British Museum.

DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES.

A Guide

TO THE EXHIBITION SHOWING

ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN LIFE.

2nd Edition.

WITH A FRONTISPIECE AND TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES.

1920.

In this Exhibition an attempt has been made to bring together a number of miscellaneous antiquities which formed a part of the collections of the Department, in such a method as illustrates the purpose for which they were intended, rather than their artistic quality, their material, or their place in the evolution of craft or design.

Such a series falls naturally into groups, and it has been found convenient to treat these groups in accordance with a general scheme, the illustration of the public and private life of the Greeks and Romans.

The materials forming the basis of this scheme are, primarily, objects which already formed part of the Museum collections: for this reason it has not been possible always to preserve that proportion in the relation of the sections to the whole which would have been studied if the objects had been selected for acquisition with this purpose in view. Further, it is necessary to warn visitors that they must not expect to find the subject in any sense exhaustively treated here: the complete illustration of every detail of ancient life would be impossible for any museum as at present constituted. All that can here be done is to shape the available material into a system which may at least present a fairly intelligible, if limited, view of ancient life. Several new acquisitions, made since the appearance of the first edition of this Guide, have strengthened the exhibition in directions in which it was deficient, and it is hoped that this process will be continued. Meanwhile, some of the gaps have been filled by [pg vi] means of casts and reproductions of objects belonging to other categories in this Museum, or preserved elsewhere.

The preparation of the first edition of this Guide (1908) was entrusted to different members of the Departmental Staff. Mr. Yeames prepared a great deal of the necessary preliminary work: Mr. Walters wrote the sections on Athletics, the Circus, Gladiators, and Agriculture: Mr. Forsdyke those on Coins, Arms and Armour, Dress and the Toilet. The remaining sections were mainly the work of Mr. Marshall.

In the present edition the section on Arms and Armour has been re-written by Mr. Forsdyke, and the remainder has been mainly revised by myself. The proofs have been read by Mr. Walters and Mr. Forsdyke.

A. H. Smith.

British Museum,

March, 1920.

[pg vii]

[pg 1]

The exhibition is arranged in the central rectangle of what was formerly the Etruscan Saloon; it includes Wall-Cases 25-64, 94-119, and Table-Cases E-K. The subject naturally divides itself into the two chief headings of public and domestic institutions, and each of these occupies one half of the room. On the West side are grouped the sections relating mainly to Public Life, on the East those of Private Life: of the former, the section illustrating the monetary system of the ancients and its development naturally leads up to the Department of Coins and Medals. For the general scheme of the exhibition, reference should be made to the Table of Contents.

A section of Table-Case K contains a series of inscriptions which illustrate various sides of Greek and Roman political life.

It must be borne in mind that the Greek state was generally of very small dimensions. As a rule all life was centred within a city, which had but a moderate extent of outlying country. Aristotle describes the perfect city or state (the words are interchangeable) as the union of several villages, supplying all that is necessary for independent life.¹ Greece, though small in area, was [pg 2] thus divided up into a large number of states, whose interests were constantly in conflict. It thus came about that it was provided with systems of treaties, arbitrations, and consular representation such as marked a fully developed international system.

Treaties.—The bronze tablet No. 1 dates probably from the second half of the sixth century B.C., at a time when the Eleians and Heraeans of Arcadia were still dwelling in villages, and were not yet united each into a single city. It is written in the Aeolic dialect of Elis, and records a treaty between the two peoples named. There was to be a close alliance between them in respect of all matters of common interest, whether of peace or war. Any breach of the treaty, or any damage to the inscription recording the treaty, would involve a fine of a talent of silver to be paid by the offender to Olympian Zeus, the supreme Greek deity. The tablet was brought from Olympia by Sir William Gell in 1813.

No. 2 is a cast of a similar treaty between the communities of the Anaiti and Matapii, for a fifty years' friendship. In case of a breach of the treaty the priests at Olympia have arbitrators' powers.

No. 3 (fig. 1) is a bronze tablet, with a ring at one end for suspension, recording a treaty made between the cities of Chaleion and Oeantheia on the Gulf of Corinth. It is in the Lokrian dialect, and can be dated to about 440 B.C. The main object of the treaty was to regulate the practice of reprisals [pg 3] between the citizens of the respective towns, and, in particular, to prevent injury to foreign merchants visiting either port. There are also provisions for ensuring a fair trial to aliens. The tablet was found at Oeantheia (Galaxidi), and was formerly in the Woodhouse collection.

Colonization.—This was a feature of peculiar importance in Greek life. In the course of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. numerous colonists had left their homes on the mainland of Greece or on the coast of Asia Minor, and had settled principally in Southern Italy and Sicily, or round the shores of the Black Sea. The reasons for such emigration were sometimes political, but more often commercial. Between the mother-city and the colony relations of an intimate character were almost invariably maintained. Representatives from either city attended the more important festivals held in the other town, and the daughter-city not infrequently sought the advice of the mother-city in times of difficulty and danger. The inscription on the bronze tablet No. 4 illustrates the way in which colonists left one Greek state to settle in another comparatively near at hand, and also shows the relations existing between the colonists and the mother-state. At a date probably previous to 455 B.C. colonists from the Opuntian or Eastern Lokrians (inhabiting a district lying opposite to the island of Euboea) left their homes to settle in Naupaktos, a town situated on the narrowest part of the Gulf of Corinth, in the territory of the Western Lokrians. The question arose as to how far the colonists were to remain in connection with the mother-country. The tablet shows that the settlers had the privilege of enjoying full social and religious rights on revisiting their native city, although during their absence they were exempt from paying taxes to it. Under certain conditions they might resume their residence in the mother-state without fee, and they also had a right to inherit property left by a near relative in that state. Other provisions deal with judicial arrangements affecting the new settlers.

Proxenia.—Just as modern states appoint consuls in foreign countries in order that the interests of their citizens abroad may be protected, so the various Greek cities appointed their representatives in different foreign states. These representatives were chosen from the citizens of the town in which they acted, and their appointment was regarded as a special honour, carrying with it substantial privileges. The main functions of the proxeni were those of dispensing hospitality to travellers and assisting them in [pg 4] cases of difficulty, and of receiving ambassadors arriving from the state which they represented. They were also expected generally to further that state's commercial interests.

Two bronze tablets recording decrees of proxenia, passed by the people of Corcyra, are here exhibited. No. 5 (fig. 2), probably of the end of the fourth century B.C., records the grant of proxenia to Dionysios, son of Phrynichos, an Athenian.² It mentions the date, the appointment, and the right of possessing land and house property in Corcyra, the last evidently a reward granted to the proxenos for his services. No. 6 (fig. 3), of about 200 B.C., is a [pg 5] grant of proxenia to Pausanias, son of Attalos, a citizen of Ambrakia.³ He is accorded the usual honours, and the Treasurer is directed to provide the money for the engraving of the decree on bronze. Both these tablets were found in Corfu, the modern name of the ancient Corcyra. The persons appointed acted, of course, in Athens and Ambrakia respectively.

Law-courts at Athens.—One of the most striking features of democratic Athens was its elaborate machinery for the administration of justice. The system of popular control began in the [pg 6] fifth century B.C., and reached its full development in the fourth. For petty offences the various magistrates had the power of inflicting a small fine, but graver charges were usually decided by a jury court. Those who composed these jury courts were called dikastae. They were chosen at first up to the number of six thousand from the entire body of citizens over thirty years of age, but later on apparently any citizen over thirty years of age was a qualified juryman. From the time of Perikles each juryman received three obols (about 5d.) a day for his services. The whole body of jurymen was divided into ten sections, each of which was distinguished by one of the first ten letters of the Greek alphabet (A to K). Each dikast received a ticket (πινάκιον), at first of bronze, but in Aristotle's day of boxwood, inscribed with his name, his parish, and the number of his section. In Aristotle's day the father's name was always given as well.⁴ Four of these dikasts' tickets (in bronze) are exhibited in this case, together with a fragment of a fifth. Upwards of eighty are known, all apparently belonging to the fourth century B.C. The tickets shown are:

No. 7, which belonged to Deinias of Halae, of the third section (Γ). The ticket is stamped with the Athenian symbol of an owl within an olive wreath, two owls with one head, and a Gorgoneion.

No. 8, belonging to Archilochos of Phaleron, of the fifth section (Ε).

No. 9, belonging to Aristophon, son of Aristodemos, of Kothokidae. His was the third section (Γ).

No. 10, the ticket of Thukydides of Upper Lamptrae (fig. 4). He belonged to the sixth section (). The ticket bears the symbols of an owl within an olive wreath, and a Gorgoneion.

[pg 7]

The lowest fragment is part of a ticket belonging to Philochares of Acharnae of the fifth section.

Ostracism.—This was a peculiar device adopted by Greek city-states for getting temporary relief from the influence of prominent citizens, whose presence was for the time being considered undesirable. At Athens ostracism was introduced by the statesman Kleisthenes about 508 B.C. The method of effecting it was as follows. The popular assembly (Ekklesia) first decided whether they desired that ostracism should be carried out. If they considered it expedient, they met and recorded their vote. The name of the person they most wished to get rid of was written on a potsherd (ostrakon), and if six thousand votes were recorded against any one name, that man had to go into banishment for ten years. In Case K is a coloured illustration (No. 11) of three ostraka found at Athens (fig. 5). The names written on the sherds are well known in Greek history. Themistokles (fig. 5a), of the deme Phrearri, was the creator of Athenian sea-power. In consequence of this ostracism (ca. 471 B.C.) he died an exile at Magnesia on the Maeander. Megakles (fig. 5b) of the deme Alopeke, son of Hippokrates and uncle of Perikles, was ostracised in 487 B.C. as "a friend of the tyrants." In the next year, 486 B.C., was banished Xanthippos (fig. 5c), son of Arriphron and father of Perikles, on the ground of undue prominence. The Museum collection contains no ostraka of historic importance, but the potsherd inscribed by one Teos (No. 12) gives an idea of the actual object (fig. 6).

Dedications for Victory.—The dedication in a temple of a part of the spoils of victory was not merely a religious observance. It was also the formal entering of a claim to victory. The Etruscan helmet (No. 13) dedicated at Olympia by Hieron of Syracuse, is an example (fig. 7). It was found at Olympia in 1817, and was presented to [pg 8] the Museum by King George the Fourth. On the side is a votive inscription:

Ἱάρων ὁ Δεινομένεος καὶ τοὶ Συρακόσιοι τῷ Δὶ Τύραν' ἀπὸ Κύμας—"Hieron son of Deinomenes and the Syracusans offer to Zeus Etruscan spoils from Kyme." Hieron was tyrant of Syracuse from 478 to 467 B.C., in succession to his brother Gelon, and was one of the most prominent figures of the age. Gelon had nobly upheld the supremacy of the Greeks in the west by destroying a Carthaginian host at Himera, in the same year and, as the tale went, on the same day as the battle of Salamis. Hieron added to the brilliance of the Sicilian court, and signalised his naval power in the great repulse of the Etruscans. The ancient city of Kyme, near Naples, the earliest Greek colony in the west, was hard pressed by the neighbouring barbarians and by the civilised and powerful state of Etruria. The Greeks appealed for help to Hieron, and he sent them a fleet [pg 9] of warships, which beat the Etruscans in sight of the citadel of Kyme, and broke their sea-power for ever (474 B.C.). From the arms and treasure taken in the battle Hieron made the customary offering in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and this helmet with its eloquent inscription was part of the dedicated spoil.

