Part 3

With the change to the Empire, reform in all directions was begun, and the coinage was set on a new basis. Gold was introduced to meet the needs of the metropolis of the world, and two new coins, the _Aureus_ and its half, were struck in this metal. They were modelled on the silver pieces. The standard silver coin was still the _denarius_, and the only change which it experienced was in type. The head of the emperor took the place of those of deities, with a superscription, which was the forerunner of modern coin-legends. It consisted of the name and titles of the emperor, often with the date of striking, arranged in a circle round the edge of the coin. The minting of gold and silver was assumed by the emperor, but the lower denominations were left to the senate, whose authority is expressed on each piece by the letters +S·C+ (_Senatus Consulto_, "by decree of the Senate"). The senatorial series consisted of the _Sestertius_, the equivalent of the smallest silver coin, now valued at 4 _asses_ instead of the original 2-1/2; the _Dupondius_, of 2 _asses_; the _As_, and fractions of the _as_, _Semis_ and _Quadrans_, which are of less frequent occurrence. These coins sometimes differed as to the metal used, the _as_ and _semis_ being of copper, and the _dupondius_ and _sestertius_ of brass; or in the style of the emperor's head; or, as in the case of the coins exhibited, the _as_ is marked +I+ and the _dupondius_ +II+ (fig. 15_h_ and _i_). Usually, however, the two pieces are confused, and are loosely termed by collectors "second brass," the sesterce being "first brass," and all denominations lower than the _as_ "third brass." The reverse types were very numerous, and, with the exception of the mark +S·C+ on the senatorial issues, none of them was peculiar to any denomination. The series which is selected here to illustrate the Imperial coinage is of the reign of Nero (54-68 A.D.); all the pieces, therefore, bear the image and superscription of that Caesar, and their reverses have complimentary references to the emperor and his family, or topical allusions to current events (No. =41=; fig. 15_e-l_).

Nero was the first emperor to reduce the weight of the _denarius_, and from his time the degeneration was rapid. A series of seven pieces, from Tiberius to Probus (14-281 A.D.), illustrates the debasement of the metal, which is apparent to the eye (No. =42=). By the time of Gordianus Pius (238-244 A.D.) no trace of silver is visible, and the coin of Probus here exhibited is plainly copper. Yet these pieces represent the only silver money which was then coined.

Many of the coins which have come down to us have been preserved by the care or avarice of their former owners, who hid their wealth for security and were unable to recover it. Portions of two such hoards are shown at the end of the case. One consists of Athenian staters of the late fifth century B.C. (No. =43=), which were found in the Greek settlement of Naukratis, and the other is a large collection of late Roman coins of the fifth century A.D. (No. =44=). These were buried in another Egyptian town, Hawara, in the egg-shaped jug which is shown with them. At Pompeii, a city which was overwhelmed by the volcano in the midst of its daily life, money, like all other things, has been found ready to hand and actually in use. There is in this Case all that the fire has left of a Pompeian money-box, and among the coins which it contains is a brass sesterce of Nero, whose reign ended eleven years before the catastrophe. Shreds of a net purse are also visible in the box (No. =45=).

=Special uses of Coins.=--A silver stater of Sikyon (No. =46=), is marked by an inscription punctured by the dedicator--_To Artemis in Lakedaemon_. A religious character attaches also to the bronze coin of Laodikeia in Phrygia, which is pierced and suspended from a wire loop for wearing as a charm against sickness, by virtue of the figures which it bears of Asklepios and Hygieia, the deities of health (No. =47=).

A curious coin, struck for a special religious purpose, is the copper piece of Nemausus (Nîmes, in the South of France), which is made in the shape of a ham for dedication to the deity of the local fountain (No. =48=). The offering was probably originally paid in kind.

