CHAPTER XIX

_TERRACOTTA IN ROMAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE_

Clay in Roman architecture—Use of bricks—Methods of construction—Tiles—Ornamental antefixae—Flue-tiles—Other uses—Inscriptions on bricks and tiles—Military tiles—Mural reliefs—List of subjects—Roman sculpture in terracotta—Statuettes—Uses at Rome—Types and subjects—Gaulish terracottas—Potters and centres of fabric—Subjects—Miscellaneous uses of terracotta—Money-boxes—Coin-moulds.

The uses of clay among the Romans were, as may be supposed, much the same as among the Greeks and Etruscans, in architecture, in sculpture, and for household implements. The main differences are that in some cases—as in architecture—its use was more extensive at Rome, in others less; and that generally the products of this material in Roman workshops are inferior to those of the Greeks. But the technical processes are in the main identical with those employed by the Greeks, and consequently much that has been said in Chap. III. of this work need not be here repeated.

I. ARCHITECTURE

1. BRICKS AND TILES

The Romans divided the manufacture of objects in clay into two classes: _opus figlinum_ or fine ware, made from _argilla_ or _creta figularis_; and _opus doliare_, for tiles and common earthenware.[2395] We begin, then, as in the chapter on the Greek uses of clay, with the latter division, including the use of this material in Roman architecture, and primarily in the making of =bricks and tiles=. It must be borne in mind, however, that the structural use of bricks of clay, such as we employ at the present day, was unknown to the Romans; they only used what we should call tiles, and even these were only employed structurally, as a facing to walls and vaults of concrete; no walls were ever built of solid brick, and even in those of seven inches thickness the bricks are built on a core of concrete. Nor were the bricks allowed to appear on the outer face of the building, at least before the second century of the Empire; they were always faced with a coating of marble or stucco.

Nevertheless, the general use of bricks or tiles was most extensive, and they were employed as tiles for roofing houses, as bricks for walls and vaults, and even for columns, as slabs for pavements, for furnaces and for covering graves, and in tube form for conveying water or hot air; they are found in temples, theatres, and baths, and are used for cisterns and fountains, and in aqueducts and military fortifications. They were called _lateres_, because, says Isidorus, “they were broad, and made by placing round them four boards.”[2396] The kilns were called _laterariae_, and the makers _laterarii_; to make bricks was _lateres ducere_, _fingere_,[2397] or (with reference to the baking only) _coquere_. The word _later_ seems to be employed indiscriminately for sun-dried (_crudi_) and baked bricks (_coctiles_),[2398] without the qualifying epithet, but _testa_ is also used when burnt brick is intended.[2399] The sun-dried bricks were the earlier and simpler form, used for building walls and cemented together with clay or mud.[2400] Vitruvius in his account of brick-making (ii. 3) only refers to this kind, and apparently never mentions baked bricks except in passing allusions. He describes three kinds, to which he says the Greeks gave the respective names of _genus Lydium_, _pentadoron_, and _tetradoron_ (see Vol. I. p. 95). The two latter are exclusively Greek, but the first-named, 1½ by 1 foot in dimensions, answers to the Roman _tegula sesquipedalis_.[2401] A frequent arrangement, he says, was to employ half-bricks in alternate courses with the ordinary sizes, which served to bind the walls together and present an effective as well as a stable appearance. This information is repeated by Pliny, copying almost word for word.[2402]

Among the Romans two dimensions were in general use, as may be inferred from the frequent mention in inscriptions or elsewhere of the _sesquipedales_ and of _bipedales_,[2403] or two-foot bricks, as we shall have occasion to show later. Being very flat and thin in proportion to their size, these bricks rather resemble tiles, as has been already noted; they are generally square, or at least rectangular. But there were also _tegulae bessales_ or bricks measuring two-thirds of a foot square, _i.e._ about 8 inches, and triangular bricks, equilateral in form, with a length varying from 4 to 14 inches. The latter are the kind used in all existing Roman walls of concrete with brick facings. The thickness varies from 1¼ to 2 inches. They are not always made with mechanical accuracy, the edges being rounded and the sides not always parallel. In military works they were often used alternately with flint and stone (see below, p. 337), as we see them in England, at Colchester, Dover, Verulam, and many other places.[2404] At Verulam the tiles are arranged in three horizontal layers at intervals of about 4 feet, with flint and mortar between. They were also used for turning the arches of doorways, and for this purpose _tegulae bipedales_ were cut into pieces, so as only to tail a few inches into the concrete which they cover. Complete squares were introduced at intervals to improve the bonding.[2405]

The pillars of the floors of hypocausts were formed of _tegulae bessales_, and sometimes also of two semicircular bricks joined so as to form a circle, varying from 6 to 15 inches in diameter.[2406] Occasionally the upper bricks diminished in size, in order to give greater solidity to the structure. The bricks or tiles forming the upper floors were from 18 to 20 inches square; in some cases, as at Cirencester,[2407] these were flanged tiles (see below).

The general size of Roman bricks was, in the case of the _sesquipedales_, 1½ by 1 Roman foot; but variations are found, such as 15 by 14 inches. For the _bipedales_ Palladius recommends 2 feet by 1 foot by 4 inches. The great building at Trier known as the Palace of Constantine is built of burnt bricks, 15 inches square by 1¼ inch thick.[2408] Prof. Middleton notes tiles in Rome of 12, 14, and 18 inches square,[2409] and Marquardt[2410] states that bricks found in France measure 15 by 8 to 10 inches; others (the _bessales_) 8 by 8 by 3 inches. A complete circular brick, measuring 7½ inches across by 3¼ inches thick, and impressed with the stamp of the eleventh legion, was found at Dolae near Gardun, and is now in the museum at Spalato.[2411]

Vitruvius[2412] gives elaborate instructions about the preparation of the clay for sun-dried bricks, and counsels in the first place a careful choice of earth, avoiding that which was sandy or stony or full of loose flints, which made the bricks too heavy, and so liable to split and fall out when affected by rain; it also prevented the straw from binding properly. Clay which was either whitish or decidedly red (from a prevalence of ochre) was preferred, and that combined with coarse sand (_sabulo masculus_) made light tiles, easily set. The process of manufacture was a very simple one. The clay was first carefully cleaned of foreign bodies, and then moistened with water and kneaded with straw. It was then moulded by hand or in a mould or frame of four boards, and perhaps also pressed with the foot.[2413] The bricks were then dried in the sun and turned as required, the usual process also adopted in the modern brickfield. Some bricks actually bear the marks of the feet of animals and birds which had passed over them while the clay was soft, and there is one in the Shrewsbury Museum with the imprint of a goat’s feet. Others at York and Wiesbaden show the nails of a boy’s shoes.[2414] These impressions of feet (where human) may also be referred to the practice of using the feet to knead the bricks.

The bricks were then ready for use, but were kept for two years before being employed, otherwise they were liable to contract, which caused the stucco to break off and the walls to collapse. At Utica, Vitruvius tells us, they had to be kept five years, and then could only be used if passed by a magistrate. Altogether, much care was taken in their preparation, and it was generally considered that spring and autumn were the most favourable times for making them, probably because they dried more slowly and were less liable to crack during the operation. In summer the hot sun baked the outer surface too fast, and this appeared dry while the interior was still moist, so that when the inside dried the outside contracted and split.[2415] It was also, of course, advisable to avoid seasons of rain and frost. But the bricks could not be properly tested until they had undergone some exposure to the weather, and for this reason Vitruvius recommends the employment of old roof-tiles where possible in building walls.[2416]

For baked bricks the processes must have been much the same, with, of course, the addition of the baking in the furnace. Existing Roman bricks are nearly always of well-tempered clay and well baked; but the clay exhibits a great variety of colour—red, yellow, and brown. The paste is remarkably hard, breaking with an almost vitreous fracture, and sometimes shows fragments of red brick (_pozzolana_) ground up with it to bind it together, and prevent warping. This may be seen in the Flavian Palace on the Palatine, and in an archway in the Aurelian Wall near the Porta Latina. As an instance of varieties of brick found in the same building, Nero’s Aurea Domus may be cited.[2417] The durability of Roman tiles is ascribed to their careful preparation and seasoning, which give them a much longer life than modern tiles; hence they were frequently used up again in early mediaeval buildings and in Romanesque churches in England, as at St. Albans, St. Mary-in-Castro, Dover, and St. Botolph’s and Holy Trinity, Colchester.[2418]

During the period of the Republic private houses and public buildings alike were built of unburnt brick in Rome, as we learn from the words of Dio Cassius,[2419] Varro,[2420] and Cicero[2421]; Varro speaks of _domus latericiae_, and Cicero of “the brick (_latere_) and concrete of which the city is constructed.” After the Republican period this material was still employed outside Rome with burnt-brick cornices,[2422] but even this was exceptional. Pliny mentions walls of sun-dried bricks at Arretium and Mevania.[2423] Henceforth, then, burnt brick was employed more and more as Rome grew more populous.[2424] In Vitruvius’ time (the beginning of our era) the materials used for building were stone for substructures, burnt brick (_structura testacea_) for the outer walls, concrete for the party-walls, and wood for the roofs and floors. He explains the cessation of the use of unburnt brick as due to the legal regulations of his time, which prohibited party-walls of more than 1½ foot in thickness, and unburnt bricks could only support one story above them in that size.[2425]

Baths, either public or private, walls and military fortifications, were built of bricks, the latter being thus better able to resist attacks than if they were of stone. Temples, palaces, amphitheatres, the magnificent aqueducts and the cisterns with which they communicated, were also usually of this material. Of these, numerous remains exist in Rome and other places, such as Cumae and Pozzuoli. The aqueduct made by Nero from the Anio to Mons Caelius is of brick, that of Trajan partly so; the _aqua Alexandrina_ of Severus Alexander (A.D. 229) and that existing at Metz are wholly of brick, and so are the _castella_ or reservoirs made by Agrippa when he constructed the Julian conduit over the Marcian and Tepulan.[2426] It is true that Augustus boasted that he had found Rome of brick and left it marble[2427]; but it must be remembered, firstly, that Suetonius uses the term _latericiam_, which may denote unburnt brick; secondly, that the phrase is probably to be limited to public buildings and monuments, in which there was an increased use of marble for pillars and roofs. For walls brick and concrete continued to be used, as in private buildings, with a covering of stucco in place of marble incrustation.