For other votive helmets see below, p. 76.

The votive spear-head, No. 14, dedicated by an unknown Theodoros to (Zeus) Basileus, about 500 B.C., was probably found at Olympia. The occasion of the dedication is unknown, but it nearly resembles No. 15 (cast), which was dedicated at Olympia by the Methanians as spoil from the Lacedaemonians.⁵ The original is at Berlin. Several spear-heads of this type have been found. They do not seem to be effective for use in battle, and they are therefore supposed to have been specially made for dedicatory purposes. It has also been suggested that they are spear-butts, but this does not seem probable.

Emblem of Office.—The bronze caduceus (No. 17), (familiar as the emblem of the herald Mercury), is inscribed "I belong to the people of Longene," and was apparently the staff of the public herald of that town. It was found in a tomb in Sicily, and is of the fifth century B.C. The device is in the form of a staff, surmounted by a pair of intertwined serpents.

Roman military Life.—This is illustrated by two of the Latin inscriptions here shown. The oblong bronze tablet No. 18 (figs. 9a and 9b) is part of a Roman diploma, a document recording privileges in respect of citizenship and rights of marriage granted to a veteran soldier. The diploma derived its name from the fact that it was composed of two tablets hinged together. [pg 10] We have in the present instance only the left side of one of the tablets. The right side, which had two holes for the metal rings attaching it to the other tablet, has been broken away. The inscription⁶ is a copy of one originally engraved on bronze and set up on the wall behind the temple of Augustus ad Minervam at Rome. It is headed with the names of M. Julius Philippus, the Emperor, and of his son, who had the title of Caesar. This is followed by the grant of full matrimonial rights to the soldiers of ten cohorts and by the date, equivalent to Jan. 7th, 246 A.D. Next comes the name of the individual soldier to whom this copy of the original inscription was given, one Neb. Tullius, a veteran of the fifth praetorian cohort of Philip at Aelia Mursa in Pannonia. The grant of full matrimonial privileges was a considerable one, for it meant that the veteran's wife and children gained the privileges of Roman citizens, if, as was often the case, the wife was not possessed of citizen rights at the time of marriage. The two holes in the middle of the tablet were used for the wire thread, which was [pg 11] passed round the tablets three times according to the usual official custom, and had the seals of seven witnesses affixed to it. Fig. 9b is a restoration showing the original form of the document opened, the exterior of the two tablets being seen. This diploma was found in Piedmont. Parts of similar documents will be seen exhibited in the Room of Roman Britain.

Near the diploma is a small bronze ticket (No. 19), inscribed on either side. One side bears the name of Ti(berius) Claudius Priscus, the other records that he belonged to the fourth praetorian cohort and the centuria Paterni.

Corn Largesses.—From the end of the second century B.C. it had become a regular feature of Roman policy to supply the populace of the city with corn either gratis or at an artificially cheap rate. [pg 12] After the fall of the Republic the Emperors carried still further the policy of free distributions (congiaria or liberalitates). It has been reckoned that the annual cost of their largesses averaged £90,000 from Julius Caesar to Claudius, and £300,000 from Nero to Septimius Severus. Persius, who wrote in the time of Nero, notes with a sneer that it was one of the privileges of the meanest Roman citizen to exchange his ticket for a portion of musty flour. This policy of the Emperors is illustrated by the inscribed corn-ticket (tessera frumentaria) shown in this Case (No. 20; fig. 10). It is inscribed on one side, Ant(onini) Aug(usti) Lib(eralitas) II., i.e., the second special largess of Antoninus, perhaps Antoninus Pius, who reigned from 138-161 A.D. On the other side appears fru(mentatio) LXI., i.e. the sixty-first monthly corn distribution, dating doubtless from the accession of Antoninus. The letters were originally inlaid with silver, as is shown by the remains of that metal in the numerals. The sepulchral inscription mentioned on p. 224 should be studied in connection with this corn-ticket.

Official Emblem.—The relief in Case 99 shows the Fasces (that is, the axes and the rods tied in a bundle) which were carried by the lictors before the higher Roman magistrates.

Slavery.—The circular bronze badge (No. 21) shows the Roman method of dealing with runaway slaves after the softening influence of Christianity had begun to make itself felt. In earlier times the runaway slave had been punished with the cruel penalty of branding. Apparently from the time of Constantine onwards an inscribed badge was substituted, authorising the summary arrest of the slave if he were caught out of bounds. The inscription on the badge exhibited runs: "Hold me, lest I escape, and take me back to my master Viventius on the estate of Callistus."

[pg 13]

Two other objects may perhaps be brought into connection with slavery. The scourge (No. 22), with its lash loaded with bronze beads, was frequently used for the punishment of slaves. It is the horribile flagellum of Horace. A scourge very similar to the present is seen on a relief in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, representing a high-priest of Kybele, whose devotees were in the habit of scourging themselves in the service of the goddess.⁷ The pair of iron fetters (No. 23), found in 1813 in a cave behind the Pnyx at Athens, bear a close resemblance to those worn by a bestiarius or beast-fighter represented on a relief from Ephesus exhibited in Case 110, (Cat. of Sculpt., II., No. 1286).

Two small bronzes (No. 24) show dwarf slaves undergoing the punishment of the cangue, in which neck and wrists are fixed in a board.

1:  Pol. i. 1, 8.

2:

Πρύτανις Στράτων. | μεὶς Ψυδρεύς, ἀμέρα τε | τάρτα ἐπὶ δέκα; προστάτας |
Γνάθιος Σωκράτευς; | πρόξενον ποεῖ ἀ ἀλία | Διονύσιον Φρυνίχου | Ἀθηναῖον
αὐτὸν καὶ | ἐκγόνους. δίδωτι δὲ καὶ | γᾶς καὶ οἰκίας ἔμπασιν. | τὰν δὲ προξενίαν
γράψαν | τας εἰς χαλκὸν ἀνθέμεν | εἴ κα προβούλοις καὶ προδίκοις δοκῆι καλῶς
ἔχειν.

Διονύσιον | Φρυνίχου | Ἀθηναῖον.

3:

Ἔδοξε τᾷ ἁλίᾳ, πρόξε|νον εἶμεν Παυσανίαν Ἀτ|τάλου Ἀμβρακιώταν | τᾶς
πόλιος τῶν Κορκυραί|ων αὐτὸν καὶ ἐγγόνους; | εἶμεν δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὰ | ἄλλα
τίμια, ὄσα καὶ[τοῖς] | ἄλλοις προξένοις [καὶ] | εὐεργέταις γέγ(ρα)|πται. | τὰν δὲ
προξενί|αν προβούλους καὶ προ|δίκους γράψαντας εἰς | χάλκωμα ἀναθέμεν, |
τὸν δὲ ταμίαν δόμεν | τὸ γενόμενον ἀνάλω|μα.

Παυσανίαν Ἀττάλου | Ἀμβρακιώταν.

4:

Ἀθ. Πολ. 63. ἔχει δ' ἕκαστος δικαστὴς πινάκιον πύξινον, ἐπιγεγραμμένον τὸ ὄνομα
τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πατρόθεν καὶ τοῦ δήμου καὶ γράμμα ἓν τῶν στοιχείων μέχρι τοῦ κ.

5:  Μεθάνιοι ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων.

6:

Imp. Cae(sar) M. Iulius Phili[ppus Pius]
Fel(ix) Aug(ustus), pont(ifex) max(imus), trib(unicia) p[ot(estate) III, cos., p.p. et]
M. Iulius Philippus nobil[issim(us) Caes(ar)]
nomina militum, qui milit[averunt in]
cohortibus pretoris Phil[ippianis de-]
cem I. II. III. IIII. V. VI. VII. VIII. VII[II. X. piis vin-]
dicibus, qui pii et fortiter [militia fun-]
cti sunt, ius tribuimus con[ubii dumta-]
xat cum singulis et primi[s uxoribus],
ut etiam si peregrini iur[is feminas]
in matrimon(io) suo iunxe[rint, proinde
liberos toll(ant), acxi (for ac si) ex duob(us) c[ivibus Ro-]
manis natos. a. d. VII. [idus Ian.]
C. Bruttio Presente et C. Al(b)[- - - - - cos.]
Coh(ors) V pr(aetoria) Philip[pian(a) p(ia) v(index).]
Neb. Tullio Neb. f. M(a) - - - - - - - -
Ael(ia) Murs[a].
Descript(um) et recognit(um) ex ta[bula aerea],
que fix(a) est Romae in muro [pos(t) templum]
divi Aug(usti) ad Mine[rvam].

7:  Baumeister, Denkmäler, II., p. 801, fig. 867.

[pg 14]

The coins which are selected to represent the Greek and Roman currencies extend over a period of just one thousand years, in the course of which the coinage went through all the developments and anticipated all the varieties of type and fabric which it has since experienced, while in artistic merit it reached an excellence which will probably never be surpassed. The Greek coinage, moreover, has the great interest of being that upon which all later coinages have been modelled—for the Chinese money, which originated about the same time, and apparently independently, may be left out of account.

Greek Coins.—The character and provenance of the earliest coins agree with the best ancient tradition of their origin, in so far as it associates them with Asia Minor, although it is more probable that they were invented by the Greek cities of the coast than by the Lydians, to whom they have been credited in accordance with the Herodotean tradition.⁸ The most primitive pieces are found in Asia Minor, and their metal is a natural mixture of gold and silver, called electrum, which occurs in the mountains of Lydia, and was brought down to the sea in the sands of the great rivers, the golden Hermus and its tributary the Pactolus. The cities which the Greeks had planted on the Asiatic shores grew in the seventh century B.C. to a high degree of wealth, by reason of their position on a rich coastland, where they were intermediary in the trade of east and west. There were great bankers in these Ionian cities who had large stores of treasure; their gold and silver would be kept in bars or ingots of definite weight stamped with the device, in place of the written signature, of the banker. From thus marking large ingots with his own signature, it would be a short step for the banker to do the same with smaller denominations of the same weights, so producing a private coinage for his own convenience in calculation, which would come to have a limited acceptance in the quarters where his credit was good. Such pieces are probably to be recognised in the nondescript coins of which the electrum stater is an example (No. 24; fig. 12a); this is scored on one side with parallel scratches and stamped on the other with three deep punch-marks. There are many pieces in existence which have even less design than this, although their weights conform to [pg 15] definite coin-standards. We may perhaps regard this example as a private coin, one of the last of its kind, which immediately preceded the adoption of coinage by the state. The invention of coinage lies really in this innovation, which, however obvious it may seem to us now, was then of deep political significance. When once a state currency was instituted, the private coinage fell out of use, for no individual banker could compete with the guarantee of the state, and the state would not tolerate imitation of its own types. We may therefore take it that the successive stages in the "invention" of coinage were somewhat as follows: first, the occasional practice of stamping certain weights of metal with marks by which they could be identified; this probably continued in private use for a long period before it was adopted by a state; and finally the adoption all over the Greek world of a series of state coinages.