=Ancient false Coins.=--With the exception of the Italian heavy copper, which was cast, nearly all ancient coins were struck in dies, and most of the false pieces which have survived are defective in the quality of the metal, while the fabric is good. In the later Roman Empire, when all the standard money was of base metal, the surface was so bad that the coins could easily be counterfeited by casting, and great numbers of the clay moulds used by forgers or by the monetary authorities date from this period. Among the large collection here exhibited (No. =49=) there are some unbroken moulds, and some with the run metal still adhering. Base metal was detected by the use of the touch-stone, and pieces of doubtful weight were tested by the balance. An ivory folding balance is shown (No. =49*=). The long arm is made just too light to counterpoise a good denarius--the test being that if the coin were heavy enough it would fall off the plate at the end.

For Greek and Roman coins in general, see Hill, _Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins_ (with the Bibliography there given); G. Macdonald, _Coin Types_ (Glasgow, 1905); Head, _Historia Numorum_ (2nd ed. 1911.)

[Footnote 8: i. 94.]

[Footnote 9: Michel, _Recueil des inscr. grecques_, No. 8.]

[Footnote 10: Livy, iv. 60.]

[Footnote 11: Macr. _Sat._ i. 7, 22. pueri denarios in sublime iactantes capita aut navia exclamant.]

III.--DRAMA.

(Table-Case K and Glass Shade above.)

The antiquities illustrating the ancient drama are placed in one half of Table-Case K, and under the glass shade standing above it.

=Greek Drama.=--This was in its origin essentially religious, and retained up to the decline of tragedy at the end of the fifth century B.C. the character of a religious ceremony. Thus tragedy gradually developed out of the rude dances in honour of the wine-god Dionysos, which were performed at country vintage festivals. The name tragedy means "goat-song," and is probably to be associated with the sacrifice of the goat, the enemy of the vines.

The dramatic part of a tragedy was at first confined to a dialogue between a single actor and the leader of the chorus, with long musical interludes, but the number of actors was gradually increased, with the result that more stress was laid on the dramatic action. Aeschylos introduced a second actor, Sophokles a third, and Euripides, the last of the great tragedians, reduced the lyrical element of the play to comparatively insignificant proportions.

Comedy underwent a development not unlike that of tragedy. It also had its origin in the coarse buffoonery common at the rustic festivals which celebrated the vintage. Introduced into Athens from the neighbouring Megara early in the sixth century B.C., it did not receive recognition from the state until the middle of the fifth century. The comedy of the closing years of that century is inseparably connected with the name of Aristophanes, who combined merciless political satire with exquisite poetry.

In the fourth century B.C. a great change came over comedy at Athens. The later plays of Aristophanes mark the beginning of the comedy of manners, which took the place of the old political comedy. The master of this new comedy was Menander. Through Roman translations and adaptations of Menander and his fellow poets by Plautus and Terence, comes the comedy of Molière and modern Europe.

The theatre, in which these ancient plays were performed, was of slow development. The grassy slopes of a hill, bordering on a circular dancing-place (_orchestra_), satisfied the earliest audiences. Later on, a definite place was set apart for theatrical performances, and a wooden structure erected for the actors. It was not until the fourth century that permanent stone seats were laid down in the Theatre of Dionysos at Athens, although performances had been given there for more than a century.

=Roman Drama.=--The drama at first met with a determined opposition from Romans of the old school as a new-fangled thing from Greece. The taste of the people, also, was not inclined to favour so cultured an amusement as the drama. The Romans preferred to see a fight between men or beasts rather than to listen to a play, and on one occasion, when listening to a play of Terence, they rushed pell-mell from the theatre, because a rumour arose that a combat of gladiators was going to take place.[12]

The more important Roman comedies were adapted from the New Comedy of the Greeks. These adaptations are familiar to us from the surviving plays of Plautus (254-184 B.C.) and Terence (ca. 185-159 B.C.). Actors at Rome had long to be content with temporary wooden structures, which were pulled down when the performances were over. A permanent theatre was not erected in Rome till 55 B.C.

The objects illustrating the ancient drama can conveniently be divided into (_a_) representations of scenes from plays, and (_b_) figures of actors and masks.