In the first century of the Empire brick-making was brought to perfection, and its use became universal for private and public buildings alike; the mortar of the period is also of remarkable excellence. The Romans introduced brick-making wherever they went; and even their legions when on foreign service used it for military purposes. But of pure brick architecture, as we see it, for instance, in the Byzantine churches of Northern Italy, there was no question until comparatively late times. It was always covered over with marble or stucco until the second century of the Empire. Examples of sepulchral buildings wholly in brick, of the time of Hadrian, may be seen in the tomb before the Porta San Sebastiano at Rome, known as the temple of Deus Rediculus. This has Corinthian pilasters with a rich entablature, red bricks being used for architectural members, yellow for the walls; the capitals are formed of layers of bricks. Of Hadrian’s time are also the guard-house of the seventh cohort of Vigiles across the Tiber, of which a small part remains, and the _amphitheatrum castrense_ on the walls of Aurelian.[2428]

One of the most remarkable instances of Roman brick construction is the Pile Cinq-Mars, as it is called, a tower still standing on the right bank of the Loire, near Tours. It is about 95 feet high and 13 feet square, expanding at the base, being built of tiles to a depth of 3 feet each side, with a body of concrete; the tiles are set in mortar composed of chalk, sand, and pounded tiles. On one side there are eleven rectangular panels with tile-work of various patterns, like those on the flue-tiles (see p. 348), and as also seen on the Roman wall at Cologne; the patterns include squares, triangles, and rosettes. The history and purpose of this building are quite unknown.[2429]

At Pompeii bricks are used only for corners of buildings or doorposts, and sometimes for columns, as in the Basilica and the house of the Labyrinth.[2430] There are also late examples of brick columns with capitals in tiers of bricks as in the tomb mentioned above. Brick walls are not found, but bricks occur as facing for rubble-work. These are less than an inch thick, triangular in form, with the hypotenuse (about 6 inches long) showing in the face of the wall. Sometimes fragments of roof-tiles are used (cf. p. 334). The earlier bricks contain sea-sand, and have a granular surface; the later are smooth and even in appearance. Later, what is known as _opus mixtum_ (see below) is used, as in the entrance of the Herculaneum gate; this implies courses of stone and brick alternating,[2431] which, as we have seen, was common in military works, as in the Roman walls in Britain. In this country, owing to the absence of good material for concrete, the use of stones or brick throughout for building was general from the first; hence, too, the bricks are always flat and rectangular in form (_bipedales_).[2432]

The arrangement of triangular bricks (made by dividing a medium-sized brick into four before baking), laid flat in regular horizontal courses, is characteristic of the earliest examples of Roman methods. It is found in the Rostra (44 B.C.) and in the Regia (35 B.C.), the earliest existing examples.[2433] The back wall of the Rostra is of concrete faced with triangular bricks 1½ inch thick, the sides 10 inches long. The same arrangement may be seen in the Pantheon, in the Thermae of Diocletian, and in some of the aqueducts (see below). The brickwork in the Pantheon was formerly thought to belong to the building of Agrippa in 27 B.C., but has been now shown to belong to the second century.[2434] At Ostia, in the temple of Honos and Virtus, the walls are built of triangular bricks or with red and yellow bricks with moulded cornices.

About the year 80 B.C. the method known as _opus reticulatum_ was introduced, in which the bricks presented square faces (about 4 inches each way), and were arranged diagonally to form a network pattern (Fig. 187). At Pompeii the _opus reticulatum_ dates from the time of Augustus; it is laid on concrete, and the bricks are small four-sided pyramids with bases 3 to 4 inches square.[2435] This method lasted down to about A.D. 130 in Italy. It should, however, be noted that it was commoner in stone than in brick, the latter material not having come into general use for building at the time when it was employed.[2436] But even when tufa was used for the reticulated work, bricks or tiles were used for quoins at the angles, and for bonding courses through the walls, as well as for arches and vaults (Fig. 188). This combination of _opus reticulatum_ and brickwork is well illustrated in the palace of Caligula.[2437] In the case of vaults, indeed, the use of brick seems to have been general, as in the baths of Caracalla, and many other buildings (cf. Fig. 189). Vitruvius[2438] advises the use of _tegulae bipedales_ to protect the wooden joists over the vaults from being rotted by the steam from the hot bathrooms; they were to be placed over the whole under-surface of the concrete vault, supported on iron girders, which were suspended from the concrete by iron clamps or pins. Over the whole was laid a coating of cement (_opus tectorium_) in which pounded pottery was the chief constituent, and this was stuccoed.[2439]

The _opus mixtum_ (the term is not classical) prevailed regularly under the later Empire, from the fourth to the sixth century; the earliest example which can be dated is the circus of Maxentius. It is also used in work of the time of Theodoric.[2440] The method of construction is shown in Fig. 190.

The reason for the limited use of brick in Rome may have been the scarcity of wood for fuel for the kilns. But in any case the pointed backs of the bricks made a good bonding with concrete, and presented a large surface with a comparatively small amount of clay. The secret of the wonderful durability of Roman buildings is that each wall was one solid coherent mass, owing to the excellence of the concrete. In the Pantheon the concrete of the dome is nearly 20 feet thick, the brick facing only about 5 inches. The character of the brick facing often indicates the date of a wall, the bricks in early work being thick and the joints thin; later, the reverse is the case. But caution must be exercised in dating on this principle, owing to the great variety of methods employed during the same reign, and even in the same building.[2441]

* * * * *

The word for a tile, _tegula_, is derived from _tegere_, to cover, or, as Isidorus says, they are so called _quod aedes tegant_[2442]; the curved roof-tiles were known as _imbrices_ because they received rain-showers (_imbres_). The maker of roof-tiles was known as _tegularius_[2443] or _figulus ab imbricibus_.[2444] _Tegulae_ or flat roof-tiles were usually made with vertical flanges (2½ inches high) down the sides, and these flanges, which fitted into one another longitudinally, when placed side by side served to hold the covering-tiles placed over them. There were also roof-tiles known as _tegulae deliciares_[2445] and _colliciares_, which formed the arrangement underneath the surface of the roof by means of which the water was collected from the _tegulae_ and carried off in the front through spouts in the form of lions’ heads.[2446]

Besides the various rectangular forms we find triangular tiles used, either equilateral or right-angled; semicircular or curved tiles, used for circular walls, ovens, tombs, and cornices, or other parts of buildings; cylindrical tiles (_tubuli fictiles_),[2447] which were used for drains and conduits; and, finally, the rectangular hollow flue-tiles, employed for hot air in hypocausts.[2448] Another form was the _tegula mammata_, a plain square tile with four knobs or breast-like projections (_mammae_), which was often used in party-walls with the object of keeping out damp.[2449] The tiles were inserted by the points of the projections into the concrete, thus leaving a space between in which the warm air could circulate freely.

Existing examples of tiles are composed of a compact dense clay, less fine than that of the bricks, and of a pale salmon or light straw colour when baked. They were probably made in moulds—but these may only have been a couple of boards placed together—and after being dried in the sun were baked in kilns. The flanged tiles were, of course, produced by turning up the edges before drying. Besides the arrangement described above, it is probable that roofs were sometimes tiled in the manner prevalent in the present day, with flat or curved tiles overlapping like scales; and for this purpose the tiles seem to have been pierced with holes at one corner, and so attached to one another. The same method obtained in the Roman villas in Britain, except that Stonesfield slate was used in place of tiles. An inscription found at Niederbrunnen in Germany speaks of _attegia tegulicia_, or huts roofed with tiles, erected in honour of Mercury.[2450]

Tiles with turned-up edges or flanged tiles were principally employed, as has been indicated, for roofing; but some were also placed in walls where required, especially where a space was required for the passage of air.[2451] They were also employed for the floors of bath-rooms, in which case they were laid on the _pilae_ of the hypocaust in an inverted position, and the cement flooring was laid upon them. The flanges are generally about 2¼ inches higher than the lower surface of the tile; they are bevelled on the inner side in order to diminish the diameter of the _imbrex_, but have no holes for nailing to the rafters. The ends of the sides were cut away in order that the lower edge of one tile might rest on the upper edge of the one adjoining. Those found in France are said to be distinguished by the sand and stones found in their composition.[2452] There are flange tiles of red and yellow clay from the Roman Thermae at Saintes in the Museum of Sèvres, and others from ancient potteries at Milhac de Nontron, as well as tiles of red clay from Palmyra.[2453] In the military _castra_ in England flange tiles of a red or yellow colour have been found, the latter with fragments of red tiles mixed in the clay. They are also often found in the ruins of villas. A flange tile from Boxmoor, Herts, now in the British Museum, measures 15½ by 12 inches, the flange being 2¼ inches high; and it will be seen that these dimensions correspond roughly with the _tegulae bipedales_. Flanged tiles with holes in them appear to have been used at Pompeii for lighting passages, the flanges serving to keep out rain.[2454]

