Part 9

Below is a small bronze stool (No. =302=), without arms or back, of a type not uncommon at Pompeii. Two tripods with expanding legs are placed in the bottom of Cases 27-28. One of these (No. =303=) has an arrangement similar to that of the candelabrum No. =307=, whereby it could be heightened at will. These tripods were used as small tables. Of a much older period is the fragment (No. =304=) from the leg of a large bronze tripod, from Palaekastro in Crete.

=Lighting.=--In Cases 25, and 28, 29 are placed several candelabra used either for the support of wicks floating in an oil-bath or for lamps, or torches. Those stands which have come down to us are chiefly of bronze, but the cheaper ones in ancient times were made of wood. Martial, in an epigram, warns the possessor of such a wooden candelabrum to take care that the whole stand does not turn into one blazing candle.[41] A primitive example of lamp and candelabrum shaft combined is shown in No. =305=, (fig. 114), from Cameiros (about seventh century B.C.). A female figure, of columnar form, supports a lamp with three nozzles. The Etruscan candelabra and many of the candelabra found at Herculaneum and Pompeii consist of a base in the form of three legs or paws, very commonly those of lions, a tall stem, and a circular support or spreading arms for the lamps at the top. The stem may be fluted, or may be knotted like a stem of a plant, or divided like a reed. In Roman times another variety is also common, composed of a massive base with three or more spreading arms, from which lamps were suspended. Such a stand (No. =306=) is seen on the upper shelf of Cases 29-30. A point which may be specially noted in regard to some of the bronze stands of the Roman period is the decoration of the shaft, which often takes the form of a climbing animal. That shown in fig. 115 (No. =306*=) has a panther, a cock, and a bearded serpent on the shaft. An ingenious expanding Roman bronze lampstand (No. =307=) from the Hamilton Collection should be noticed in the lower part of Case 29. The central rod attached to the circular lamp-support can be raised at will, and secured in place by means of a bronze pin passed through one of the pairs of holes pierced in the side rods.

The lamps themselves (in Cases 31 and 32) are of terracotta, bronze and marble. The greater number are of the Roman period. One of the earliest is a primitive lamp (No. =308=; fig. 116) of the prehistoric period known as Mycenaean, and was found in the course of the Museum excavations at Enkomi in Cyprus. It was thrust, by its spike, into the masonry joints of a built tomb, and must have had a wick floating in the oil, or supported at the spout. The essential parts of a lamp in the developed form are (1) the well for the oil, formed by the body of the lamp and fed from an opening above; in the bronze lamps this opening is covered by means of a lid, sometimes hinged, sometimes secured by a chain, as in No. =309=, fig. 117; (2) the nozzle for the insertion of the wick. The nozzle generally takes the form of a projecting spout, but the arrangement varies very considerably in different lamps, and a single lamp is often furnished with several nozzles. The lamps might either be simply placed on a candelabrum or else suspended from it. Several of the bronze lamps have chains for the latter purpose (No. =309=; fig. 117). A peculiar bronze hook, of which there are several examples in these cases, was sometimes used in the Roman period for hanging up the lamps; in the example illustrated (No. =310=; fig. 118) it is seen hinged to the lamp in such a way that the lamp could be suspended, supported from the ground, or carried in any way desired.

The numerous Graeco-Roman bronze lamps in these cases show a great variety of form. Heads of Seilenos, Pan, negroes, etc., appear side by side with a fir-cone, a foot, a duck, a snail, or a wolf. The handles often terminate in an animal's head, _e.g._, that of a horse, a dog, a lion, or a swan (cf. fig. 117). A fine example, with a tragic mask on the handle (No. =311=; fig. 119) was found at Rome in 1912. But the choicest example of a bronze lamp will be found in the Bronze Room (Case B). It is a double lamp for suspension, and was found in the Roman Baths at Paris. A silver lamp with Heracles strangling the serpents, on a boat-shaped cradle (No. =312=), is shown in Case 29. The cheaper terracotta lamps are freely decorated with designs taken from daily life or mythology. Numerous specimens of these lamps will be seen in Table-Case B in the Fourth Vase Room. A very elaborate example (No. =313=) in the form of a ship is seen here in the bottom of Case 30. The twenty-three holes for wicks and filling should be noted. The lamp fillers, as may be seen from the bronze specimen exhibited, closely resembled the lamps themselves (No. =314=).

Candlesticks are rare. In the Etruscan candelabra (Nos. =315=, =316=; Bronze Room Cases 57-60) projecting spikes seem to be intended for piercing candles, as shown by a tomb painting at Orvieto (fig. 120; see Bronze Room, Case 60). Two candlesticks of modern type (which rarely occurs) are shown in Case 30 (No. =317=; fig. 121).