(_a_) =Scenes from Plays.=--The vase (No. =50=) placed under the glass shade is valuable as an illustration of the beginnings of Athenian drama. It is a plate of Athenian fabric of the sixth century B.C., with designs which probably represent the sacrifice made to Athena at the Panathenaic games, and two scenes relating to dramatic contests. The first of these scenes shows a tragic chorus with the goat, which was the prize of victory. The second shows a comic chorus, in which a man seated at the back of a mule-car appears to be making jests at the expense of another man who follows. This "jesting from a car" became a regular phrase to express ribald joking.[13] None of the men who took part in these contests is distinguished by any peculiarity of costume. Another early vase, however (No. =51=), gives a lively picture of two actors dressed up as birds. Before them stands a flute-player. Though this vase is many years earlier in date than the _Birds_ of Aristophanes (414 B.C.), yet it may serve to give us some idea of the appearance of the chorus in that play.

The two large vases illustrate Greek dramatic performances of a considerably later date. They give us scenes from _phlyakes_, a class of burlesques which were in vogue in the Greek cities of Southern Italy, especially at Tarentum, at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the third century B.C. They are associated with the name of Rhinthon, a Syracusan poet. These plays dealt in the wildest spirit of farce with subjects drawn from Greek mythology and legend, as well as with scenes from daily life. One of the vases (No. =52=; fig. 16) shows a contest upon the stage, between actors representing Ares ([Greek: Eneualios]) and Hephaestos ([Greek: Daidalos]) fighting in the presence of Hera. The grotesque mask, the padded figures, and the general air of exaggeration are indicative of the character of these plays, which earned for them the title of mock-tragedies ([Greek: hilarotragôdiai]). The other vase (No. =53=) is a parody of the myth of Cheiron cured by Apollo. The blind Centaur, whose equine body is represented pantomime-fashion by a second actor pushing behind, ascends the steps leading up to the stage, where stands the slave Xanthias. Behind is the Centaur's pupil Achilles, and looking on from a cave are two grotesquely ugly nymphs.

Case K contains two interesting representations of Roman comedy and tragedy respectively. The oblong lamp (No. =54=; fig. 17) gives a scene from a comedy, not improbably the mock-marriage scene from the fourth act of the _Casina_ of Plautus. The steps leading up to the door of the house divide the actors into two groups. On the left is the bridegroom (Olympio?) with his mule, in preparation for his departure into the country. On the right comes the marriage procession approaching a woman (Pardalisca?) who stands by the steps. First walks a Silenus, carrying a Cupid on his shoulders; next comes the bride, carried aloft by a man, in order that she may be lifted over the threshold in conformity with the usual Roman marriage rite (see below, p. 212). Behind is an altar in the courtyard of the house. A Cupid waits at the door to receive the bride.

The Gallo-Roman medallion (No. =55=; fig. 18) is from a vase. It gives a picture of a Roman tragedy. On a high stage sits Jupiter enthroned, with Victory and Minerva on his right and left hand respectively. Before the stage stand Hercules and Mars, disputing. Hercules has slain Cycnus, the son of Mars, and the irate father stands exclaiming: "Be assured that I am come as the avenger of my son." To which Hercules replies: "Unconquered valour can ne'er be terrified."[14] The characters speak in iambic verse.

(_b_) =Figures of actors and masks.=--In tragedy the actors probably wore a dress differing from that of the spectators only in a certain richness of material and colour, and in an adherence to the fashion of an earlier period. Two features, however, distinguished them in appearance from ordinary men, the buskin ([Greek: kothornos]) or high-soled boot, and the tragic mask. The use of the former (which increased in height as time went on) was due to a desire to enhance the wearer's dignity by raising him somewhat above the common height of men. The wearing of the mask was brought about chiefly by tradition, partly by the great size of ancient theatres, which rendered some easily recognized type of face a practical necessity. The tragic mask (fig. 22 below, right) was usually surmounted by a high projection over the forehead, called the _onkos_, on which the hair was raised to a height varying with the social position of the character. The mask illustrated (No. =56=) is of ivory and finely worked. It is a mask such as would have been worn by some king in tragedy, an Agamemnon or a Kreon. The general appearance of a tragic actor is finely brought before us by an ivory statuette (not in the Museum) which was found near Rieti, a place about 35 miles N.E. of Rome (fig. 19). The elaborately embroidered robe is coloured blue, and the _onkos_, mask, and buskins are clearly seen. (_Mon. dell' Inst._ xi. pl. 13.)