The example, once set, was quickly followed by the more important Greek cities, until by the middle of the sixth century the art of coinage had travelled from Ionia across the mainland of Greece to the colonies in Italy and Sicily. Owing to the peculiar political conditions of Greece, where every town held a separate and independent sovereignty, each state was jealous to assert its autonomy on its coins, with the result that the Greek coinage presents an enormous variety of types, held together, however, as the money of one people by the uniformity of their general character and of the art in which they are expressed.

We may now proceed to consider a few representative coins, which in the midst of innumerable local issues were important enough by their purity of weight and metal, or by their abundance, or by the commercial reputation of their issuing states, to predominate in the Greek world as a sort of international currency and standard of exchange.

The earliest electrum stater of Ionia is interesting on account of its fabric only, for it has no type. It is a bean-shaped lump of metal, one side of which has been stamped with a flat die marked with parallel scratches, the other with three punches, which have left deep impressions (No. 24; fig. 12a). The pieces which immediately followed, such as the silver money of Aegina (No. 25; fig. 12d), have a real type on the obverse, while the punch-mark on the reverse is more regular, and is often ornamented with some design of a special character, though it does not contain a type until later.

With the introduction of coinage into European Greece, a [pg 16] change was made in the metal of the currency, for gold and electrum, which were plentiful in Asia, were not common in Greece proper, and a silver coinage was there the rule until Philip of Macedon took possession of the Thracian gold mines. The few gold issues before his time were due to exceptional circumstances; thus the gold coinage of Athens (No. 26) was occasioned by great financial stress, when treasure was melted down to supply the currency. There was, however, no lack of gold money in Greece, for after the first electrum issues came the fine gold staters of Croesus, in the early sixth century (No. 27; fig. 12b), and, on his overthrow by Cyrus, an international gold coinage was still available in the enormous issues of the Persian darics (No. 28; fig. 12c), which were in common use all over the ancient world until the Macedonian gold replaced them. A few subsidiary electrum coinages survived in Asia, the most famous being the Kyzikene staters (No. 29; fig. 12m), which were a standard exchange in the Aegean and Black Sea regions. A peculiarity of this coinage is that the distinctive type of the town, the tunny, is relegated to a secondary place, while the main type is a constantly changing design. In the piece illustrated the subject is taken from a group of the Athenian tyrannicides, Harmodios and Aristogeiton, which stood in the market place of their native city.

Another important currency, used especially in western Greece, the "colts" of Corinth, took its type from the local myth that the winged horse Pegasos was captured by Bellerophon at the fountain Peirene, which flowed from the acropolis of the town (No. 30; fig. 12e). The original punch-mark on the reverse was soon replaced by the helmeted head of Athena, who also had a part in the Pegasos myth, and these two types were constant as long as the Corinthian state existed. The money which enjoyed the fairest reputation was that of Athens, which, at the time of the Athenian empire, superseded the issues of the subject cities and became the standard currency in the Aegean Sea. It penetrated into the far East, and there are extant examples of native imitations from India and Arabia. The wide circulation of these staters among barbarous peoples was the cause of their peculiar style; for not only were the types of Athena's head and her owl and olive-branch unaltered from the first sixth-century design, but the execution was an imitation of the primitive manner, the stiffness of archaic art being reproduced in an affected archaism. As the money of Athens was the foremost in the Greek world, it is useful to note the extraordinary number of denominations which were struck in [pg 17] silver at its most flourishing period, the fifth century B.C. A large, but still not complete, series is exhibited here (No. 31). It consists of the Decadrachm (10 drachmae, fig. 12f), an early and rare coin, the Tetradrachm (4 drachmae, fig. 12g), which was the famous Athenian stater or standard piece, the Didrachm (2 drachmae), the Drachm (fig. 12h), the unit of weight, which contained six obols, the Triobol (3 obols), the Diobol (2 obols), the Obol (fig. 12i), the Tritemorion (¾ obol), the Hemiobol (½ obol), the Trihemitetartemorion (⅜ obol), and the Tetartemorion (¼ obol, fig. 12k), the half of the last piece being equivalent to the largest bronze coin, the Chalkous (No. 32).

With the Athenian series is the bronze core of an ancient imitation of a silver stater, of which the silver plating has perished (No. 33). False coining was punished with extreme penalties even in those early days: in an extant monetary convention between Mytilene and Phocaea, of the fourth century B.C.., the crime of adulterating the money is threatened with death.⁹

On the conquest of Athens by Macedon, at the end of the fourth century B.C., the autonomous Athenian coinage was largely superseded by the Macedonian regal issues, and did not recover its position until late in the next century. It was renewed in a different form, with none of the old archaism, of which the occasion was past. The coins of the new style exemplify the thin flat fabric of the period, and although the types of Athena and the owl are preserved, their arrangement is much more complicated. The new head of Athena is a copy from the colossal ivory and gold statue which Pheidias made, and on the reverse of the coins the owl and olive spray are accompanied by many new devices, of which the most remarkable are the names, symbols, and monograms of the monetary magistrates; eminent personages sometimes figure in this place. On the coins exhibited (No. 34; fig. 12l) one of the officials is Antiochos, who was afterwards Epiphanes, king of Syria.

In the interval between the old and new coinages, when the Athenian money was scanty, the currency was supplied by the regal issues of the Macedonian kings and their successors. Under Philip II. and his son Alexander the Great, the Macedonian monarchy extended its dominion by conquest, not only over the isolated Greek cities, but over the ancient empire of Persia. The opportunity was thus provided for a universal coinage, and it was realised in the gold and silver issues of Philip and Alexander (Nos. 35, 36; [pg 19] fig. 12n-q). The acquisition of the Thracian gold-mines gave Philip the means for an abundant coinage of gold, the first considerable Greek issue of the kind, which contributed in no small measure to his political success. The style of these coins of Philip is not different from that of other Greek money, except that they are inscribed with a personal name—of Philip—instead of the name of a whole people, and the types, a horse and jockey and a two-horse chariot, are also personal, as they commemorate the racing successes of the king. The fine heads on the obverse, however, are still divine, that of Zeus appearing on the silver and the young Apollo on the gold, for the idea of representing a living personage on a coin was still distant. Of this money the gold especially was struck in enormous quantities, and the types were imitated more and more crudely, as time went on, in Gaul and Britain. (See the series shown in the Room of Roman Britain.) The coinage of Alexander was even more widely spread. His types were more orthodox than those of Philip: the head of Athena and a Victory on the gold, and the head of young Herakles, wrapped in the lion-skin, with a figure of Zeus enthroned, on the silver staters, although in the head of Herakles there is some suggestion of the features of Alexander. These coins were struck all over the world which Alexander conquered, and lasted after his death as the money of his successors and of independent cities, in some cases even for two centuries; but the kings who divided his great empire modified the type by introducing real portraits of Alexander, as a deified hero, and later of themselves, as living deities, so that the representation of a ruler's head on coins, which is still practised to-day, began with quasi-religious Greek coin-types. The regularity of the Greek coinage which Alexander established was only temporary, and his influence was fast disappearing when the subjection of the world by the Romans in the first century B.C. merged all provincial issues in the complete uniformity of the Imperial mint.

Roman Coins.—As gold in the Asiatic coastlands and silver in European Greece, so in Italy the native medium of exchange was bronze. In the earliest times the raw metal was circulated in broken knobs of indefinite weight (aes rude), which required in all transactions the use of scales. The rude metal was afterwards superseded by cast ingots of an oblong shape, which bore a device to indicate their purpose as money (aes signatum). Yet the weights were still irregular, and no mark of value accompanied the types, so that the pieces were not strictly coins. A survival of this primitive currency is seen in the large ingot which has on [pg 20] one side a tripod and on the other an anchor (No. 37; fig. 13). This piece itself belongs to a later period, when the lighter coined money was already in use. The special purpose for which this and similar pieces were intended is quite uncertain. The first coinage of Rome was less massive than this, but being entirely of bronze, was still inconveniently large and cumbrous (aes grave). The Roman of the fourth century B.C., when he found it necessary to transport any considerable sum, took his money about with him in a waggon.¹⁰ The use of bronze for a token currency, as in Greece, was not possible without a superior coinage of gold or silver to secure its value.

A typical series of the Roman heavy bronze money is exhibited (No. 38; fig. 14) The system is based on the pound of twelve ounces, and the denominations of the various pieces are distinguished by the heads or obverse types, and by the marks of value which they bear. The series consists of the As, or pound (I), the half, Semis (S), the third, Triens, of four ounces (····), the quarter, Quadrans, of three ounces (···), the sixth, Sextans, of two ounces (··), and the Uncia, or ounce, the lower unit (·) (cf. p. 160). Each of these is further differentiated [pg 21] by the obverse head. The as has the double head of Janus, the god of beginnings, whose coin opened the series of money, as his month begins the year. The semis has the head of Jupiter, wearing a laurel wreath; the triens, Minerva armed; the quadrans, Hercules in the lion-skin; the sextans, Mercury, the messenger, with wings in his cap; and the uncia, a head of Bellona, the goddess of battle. All the reverses have a common type, the prow of a ship. This device may mark the date of the introduction of the Roman coinage, which coincided with Rome's first essays on the sea, in the middle of the fourth century before Christ. It remained as the reverse type of the bronze money all through the Republic, and even in later times, when a coin was tossed, the cry was "heads" or "ships."¹¹

The heavy bronze coinage of the city of Rome was only one among many similar currencies of the central Italian states. As the Romans conquered the neighbouring territories, where there existed local weight-systems, which, in the interests of commerce, it was well to preserve, instead of imposing their own money, they inaugurated subordinate issues at the dependent mints. On this principle it was natural that when the march of Roman conquest came upon the peoples of South Italy, where a silver currency had been long ago introduced by the Greek colonists, a local issue for those parts was instituted as a subsidiary coinage. To this class of Roman money belongs the silver stater or didrachm with Campanian types (the head of Mars and the bust of a horse) which was struck by the Romans—as the legend  ROMANO(rum) shews—in Capua for the use of the Campanian district (No. 39; fig. 15a). With the extension of power and territory the old bronze pieces were inadequate, and in the year 268 B.C. a silver coinage was begun at Rome itself. At the same time the Campanian mint was closed, and the heavy bronze coins, being subordinated to the silver unit, were issued as token-money in a reduced and more convenient size.