The _imbrices_ or covering-tiles which held the flat tiles together, thus rendering the roof compact, were quite plain, with the exception of the end ones over the gutters. These were in the form of antefixal ornaments like the Greek examples (Vol. I. p. 98), an upright semi-oval termination ornamented with a relief or painted pattern, with an arched support at the back. Many examples exist at Pompeii (see below), Ostia,[2455] and elsewhere; but artistically they are far inferior to the Greek examples, and of simpler design. Most of them have a simple palmette or acanthus pattern in low relief, but on or below this an ideal head or the head of a deity is sometimes added, such as Zeus Ammon, Medusa, a Bacchic head, or a mask, or even a figure of Victory. Of the last-named there is a good specimen in the British Museum (D 690 = Fig. 191); she carries a trophy from the battle of Actium, and stands on a globe from which spring two Capricorns (the symbol of Augustus).[2456]

No better example of the various uses of ornamental tiles in architecture can be selected than the remains found at Pompeii, which are exceedingly numerous. Terracotta seems to have been used here especially for such parts of the decoration as were exposed to wet, as well-mouths, gutters, and antefixal tiles.[2457] A characteristic feature of the decoration of Pompeian houses was the trough-like gutter which surrounded and formed an ornamental cornice to the _compluvium_ or open skylight of the atrium and peristyle, through and from which the rain-water was collected in the _impluvium_ or tank sunk in the ground below. These were adorned with spouts in the form of animals’ heads or foreparts,[2458] usually lions and dogs, with borders of palmettes between; the gutter behind was virtually a long tank of square section.

Antefixes and gutter-cornices, where they occur, must always be regarded as serving ornamental rather than necessary purposes. All early work in terracotta at Pompeii is of coarse clay, but good execution; later, the reverse is the case. The only public building in which many remains of terracotta tiles and cornices have been preserved is the temple of Isis; but the Basilica may also have had terracotta decoration. Many fragments also remain from private houses, some actually _in situ_, having been neglected by early explorers as unimportant. In the house of Sallust a kymation cornice from one of the garden courts has scenic masks forming the spouts; this is not earlier than the rebuilding of the house A.D. 63. There is also much terracotta work in the house of the Faun.[2459] Comic masks were used both as spouts and as antefixes, the exaggerated mouth of the mask serving admirably for the former purpose.[2460] These date from the reigns of Nero and Vespasian, and all seem to be from the same fabric, although there is considerable variety in the types; the use of masks for these purposes is not earlier than Nero’s reign (cf. the house of Sallust, above). Besides the ornaments above mentioned the patterns on the cornices include palmettes and floral scrolls, dolphins and Gryphons.

The roof-tiles were of the usual kinds, flat oblong _tegulae_ with flanges, measuring 24 by 19 by 20 inches,[2461] with semi-cylindrical _imbrices_. They were laid in lines parallel to the long ridges of the roofs, so that the water converged into the gutter-tiles at the angles, whence it fell into the impluvium. These gutters, however, were not confined to the angles of the openings, but were sometimes ranged along the whole length of the sides, as we have seen; those at the angles only seem to be earlier in date. They are not found on the exteriors of buildings. The front of the gutter was usually in the form of a vertical kymation moulding, but was sometimes simply chamfered. Antefixal ornaments terminating the covering or ridge-tiles are not invariable, but are found at different periods. The earliest examples are in the form of palmettes, but the later exhibit a great variety[2462]: comic masks, a head in low relief on a palmette, or a head surmounted by a palmette. Of the latter class thirty-eight were found in 1861. In the Augustan period ideal heads of gods and demi-gods are sometimes found.[2463]

Von Rohden, in summing up (p. 14), is of the opinion that terracotta roof-decoration at Pompeii was _comparatively_ rare. In the whole record of excavations only twenty-three water-spouts are mentioned, though it is probable that many were never registered. In scarcely more than twelve private houses have as many pieces been found as would suffice for the whole of the atrium and peristyle roofs, and nearly all of these are of late date. The discovery of isolated pieces in a house seems to show that they were used up again in the restorations after the earthquake of A.D. 63.

There are also some good examples of roof-tiles among those which have been found at Ostia, both in baths and private houses; some of the latter came from a house of which the brickwork bore inscriptions with the names of consuls of Hadrian’s reign. The arrangement of the roof-tiles is that described on p. 341; the antefixal ornaments are usually in the form of palmettes or acanthus leaves, with maeander below; but heads of deities, such as Venus and Neptune,[2464] or of Medusa, and tragic masks were also found. Two exceptional examples had groups in relief of Neptune drawn over the sea by hippocamps, and of the statue of Cybele in the ship drawn by the Vestal Virgin Claudia.[2465]

* * * * *

Tiles of the size known as _bipedales_ are also used for lining the walls of rooms. They are found in Roman villas in Britain, and are ornamented on one side with various incised patterns, made with a tool in the wet clay. On some found at Ridgewell in Essex the decoration consists of lozenges, rosettes, and other ornaments,[2466] like those on the Pile Cinq-Mars already described; they are often found covered with the stucco with which the walls were plastered. At Pompeii, Orvieto, and elsewhere the stucco-painted walls were constructed with _tegulae mammatae_ placed edgewise, and connected with the main walls by leaden cramps, the brick lining being thus detached from the walls by a narrow interval which served as an air-cavity.[2467] This was a frequent proceeding, and was also contrived with flanged tiles; it corresponds with the system prescribed by Vitruvius for keeping damp from the painted walls of rooms.[2468] It was also largely employed in baths and bathrooms, the object being both to keep the walls dry and to allow hot air to circulate from the hypocausts and warm the rooms. In the cold climate of Britain the Romans found this a universal necessity, and instances may be observed in many of their villas; but, as far as can be observed, the general method of warming was by an extensive system of pipes under the floors rather than up the walls.[2469] These tiles are pierced with holes, by means of which they were attached to the walls by plugs or nails of lead. In the _castrum_ at Jublains a chamber is yet partly standing with one of its sides coated with tiles of this kind.[2470]

A A Concrete wall, faced with brick, shown in vertical and horizontal sections.

B Lower part of wall, with no brick facing.

C C _Suspensura_, or upper floor of Hypocaust, supported by pillars.

D D Another floor, with support only at edges.

E E Marble flooring.

F F Marble plinth and wall lining.

G G Under floor of Hypocaust, paved with large tiles.

H H Horizontal and vertical sections of flue-tiles lining wall of Calidarium.

_a a_ Iron hold-fasts.

J J Socket-jointed flue-pipe of Tepidarium.

K Rain-water pipe (in horizontal section).

L L Vaults of crypt, made of pumice- stone concrete.

More commonly, however, a peculiar kind of tile was used for warming the hot rooms (_sudationes_) of baths, and in villas when required. They were hollow parallelopipeds, known as _tubi_, with a hole in the side for the escape of the air which traversed them, the usual dimensions being about 16 by 6 by 5 inches.[2471] Seneca speaks of pipes inserted in walls, which allowed the warmth to circulate and warm both the upper and lower stories equally[2472]; and the younger Pliny mentions the air-holes (_fenestrae_) in the pipes which warmed his bedroom, by means of which the temperature could be regulated at pleasure.[2473] Sometimes, as in the baths of Caracalla and the house of the Vestals, the whole side of a wall was composed of flue-tiles covered with cement,[2474] which was made to adhere by scoring the sides with wavy or diagonal lines, as in the flat tiles described above, and as is often done in modern building. The whole system of heating, which may be seen in the baths of Caracalla, is very instructive (Fig. 192): the walls were of concrete with brick facing, through which a system of flues of socket-jointed tiles passes upwards from the hypocaust below, effectually warming every part.[2475]

The hollow tiles often assume a more ornamental appearance (as in Fig. 193), the patterns scratched on them taking the form of lozenges and diapers, chevrons, chequers, and rosettes, as may be seen in a Roman villa at Hartlip in Kent, where other tiles are simply scored with squares.[2476] This villa is remarkable for the extensive use of tiles throughout; even the staircases are constructed with them. Others found in Essex and Surrey have dogs, stags, and initial letters among foliage; one found in London had among the wavy lines of pattern the letters Px Tx[2477]; and another, from Plaxtol in Kent, the local maker’s name, CABRIABANTI.[2478] These hollow tiles, which are generally of the same clay as the roof-tiles, were also occasionally used as pillars of hypocausts,[2479] but for this purpose columns of _tegulae bessales_ were more usual, as Vitruvius implies.[2480] Many examples may be seen in the Roman villas of Britain, as at Cirencester, Chedworth, Lympne, and Wroxeter. In a villa found at Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, the whole bath was constructed of tiles, the floor supported by _pilae_ of the same.[2481] At Bath the hollow tiles are actually used as _voussoirs_ for arches and vaults.[2482]

Through these chimneys—for this is what they practically were—the hot air circulated and gave an imperfect warmth to the rooms, the heat radiating from the walls or penetrating through the air-holes.[2483] The pipes standing close to one another virtually made up the wall; but the exact method by which the warming was accomplished, without great inconvenience to the occupiers of the rooms, is not quite clear. It is not difficult to imagine that the tiles would have warmed rooms merely by the introduction of hot air circulating through them, even though covered with stucco. On the other hand, the apertures for admitting the air into the rooms, if of any size, must also have admitted smoke from the hypocausts, and interfered with the ventilation. It may be that they were not made for this purpose at all, but only for fastening the pipes together or to the walls. Another difficulty is the method in which the flues made their exit into the open air. It has been suggested, partly on the analogy of a mosaic found in Algeria, that they ended above in an arrangement like a chimney-stack. There is, moreover, a terracotta roof-tile in the Museo delle Terme at Rome with a circular pipe, 8 inches in diameter, projecting from its upper surface.[2484]