The figures of actors and the comic masks exhibited under the glass shade and in Table-Case K bring before us the different characters prominent in Athenian comedy of the fourth and third centuries B.C., and in the Roman comedy derived from it. It was a comedy of everyday life, in which the same well-known types were constantly reappearing. Such were the parasite (No. =57=), who bears all the marks of a fondness for good living, and carries a flask and a ham; the glutton (Nos. =58= and =59=), distinguished by his large padded stomach; the money-lender (No. =60=), with his acute and cunning expression, grasping his purse tightly by his side with both hands, and partially concealing it beneath his cloak (fig. 20). The adventures of the slave and his punishments were a favourite theme with poets of the new comedy. No. =61= (fig. 21) may represent the trusted elderly slave aghast at the misdoings of his young master. A still greater favourite is the runaway slave who seeks refuge from his irate master in the protection of the altar. The bronze statuette (No. =62=), and the terracotta (No. =63=) show him seated on the altar, and in No. =64= his hands are tied behind him. A typical comic mask (No. =65=) is illustrated above (fig. 22, left), characterised by its exaggerated features, especially the wide open mouth, the snub nose and thick bushy eyebrows. The satyric play, which of the three kinds of Greek drama kept nearest in spirit to the early Dionysiac village revel, is illustrated by the satyric masks (No. =66=; fig. 22, centre), with their high upstanding hair and semi-bestial features, as well as by the masks of the bald-headed Seilenos, the constant companion of Dionysos in his revels.

Most of the examples of masks shown in the case are merely representations. A few such as No. =67= with pierced eye and mouth-holes, and of life size, may have been intended for use. Two heads of actors from marble reliefs (Nos. =68=, =69=) show to what extent the face of the actor could be seen, within the apertures of the mask.

(50) _Cat. of Vases_, II., B 80; _Journ. Hell. Stud._, I., pl. 7; (51) _Cat. of Vases_, II., B 509; _Journ. Hell. Stud._, II., pl. 14; (52) _Cat. of Vases_, IV., F 269; cf. Heydemann in _Jahrb. d. arch. Inst._, I. (1886), p. 260 ff.; (53) _Cat. of Vases_, IV., F 151; (54) _Cat. of Lamps_, 446; Cf. Froehner, _Hoffman Sale Cat._, 1886, p. 38, No. 127; (55) _Cat. of Roman Pottery_, M 121; _Gazette Arch._, 1877, p. 66, pl. 12.

On the ancient theatre generally, see Haigh, _The Attic Theatre_, edn. 3, where references to literature will be found. For Masks, see Daremberg and Saglio, Dict., _s.v._ Persona.

[Footnote 12: _Hecyra_, _prolog._, 30 ff.]

[Footnote 13: Cf. Dem., _de Cor._, 122: [Greek: kai boas rhêta kai arrêta onomazôn, hôsper ex hamaxês].]

[Footnote 14:

Adesse ultorem nati m[e] credas mei. [Invic]ta virtus nusqua(m) terreri potest. ]

IV.--SHIPPING.

(Wall-Cases 94-97.)