The first Roman silver coinage bears the types of the goddess Roma, wearing a winged helmet, and on the reverse the patron deities of trade and commerce, Castor and Pollux, the Heavenly Twins or Dioscuri (No. 40; fig. 15b-d). They are armed with spears and ride on horseback, with their stars above their heads. These types occur on all three denominations of the earliest silver, the Denarius (marked X), which was worth 10 asses; its half, the [pg 22] Quinarius (V); and the Sestertius (IIS) of 2½ asses, which became the unit in reckoning accounts. The two smallest silver pieces were not always struck; but the denarius, with the reduced copper for small denominations, remained in use during the period of the Republic at Rome and long into the Empire. Although both series had a great variety of types, the fabric and general appearance were unaltered.

With the change to the Empire, reform in all directions was begun, and the coinage was set on a new basis. Gold was introduced to meet the needs of the metropolis of the world, and two new coins, the Aureus and its half, were struck in this metal. They were modelled on the silver pieces. The standard silver coin was still the denarius, and the only change which it experienced was in type. The head of the emperor took the place of those of deities, with a superscription, which was the forerunner of modern coin-legends. It consisted of the name and titles of the emperor, often with the date of striking, arranged in a circle round the edge of the coin. The minting of gold and silver was assumed by the emperor, but the lower denominations were left to the senate, whose authority is expressed on each piece by the letters S·C (Senatus Consulto, "by decree of the Senate"). The senatorial series consisted of the Sestertius, the equivalent of the smallest silver coin, now valued at 4 asses instead of the original 2½; the Dupondius, of 2 asses; the As, and fractions of the as, Semis and Quadrans, which are of less frequent occurrence. These coins sometimes differed as to the metal used, the as and semis being of copper, and the dupondius and sestertius of brass; or in the style of the emperor's head; or, as in the case of the coins exhibited, the as is marked I and the dupondius II (fig. 15h and i). Usually, however, the two pieces are confused, and are loosely termed by collectors "second brass," the sesterce being "first brass," and all denominations lower than the as "third brass." The reverse types were very numerous, and, with the exception of the mark S·C on the senatorial issues, none of them was peculiar to any denomination. The series which is selected here to illustrate the Imperial coinage is of the reign of Nero (54-68 A.D.); all the pieces, therefore, bear the image and superscription of that Caesar, and their reverses have complimentary references to the emperor and his family, or topical allusions to current events (No. 41; fig. 15e-l).

Nero was the first emperor to reduce the weight of the denarius, and from his time the degeneration was rapid. A series of seven pieces, from Tiberius to Probus (14-281 A.D.), illustrates the [pg 23]
debasement of the metal, which is apparent to the eye (No. 42). By the time of Gordianus Pius (238-244 A.D.) no trace of silver is visible, and the coin of Probus here exhibited is plainly copper. Yet these pieces represent the only silver money which was then coined.

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

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

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

Ancient false Coins.—With the exception of the Italian heavy copper, which was cast, nearly all ancient coins were struck in dies, and most of the false pieces which have survived are defective in the quality of the metal, while the fabric is good. In the later Roman Empire, when all the standard money was of base metal, the surface was so bad that the coins could easily be counterfeited by casting, and great numbers of the clay moulds used by forgers or by the monetary authorities date from this period. Among the large collection here exhibited (No. 49) there are some unbroken moulds, and some with the run metal still adhering. Base metal [pg 25] was detected by the use of the touch-stone, and pieces of doubtful weight were tested by the balance. An ivory folding balance is shown (No. 49*). The long arm is made just too light to counterpoise a good denarius—the test being that if the coin were heavy enough it would fall off the plate at the end.

  8:  i. 94.

  9:  Michel, Recueil des inscr. grecques, No. 8.

10:  Livy, iv. 60.

11:  Macr. Sat. i. 7, 22. pueri denarios in sublime iactantes capita aut navia exclamant.

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

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

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

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

In the fourth century B.C. a great change came over comedy at Athens. The later plays of Aristophanes mark the beginning of the comedy of manners, which took the place of the old political comedy. The master of this new comedy was Menander. Through Roman translations and adaptations of Menander and his fellow [pg 26] poets by Plautus and Terence, comes the comedy of Molière and modern Europe.

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

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

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

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

(a) Scenes from Plays.—The vase (No. 50) placed under the glass shade is valuable as an illustration of the beginnings of Athenian drama. It is a plate of Athenian fabric of the sixth century B.C., with designs which probably represent the sacrifice made to Athena at the Panathenaic games, and two scenes relating to dramatic contests. The first of these scenes shows a tragic chorus with the goat, which was the prize of victory. The second shows a comic chorus, in which a man seated at the back of a mule-car appears to be making jests at the expense of another man who follows. This "jesting from a car" became a regular phrase to express ribald joking.¹³ None of the men who took part in these [pg 27]
contests is distinguished by any peculiarity of costume. Another early vase, however (No. 51), gives a lively picture of two actors dressed up as birds. Before them stands a flute-player. Though this vase is many years earlier in date than the Birds of Aristophanes (414 B.C.), yet it may serve to give us some idea of the appearance of the chorus in that play.

The two large vases illustrate Greek dramatic performances of a considerably later date. They give us scenes from phlyakes, a class of burlesques which were in vogue in the Greek cities of Southern Italy, especially at Tarentum, at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the third century B.C. They are associated with the name of Rhinthon, a Syracusan poet. These plays dealt in the wildest spirit of farce with subjects drawn from Greek mythology and legend, as well as with scenes from daily life. One of the vases (No. 52; fig. 16) shows a contest upon the stage, between actors representing Ares (Ἐνευάλιος) and Hephaestos (Δαίδαλος) fighting in the presence of Hera. The grotesque mask, the padded figures, and the general air of exaggeration are indicative of the character of these plays, which earned for them the title of mock-tragedies (ἱλαροτραγῳδίαι). The other vase (No. 53) is a parody of the myth of Cheiron cured by Apollo. The blind Centaur, whose equine body is represented pantomime-fashion by a second actor [pg 29] pushing behind, ascends the steps leading up to the stage, where stands the slave Xanthias. Behind is the Centaur's pupil Achilles, and looking on from a cave are two grotesquely ugly nymphs.

Case K contains two interesting representations of Roman comedy and tragedy respectively. The oblong lamp (No. 54; fig. 17) gives a scene from a comedy, not improbably the mock-marriage scene from the fourth act of the Casina of Plautus. The steps leading up to the door of the house divide the actors into two groups. On the left is the bridegroom (Olympio?) with his mule, in preparation for his departure into the country. On the right comes the marriage procession approaching a woman (Pardalisca?) who stands by the steps. First walks a Silenus, carrying a Cupid [pg 30] on his shoulders; next comes the bride, carried aloft by a man, in order that she may be lifted over the threshold in conformity with the usual Roman marriage rite (see below, p. 212). Behind is an altar in the courtyard of the house. A Cupid waits at the door to receive the bride.

The Gallo-Roman medallion (No. 55; fig. 18) is from a vase. It gives a picture of a Roman tragedy. On a high stage sits Jupiter enthroned, with Victory and Minerva on his right and left hand respectively. Before the stage stand Hercules and Mars, disputing. Hercules has slain Cycnus, the son of Mars, and the irate father stands exclaiming: "Be assured that I am come as the avenger of my son." To which Hercules replies: "Unconquered [pg 31] valour can ne'er be terrified."¹⁴ The characters speak in iambic verse.

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

[pg 32]

The figures of actors and the comic masks exhibited under the glass shade and in Table-Case K bring before us the different characters prominent in Athenian comedy of the fourth and third centuries B.C., and in the Roman comedy derived from it. It was a comedy of everyday life, in which the same well-known types were constantly reappearing. Such were the parasite (No. 57), who bears all the marks of a fondness for good living, and carries a flask and a ham; the glutton (Nos. 58 and 59), distinguished by his large padded stomach; the money-lender (No. 60), with his acute and cunning expression, grasping his purse tightly by his side with both hands, and partially concealing it beneath his cloak (fig. 20). The adventures of the slave and his punishments were a favourite theme with poets of the new comedy. No. 61 (fig. 21) may represent the trusted elderly slave aghast at the misdoings of his young master. A still greater favourite is the runaway slave who seeks refuge from his irate master in the protection of the altar. The bronze statuette (No. 62), and the terracotta (No. 63) show him seated on the altar, and in No. 64 his hands are tied behind him. A typical comic mask (No. 65) is illustrated above (fig. 22, left), characterised by its exaggerated features, especially the wide open mouth, the snub nose and thick bushy eyebrows. The satyric play, which of the three kinds of Greek drama kept nearest in spirit to the early Dionysiac [pg 33] village revel, is illustrated by the satyric masks (No. 66; fig. 22, centre), with their high upstanding hair and semi-bestial features, as well as by the masks of the bald-headed Seilenos, the constant companion of Dionysos in his revels.

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

12:  Hecyra, prolog., 30 ff.

13:  Cf. Dem., de Cor., 122:   καὶ βοᾷς ῥητὰ καὶ ἄρρητα ὀνομάζων, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἁμάξης..