Terracotta pipes, or _tubuli_, of cylindrical form, were sometimes employed by the Romans for conveying or distributing water, but the more usual material for this purpose, especially for drinking-water, was lead; the latter were called _fistulae_.[2485] The Venafrum inscription, an edict of the Emperor relating to the water-supply of the town, mentions _canales_, _fistulae_, and _tubi_.[2486] Vitruvius calls the _canales structiles_, implying that they were of masonry.[2487] Pliny speaks of _tubi fictiles_ used for conduits from fountains,[2488] and Vitruvius recommends the use of terracotta pipes (_tubuli fictiles_) in aqueducts.[2489] Examples of clay piping are preserved in the Museo delle Terme at Rome. At Marzabotto, near Bologna, terracotta pipes were used for carrying off the water from the roof of a house, by means of a straight tube through the wall fitting into another which curved upwards inside.[2490] These date from the fifth century B.C. Other examples have been found in Rome and Italy,[2491] and specimens found on the Rhine were 21½ inches long, of which ¾ inch was inserted into the adjoining pipe, and 3½ to 4½ inches in diameter. Terracotta was also used for cisterns, as at Taormina,[2492] and for aqueducts; but Lanciani has pointed out that its use in these ways was confined to irrigating purposes. The Campagna of Rome was formerly extensively drained with these tiles, and owed to that circumstance much of its ancient healthfulness.

Of the use of tiles in pavements there is frequent mention in Roman writers.[2493] For this purpose complete tiles were seldom used, at any rate in Italy; but in Britain it was not at all uncommon, as in the villa at Hartlip already mentioned. On the other hand, hypocausts were regularly paved with tiles, as in the Baths of Caracalla (Fig. 192 above),[2494] and in an example found at Cirencester, where the tiles are flanged.[2495] But in another form tiles played a considerable part in Roman methods of paving. Pliny and other writers[2496] speak of _pavimentum testaceum_ or _opus signinum_ as the usual pavement for rooms, especially those liable to damp, such as kitchens and outbuildings, or for baths and cisterns. This was made of a layer of fragments of tiles stamped and pounded into a firm solid mass, combined with mortar. It corresponds to the _nucleus ex testis tunsis_ of Vitruvius, which (to a depth of six inches) was laid on the _rudus_ or coarser concrete. On this was laid the flooring, consisting either of tiles or marble slabs, or more generally of mosaic. The Baths of Caracalla again afford a good illustration of the process.[2497] In the mosaics too fragments of clay were often used, especially for producing red or black colour.[2498] Vitruvius and other writers allude to this practice,[2499] and the former also speaks of _testacea spicata_, a kind of false mosaic made with small bricks about 4 inches by 1 inch, set on edge to form a herring-bone pattern. In the Guildhall Museum is part of a tesselated pavement of concrete, faced with small bricks about an inch square.

One of the most interesting uses of tiles by the Romans is in connection with their tombs. Not only are they used in the construction of the more magnificent edifices (cf. p. 336), but they were also often employed (as in Greece) for the humbler graves. For the latter, three, or sometimes six, _tegulae bipedales_ were set up in the form of a prism, one forming the floor, the other two the gabled covering which protected the body from the superincumbent earth. Within this were laid the _ollae_ or sepulchral urns which held the ashes of the dead, and other vases. A tomb found at Litlington in Cambridgeshire was covered with a large flanged tile, which protected the pottery buried underneath[2500]; and at Eastlow Hill in Suffolk a tomb was found roofed with twelve rows of flanged tiles, each side in rows of four.[2501] In some of the tombs of Greece belonging to the Roman period semi-cylindrical tiles were used for this purpose. In the provinces the tiles often have impressed upon them in large letters the names of the legions which garrisoned the various cities. The tiles of Roman tombs at York are inscribed with the names of the sixth and ninth legions which were quartered there: as LEG · VI · VICT · P · F, _legio sexta victrix pia fidelis_; LEG · IX · HISP (or VICT), _legio nona Hispana_ (or _victrix_).[2502] At Caerleon (Isca Silurum) the bricks bear the name of the second or Augustan legion: LEG · II · AVG.[2503] The stations of the twentieth legion may also be traced at Chester in this manner; the tiles are inscribed LEG · XX · V · V.[2504] They were placed at the foot of the tomb like tombstones, in order to indicate who was buried beneath, the inscriptions being written across the breadth of the tile. They are of very different dates, some of those in Britain being apparently as late as the introduction of Christianity.

* * * * *

The extent to which bricks and tiles were used in Roman buildings under the Empire may be gauged by the number of those with inscriptions which remain; a whole section of the Latin _Corpus_ (see below) is devoted to those found in Rome alone, numbering some two thousand. Many of them have been removed to the museums from the principal edifices, such as the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Circus Maximus, the Baths of Titus and Caracalla, the Basilica of Constantine, and the Praetorian Camp. Other inscriptions have been found on tiles removed from such buildings and used to repair the roofs of churches in Rome. Such places as Bologna, Cortona, Tibur, and Ostia have also produced numerous inscribed tiles of this class. The use of such stamps was to guarantee the quality of the clay. To the topographer, as will be seen, these stamps are often of great value; and had the custom of placing on them the names of the buildings for which they were intended been less rare, they might often have afforded valuable evidence as to doubtful sites. Besides their topographical value, the tiles also help to settle the succession of consuls, and throw great light on the economy of the Roman farms and the possessions of the great landed proprietors. The uninterrupted series, extending from the times of the Caesars to the age of Septimius Severus, of names of proprietors, potters, and estates, tells much of the internal condition of Italy, and of one of the sources of revenue to the Roman nobility.[2505]

The stamps found on bricks and tiles are of four kinds—rectangular, semicircular, circular, and crescent-shaped. The inscriptions are in raised letters in all cases, but instances are also known of incised inscriptions, written without frames across the tile. After the time of Diocletian the only forms found are square, circular, and octagonal; the square stamps always have straight inscriptions. On the circular stamps the inscriptions are placed in a circle, in one or two lines, and the beginning is determined by a small cut-out circle at the edge of the stamp, thus 20[22]orbiculus known as the _orbiculus_; apart from this its object is uncertain. In later stamps the inscription often reads backwards, or certain letters are reversed. The letters were cut straight in a mould and lie in the plane of the surface, being of rectangular section, not wedge-shaped, as in inscriptions on marble. During the Republican period and the first century of the Empire a plain “block” type is used; then the letters become smaller and more elegant, with bars at the ends of the _hastae_, as 20[54]E, M etc. Finally they show a tendency about A.D. 200 to become broader and shorter: 20[76]E, M, S At and after the time of Diocletian the forms become very varied. Punctuation in the best period takes the form of a 15[17]triangle afterwards the mark becomes vague in form. Ligatured letters are rarely found after the time of Diocletian, but are common in the best period; sometimes more than two are combined.[2506] The stamps with which the letters were made were usually of wood or bronze, but have not been preserved.

In the centre of the stamp it was customary to place an emblem or device of some kind, perhaps in view of a law which obliged brick and tile makers to affix distinctive marks or emblems on their bricks; but the devices are not peculiar to individual workshops, and some potteries, such as the Terentian (see below), used several. They may be compared with the countermarks or small adjuncts on the coins of the Republic, and the seals and stamps on the wine-amphorae of Thasos (Vol. I. p. 158). Figures of gods, such as Mars, Cupid, and Victory, animals, and even groups of figures, occur, and after the third century Christian emblems are often found. It is most probable that they were merely ornamental and without significance, except in certain cases of canting or punning allusions. Thus M. Rutilius Lupus has a wolf; Flavius Aper a boar; Aquilia an eagle; C. Julius Stephanus a wreath; and Aelius Asclepiades a serpent, with reference to the god Asklepios.[2507]

The most complete stamps have the date of the emperor or the consulship, the name of the estates (_praedia_) which supplied the clay, that of the pottery where it was baked (_figlinae_ or _officina_), and that of the potter who prepared it; sometimes even of the slave who moulded the tile, and even its very dimensions. Two typical examples may be given from the British Museum collection,[2508] of which the first (Fig. 194) is said to have been found in the Catacombs at Rome. It has in the centre of the stamp a figure of Victory, round which is the inscription in two lines, beginning with the outer band:

OPVS DOL(_iare_) DE FIGVL(_inis_) PVBLINIANIS (_ex_) PREDIS AEMILIAES SEVERAES

“Pottery[2509] from the Publinian works, (the clay) from the estate of Aemilia Severa.”

The other has no device, but the last word of the inscription is in the centre:

IMP ANTONINO II E(_t_) BALBINO COS D P Q S P D O ARABI SER(_vi_)

“The Emperor Antoninus for the second time and Balbinus consuls; from the estates (_de praediis_) of Q. Servilius Pudens, pottery (_doliare opus_) from the hand of the slave Arabus.”