As early as the eighth century before Christ the Greeks possessed powerful war-vessels propelled by numerous oarsmen. These appear on vases of that date, as for example on a large bowl of Boeotian fabric (described below in connection with chariots, p. 169), which shows such a ship with its double line of rowers and a man at the stern managing the big steering-oars. The crew of this vessel seems to have numbered some forty men.[15] A more finished representation of early Greek ships is seen on a cup (No. =70=) of the end of the sixth century B.C. (figs. 23, 24), where the contrasted builds of the war galley and the merchantman are clearly indicated. The war galley has two rows of eleven and twelve oars respectively. The merchantman has no rowers, but is entirely dependent on its sail. It has a high-built hull, suited for holding cargo. In each we see the steersman at the stern with his two steering-oars. Beside him is the ladder for embarking and disembarking. A terracotta model ship from Cyprus (No. =71=; fig. 25) of about this period shows the socket for the mast and the high poop for the steersman, with the remains of an iron oar. This vessel is doubtless intended for a merchantman. The numerous small terracotta boats (No. =72=) found with this merchant vessel at Amathus give a good idea of the fishing boats of the time (Case 94; see frontispiece). These boats are also interesting as reminding us of the legend that Kinyras, king of Cyprus, promised Menelaos to send fifty ships to help the Greeks against Troy. He sent but one, carrying forty-nine others of terracotta, manned by terracotta figures. After the taking of Troy, Agamemnon is said to have made it his first business to punish Kinyras for his trickery. It would seem that the story must have been based on knowledge of the fact that terracotta boats were a product of Amathus. It is hard to suppose that it is merely a coincidence. The small model war-galley (No. =73=) from Corinth, containing warriors armed with circular shields, is interesting from the place of its discovery, for Corinth was traditionally an early shipbuilding centre, and triremes are said to have been first built at that city.[16]

The use of triremes (ships with triple arrangement of oars) did not become common among the Greeks till the earlier part of the fifth century B.C. This was the typical Greek warship of the period of the Peloponnesian war, and the arrangement of the rowers in it has given rise to much controversy. The crew (according to one view) consisted of two hundred rowers, sixty-two on the highest tier ([Greek: thranitai]), fifty-four on the middle ([Greek: zygitai]), and fifty-four on the lowest ([Greek: thalamitai]), as well as thirty who were apparently stationed on the highest deck ([Greek: perineô]). The best ancient representation of the rowers in a trireme is that given on a relief in Athens, of which a cast is shown here (No. =74=; Case 94). The upper oars pass over the gunwale, the second and third lines (if these are oars) through port-holes. In the trireme the ram was of the greatest importance, and much attention was devoted to strengthening it. An excellent illustration of the prow of a trireme is to be seen in the terracotta vase from Vulci (No. =75=; fig. 26). Here are an upper and a lower ram, each armed with three teeth; the curved ornament above the ram has been broken away. The projections on either side of the handles of the vase, decorated with a woman's head, would serve as a protection to the oars. The eye on the side is a prominent decoration in Greek ships. It is seen on the ship painted on the vase B 508 in Case 95 (No. =76=), from which the diver is preparing to jump, and has survived even to the present day, for eyes are still found painted on the bows of Mediterranean fishing boats. The eyes are often supposed to be a defence against the evil eye, but the exact position they occupy on each side of the prow is suggested by the almost inevitable analogy between the prow of a vessel and the head of an animal. Roman ships did not differ very materially from Greek ships, but a special class of swift ships with two banks of oars was adopted from Liburnian pirates who inhabited the islands off Illyria, and these ships were called Liburnian galleys. A figure-head in bronze from a Roman ship, found in the sea off Actium, is shown in Case 96 (No. =77=). It represents Minerva, and probably belonged to some ship sunk in the great battle between Octavian and Antony in 31 B.C.

A fragment of a relief from a sarcophagus shows a Roman trireme, with a figure of a swan in relief on the prow (No. =78=).

Some lamps placed in Cases 96, 97 give interesting pictures of Roman harbours. In one (No. =79=; fig. 27), a ship is seen entering the harbour, which is indicated by a light-house on the left. Of the crew of six, one is seated high on the stern, blowing a trumpet to announce the ship's approach; before him is the steersman, and next come three men furling the sail. The man in the bows is preparing to let down the anchor. Another lamp (No. =80=; fig. 28) shows a harbour with buildings on the quay. A fisherman in a small boat holds a rod and line in his right hand, and a fish which he has just caught in his left. Before him is a man on shore just about to cast a net into the water. In the third lamp (No. =81=) Cupid is seen in a boat, hauling in his net from the water.