Besides lamps and candles, lanterns were also largely in use, especially for outdoor purposes. Such a portable Roman lantern (in Case 32) is here illustrated (No. =318=; fig. 122). It is cylindrical in shape and has a hemispherical cover, which could be raised from the body of the lantern. The latter was enclosed with plates of some transparent material such as horn, bladder, or linen. That talc was also used is shown by the fact that several of the lanterns in the Museum at Naples have their walls made of this material. Just below the lantern is a small bronze statuette, which has formed the body of a knife (No. =319=). A grotesque figure is walking with a lantern in his right hand, and a basket slung over his shoulders. It was found at Behnesa, in Egypt, and probably represents a bird-catcher returning in the evening with his spoils. The lantern carried by him very closely resembles the one described above.

Cheaper forms of perforated clay lanterns are also exhibited (No. =320=; fig. 123).

=The Kitchen.=--Cases 33-36 contain cooking implements and remains of ancient fruit and grain. The vessels give a good idea of the furniture of a Pompeian kitchen, although there is no example of the more elaborate contrivances for preparing hot drinks and keeping food warm, such as have been found at Pompeii, and may be seen in the Museum at Naples.

The kitchen implements arranged in these cases do not differ materially from those in modern use, except that they are made of bronze, and frequently have some graceful and appropriate ornamentation. One or two of the objects call for special remark. On the second shelf from the bottom of Case 34 is an implement with a long handle and a rectangular pan furnished with six circular depressions (No. =321=). A circular pan with twenty-eight such depressions was found at Pompeii, and is now at Naples. These pans were probably used either for baking cakes or frying eggs.

In Case 36, on the same shelf as the pan for baking cakes, is a bronze frying-pan (No. =322=), with a spout at one corner. Instead of butter, fat, or dripping, the Romans, like the inhabitants of southern countries at the present day, were accustomed to use oil in frying. The shelf above the pans is occupied with ladles, dippers, and other implements. The handles of the ladles usually terminate in a beautifully modelled head of an animal, such as that of a duck, swan, or dog. One wine dipper (No. =323=) is hinged so as to fold for the pocket. On the next shelf above are two painted plates of about the beginning of the third century B.C. They belong to a well marked class (cf. Fourth Vase Room, Cases 26-7) of plates of Campanian fabric, distinguished by the fish and other marine creatures painted upon them. It is probable that they were intended for the serving of fish. Of the two examples shown in this case one (No. =324=) is decorated with a sea-perch, a sargus (a fish peculiar to the Mediterranean), and a torpedo, the other (No. =325=; fig. 124) with a red mullet, a bass, a sargus, and a cuttlefish.

The strainers (No. =326=), with perforated designs, on the right of Case 36, were used for clearing wine and other liquids. In Cases 36, 37 are bronze moulds for shaping food in the form of shells.

Some remains of ancient walnuts, grain, and fragments of calcined bread from Pompeii, and a black cup from Rhodes, containing eggs, are shown in the middle shelf of Case 35.

The process of bread-making is illustrated by the terracottas shown in this case. One (No. =327=) from Kameiros in Rhodes represents a woman kneading dough on a board placed in a circular trough resting on three legs. Another (No. =328=), of much rougher workmanship, shows a bearded man engaged in a like occupation. A third (No. =329=) shows a woman kneading in front of the oven. A small terracotta model of an oven shows two cakes baking (No. =330=).

In antiquity knives and forks were little used at table, fingers being mainly employed. Only one three-pronged fork (No. =331=) is here shown. Spoons, however, were common, and a considerable number of ancient spoons (No. =332=) are exhibited in Case 36. The series of large ivory spoons with elaborately ornamented handles belong to an early period, a similar one coming from the Polledrara tomb at Vulci in Etruria, of the seventh century B.C. The small spoons in bronze or ivory, with round head and handle running to a point, were probably used for the eating of eggs and the extraction of snails from their shells. Snails were a favourite dish with the Romans, and the spoon got its name (_cochleare_) from being employed in this way.[42]

In the lower part of Case 36 are examples of pestles and mortars (No. =333=). The pestle usually takes the form of a bent thumb, or of a leg and foot.

In early times cooking was done either in the courtyard of the house or in the principal living-room. Pompeian houses are, however, generally provided with separate kitchens, small rooms opening off the court of the peristyle. The hearth is a simple rectangular structure of masonry, sometimes furnished with projecting supports for holding vessels over the fire. Much, however, of the warming and working was done over small braziers, such as are shown on a small scale, and by a model, in the lower part of Case 36. The terracotta braziers are of characteristic form, with three internal projecting knobs to support the cooking vessel. These are generally ornamented with masks of Hephaestos, Satyrs, or the like (No. =334=). Compare examples in the Terracotta Room (_Cat. of Terracottas_, p. xix., C 863 ff). See also in Case 36 a terracotta food warmer, from Olbia, in the form of a shrine (No. =335=).