14:

As early as the eighth century before Christ the Greeks possessed powerful war-vessels propelled by numerous oarsmen. These appear on vases of that date, as for example on a large bowl of Boeotian fabric (described below in connection with chariots, p. 169), which shows such a ship with its double line of rowers and a man at the stern managing the big steering-oars. The crew of this vessel seems to have numbered some forty men.¹⁵ A more finished representation of early Greek ships is seen on a cup (No. 70) of the end of the sixth century B.C. (figs. 23, 24), where the contrasted builds of the war galley and the merchantman are clearly indicated. The war galley has two rows of eleven and twelve oars respectively. The merchantman has no rowers, but is entirely dependent on its sail. It has a high-built hull, suited for holding cargo. In each we see the steersman at the stern with his two steering-oars. Beside him is the ladder for embarking and disembarking. A terracotta model ship from Cyprus (No. 71; fig. 25) of about this period shows the socket for the mast and the [pg 34] high poop for the steersman, with the remains of an iron oar. This vessel is doubtless intended for a merchantman. The numerous small terracotta boats (No. 72) found with this merchant vessel at Amathus give a good idea of the fishing boats of the time (Case 94; see frontispiece). These boats are also interesting as reminding us of the legend that Kinyras, king of Cyprus, promised Menelaos to send fifty ships to help the Greeks against Troy. He sent but one, carrying forty-nine others of terracotta, manned by terracotta figures. After the taking of Troy, Agamemnon is said to have made it his first business to punish Kinyras for his trickery. It would seem that the story must have been based on knowledge of the fact that terracotta boats were a product of Amathus. It is hard to suppose that it is merely a coincidence. The small model war-galley (No. 73) from Corinth, containing warriors armed with circular shields, is interesting from the place of its discovery, for Corinth was traditionally an early shipbuilding centre, and triremes are said to have been first built at that city.¹⁶

The use of triremes (ships with triple arrangement of oars) did not become common among the Greeks till the earlier part of the fifth century B.C. This was the typical Greek warship of the period of the Peloponnesian war, and the arrangement of the rowers in it has given rise to much controversy. The crew (according to one view) consisted of two hundred rowers, sixty-two on the highest tier (θρανῖται), fifty-four on the middle (ζυγῖται), and fifty-four on [pg 35] the lowest (θαλαμῖται), as well as thirty who were apparently stationed on the highest deck (περίνεῳ). The best ancient representation of the rowers in a trireme is that given on a relief in Athens, of which a cast is shown here (No. 74; Case 94). The upper oars pass over the gunwale, the second and third lines (if these are oars) through port-holes. In the trireme the ram was of the greatest importance, and much attention was devoted to strengthening it. An excellent illustration of the prow of a trireme is to be seen in the terracotta vase from Vulci (No. 75; fig. 26). Here are an upper and a lower ram, each armed with three teeth; the curved ornament above the ram has been broken away. The projections on either side of the handles of the vase, decorated with a woman's head, would serve as a protection to the oars. The eye on the side is a prominent decoration in Greek ships. It is seen on the ship painted on the vase B 508 in Case 95 (No. 76), from which the diver is preparing to jump, and has survived even to the present day, for eyes are still found painted on the bows of Mediterranean fishing boats. The eyes are often supposed to be a defence against the evil eye, but the exact position they occupy on each side of the prow is suggested by the almost inevitable analogy between the prow of a vessel and the head of an animal. Roman ships did not differ very materially from Greek ships, but a special class of swift ships with two banks of oars was adopted from Liburnian pirates who inhabited the islands off Illyria, and these ships were called Liburnian galleys. A figure-head in bronze from a Roman ship, found in the sea off Actium, is shown in Case 96 (No. 77). It [pg 36] represents Minerva, and probably belonged to some ship sunk in the great battle between Octavian and Antony in 31 B.C.

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

[pg 37]

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

[pg 38]

A marble laver (No. 82), originally decorated with a relief of Asklepios, Hygieia and Telesphoros, has been subsequently sculptured with votive dedications for a fair voyage. On the left, Poseidon stands on a ship, with a suppliant before him, on the right is a ship running before the wind. The inscriptions invoke good voyages for Theodoulos and Pedius Psycharios.

15:  Journ. Hell. Stud., XIX., pl. 8.

16:  Thuc., i. 13.

[pg 39]

The wide subjects of Religion and Superstition are naturally represented in a fragmentary way in the few cases devoted to them in this collection. They are roughly classified in the following description, into groups, viz.:—

Altars, etc.—The larger altars (and sepulchral chests of altar form) will be found in the sculpture galleries. Here we have (No. 83) a small altar, from Dodona, inscribed as belonging to all the gods,¹⁷ and various model altars, probably used in some cases for the burning of incense.

An interesting example (No. 84) of the practice of dedicating altars to members of Roman Imperial houses is furnished by the inscription (fig. 29) in the lower part of Case 98. It formed the front of a marble altar, and is dedicated to the Imperial Fortune by a freedman named Antonius, who was in charge of the "Department of Petitions," for the safe return of the Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna, and his sons Caracalla and Geta. But so far as Geta was concerned, the Imperial Fortune was not propitious. He was murdered by his brother Caracalla, and his name was erased from this, as from all other inscriptions throughout the Roman Empire, by Caracalla's edict. The date of the inscription is about 200 A.D.

In Case 102 is an altar (No. 85) dedicated to the Bona Dea of Anneanum (a town in Etruria) by C. Tullius Hesper and Tullia Restituta. The Bona Dea was a goddess specially invoked by women. Hence we may suppose that it was Tullia Restituta more particularly who showed her thankfulness by this dedication.

[pg 40]

In Case 98 are two examples (Nos. 86, 87) of a combined lamp and altar, for use in domestic shrines, probably of late Roman date.¹⁸ In one of these the basin for libations is supported on a pine-cone. Akin to these is the small limestone cone and altar from the Cyrenaica.

No. 88 (fig. 30) is a bronze representing an attendant leading a pig to sacrifice. The pig (as well as the sheep and the bull) was a favourite sacrificial animal among the Romans. At the lustral ceremony of the suovetaurilia, the bull, sheep, and pig were driven round the farmer's fields to keep them free from blight and disease. Certain deities, notably Persephone and the Bona Dea, had swine as their special victims. In Case 105 will be seen a terracotta votive pig (No. 89) found in the precinct of Demeter and Persephone at Knidos.

In Case 98 is an elaborate model in terracotta of a temple laver from Cyprus (No. 90). In Case 100 is a terracotta model of a sacred table (No. 91, fig. 31), set with a service of vessels for the sanctuary.

Bronze Implements.—A series of early Italic bronze implements [pg 41] (No. 92), may have been used in sacrifice. Those with the curved claws were probably used for taking boiled meats out of a caldron. They remind us of the five-pronged sacrificial forks mentioned in Homer, and of the custom of the Jewish priests' servants as described in the Book of Samuel: "The priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took therewith."¹⁹ On the right are three bronze gridirons. These, like the fleshhooks, originally [pg 42] had wooden handles inserted into their sockets. The meat was spitted upon hooks, which only remain in one instance.

A series of implements terminating in a hand bent at the knuckles (No. 93), and a pair of tongs on wheels (No. 94), are probably meant for manipulating embers.

Miscellaneous.—A small silver model of a temple key is shown in Case 100. The small alabaster statuette of a goddess with turreted crown (No. 95) is of special interest from the fact that her mouth and breasts are pierced, evidently with the object of allowing some fluid, such as milk or wine, to flow from them for the edification of her votaries. A jar (No. 96) contained perhaps the honey syrup, used in Egypt for feeding the sacred crocodiles.

Religious Rites.—Prayer.—The fifth century kylix (No. 97) shows the gesture of the raised right hand, often used in prayer. The young athlete, whose oil-flask hangs behind him, is probably praying before the altar. That athletes entered upon their tasks with extreme seriousness is clear from the oath taken by them before the image of Zeus in the Council House at Olympia, when they swore upon the cut pieces of a boar that they would be guilty of no foul play. In the Greek view athletics and religion were very closely connected.

The Lectisternium, or Theoxenia, was the ceremony in which [pg 43] a banquet was set, and the gods were invited to attend. It is illustrated by the drawing of a lekythos (No. 98) from Kameiros in Rhodes (about 500 B.C.), which represents the two gods Castor and Pollux descending from heaven on horseback to take part in the festival of the Theoxenia (fig. 32). This feast, indicated by the couch on which they were to recline, was given in honour of the twin gods. Such a festival well illustrates the perfectly human interests which the Greeks attributed to their deities.

Compare with this vase the cast (No. 99) of a relief in the Louvre, from Larissa. A man and his wife, the dedicators of the relief, are represented as having set out a couch, a banquet of cakes, and an altar. The Twins descend, heralded by Victory. Beside the relief is a fragment of a lamp (No. 100) incised with a dedication to the Dioscuri, that is, to Castor and Pollux. Here also is the inscribed base (No. 101) of a statuette dedicated to the Dioscuri by Euarchos (sixth century B.C.).

Augury.—Passing now to Italic religious ceremonies, we may notice the archaic bronze statuette of an augur (No. 102), whose function it was to draw omens from the aspect of the heavens or the flight and cries of birds. He wears a cloak drawn veil-wise over his head, a common religious garb, and in his right hand holds the lituus or curved wand used for the ceremonial dividing of the heavens into quarters. In connection with this statuette mention should be made of an early Greek inscription (No. 103) in the bottom of Cases 95-96. It was found at Ephesus, and is probably of about the same period as the statuette, the sixth century B.C. It gives rules for drawing lucky or unlucky omens from the flight of birds. The principal signs are the flight from right to left or vice versa, and the raising or lowering of the bird's wing.

Shrines.—In Cases 100, 101 a series of terracotta shrines is exhibited. They were doubtless for household use, employed in much the same way as modern images of the Madonna. No. 104 (fig. 33), from the early Greek settlement of Naukratis, in the Nile Delta, shows Aphrodite within a shrine supported by figures of the Egyptian god Bes, a characteristic combination of Greek and Egyptian elements. No. 105, from Amathus, in Cyprus, is also [pg 44] semi-Egyptian in character, and shows a deity surmounted by a winged solar disk. Another shrine from Naukratis (No. 106) contains the sacred Apis-bull of the Egyptians. No. 107 is an example of a shrine containing a baetylic image, that is, a stone worshipped as sacred. A cone resembling the one here shown was worshipped in the temple of Aphrodite at Paphos in Cyprus. In front, a small lead model shrine (No. 108) of later date, from Sardinia, represents Aphrodite just risen from the sea-foam and wringing out her hair. The circular shrine (No. 109; fig. 34) is of Roman date, from Eretria in Euboea. Its form and more especially the indication of overlapping scale-plates on the roof remind us strongly of the famous temple of Vesta at Rome.

In Case 101 is a bronze tablet with an iron chain and staple (No. 110). The tablet, apparently of about 200 B.C., is inscribed on both sides, and seems to give a list of statues of deities, some, such as Vezkei, peculiar to the Samnites, others, such as Ceres and Hermes, of widely spread worship. It is a most important monument of the Oscan dialect, a language spoken by the early Italic tribes whose chief centre was the mountainous country above Campania. It was found at Agnone (Bovianum Vetus) in the Samnite territory.

A votive offering is a present made to a deity, in order to secure some favour for the future, to avert anger for a past offence, or to express gratitude for a favour received. This last purpose includes offerings made in fulfilment of a vow, the vow being a kind of contract between the individual and the god. This comes out most clearly in the Roman expression voti reus—"condemned to pay a vow"—applied to those whose prayer had been granted, and who now had to fulfil their promise made in time of stress and difficulty. Votive offerings cover the whole field of life, and may include persons, lands, buildings, or objects specially appropriate either to the god or to the person who makes the dedication.

[pg 45]

Very frequently the vow was made by some person stricken with disease, and it is to such a cause that we owe the numerous votive offerings representing some part of the human body.

The constant streams of these offerings made the ancient temples depositories of all kinds of objects, ranging from jewels of great price and high artistic merit to the roughest terracotta figure. In the Gold Ornament Room (Case 19) is a magnificent gold pin of the Ptolemaic period inscribed with a dedication to Aphrodite of Paphos, showing that the offering was the result of a vow made by Eubule, the wife of Aratos, and one Tamisa. Overcrowding led to periodical clearances of objects of the least intrinsic value. To prevent things dedicated returning to the uses of common life, they were frequently broken and thrown into heaps. This accounts for the masses of débris, consisting chiefly of terracottas and vases, which have been found within the precincts of great sanctuaries.