The earlier stamps exhibit more method and precision; the later betray comparative carelessness. In the latter the name of the emperor sometimes occurs alone, and unusual expressions are introduced. Contractions are invariable at all periods, and even the consuls are sometimes only mentioned by initials; but by comparison of examples it is possible to place them in the right order. Those found in Rome cover the period from the reign of Trajan to that of Theodoric (A.D. 500), but in other parts of Italy they are found dating as early as 50 B.C. We are told that Theodoric, when he repaired the walls of Rome, made a present of twenty-five thousand tiles for the purpose,[2510] and on the tiles bearing his name he is styled “The good and glorious king,” with the additional exclamation, “Happy is Rome!”[2511]

The estates on which the clay for the tiles was produced are called _possessiones_; _privata_ (private property); _rationes_ (shares); _insulae_ (blocks); or more generally, _praedia_. The latter word, indeed, is almost invariably used down to the third century, the others being more characteristic of the time of Diocletian. The _praedia_ not only provided the clay, but in some cases also contained the potteries. On some tiles _fundus_, which means a country farm, is found. The proprietors of these estates were imperial personages, persons of consular dignity or equestrian rank, and sometimes imperial freedmen. Many tiles give merely the name of the imperial estates, without mentioning the reigning emperor; in the later ones, as in the Basilica of Constantine, it is usual to find the expression OFF · AVGG ET CAES NN, _Officina Augustorum (duorum) et Caesarum (duorum) nostrorum_.[2512] Several names of the Antonines occur; also Annius Verus and his wife Domitia Lucilla, the parents of M. Aurelius. Septimius Severus owned many _praedia_ which supplied bricks for his palace on the Palatine.[2513] The Empress Plotina was evidently a large landed proprietor, and we also find the names of Aelius Caesar (Hadrian’s adopted heir), M. Aurelius, Faustina II., and Julia Procula. Among the names of inferior proprietors, unknown to fame, occur Q. Servilius Pudens, T. Statilius Severus, and L. Aemilius Julianus, priest of the sun and moon.[2514] Such names as Q. Agathyrsus, Rutilius Successus, and Sulpicius Servandus seem to denote imperial freedmen; the first-named styles himself AVG · LIB.[2515]

A remarkable fact in connection with these inscriptions is the prevalence of feminine names, the quantity of tiles on which these are found being enormous. The causes are various,—partly the renunciation by emperors of their private fortunes in favour of their female relations; partly the proscriptions which, from the failure of male heirs, caused estates to devolve upon women; partly the gradual extinction of great families. The important position held by freedmen under the Empire is well known to the student of Roman history.

The potteries of the tile-makers were of two kinds—_figlinae_ and _officinae_; but the former seems to be a wider and inclusive term—that is to say, that one _figlina_ included several _officinae_ or workshops. In the inscriptions, ex figlinis is usually followed by the name of the owner, _ex officinis_ by the name of the potter (_officinator_). The former expression is by far the commoner, and the latter (OF or OFFIC) is more usually found on lamps and vases, although after the third century it is invariable on the tiles. The _figlinae_ are always mentioned in a subordinate manner to the _praedia_, when both are mentioned, as is usually the case. The potteries were mostly outside the city, even at some distance. Localities are not often mentioned, but we have the Salarian potteries on the _Via Salaria_,[2516] and also mention of the _Via Nomentana_,[2517] and such expressions as _Ad Aureliam_, _Ad Mercurium felicem_, or _Ad viam triumphalem_. Stamps found in the walls along the Appian and Latin ways show that potteries existed in the direction of the Alban and Tusculan hills, and in other parts of Latium, as at Praeneste and Ostia. On the north side they extended as far as Narnia and Ocriculum[2518] on the Tiber. They are also found in Etruria and Campania. Tiles from Latium were exported to Liguria, the Adriatic, Sardinia, Africa, Gaul, and Spain.

Usually a descriptive epithet is associated with the word _figlinae_, either of a geographical or personal character. Examples of the former are Macedonianae, Rhodianae, and Oceanae. The latter give either the name of an emperor, as Neronianae, Domitianae; or a Gentile or family name, as Favorianae,[2519] Furianae, Publinianae, Terentianae, or Voconianae. One of the names which occurs most frequently is that of L. Brutidius Augustalis, a freedman; others are stamped EX FIGLINIS PRIMIGENI SERVI DNI NOSTRI IMP—“From the potteries of Primigenius, slave of our lord the Emperor.” Imperial slaves owned many potteries, and others were owned by the emperors or other wealthy proprietors, and administered by freedmen or slaves. The _officinae_ served to distinguish the functions of the different _figlinae_. Thus the establishment of M. Publicius Januarius, a freedman, is styled _doliariae officinae_; or they are distinguished by separate names, as Claudianae, Domitianae, and so on. The tiles from the potteries of Asinius Pollio bear the name of C. Cosconius as maker, as do those of Julia Procula’s potteries, being further distinguished as _doliares_, _bipedales_, and _sesquipedales_.[2520] It would appear that the potteries of private proprietors were under the direction of freedmen, while those of the imperial estates were chiefly managed by slaves, from whose labours large revenues were obtained.

There were many private potteries in Gaul and Germany.[2521] In the neighbourhood of Saarbrück many tiles have been found with the maker’s name, L. Valerius Labeius. Others with private names have been found at Trier, one with the stamp of the _colonia_. Several potters with Gaulish names are known, and probably FIDENATIS on a tile at Zulpich, SECVNDANVS F(_igulus_ or _fecit_) and PACATVS F from Seligenstadt, refer to craftsmen of that nationality.[2522] Often the master’s name only occurs, of which possible instances are BELLICIANVS on a tile from Caerwent, and PRIMV(_s_) on another from Colchester.[2523] In the British Museum are tiles with the initials T · P · F · A, T · P · F · C, T · P · F · P, from Rodmarton in Gloucestershire.[2524] Tiles found in the provinces also have the maker’s name simply, without indications of date or the owner of the pottery, as on those from Seligenstadt already cited. The makers must in all cases have been of inferior condition, as implied in the example already quoted of the slave Arabus (p. 354); and other names—Daedalus, Peculiaris, Primigenius, Zosimus—belong to the same rank of life. Yet the occurrence of a single name for a private individual is everywhere very common. On the other hand, imperial slaves usually have two names given, and freedmen three.[2525]

On the tiles of the freedmen of the Gens Domitia (dating about the reign of Hadrian) is frequently stamped the formula VALEAT QVI FECIT, “May he who made it prosper,” with the name of the representative of the family in the genitive.[2526] On other tiles we find such expressions as VTAMVR FELICES, “May we use it and be happy”[2527]; FORTVNA COLENDA, “Fortune is to be worshipped” (a second-century tile)[2528]; and on others of post-Diocletian date, VRBIS ROMAE, “The city of Rome”[2529]; SECVLO CONSTANTINIANO, “The age of Constantine”; FELIX ROMA (on the tiles of Theodoric), “Happy is Rome.”[2530] Even on sepulchral tiles of late Imperial times are stamped such aspirations as, VTI FELIX VIVAS, “May you live happily.”[2531]

Again, memoranda are found incised on the tiles, as on one at Hooldorn in Holland, KAL · IVNIS · QVARTVS LATERCLOS N(_umero_) CCXIIII, “Quartus (made) 214 tiles on the first of June”; and on another, found in Hesse in 1838, STRATVRA TERTIA LATERCVLI CAPITVLARES NVM · LEG · XXII, “In the third layer large tiles of the number of the twenty-second legion.”[2532] A tile found in Hungary had scratched upon it two metrical lines in cursive writing:

_Senem severum semper esse condecet_ _Bene debet esse povero_ (sc. _puero_) _qui discit bene_[2533];

and on others names such as Tertius, Kandidus, Verna, were incised.[2534] Idle boys in the brickfields often seem to have scratched the alphabet or other words in the soft clay, and complete Roman alphabets are found at Hooldorn[2535] and Stein on the Anger[2536]; the letters I K L M on one at Winchester[2537]; on another at Silchester is ... E PVELLAM.[2538] On a tile in the Guildhall Museum (Fig. 195), found in Warwick Square, E.C., are the words AVSTALIS | DIBVS · III | VAGATVRSIB | COTIDIM, of which no satisfactory translation has been given, but it has been usually regarded as the gibe of a fellow-workman at a devout individual.[2539] On another, now at Madrid, the first two lines of the _Aeneid_ are written in excellent cursive characters of the first century after Christ.[2540]

The Roman tiles, if rightly used, are found very useful for judging the dates of buildings. For instance, a study of those in the Pantheon showed that the walls were neither the original ones nor those built by Agrippa in 27 B.C., but were restored in the second century or supplied then with new brickwork. On the other hand, the stamps from the Flavian amphitheatre and Thermae Antoninianae confirm the dates of those buildings. Those tiles which bear the name M. Aurelius Antoninus as consul[2541] seem to be the Emperor Caracalla’s. In the time of Diocletian the dates cannot be definitely ascertained, but before his time the shape of the stamp is a good criterion. Rectangular stamps are found in the best period, and in the first century B.C. only one line of inscription is usual. Two lines denote the period 50–100 A.D. or later; semicircular or lunate forms came into use under Claudius, and lasted to the end of the first century; perfect circles belong to the same period. The type with the cut-out _orbiculus_ came in about Nero’s reign, and the size of the _orbiculus_ gradually diminishes down to that of Severus, while the inscriptions gradually increase in length.[2542]

A considerable number of the Roman tiles are inscribed with the names of the consuls of the current year in which they were made, presenting a long and interesting series, from the consulship of L. Licinius Sura and C. Sosius Senecio (A.D. 107) to that of Severus Alexander (A.D. 222). Many of these consulships do not, however, appear to have been recorded in the regular _fasti consulares_ or official lists, and they were probably _suffecti_, whose names were not recorded after their temporary elevation. It seems likely that the occurrence of consuls’ names implies that such tiles were destined for public buildings, and were so marked to prevent their being stolen with impunity. They are fewer in number than those which have merely the names of _praedia_ or potteries, but are yet sufficiently numerous to be an invaluable aid in tracing the succession for upwards of sixty years. Inscriptions of this class are only found on _opus doliare_, and chiefly in Italy. Their appearance is probably due to some law passed by the Senate about the reign of Trajan to regulate the potteries. As an example may be given a tile from Hooldorn in the Netherlands, inscribed SVB · DIDIO · IVLIANO · COSS[2543]; the date is A.D. 179, the name being that of the future emperor (COSS is a mistake for COS).