=The Bath.=--Certain implements shown in Case 37 illustrate the routine of the bath, which occupied a large place in the life both of the Greeks and Romans. Celsus, who wrote on the art of medicine probably early in the first century after Christ, recommended the bather first to go into the moderately heated room (_tepidarium_), and perspire slightly, then to anoint himself and to pass into the hot air room. After perspiring there he was to pour hot, warm, and cold water alternately over his head, then to scrape himself with the strigil, and finally to anoint himself--the last probably a precaution against taking cold. This description will enable us to understand the use of the implements carried by bathers. Of these the strigil is most important. It was a curved piece of metal, usually bronze, but sometimes iron, employed by athletes for removing dust and oil after exercise, and by bathers for scraping away sweat and dirt. The accompanying figure (fig. 125), drawn from a Greek vase of the fifth century B.C., shows an athlete resting after exercise, and about to use the strigil. Some times a strigil, oil-flask, and sponge are seen on vases, suspended from the wall of the _palaestra_ where youths are exercising. In Case 37 a small lekythos (No. =336=) shows an athlete with a strigil, and an impression from a gem illustrates the method of using that implement. The strigils here seen range in date from about the sixth century B.C. to the third century A.D. Many of them are inscribed with the name of their owners, and some have small figures, _e.g._, a man dancing or a horse galloping, stamped upon them. Two strigils which deserve special mention are the silver one found in the sarcophagus of the Etruscan lady, Seianti Hanunia (second century B.C.), and exhibited with that sarcophagus in the Terracotta Room, and the beautiful bronze ornamental strigil in the Bronze Room (Pedestal 3), with the handle in the form of a girl herself using the strigil. A complete bather's outfit of Roman date (No. =337=), found near Düsseldorf, includes two bronze strigils and an oil-flask attached by rings to a handle (fig. 126), and several glass vases for use in the toilet.

=Water Supply.=--A few objects in Cases 38-39 illustrate the methods of water-supply among the Romans, which are characterised by their completeness and excellence. The remains of two Roman double-action pumps in bronze from Bolsena in Etruria (Nos. =338=, =339=; figs. 127, 128) are of special interest. These are constructed on a principle invented by Ktesibios of Alexandria, who probably lived in the third century B.C. They were worked by alternating plungers, raised and lowered by a rocking-beam. The first illustration (fig. 127) shows the less advanced but more complete pump in section, and explains the method, of working. The bottoms of the cylinders (A) were connected by pipes with the reservoir, and are furnished with flap-valves (B), opening upwards. When the plunger (C) was raised, a vacuum was created, and the water lifted the valve and rushed in. When the plunger was raised to its highest point the valve fell again and retained the water; when the plunger descended it forced the water from the cylinder into the central discharge pipe through another flap-valve (D) at the end of the horizontal pipe. BD in the figure shows the structure of the flap-valves, which the Greeks called [Greek: assaria] ("pennies") from their likeness to coins. F is a complete plunger of the same type as those used in the pump illustrated, but not belonging to it. Only two-thirds of the second pump (No. =339=) survive, but the missing part (marked off in the diagram by a dotted line) is supplied in the section (fig. 128). In this example the more advanced spindle valve takes the place of the flap valves, and the two valves side by side open into a central domed chamber, in place of the simple central cylinder of No. =338=.

There are here several jets and spouts for the emission of water, one (No. =339=) in the form of a pine-cone, pierced with small holes for sending out a spray, others in the form of dolphins (No. =340=) and the fore-part of a horse (No. =341=). The bronze stop-cocks seen in Case 39 were used for controlling the flow of water from the cisterns to the various parts of the house. They were inserted in the lead water-pipes, portions of which still adhere to them. Their arrangement is excellently illustrated by those discovered at the Roman villa at Boscoreale, near Pompeii (see _Mon. Ant._ vii., p. 454, fig. 45_a_). See also a gargoyle in the form of a lion for rain water (No. =342=), and a bronze grating from the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (No. =343=) for draining it away. Various lead supply pipes and clay drain pipes are shown in case 39.

=Heating.=--In early times houses were heated by means of a large open hearth placed in the middle of the principal room, whence the smoke escaped as it might, through the door, or between the roof beams. Next followed the use of portable braziers in bronze, such as have been found in Etruscan tombs from the seventh century B.C. (cf. Italic Room, Cases B, C). The small braziers used for cooking, etc., in the Hellenistic period have been mentioned above, p. 118. A system of heating by hot air was introduced by the Romans, but was used chiefly for the warming of baths. For the general heating of houses such an arrangement was, until about the third century A.D. exceptional, and Seneca, writing in the first century A.D. regards it as an enervating luxury. Several examples of Roman terracotta flue-tiles (No. =344=) for the transmission of hot air are seen in the bottom of Cases 39, 40.