The vast accumulations of treasure in the various temples naturally demanded careful cataloguing, labelling and supervision on the part of the temple officials (see examples of marble labels from the sacred enclosure of Demeter at Cnidos). From time to time elaborate inventories were drawn up, and (after the manner of ancient documents) inscribed on stone. Such inventories have been discovered in large numbers at Delos, Athens, and elsewhere. An example is shown in the lower part of Case 97, being an inventory (No. 111) of various garments dedicated to Artemis Brauronia, who had a shrine upon the acropolis of Athens. We know that it was the custom of women after childbirth to dedicate garments to Artemis, and in particular to Artemis Brauronia. That the garments were often anything but new is shown by the fact that several are described as "in rags." A typical extract from the inscription may be given: "A purple dress, with variegated chequer pattern. Dedicated by Thyaene and Malthake." The entries range in date from 350 to 344 B.C.

The principal objects here exhibited as illustrating the ancient custom of dedication may now be mentioned. In Wall-Case 96 is an inscription of the fifth century B.C. (No. 112) found in the ruins of the temple of Poseidon on Cape Taenaron in Lakonia. It records the dedication by one Theares of a slave named Kleogenes to the temple-service of Poseidon. The names of an ephoros, probably an official of the temple, and of a witness are added. In some cases the dedication of a slave to a god is equivalent to enfranchisement.

Among votive offerings specially appropriate to the god, we have [pg 46] already mentioned the reliefs dedicated for a good voyage (No. 82) and the Theoxenia relief (No. 99). The pedestal (No. 112*), with an inscription that it was restored "whether sacred to god or goddess," is a parallel to the altar inscribed with a dedication "to an unknown god," which caught the eye of St. Paul when he was viewing the antiquities of Athens.

In the bottom of Case 102 is the base of a statuette (No. 113; fig. 35) found at Curium in Cyprus. It bears an inscription, written both in Greek and in the native Cypriote syllabic characters: "Ellooikos, the son of Poteisis, dedicated this as a vow to Demeter and the Maid." The inscription is of the fourth century B.C., and is of special interest on account of its bilingual character. Two other large objects in marble of a votive character are exhibited in the bottom of Cases 103 and 104 respectively. The chest-like stool (No. 114) was offered by a priestess named Philis to Persephone, the basket (No. 115) by one Xeno to Demeter and Persephone. The basket is dedicated with peculiar fitness to the goddesses of corn and fruit, for it was in such woven baskets that the ears of corn were ingathered, while the chest is also closely associated with Demeter and Persephone, who are frequently represented seated on it. Both of these last objects were found by Sir Charles Newton in the precinct of Demeter at Knidos in Asia Minor.

We now turn to the votive offerings personal to the donor, and we find that not infrequently, where the object itself is perishable, or otherwise unsuitable as an offering, a sculptured representation takes its place.

Two curious examples of such dedicatory tablets (Nos. 116, 117) are seen in the casts placed in the upper and lower parts respectively of Case 101. The originals, from Slavochori, probably the site of the ancient Amyklae near Sparta, are in the Hall of Inscriptions. The first was dedicated by Anthusa, daughter of Damaenetos, a ὑποστάτρια or under-tirewoman in the service of a temple, possibly [pg 47] that of Dionysos, for we know that this god had a temple near Amyklae, which none but women might enter. On the relief is a series of objects connected with the toilet, such as a mirror, a comb, a box of cosmetics, a case containing a sponge, a pair of slippers, etc. Possibly the dedicator was in charge of objects of this nature. The other relief, from the same place, was dedicated by a priestess named Claudia Ageta, daughter of Antipater, and shows a very similar series of objects. Both these reliefs are of Imperial date.

A similar substitution of a representation for the object is found in the series of offerings which commemorate recovery from disease or bodily injury. The upper part of Cases 103-106 contains a set of marble reliefs (No. 118) found at the foot of the Pnyx at Athens, the rocky semicircular meeting-place of the Athenian people. They are dedicated by women—Eutychis, Isias, Olympias, and others—to Zeus the Highest, and have representations of various parts of the human body, such as eyes, breasts, arms, etc. These reliefs, which are of Roman date, are clearly thank-offerings for recovery from disease. There must have been a regular trade in these models, for [pg 48] Clement of Alexandria, writing about 200 A.D., talks of "those who manufacture ears and eyes of precious wood and dedicate them to the gods, setting them up in their temples."²⁰ No. 119, from a shrine of Asklepios in Melos, is a relief representing a left leg, dedicated, as the inscription shows, by way of thank-offering to the deities of healing, Asklepios and Hygieia. Next it is a small relief from Cyrene (No. 120), showing a right ear. There are several other objects here exhibited which were probably offered by grateful votaries in return for healing mercies. Such are the bronze ticket with a bronze leg suspended from it (No. 121), inscribed with the name of the donor Caledus, and two arms with a chain for suspension. In Cases 105 and 106 a whole series of terracotta votive hands, feet, eyes, breasts, etc., doubtless represents the thank-offerings of the poorer classes. With these is a curious terracotta model (No 122; fig. 36) of the lungs (A), heart (B), liver (C), kidneys (D), spleen (E), and other internal organs of the human body. Though primarily of a votive character, it is of considerable interest to the student of ancient anatomy. A votive relief of rather different character is placed on the upper shelf. It represents two plaited locks of hair dedicated (as the inscription records) by Philombrotos and Aphthonetos, sons of Deinomachos, to Poseidon, god of the sea (No. 123; fig. 37). It was a common [pg 49] custom in Greece to dedicate hair at important crises of life, particularly to deities connected with water. Achilles, on the death of Patroklos, shore off for him the hair he was growing long as an offering to the river Spercheios.²¹

Other objects illustrating the frequency and variety of Greek and Roman dedications may best be described in approximately chronological order. Two objects, which are more fully dealt with in other sections, may here be mentioned. In the sixth century B.C. the athlete Exoidas dedicated to the Dioscuri, patrons of athletic exercise, the bronze diskos (fig. 50; No. 157) with which he had conquered "the high-souled" Kephallenians in athletic contest. The helmet, dedicated by Hieron after his naval victory off Kyme, has been already described (p. 8). Other votive helmets are shown in Cases 114-5. For the votive spearheads (?) see p. 9. The huntsman, no less than the athlete and the warrior, felt that the gods took an intimate part in his successes. This is illustrated by the inscribed bronze model of a hare in Case 103, with its head thrown back in the death agony (No. 124; fig. 38). The Ionic letters, of about 480 B.C., read: "Hephaestion dedicated me to Apollo of Priene."²² This offering reminds us of another exhibited in the left-hand wall-case in the Greek Ante-Room downstairs. A small limestone statuette, found on the site of the Greek [pg 50] settlement of Naukratis in Egypt, represents a young huntsman with two boars and two hares slung over his shoulders. It is inscribed "A dedication by Kallias"—probably to Aphrodite, since it was found within her precinct (Cat. of Sculpt., I., 118).

Other interesting Greek dedications of an early date are the bronze tablet (Case 105: No. 125; fig. 39) found in Corfu, with an inscription showing it to be an offering by one Lophios²³; the silver ingot (No. 126) dedicated to Zeus Lykaeos (Zeus "the wolf-god") by Trygon; and the elaborate axe-head (No. 127; fig. 40), found in Calabria, which bears an inscription recording that it was vowed to Hera of the Plain by Kyniskos, a "cook," as a tenth of his earnings (sixth century B.C.).²⁴

The two bronze bulls (Nos. 128 and 129) are offerings made by Greeks to an Egyptian deity. They were dedicated by Greeks named respectively Sokydes and Theodoros, and represent the sacred bull Apis, worshipped at Memphis in Egypt as an incarnation of the god Ptah. The offering of Sokydes is here illustrated (Fig. 41).²⁵ [pg 51] Notice the elaborate saddle-cloth, and the wings of the Egyptian scarabaeus and hawk engraved on the bull's back. The date of these bronzes is the late sixth or early fifth century B.C. The Greeks must have become acquainted with the worship of Apis in the seventh century B.C., when they served King Psammetichos I. as mercenaries. That monarch was a fervent worshipper of the god, and built a great temple for him at Memphis. Herodotus²⁶ mentions the courts where the bull was kept, and says that the Greeks called him "Epaphos." The bull dedicated by Sokydes was found in the Nile Delta, that dedicated by Theodoros at Athens.

The two bronze wheels in Case 103 each bear a votive inscription. The earlier (No. 130), said to have been found near Argos, was perhaps an offering to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux, the divine patrons of athletic contests) by Eudamos, a victor in a chariot race. The other (No. 131; fig. 42) comes from the temple of the Kabeiri at Thebes, and is dedicated by Xenon and Pyrrhippa to Kabeiros and the Child. The bronze bell (No. 132, fig. 43) is from the same temple, and was likewise offered by one Pyrrhias to Kabeiros and [pg 52] the Child. The Kabeiri were deities of a mystic and subterranean character, who at Thebes apparently became closely connected with Dionysos, the wine-god. That a large element of burlesque entered into their worship can be seen from the vases discovered on the site of their shrine (Second Vase Room, B 77 and 78).

Near this tablet are several Roman dedications. Three curious silver-gilt plaques, probably of the second century after Christ (Nos. 133-135), found at Heddernheim, near Frankfurt-on-Main, were dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus. At first merely a local god, originating in the town of Doliche in Commagene, near the Euphrates, he later acquired considerable popularity throughout the Roman Empire, and his worship was carried far and wide by the Roman legionaries, who were largely instrumental in conveying these Oriental worships to the West. The silver tablet illustrated (No. 133; fig. 44) shows Jupiter Dolichenus in a shrine, holding thunderbolt and sceptre, with the eagle at his feet. The inscription, [pg 53] written in somewhat defective Latin,²⁷ runs: "To Jupiter, best and greatest, of Doliche, where iron has its birth. Dedicated by Flavius Fidelis and Q. Julius Posstimus by command of the god on behalf of themselves and their families." As often in late Latin inscriptions, E is written | |. Another tablet (very fragmentary) shows the god in trappings of war, holding double-axe and thunderbolt, and standing on a bull (No. 135). He is being crowned by Victory. The presence of mines in North Syria will account for the recurring phrase, "Where iron has its birth." A series of similar dedications to Mars and Vulcan, which were found at Barkway in Hertfordshire, is exhibited in the Room of Roman Britain. Examples are shown in Case 104 of a third series [pg 54] (No. 136, fig. 45), part of a great hoard found at Bala Hissar (Pessinus) in Galatia. These have figures of Helios, Selene, and Mithras. The last-named deity was the Persian god of light. He did not thoroughly win his way into the Roman world until the second century after Christ. But, once established, he proved himself of far-reaching power. Mithraism had in its ritual many points of resemblance to that of Christianity, and in the third and fourth centuries after Christ proved a most formidable rival to the spread of Christian doctrines. A memorial of Mithras is seen in the large bronze tablet (No. 137) in Case 105. Its top is decorated with knife and libation-bowl. The inscription, of about the third century after Christ, tells us that it was dedicated to Sextus Pompeius Maximus by priests of Mithras. He had held offices in the Mithraic priesthood.