The following examples are taken from Dr. Dressel’s scheme of the chronological order of the stamps,[2544] and show the style of inscription characteristic of the different periods:

I. First century after Christ.

1. (_a_) With name of master only (either of _praedia_ or _figlinae_):

_Asini Pollionis._

(_b_) With name of _officinator_ or potter:

_C. Cosconi._

2. (_a_) Master and potter (often a slave):

_Felicis Domiti Afri._

(_b_) Master and _conductor_ (lessee of the pottery), or potter:

_Tegula C. Cosconi, figuli Asini Pollionis._

3. (_a_) Master, potter, and name of pottery:

_Amoeni duorum Domitiorum Lucani et Tulli, ex figlinis Caninianis._

(_b_) Master, lessee or potter, name of pottery:

_T. Grei Ianuari ex figlinis Caninianis duorum Domitiorum._

II. Second century to third century.

1. (_a_) _Ex praedis L. Memmi Rufi._

(_b_) _Opus doliare L. Bruttidi Augustalis._

_L. Lurius Martialis fecit._

2. (_a_) _Ex figlinis_ (vel _praedis_) _Domitiae Lucillae, opus doliare Terti Domitiae Lucillae_ (vel _ab Tertio servo_).

(_b_) _C. Comini Proculi ex praedis Domitiae Lucillae._

_Ex figlinis Q. Asini Marcelli doliare opus fecit C. Nunnidius Fortunatus._

_Opus doliare ex praedis domini n(ostri) ex conductione Publiciaes Quintinae._

3. (_a_) _Ex figlinis_ (vel _praedis_) _Caepionianis Plotiae Isauricae, fornace Peculiaris servi._

(_b_) _Opus doliare ex praedis duorum Augustorum nostrorum, figlinis Domitianis minoribus, Fulvi Primitivi._

During the greater part of the third century chronological indications are absent, but about the time of Diocletian the practice of signatures is revived. The inscriptions, however, differ now from the earlier ones, not only in the forms of the letters and of the stamp, but also in style; they are less regular in form, and present several peculiarities. The expressions _opus doliare_ and _ex figlinis_ are now no longer found, and in place of the latter _officina_ is invariable. Many of the _officinae_ are the same as in the former period, but new ones, such as the Britannica, Claudia, Gemella, and Jobia, occur, the latter with the _cognomen_ Diocletiana. _Officina_ is sometimes used twice over, for the pottery and for the workshop. In place of _praedia_ we have such expressions as _statio_, _rationes_, or _possessiones_. Formulae are introduced in an abbreviated form which give the method of administration or character of the estates: as R · S · P, _ratio summae patrimonii or privatae_; S · P · C, _stationis patrimonii Caesaris_; S · R for _summae rei or stationis Romanae_; S · P for _summae privatae_ or _stationis patrimonii_; S · R · F for _sacrae rationis fisci_; or simply S for _stationis_ or _summarum_.[2545] Apparently several _stationes_ might be united in one _officina_, or several _officinae_ in one _administratio_; the number of the _statio_ is given in some instances. The name of the _statio_ may be replaced by that of the potter; or merely the _administratio_ is given, as OFF · PRIVATA. Besides the names of master, lessee, and potter, that of the _negotiator_ is sometimes mentioned. We also find the _portus_ or depôt in which the _tegulae_ were stored for distribution, as PORTU LICINI,[2546] or the name of the building for which they were destined, as PORTVS AVGVSTI,[2547] CASTRIS PRAETORI(_s_) AVG(_usti_) N(_ostri_), HORREIS POSTVMIANIS.[2548] Some tiles dug up in Lambeth Hill, London, on the site of the Post Office, now in the British and Guildhall Museums,[2549] were impressed with the letters P · P · BR · LON or PR · BR · LON (Fig. 196), which have been interpreted as _publicani provinciae Britanniae Londinienses_.[2550]

Tiles made for military purposes are exceedingly common in the later period, and the stamps probably had a double use. In the first place, they show that they were made by the soldiers, from which we learn that in the legions, as in a modern army, there were many men acquainted with handicrafts. Secondly, they prevented theft or removal of the tiles, and served as a “broad arrow” to denote public property. They are not, of course, found in Rome, where there was no necessity for the legions to make bricks or tiles; here the camp seems to have been supplied by private individuals.

Of special interest are the inscriptions stamped on tiles which relate to the military divisions stationed throughout the provinces of the vast empire. These are found in soldiers’ graves (see above, p. 351), as well as in their camps and quarters; they contain the names and titles of the legions, and mark the extent of Roman conquest. Thus the route of the thirty legions through Germany has been traced; and in Britain an examination and comparison of such tiles shows the distribution of military force and the migrations of different legions from one quarter to another. The stamps are in the form of long labels (_tesserae_), circles, or crescents, occasionally surrounded by a wreath, or else in the shape of a foot, an ivy-leaf, or a vase; the letters are in relief, sharply impressed, as if from a metal die. The names and titles of the legions are given either in initials or in contractions, as LEG · II · P(_arthicae_), and so on (see above, p. 351); sometimes the potter’s name is added, with FIGVLVS or FECIT.[2551]

The tiles of the first legion have been found at Mainz and Nimeguen; those of the second, or Parthian, at Darmstadt, Ems, Hooldorn, Caerleon, and the Lake of Nemi[2552]; of the third, in Scotland; of the fourth, at Mainz; of the fifth, in Scotland, and at Baden, Cleves, Xanten, and Nimeguen; of the sixth, at Nimeguen, Neuss, Aix-la-Chapelle, Darmstadt, and Windisch; the seventh, at Aix-la-Chapelle and Xanten; the eighth, at Mainz, Baden, and elsewhere; the ninth, at Baden and York; the tenth, at Nimeguen, Hooldorn, Vienna, and Jerusalem; the twentieth, at Chester[2553]; and so on down to the thirtieth.[2554] At Bonn tiles have been found of the _Legio Cisrhenana_ on the left bank of the Rhine, and of the _Legio Transrhenana_ on the right bank. Cohorts have also left their names on tiles: the second Asturian at Acsica on the Roman Wall[2555]; the fourth (_Breucorum_), at Huddersfield[2556]; the fourth Vindelician, at Frankfurt, Mainz, and Wiesbaden[2557]; the Ulpian Pannonian at Buda-Pesth.[2558] The _vexillationes_, whose main body was at Nimeguen, are similarly recorded; a British _vexillatio_ was attached to the army at Hooldorn[2559] and Nismes, and another to that of Lower Germany, as instanced by tiles inscribed VEX · EX · G · INF (_vexillatio exercitus Germaniae inferioris_), found at Utrecht and Nimeguen in the Netherlands, and at Xanten in Germany.[2560] Tiles of the British fleet, CL(_assis_) BR(_itannica_), have been found at Boulogne, Lympne, and Dover.[2561]

2. TERRACOTTA MURAL RELIEFS

Terracotta =mural decoration= was largely employed by the Romans for the interior and exterior of their buildings, in the form of slabs, ornamented with reliefs, which were placed round the impluvium or on the walls. Sometimes they seem to have formed a sort of hanging “curtain” round the lower edge of the cornice, as the open-work patterns along the edges seem to imply, a method of decoration which we have already met with at Civita Lavinia (Vol. I. p. 101), where also the hanging slabs are bordered with patterns in outline or open-work. But, as also at Civita Lavinia, these slabs seem to have been frequently used as _antepagmenta_,[2562] being pierced with holes, which imply that they were nailed against the walls. In the Casa dei Cecilii at Tusculum there is evidence that they were used as wall-friezes,[2563] and those found at Pompeii (where they are very rare) also have holes for fastening to walls. It may be to the first-named variety that Festus refers when he speaks of _antefixa_ of fictile work which are affixed to the walls underneath the gutters.[2564] There is also a reference to them in Cicero, who, in writing to Atticus, says, “I entrust to you the bas-reliefs (_typos_) which I shall insert in the cornice of my little atrium.”[2565]

The slabs are usually about 18 inches long by 9 or more high, and 1 to 2 inches thick; they have nearly all been found at Rome, but specimens are also known from Civita Lavinia, Cervetri, Nemi, Pompeii, and Atri in Picenum.[2566] The British Museum possesses a very fine series, numbering, with fragments, one hundred and sixty, nearly all of which were collected by Mr. Charles Towneley at Rome[2567]; and there is an equally fine collection in the Louvre, which came from Signor Campana, who devoted a large work to the illustration of them.[2568] Other good examples, some of which were found in the Baths of Caracalla, are in the various collections at Rome.[2569]

The reliefs were evidently cast in moulds, as many subjects are repeated over and over again, or at least with only slight differences; moreover, the relief is low, with sharp and definite outlines, such as a mould would produce. Among the British Museum examples a group of Eros, a Satyr, and a Maenad is repeated in three cases (D 520-522), with no variations except in the colouring; another of Dionysos and Satyr three times (D 528-530), with only one small variation. It is evident that in the latter, as in some other cases, the relief had been retouched before baking. Reliefs entirely modelled are of much rarer occurrence, but exhibit considerable artistic feeling and freedom, as in an instance in the British Museum (D 651), which represents the sleeping Endymion; the hair is so fine and deeply cut that it could not possibly have been produced from a mould. The moulds may have been made of various materials—wood, stone, metal, or gypsum, as well as terracotta. Circular holes are left in the slabs for the plugs—usually of lead—by which they were attached to the woodwork or masonry. The clay varies in quality and appearance, being often coarser than that of Greek reliefs, and mixed with coarse sand in order to make it stronger and more durable; in tone it varies from a pale buff to dark reddish-brown. Traces of colouring are often found on the slabs,[2570] and the background in some cases (as B.M. D 577, 623) was coloured a bright blue; the figures, or more often details such as hair, etc., were usually painted red, yellow, purple, or white. These colours are not fired, as in the earlier terracotta reliefs, but painted in _tempera_, and their use is entirely conventional. The slabs are ornamented above and below with bands or cornices in the form of egg-and-tongue mouldings, or a system of palmettes and intersecting arches; these are sometimes in low relief on a band, sometimes partly in outline or open-work.