=Shapes of Vases.=--Case 40 contains a small type-series of the leading shapes of Greek vases, intended to teach the names current in archaeology (No. =345=).

(300) Cf. _Ant. du Bosph. Cimm._, pl. 81, where a restoration of a table with a leg of this kind is shown; (301) The couch in fig. 113 is after the restoration of a couch from Boscoreale, given in _Arch. Anzeiger_, 1900, p. 178; (304) Cf. Furtwaengler, _Olympia, IV._, (_Die Bronzen_), pls. 28, 34; (305) _Cat. of Lamps_, 137; (308) _ibid._, 1; (309) _ibid._, 66; (310) _ibid._, 97; (312) _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, XXVIII., pl. 33; (313) _Cat. of Lamps_, 390; (314) _ibid._, 1437; (318) _Cat. of Lamps_, 1435; (320) _ibid._, 1511; (323) _Excavations in Cyprus_, fig. 148, No. 4; (324, 325) _Cat. of Vases_, IV., F 259 and F 267; (338-339) _Cat. of Bronzes_, 2573-4; (343) Newton, _Hist. Disc._, II., p. 143.

On the Greek house generally, see Daremberg and Saglio s.v. _Domus_ and B. C. Rider, _The Greek House_. On the Roman house, see Daremberg and Saglio, _loc. cit._, and Mau-Kelsey, _Pompeii_.

[Footnote 41: Martial, xiv. 44:

Esse vides lignum; serves nisi lumina, fiet De candelabro magna lucerna tibi. ]

[Footnote 42: Cf. Martial, xiv. 121:

Sum cochleis habilis, sed nec minus utilis ovis: Numquid scis potius cur cochleare vocer? ]

XI.--DRESS AND TOILET.

(Table-Case F.)

The objects connected with the toilet in Case F are those accessories in metal and other materials that have been preserved. The actual fashion of the dress of the Greeks and Romans can be best studied elsewhere--in the Vase Rooms, the Room of Terracottas, and the Sculpture Galleries. A few words only need be said here as to the principal varieties of costume.

=Greek Female Dress.=--The very singular and modern-looking dress of the Minoan ladies may be seen in the facsimiles of Cretan statuettes and carvings in the First Vase Room.

The earliest dress of women which is represented in the art of historical Greece is that which was known as the Dorian _chiton_, or tunic. It was an oblong sheet of woollen cloth, measuring rather more than the height of the wearer, and about twice the span of her arms. This blanket was folded as shown in the annexed diagram (fig. 129). The tunic then fell into position about the figure, leaving the arms bare, as in the illustration, which is taken from a toilet-box (E 772) in the Third Vase Room (fig. 130). The dress in its simplest form was now complete, but as one side of it was open, a girdle was usually worn to keep the edges together. At Sparta, where Dorian manners were preserved in their primitive severity, the side remained open. Elsewhere it was partially or completely sewn up.

About the beginning of the 6th century B.C. the Ionian chiton was introduced into Greece from Asia Minor, and became the ordinary undergarment of women, in Italy as well as Greece, throughout the classical period. It was in effect a loosely-fitting dress with wide sleeves, girt at the waist. Being of fine linen instead of wool, a mantle or wrap was worn over it to make up for the thinness of the cloth. This construction is plainly shown in a drawing on the inside of a cup (E 44) by the potter Euphronios, which represents a woman busy with the knot of her girdle (fig. 131). The material was soft and heavy, yet thin and transparent enough to reveal the form of the figure beneath it. It is only in a dressing scene, such as this, that the Ionian chiton is represented alone. Otherwise a mantle (_himation_) was worn in addition. These mantles were of various shapes and sizes, though always rectangular, and their arrangement did not follow any fixed rule. Distinct fashions, however, in the wearing of the over-mantle can be remarked at certain periods. Thus, when the Ionian dress first came into use at Athens, an extraordinary elaboration was cultivated, the folds being arranged with such precision as to suggest that the garment is not a rectangular wrap, but a made-up shawl artificially pressed and gathered. This style of dress is best known from a large series of statues which were discovered in excavations on the Acropolis of Athens. They are relics of the city which was destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C., and give an accurate date for the prevalence of the fashion. The type is represented in a statuette in the Bronze Room (fig. 132): the lady stands in an attitude of archaic severity, and holds up with her left hand the skirt of the soft Ionian chiton which is underneath the shawl.

The outer garment was afterwards larger than this, as well as more simply arranged. Often the whole figure was wrapped in the mantle, which was also drawn over the mouth and the back of the head. This heavy style was favoured in the fourth and third centuries B.C., and constantly appears in the most numerous products of that period, the terracotta statuettes from Tanagra and elsewhere. Fig. 133 is from one of these, and others in the Terracotta Room show very clearly the beautiful and varied draperies of the himation.