There are several small bronze tablets in Case 105 with dedicatory or religious inscriptions. Among them may be mentioned No. 138, [pg 55] offered to Juno by a freedman named Q. Valerius Minander, and No. 139, an oval bronze seal with a design representing the Emperor Philip (244-9 A.D.; mentioned above, p. 10, in connection with the bronze diploma), his wife Otacilia, and their son Philip. The inscription shows that the seal belonged to the religious society of the Breisean Mystae, who apparently sealed on behalf of the city of Smyrna, where was a synod of the Mystae of the Breisean Dionysos. No. 140 is the result of a vow made by Hedone, the maid-servant of M. Crassus, to Feronia, a goddess closely connected with freedmen and freedwomen.²⁸ Her temple at Terracina, on the west coast of Italy, was specially associated with the manumission of slaves. It is likely, therefore, that Hedone's vow had something to do with her manumission. Dedications were made for safe journeys by land or by sea. In No. 141, dedicated by P. Blattius Creticus to Jupiter Poeninus, whose sanctuary was at the summit of the Great St. Bernard Pass, we have one of a number of offerings by travellers encountering the dangers of the Alps. In No. 142 we have a votive offering in the shape of a bronze plate, made to the Lares or gods of the house by Q. Carminius Optatus. The Lares are represented in art as youthful male figures, holding a cornucopia or horn of plenty, and a plate (patera) [see Case 52 of the Bronze Room, and No. 143]. The offering of a plate was peculiarly appropriate, for with the Penates these gods were supposed to ensure the food-supply of the family.

In Case 106 note the series of lead figurines (modelled on both sides). They represent warriors with helmet, cuirass, shield, sword, and greaves. These figurines (No. 144), probably of the seventh to sixth centuries B.C., were found at Amelia (Ameria) in Umbria. It is probable that they are of a votive character, though it has been suggested that they are the prototypes of the modern tin soldier. Very similar figurines have been discovered near Sparta, on the site of the Menelaon, and more recently on the site of the temple of Artemis Orthia by members of the British School at Athens.

Superstition and Magic.—As the simple faith in the gods decayed in the Greek and Roman worlds, compensation was largely sought in the dark rites of superstition and magic. The antiquities in Cases 105, 106, indicate some of the forms which such superstition took. Prominent among them was the practice of writing down curses on lead or talc with a view to the injury [pg 56] of those against whom the writer conceived that he had a grudge. These tablets were called in Latin defixiones, because they were supposed to fix down, as it were, the hated enemy. The imprecations written on them usually run in formulae, and the gods implored to work the ruin are naturally those of the nether regions. In later times especially, all manner of obscure and barbarous demons are introduced. The examples of these tablets here exhibited probably belong to the last three centuries before Christ. They come from various quarters—Knidos, Ephesus, Curium in Cyprus, Kyme in S. Italy, and Athens. Those found by Sir Charles Newton at Knidos may be taken as typical. In one case a certain Antigone, in order to clear herself from the charge of having attempted to poison Asklepiades, invokes curses upon herself if the accusation be true. In another, Artemeis devotes to Demeter, Persephone, and all the gods associated with Demeter, the person who withholds garments entrusted to him. These tablets (No. 145) appear to have been nailed to the walls of the sacred precinct of Demeter, where they were found. In the case of a tablet from Athens, the iron nail, which fastened it to the wall is still preserved.

Nails themselves were highly esteemed as instruments of magic. Ovid, for instance, says that Medea (the typical witch) made waxen effigies of absent foes, and then drove nails into the vital parts.²⁹ Examples of magical nails are seen in the series of bronze nails (No. 146) covered with cabalistic inscriptions and signs, and sometimes showing a strange mixture of Judaism and Paganism, as when Solomon and Artemis are invoked together. They may be attributed to the Gnostics, a sect which arose in the second century after Christ. Their claim was that, by a combination of various religious beliefs, they arrived at the only true knowledge of divine things. The magic nail has in one case (No. 147) been used to fasten a bronze lamp, decorated with a head of Medusa, into a socket.

On the shelf above will be noticed a number of bronze hands (No. 148; fig. 46). They are right hands, represented with the thumb and first two fingers raised. On them are numerous magic symbols in relief, such as the snake, the lizard, and the tortoise. The hand illustrated (fig. 46) is covered with such signs, prominent among which are the serpent with the cock's comb, the pine-cone, the frog, and the winged caduceus. One of the hands bears the inscription "Zougaras dedicated me to Sabazius [pg 57] in fulfilment of a vow"; another "Aristokles, a superintendent, to Zeus Sabazius." Sabazius was a Phrygian and Thracian deity, whose worship was widely spread in the Roman world. There can be no doubt that these hands were intended to avert the evil eye. Sometimes the hands have instruments connected with the ecstatic worships of the East depicted upon them, such as the Phrygian flutes, the cymbals, or the sistrum. Case 106 contains several specimens of the last-named instrument. It was composed of a handle and loop-shaped metal frame, across which passed several movable metal rods. When the sistrum was shaken the curved ends of the rods came into violent contact with the sides of the frame and produced a metallic clang. The sistrum was used by the Egyptians in their religious rites, and particularly in the worship of Isis. With the introduction of that worship into Italy in the first century B.C., the Romans became familiar with it. Apuleius, a writer of the second century after Christ, mentions silver and gold sistra, as well as bronze. A silver example is here shown (No. 149). The decoration is often elaborate, a favourite ornament for the top being the group of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, or the recumbent figure of a panther.

To the same class of amulets as the votive hands must be assigned the terracotta model of a mirror, covered over with numerous objects of magical virtue (No. 150). Several of these are well-known attributes of deities, e.g. the thunderbolt, the trident, the club, the crescent, and the caduceus. The object of these amulets seems to have been to propitiate the deities whose symbols are represented on them.

17:  Ἱαρὸς πάντων θεῶν ὅδε βωμός.

18:  Similar objects have been found in the Catacombs. Cf. Seroux d'Agincourt, Sammlung d. Denkmaeler d. Sculptur, pl. viii., fig 27.

19:  Cf. ὀβελὸς τρικώλιος as the measure of a sacrificial perquisite, in the inscriptions of Cos. Paton & Hicks, Inscrr. of Cos, No. 37, l. 53; No. 40b, l. 14.

20:  Strom., v. 566.

21:  Il. xxiii. 141 f.:

22:  Τῷ Ἁπόλλωνι τῷ Πριηλῆΐ μ' ἀνέθηκεν Ἡφαιστίων.

23:  Λόφιός μ' ἀνέθηκε.

24:  Τᾶς Ἥρας ἱαρός|ἐμι τᾶς ἐν πεδί| ωι Ϙυνίσϙο|ς με ἀνέθη|κε ὥρταμο|ς ϝέργων | δεκάταν.

25:  Τῷ Πάνεπί μ' ἀνέστασε Σωκύδης.

26:  ii. 153.

27:  I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo) Dolicheno, u|bi ferrum nascit|ur, Flavius
Fidelis et Q. Iulius Posstim|us ex imperio ipsi|us pro se et suos (sic).

28:  Cf. Livy, xxii. 1, 18: ... ut libertinae et ipsae, unde Feroniae donum daretur, pecuniam pro facultatibus suis conferrent.

29:  Ov., Her. vi. 91 f.

Athletic and pugilistic contests were already developed on Greek soil before the Homeric Age. Thus we have a steatite vase from Crete (see Cast in First Vase Room) with boxers in all positions. A pair of boxers (of about 1100 B.C.) from a vase found at Enkomi in Cyprus is shown in fig. 47 (No. 151). In the Homeric poems athletic contests frequently occur, but only as isolated and unorganized events, without rules or system. It was only at a much later date that the games were organized on lines corresponding to those of modern sport. At Olympia, the great festivals were said, according to tradition, to have begun in 776 B.C., and it was from that year that the Greeks calculated their dates, reckoning by the periodical return of the meeting every fourth year.

[pg 59]

The events at the games which may specially be called athletic were six in number: the pentathlon (or "five contests") was a competition made up of the jump, the foot-race, throwing the diskos, throwing the javelin, and wrestling.³⁰ The pentathlon was decided by a system of "heats," and the victor enjoyed a great reputation as an exceptional "all-round" man. The pankration was a combination of wrestling and boxing, which tended to develop the type of heavy professional athletes.

The victorious athlete was held in high honour by his native city. The prize at the games was indeed of no value—at Olympia it was a crown of wild olive—but on his return home the victor entered the city in triumph, feasts were held and odes were sung in his honour, he was maintained for the remainder of his life, and his statue was set up in the place where his victory had been won.

We will first deal with the events of the pentathlon in order:—

The Jump.—For the ancient jumping contests the competitors used jumping-weights (halteres). Their use is shown on the vase, E 499 (No. 152). One youth is about to leap, another stands waiting, and the trainer holds a short switch. On the vase E 561 (No. 153) a youth is also on the point of leaping. Examples of the jumping-weights are shown. The pair in lead (No. 154) are of a type which is seen not infrequently on Greek vases, consisting of blocks of lead widened at each end. The weight for the left hand, which is completely preserved, weighs 2 lb. 5 oz. (cf. also [pg 60] fig. 52). With this pair may be compared the cast of a single stone jumping-weight (No. 154*) found at Olympia and now at Berlin (fig. 48). It differs from the pair just described, and resembles the type described by Pausanias,³¹ who travelled through Greece in the second century of our era, as forming half of an elongated and irregular sphere. It probably dates from about 500 B.C. Another type is represented by a remarkable but cumbrous example in limestone, from Kameiros in Rhodes, a long cylindrical instrument with deep grooves for the thumb and fingers, to give a firm hold (No. 155; fig. 49).

The Foot Race.—A somewhat conventional foot race of armed hoplites is shown on the vase B 143. This is a Panathenaic amphora, that is, one of the two-handled vases, won, as the inscription on the other side states, at the games at Athens. They always bear on one side a figure of the patron goddess Athena, on the other a representation of the contest in which they were won. Many examples may be seen in the Second and Fourth Vase Rooms.