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PLATE LXI

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The figures are mostly in low relief, being usually grouped with large flat surfaces between, in the manner of Hellenistic art; in some cases the design is composed in such a way that the whole surface (except the principal figures) is occupied by patterns of scroll-work or foliage, more or less conventional. The compositions are either in the form of narrow friezes, usually with rows of busts or figures of Cupids, or square metope-like groups with two or three figures on a large scale. For the narrower slabs the busts were preferred, owing to the scope they gave for high relief, which better suited the distance from the eye; but this rule is not invariable. The style is, in general, bold and vigorous, and, though essentially architectural, not devoid of dignity and beauty; but it is somewhat conventional, and at times even archaistic.[2571] Those found at Pompeii are usually of remarkably good style, especially the Nereid frieze,[2572] with its rich colouring. These are earlier than the earthquake of A.D. 63, and probably belong to the Augustan period, to which also the majority may be assigned. On one or two names of potters are found, such as Annia Arescusa(na) and M. Antonius Epaphras in the British Museum.[2573]

The subjects on these reliefs cover a very wide field, almost as wide as those on the painted vases, and quite as wide as those on the Roman lamps. In many cases they are doubtless copies of well-known works of art, and may even go back to prototypes of the fifth century, as in the case of a figure of a girl in the British Museum (D 648), or one of Eros, conceived as a full-grown youth, in the Campana collection.[2574] Others, again, present points of comparison with the Hellenistic reliefs, as is the case with that representing the visit of Dionysos to a mortal (B.M. D 531). Lastly, we find in the reliefs, as also on the Arretine vases (below, p. 492), a series of types closely related to the New Attic reliefs, in which it was sought to revive an older style[2575]; among the types borrowed from these originals are Maenads in frenzy or dancing in various attitudes,[2576] and the figures of the four Seasons.[2577] Among those which reflect the character of their time rather than the spirit of Greek art, we have representations of Egyptian landscapes, or Egyptian deities and emblems; scenes from the circus or gladiatorial arena; and quasi-historical subjects, such as triumphs over barbarian enemies. Of mythological subjects, the most popular are Dionysiac scenes or groups; next to these, Apollo, Aphrodite, Eros, and Victory. Heroic legend is represented by the labours of Theseus, Herakles, Perseus, and Jason, and occasional scenes from the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. Lastly, there are a certain number which are purely decorative, with a single figure of Eros or Victory (treated in archaistic fashion), or an ideal head surrounded by elaborate and graceful scrolls or acanthus foliage; others, again, have conventional groups of two priestesses or canephori, with a candelabrum or a foliated pattern between (Plate LXII.), a mask between two Cupids, and so on. Even the figures in some cases tail off into conventional patterns.[2578]

To mention a few of the more interesting subjects in detail, it may suffice to quote examples from the two best-known collections—those of the British Museum and Louvre. Beginning with the Olympian deities, we have the infant Zeus in the cave on Mount Ida, protected by the Curetes, who dance above him, wielding swords and shields (Plate LXI.); in one instance he is in his nurse’s arms.[2579] On a narrow frieze the busts of Zeus, Ares, Hera, and Athena are represented[2580]; Apollo receives a libation from Victory,[2581] or a warrior consults his oracle, indicated by a bird in a cage[2582]; Aphrodite is seen riding on a sea-horse or on a goose.[2583] Eros or Cupid appears in various attitudes and combinations of figures: flying, embracing Psyche, or being embraced by a Satyr; accompanying Aphrodite, Triton, and the Nereids; a pair on either side of a mask of Triton or Medusa; or a group of three struggling under the weight of a heavy garland of fruit and flowers.[2584] Busts or masks of Demeter,[2585] Zeus Ammon, and Triton are also found; a group of Aphrodite and Peitho; and the three Eleusinian deities, Demeter, Persephone, and Iacchos.[2586]

The Dionysiac scenes are very frequent, though often of little interest, and mere groups without definite action. The best known is the reception of Dionysos in the house of a mortal,[2587] a subject formerly interpreted as his reception by Ikarios at Athens (cf. p. 139); this type is remarkable for its rich and elaborate composition, probably derived from a Hellenistic original. A very effective composition is that of a dancing Satyr and Maenad swinging the infant Dionysos in a λίκνον (_vannus_) or winnowing-van, which serves as his cradle (Plate LXII.).[2588] Among other scenes may be mentioned Dionysos giving drink to a panther; two Satyrs standing on tiptoe to peep into a laver; Satyrs gathering or pressing grapes (of which many replicas exist), or working an oil-press; Ampelos (the personified vine) between two Satyrs[2589]; Bacchic processions, sacrifices, or ceremonies[2590]; and friezes of Bacchic masks and masks of Pan.[2591]

Among other deities Victory is by far the most common. She is usually represented slaying a bull for sacrifice, a subject of which there are two principal varieties, according as she turns to right or left. The motive is a well-known one, and found in fifth- and fourth-century art, from the balustrade of the Nike temple at Athens onwards.[2592] She is also depicted flying with a wreath, or as a conventional archaistic figure between tendrils and scrolls.[2593] Of the figures of the Seasons we have already spoken; they are characterised by the attributes they carry, as a kid for Spring, corn for Summer, fruit for Autumn, and a hare and boar for Winter. Masks of Medusa, Sirens, and Sphinxes (both male and female) are found in compositions of a decorative character.

Of heroic legends, the rape of the Leukippidae by Castor and Pollux is repeated more than once[2594]; Herakles is seen contending with the Nemean lion, the hydra, and the Cretan bull, and with Apollo for the Delphic tripod[2595]; Theseus raises the rock which discloses his father’s weapons (Plate LXI.), contends with the Marathonian bull, or overcomes a Centaur; Jason builds the Argo, superintended by Athena, and, assisted by Medeia, obtains the golden fleece; Perseus rescues Andromeda, and brings the Medusa’s head to Athena; Aktaeon is slain by his hounds.[2596] The Homeric scenes include Paris carrying off Helen from Sparta (or, as some interpret it, Pelops with Hippodameia); Nestor healing the wounded Machaon with a potion[2597]; Priam bringing offerings to Achilles; Penelope mourning for the absent Odysseus; Odysseus recognised by Eurykleia; and Orestes on the Delphic omphalos.[2598] There are also numerous semi-mythical scenes, such as combats between Amazons and Gryphons, between Amazons and Greeks, or between Arimaspi and Gryphons.[2599]

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PLATE LXII

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With the exception of the Roman subjects from the circus and arena, the remaining subjects are purely decorative, and of little interest; the former, some of which have reference to the conquest of Dacia, admit of the dating of the reliefs in the reign of Trajan. Others depict gladiators contending with lions; chariots racing in the circus, which is indicated by the obelisks and other adornments of the _spina_; or colonnades adorned with statues of boxers and victorious athletes.[2600] Some of the Egyptian subjects are interesting for their local colouring, with their representations of the Nile, on which pygmies ply a boat, among hippopotami, crocodiles, and lotos-flowers, and ibises[2601]; but these compositions are more curious than artistically effective.

II. SCULPTURE

1. ROMAN STATUES AND STATUETTES

In the earlier ages of Rome the laws and institutions, based without doubt on the sentiments of the people, were unfavourable to art. Numa was said to have prohibited the representation of the deity in human form,[2602] and the statues of great men were not allowed to exceed three Roman feet. To women the privilege of having statues was not conceded until much later. Pliny constantly compares the luxury of his own day with the simplicity of early times, to the disadvantage of the former, dwelling fondly on the times when men could be content with plain terracotta images, and it was not necessary or possible to make a display of silver and gold.

Most of the ancient statues of the Romans were of terracotta, a fact to which constant allusion is made by their writers. Juvenal speaks of “a fictile Jove, not spoiled by gold”[2603] and Propertius speaks of the early days of the golden temples, when their gods were only of clay.[2604] Similarly Pliny expresses his surprise that, since statuary in Italy goes back to such a remote period, statues of clay should even in his day still be preferred in the temples.[2605] Vitruvius alludes to the favourite Tuscan fashion of ornamenting pediments with _signa fictilia_,[2606] examples of which, he says, may be seen in the temple of Ceres in the Circus Maximus (see below), and the temple of Hercules at Pompeii. Cicero speaks of a statue of Summanus on the pediment of the Capitoline temple “which at that time was of terracotta,”[2607] and Livy[2608] tells how in 211 B.C. a figure of Victory on the apex of the pediment of the temple of Concord was struck by lightning and fell, but was caught on the antefixal ornaments, also figures of Victory, and there stuck fast. Though not stated to be of terracotta, these figures would hardly be of any other material at that period. Other allusions may be found in Ovid and Seneca.[2609]

In the early days of the Republic art was clearly at a very low ebb—in fact, Roman art can hardly be said to have existed—and everything was either borrowed from the Etruscans or imported from Greece. Hence the statues of terracotta which adorned their temples are spoken of as _signa Tuscanica_. The most celebrated works in ancient Rome were made by artists of Veii or the Volscian Fregellae, such as the famous quadriga on the pediment of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and the statue of the god himself, described elsewhere (p. 314), which were made by Veientine artists in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. Numa, ever attentive to Roman arts and institutions, is said to have founded a corporation or guild of potters.[2610] In 493 B.C. Gorgasos and Damophilos, natives of Himera in Sicily, ornamented with terracotta reliefs and figures the temple of Ceres at Rome (now Santa Maria in Cosmedin).[2611] Their work, which is alluded to by Vitruvius in the passage referred to above, was probably Greek rather than Etruscan in style, as we have seen to be the case generally with the archaic terracotta relief-work of Italy (p. 317). In the reign of Augustus the temple was restored, and so great was the esteem in which the works of these old masters were held that they were taken out of the walls and framed in wood.

