial, v. 9.]

[Footnote 72: _Juni Tauri crocod(es) Paccian(um) ad cicat(rices) et reum(a)._]

[Footnote 73: _Q. Jun(i) Tauri anodynum ad omn(em) lippit(udinem)._]

XX.--MEASURES AND INSTRUMENTS.

=Measures.=--In Case H are a few examples of ancient measures and geometrical instruments. A Greek clay cup (No. =575=), inscribed [Greek: hêmikotylion], contains exactly half a pint. The Greek kotyle, therefore, according to this standard, measured exactly a pint. A copy of a well-known Roman standard gallon, the so-called Farnese Congius, is in Case 44 (No. =576=). Nos. =577= and =578= are two Roman bronze foot-rules, measuring respectively 294 mm. (11·6 in.) and 292 mm. (11·5 in.). The normal Roman foot measured 296 mm., and was adopted under Greek influence, whereas the early Italic foot had only measured 278 mm. (slightly under 11 in.). Fig. 227 (No. =578=) shows the subdivisions of these foot rules. One side is marked by dots into sixteenths (_digiti_); another into twelfths (_unciae_); another into fourths (_palmi_). The foot-rule illustrated has the remains of a catch (indicated in the fig.) for keeping it rigid, when opened. There are several pairs of ordinary compasses and dividers, and also two pairs of proportional (2:1) compasses (No. =579=). One of these is figured here (fig. 228). Notice the method of tightening by means of a wedge, with the object of keeping the compasses fixed in any particular position.

=Measures.=--(=575=) _Cat. of Vases_, IV, F 595; (=577=) Cf. Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Pes_; _Hermes_, XXII., p. 17 ff. and p. 79 ff.; _Ath. Mitt._, IX. (1884), p. 198 ff.

=Bronze Stamps.=--The large bronze stamps shown in Case H are somewhat akin to seals in their intention. But while the engraved ring was usually employed for purely personal purposes, such as the sealing of a letter or document, and the device of the seal was more or less ornamental, the bronze tablets were used for commercial or domestic purposes and seldom bear anything but the name of the person using them.

These tablets are of various forms, but the majority are rectangular, and bear the owner's name, like the one in this Case from Arles (No. =580=), with the name of Q. Julius Renatus; others have merely initials. Some are made in the form of a shoe or the sole of a foot, and this is a shape frequently employed by the potters of the Roman period in Italy for stamping their names on vases. Other forms to be here observed are a leaf (No. =581=), a ship (No. =582=), and a fish (No. =583=). The letters in most cases are in relief, producing an impression in _intaglio_ on a soft substance such as unbaked clay. They were probably used for the most part for stamping the plaster stoppers of wine jars, loaves of bread and such like objects.

An example of a rare form is the rolling stamp with the name of Alexander (No. =584=; fig. 229).

The remainder of the guide is devoted to the personal life of the individual from the cradle to the grave. Successive sections are devoted to Infancy and its Amusements; to Education and School Life--to which sections on Writing and Painting are annexed; to games, marriages, music, dancing, pet animals; and, finally, to objects bearing on death and burial.

XXI.--INFANCY. TOYS.

At the end of Case J are four terracotta models of cradles (No. =585=) with young children in them. One is a winged Eros, and one is swaddled. Beside the cradles are three cups (No. =586=), with spouts shaped as mouth-pieces, which may be supposed to be for milk or pap. Here also are two clay rattles (No. =587=), and a child's wooden clapper (No. =588=).

A set of small trefoil-lipped jugs (No. =589=) is painted with designs closely connected with child life. Children are shown playing with jugs of this type, with animals and toy carts, or other objects. It is probable that these jugs were given to Athenian children on the festival day of the wine god Dionysos, which went by the name of [Greek: Choes] ("Jugs"). Note No. =590= (fig. 230), with a child confined in a turret-shaped high chair, and No. =591= (fig. 231), with two children with draw-carts, each holding a jug.

=Toys.=--Children of all ages and nations bear a great resemblance to one another; consequently, it is not surprising, though it is always interesting, to find that Greek and Roman toys are often very similar to those of modern times. At the corner of Case J is a series of small reproductions of furniture, implements and the like in lead, bronze, pottery and terracotta (No. =592=). Often no doubt, they are simply toys, like the furniture of a doll's house. Sometimes, however, they must be supposed to have had a more serious votive character in a temple. In some cases, perhaps, they were of both kinds. Among the treasures of Hera at Olympia, the traveller Pausanias saw a small couch said to have been a plaything of Hippodameia,[74] and it was not uncommon for children on growing up to dedicate their toys in a temple.

The dolls that survive from Greek times were chiefly of terracotta, 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.)

=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=).

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).

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.

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._

=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.)