Coming down to later times, Possis, “who made fruit and bunches of grapes,” and Arkesilaos are cited by Pliny,[2612] on the authority of Varro, as modellers in clay. The latter made for Julius Caesar a statue of Venus, which, although unfinished, was highly prized. Pliny also mentions a terracotta figure of _Felicitas_ made by order of Lucullus.[2613] It seems probable that the extensive use of terracotta was mainly due to the absence of white marble in Italy, none being discovered till imperial times. The siege of Corinth, which unfolded to the eyes of the Romans an entirely new school of art in the quantities of Greek masterpieces carried by Mummius to Rome, as also the conquest of Magna Graecia and other parts of Greece, caused the old fashion of sculpture in terracotta to fall into contempt and neglect. Henceforth the temples of the gods and houses of the nobility became enriched and beautified with the spoils of Greek art in all materials. Even at an earlier period (195 B.C.) Cato in vain protested against the invading flood of luxury, and especially against the new taste in sculpture. “Hateful, believe me,” says he, “are the statues brought from Syracuse into this city. Already do I hear too many who praise and admire the ornaments of Corinth and Athens, and deride the terracotta antefixes of the Roman gods. For my part I prefer these propitious gods, and hope they will continue to be so, if we allow them to remain in their places.”[2614] Yet up to the close of the Republic, and even later, great works continued to be executed in terracotta, and were much esteemed.[2615] The statue made for Lucullus is an instance, and existing statues in this material, which we shall shortly discuss, are probably of early Imperial date.

Few statues of any size in this material have escaped the ravages of time, but there are some specimens to be seen in our museums. In the Vatican is a figure of Mercury about life-size,[2616] and in the British Museum a colossal torso,[2617] to which the head and limbs had been mortised separately. A head of a youth from a large statue, found on the Esquiline, was exhibited in 1888 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club.[2618] A series of female figures, including a seated Athena, ranging from two to four feet in height, was found in a well near the Porta Latina at Rome in 1767.[2619] They were purchased by the sculptor Nollekens, who restored them and sold them to Mr. Towneley, from whom they were acquired for the British Museum. They are made of the same clay as the mural reliefs already described, and are supposed to have decorated a garden. Some of them have been identified, on somewhat slight authority, as the Muses Ourania, Calliope, and Thaleia; there are also two terminal busts of the bearded Indian Bacchus, which show some traces of conventional archaism in their style. Other large figures have been found at Nemi and Ardea in Latium, the latter being now in the Louvre.[2620]

At Pompeii in 1766 three pieces of colossal sculpture in terracotta were found in the temple of Aesculapius, representing a male and female deity and a bust of Minerva with her shield. The two former used to be identified as Aesculapius and Hygieia, but it is more probable that they are Jupiter and Juno, making, with the bust, the triad of Capitoline deities,[2621] a subject found on lamps at Pompeii. The execution is careful, and they seem to date from the latter half of the first century B.C. They formed the cult-statues of the temple. Other statues appear to have been employed for adorning gardens, or for niches in private houses, among which are a portrait of a seated physician of great originality,[2622] a nude boy, and two actors.[2623] A figure of Eros appears to have been attached to a wall as an ornament[2624]; a fragment of a colossal Minerva found in a niche near the Porta Marina is an excellent example of sculpture of the first century B.C. Figures were also employed as architectural members, such as the Atlantes supporting the entablature in the _tepidarium_ of the Thermae in the Forum,[2625] dating from the Augustan period; the former seem to be copied from originals in tufa. Of later date is a Caryatid figure, probably of the Neronian epoch.[2626] These sculptures are all of great importance for the history of art at the end of the first century B.C., and as showing the continued popularity of terracotta; the fashion, however, did not outlive the reign of Nero, and all those in Pompeii must be anterior to the earthquake of A.D. 63.

Sculptors sometimes made preliminary models in clay of the statues which they intended to execute in bronze and marble. This was not a common practice with the Greeks, and the first sculptor who made use of it, according to Pliny,[2627] was Lysistratos, the brother of Lysippos. But at Rome in the time of Augustus it became much more frequent; Pasiteles is said by Pliny[2628] never to have made a statue except in this manner. These models, known as _proplasmata_, were much sought after, as exhibiting the artist’s style and powers of conception in the most free and unfettered manner, and those of Arkesilaos, another artist of the period, fetched a high price.[2629]

* * * * *

=Terracotta statuettes=, similar in proportions and subjects to those of Greece, are found in houses and tombs of the Roman period, and also as votive objects on sacred sites. They were known to the Romans as _sigilla_, and were employed as toys and presents, or placed in the _lararia_ or domestic shrines; the same subjects are found applied to all these uses. Thus in the _lararia_ were placed not only figures of deities, such as Venus, Mercury, or Bacchus, but masks, busts of children, and so on.[2630] Sometimes they served to decorate the walls, as in the house of Julia Felix at Pompeii, where in the wall surrounding the garden were eighteen niches, containing alternately marble terms and terracotta figures, one of the latter representing a woman feeding a prisoner with her own milk.[2631] In the Via Holconia forty-three terracotta figures from a workshop were found, showing that there was a local manufacture at Pompeii; the types were the same as in the houses.[2632] It is noteworthy that the terracottas, of which some two hundred have been found, were nearly all from the lower parts of the city and the inferior houses, or in the domestic quarters of the large houses. This implies that the richer Romans preferred bronze statuettes for their shrines and household decoration. Comparatively few were found in tombs.

A few notices relating to terracotta figures are found in Roman authors. Martial speaks of a statuette of Hercules, which he calls _sigillum_[2633]; he also alludes to a caricature of a man which was so repulsive that Prometheus could only have made it when intoxicated at the Saturnalia, and to a grotesque mask of a Batavian.[2634] In another epigram he refers to the imitation of a well-known statue of a boy in terracotta.[2635] Persius speaks of clay dolls (_pupae_) dedicated by a maiden to Venus,[2636] and Achilles Tatius of clay figures of Marsyas made by _coroplathi_.[2637] Elagabalus, by way of a jest, used to place viands made of earthenware before his parasitical guests, and force them to enjoy a Barmecide feast.[2638]

There is also an interesting passage in the _Satires_ of Macrobius relating to the festival of the Sigillaria,[2639] at which large numbers of terracotta masks and figures were in demand. This festival took place on the twelfth to the tenth days before the Kalends of January, forming the fifth to seventh days of the Saturnalia, and corresponding to the 21st to 23rd of December. Ausonius says that the festival was so named from the _sigilla_ or figurines,[2640] and Macrobius more explicitly states that it was added to the Saturnalia to extend the religious festival and time of public relaxation.[2641] Subsequently he diverges into an excursus on the origin of the feast, more curious than convincing. Epicadus is quoted by him as referring it to the story of Hercules on his return from slaying Geryon, when he threw into the river from the Pons Sublicius images of men which represented his lost travelling-companions, in order that they might be carried by the sea to their native shores.[2642] His own view is that they represent expiatory offerings (_piacula_) to Saturn, each man offering an _oscillum_ or mask on his own behalf in the chapel of that god. Hence, he says, _sigilla_ were made by the potter and put on sale at the Saturnalia.[2643] Elsewhere he states that clay _oscilla_ were given to children as playthings at this season even before they had learned to walk.[2644] The festival was indulged in by all classes of society, who vied in making presents of statuettes and figures to one another[2645]; and we are told that Hadrian exchanged gifts with others, and even sent them to those who did not expect to receive them.[2646] Similarly, Caracalla, when a child, gave to his tutors and clients, as a mark of condescension, those which he had received from his parents.[2647]

From the use of this word _sigilla_ (a diminutive of _signum_), for terracotta figures, the makers came to be known as _sigillarii_, or _figuli sigillatores_,[2648] and a street in which they lived was known as the _Via Sigillaria_.[2649] There was also a market for the sale of _sigilla_ for the feast near the Pantheon.[2650] Although the names of makers are constantly found on Roman lamps and pottery, as well as the tiles, they are very seldom found on statuettes, with the exception mentioned below of those found in Gaul. But the name of Q. Velius Primus, in a sort of mixture of Greek and Latin, is found in raised letters on a mask of a Satyr in the British Museum (D 177 = Fig. 197), and other names are occasionally found on the moulds. The social condition of the Roman potter seems to have been much lower than that of the Greek, who was often a person of respectable position; but this may be partly due to the fact that his _clientèle_ was drawn mainly from the poorer classes. He was generally a slave, sometimes a barbarian, and even the masters of the potteries were only freedmen. As we saw in the case of the tile-makers, the potters often worked on the estates of wealthy or influential people, from which their clay was obtained. More details of Roman potters will be found in the sections dealing with tiles and lamps.

On the technical aspect of Roman terracotta figures little need be said. The processes were practically the same as those described in