Throwing the Diskos.—This was one of the oldest and most popular contests at the great festivals. It was already known in Homeric times, and we read of Odysseus using a disc of stone, and of one of iron hurled at the funeral games in honour of Patroklos; but all existing examples are in bronze except a lead disc at Berlin which cannot have been used in athletics. The diskos was used, [pg 61] not like the modern quoit, with the object of hitting a mark, but with a view to throwing as far as possible, as in the modern contest of putting the weight.

Existing discs vary considerably in size and weight, and were doubtless made to suit various degrees of strength, like modern dumb-bells or Indian clubs. The plain bronze example in this Case (No. 156) weighs as much as 8 lb. 13 oz. The small disc (No. 157; fig. 50), which was dedicated by Exoidas to the Dioscuri after a victory over his Kephallenian competitors³² (cf. above, p. 49), weighs only 2 lb. 12 oz. The weight used at modern athletic sports weighs 16 lb. and has been put 48 ft. 2 in.

Diskos-throwing reached its greatest popularity in the sixth and fifth centuries, and it is to the middle of this period that the remarkable votive disc here shown (No. 158; fig. 51) may be assigned. It is engraved with finely-incised designs, representing on one side an athlete with jumping-weights; on the other, another holding a hurling-spear³³ in both hands. This disc weighs rather more than 4 lb. The method of handling the disc will be readily understood from the bronze figure and representations on vases exhibited in this Case; they should be compared with the copies of the famous Diskobolos of Myron in the second Graeco-Roman Room and the Gallery of Casts.

Javelin-Throwing and Wrestling.—These sports are frequently shown on the Panathenaic vases already described (p. 60). Other games of a varied character also occur, and we find such contests as tilting from horseback at a suspended shield, the torch-race, [pg 62] and races in full armour depicted. A specimen (B 134 in the Second Vase Room) shows four athletes engaged in four out of the five contests of the pentathlon (cf. also B 361 (No. 159) in this Case).

Boxing, one of the most ancient contests (see above, fig. 47), was long practised at the games with gloves of ox-hide, which was torn into long strips and bound round the hand. Such wrappings, like modern boxing-gloves, were intended rather to protect the wearer than to injure his opponent. At a later date, probably in the fourth [pg 63] century B.C., a more dangerous glove was introduced, in the form of a pad of thick leather bound over the fingers. This new form must have inflicted severe wounds; it is apparently used by the two African boxers in terracotta seen in this Case (No. 160). But in the decline of the Roman Empire, when the brutality of the spectators had to be satisfied at all costs, a still more cruel glove was invented, which had a heavy addition in metal, and must have been an appalling weapon. See the fragment in terracotta (No. 161, fig. 52). A cast from a terracotta relief (No. 162) shows a statue of a victorious boxer.

The other objects in this case are less directly connected with athletics; the most noteworthy is a large bronze caldron (No. 163, fig. 53), of about the sixth century B.C., which was found at Kyme, in South Italy, and was given as a prize at games held in that district. It is inscribed: "I was a prize at the games of Onomastos." He was doubtless a wealthy citizen at whose expense the contests were arranged, a form of public service very common in Greek [pg 64] cities. A piece of corrugated tile (No. 164) comes from the floor of the palaestra (wrestling place) at Olympia.

30:  Summed up by Simonides (cf. Bergk, No. 153)

31:  v. 26, 3.

32: 

33:  The lines on this side appear to have been worn down and re-cut, but the restorer has misunderstood the spear, and left it as a single fine line.

Gladiatorial combats were not native to Rome, but had long been known in Etruria as an adjunct to funeral ceremonies, and were probably introduced thence into Rome by way of Campania, where the amphitheatre of Pompeii is the oldest in existence. The first show of gladiators at Rome took place in 264 B.C., but only three pairs of combatants were engaged in it. In course of time the number of gladiators increased, and such contests were given with greater frequency, although they remained a mere accompaniment of funeral ceremonies until 105 B.C., in which year they were for the first time offered as official amusements to the people. During the empire, gladiatorial shows were organised on a vast scale, and amphitheatres were built in all the provinces. It was inevitable that the influence of Christianity should make such exhibitions impossible. But it was not till nearly a century after the Emperor Constantine had recognised Christianity as a state religion, that Honorius put an end to the exhibition of gladiators in Rome (404 A.D.).

The serious combats in the Roman arena were announced by a procession and a preliminary fight with the weapons used in practice. This mock struggle excited the men, and made them ready for the terrible trial of skill which followed. Lots were drawn, and the combatants arranged in pairs, but sometimes mêlées were planned, in which large numbers were engaged. It was possible for a man to draw a bye, and so to fight only with the winner of a previous round; probably, however, a gladiator seldom fought more than two fights in a single day.

[pg 65]

A fight might end in three ways: (1) the better gladiator might kill his adversary in the heat of the fray; (2) the vanquished gladiator might lay down his arms and raise his left hand as a sign of defeat and a prayer for mercy. See lamp, No. 165 (fig. 54). It rested officially with the giver of the spectacle to grant or refuse the defeated man's request, but the matter was really decided by the spectators, who expressed their desire that he should be spared by shouting for his discharge, waving a piece of cloth in the air, or raising the left hand. The opposite decision was expressed by pointing the thumb downwards and shouting "slay" (jugula). (3) If two men fought on equal terms and displayed great courage, they might both be discharged before the combat reached a definite result (stantes missi). The victor, when finally discharged from service in the arena, was presented with a wooden sword (rudis), similar to those used in practice, as a sign that he had fought his last serious fight. Horace alludes to this in his Epistles, when asking Maecenas if he may retire from his service.

[pg 66]

Gladiators were divided into classes according to their equipment and mode of fighting. The following were the most important:—(1) The Samnite (figs. 54, 55). He wore a helmet with high crest, one or sometimes two greaves, and a guard on the right arm. He also had an oblong shield. The equipment is well shown in the bronze statuette (No. 166, fig. 55), lately acquired from the Gréau and Weber collections. (2) The retiarius or net-thrower (No. 167, fig. 56), who carried a trident, a dagger, and a large net in which he tried to envelop his adversary. The net-thrower was matched against a gladiator called a secutor, who was armed like the Samnite, and perhaps received his name because he was the follower (secutor) of his lightly-armed foe. (3) The Thrax (Thracian), armed with the Thracian curved dagger, a small shield, and a helmet. He fought the hoplomachus, another variety of Samnite. (4) The mirmillo, the origin of whose name and nature of whose equipment are not certainly known. He was opposed to the net-thrower, and later to the Thracian. Among other classes of less importance may be mentioned the mounted gladiators (equites), who appear on the left of fig. 57 (a Pompeian relief).³⁴

A curious marble relief from Halikarnassos (No. 168; fig. 58) gives a vivid picture of an unusual form of gladiatorial combat, between two women. They are armed like the Samnites, but without helmets, and the fight seems to take place on a sort of platform on either side of which the head of a spectator is visible. Their names are given as Amazon and Achillia, and above their heads is inscribed in Greek "discharged," ἀπελύθησαν. It is known that women fought in the arena under the Empire³⁵; but under Septimius Severus (193-211) so much scandal was caused by a specially furious combat of a large number of female gladiators that such exhibitions were forbidden.³⁶

The objects exhibited in illustration of gladiatorial shows are [pg 67] numerous and varied, though not artistically remarkable. The subject was especially popular with the smaller craftsmen, the makers of bronze statuettes and the potters of Italy and Gaul, who produced terracotta lamps and vases for a large but uncritical [pg 68] public. A selection of some dozen lamps (No. 169) is here given illustrating different stages of the combat, or single gladiators; one is simply ornamented with specimens of gladiatorial armour (helmets, greaves, shields, and daggers).

No complete example of a gladiator's helmet is shown in the Case, but the bronze visor (No. 170), a small bronze model (No. 171), and a model in glazed pottery (No. 172) suffice to give an idea of the usual type. The illustration (fig. 59) of a helmet at Pompeii shows the arrangement of the visors. The cast (No. 173) is from a relief from Ephesus (the original is in the Sculpture Galleries) which shows combats and corn-waggons (see Case 50) the panem et circenses demanded by the Roman populace.

Some interest attaches to the series of ivory tickets (tesserae), which are inscribed with the names of gladiators, and are valuable as being dated by the names of the consuls in office (No. 174). They range from the beginning of the first century B.C. to the time of Domitian (81-96 A.D.); those shown in the Case extend from 85 B.C. to 32 A.D. The usual formula of the inscription gives (1) the gladiator's name, (2) the name of his master, (3) the letters SP and the date of the day and month, (4) the consuls of the year. The meaning of the letters SP is disputed, but the most likely explanation is that they stand for spectavit, "became a spectator," with reference to the honourable discharge of the [pg 69] recipient. Several examples are known in which the word is thus written in full. The ticket of which an illustration is given in fig. 60 bears the inscription, "Cocero the gladiator of Fafinius became a spectator on the 5th of October in the Consulship of Lucius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius" (85 B.C.).

The contests in the arena were not limited to those between gladiators. Combats of animals, and of men with animals enjoyed equal popularity. In the latter case the men might be hunters (venatores), lightly armed, and able to escape by agility and skill. They might also be criminals or martyrs (who were counted as criminals) exposed to wild beasts without hope of resistance or escape. Two terracotta reliefs (Nos. 175, 175*) are shown in this Case, of about the time of Augustus, which, though fragmentary, evidently relate to exhibitions of this kind. A better and more complete example is the sculptured relief from Ephesus (No. 176) with four panels, in each of which is a man in combat with a lion, probably successive stages in a single event. A lamp (No. 177; fig. 61) shows a man and a bear, separated by a kind of turnstile, called a cochlea.

34: Mus. Borb., XV., pl. 30.

35: Cf. Tac., Ann. xv. 32; Suet., Dom. 4.

36: Dio Cass., lxxv. 16.

[pg 70]

Chariot-racing was one of the oldest of Greek sports, and is described in the Iliad as one of the contests held at the funeral of Patroklos. At that time the two-horse war-chariot was used in the race, and a special type of racing-car does not seem to have existed.

The introduction of chariot-races in the great athletic contests was a concession to the wealthy inhabitants of prosperous cities. To enter a chariot with a team of four horses, which was now the usual number for the great race at Olympia, demanded almost as large a proportionate expenditure as to run a horse for the Derby to-day. Rich men in Greece Proper found rivals in the tyrants of Sicily and Cyrene, who ruled over cities with large revenues and districts providing good opportunities for successful horse-breeding.

At Olympia four-horse chariots raced for the first time in [pg 71] 680 B.C., chariots with two horses not until 408. Between those dates a race for horsemen was started, and won on the first occasion by a native of Thessaly, which, owing to its rich plains, was celebrated in antiquity for a magnificent breed of horses. A winner in the horse-race is depicted on the vase No. 178 (exhibited in Case 107), about to receive a wreath and a tripod as his prizes, while a herald proclaims: "The horse of Dysneiketos wins."

The race of four-horse chariots was, perhaps, the greatest event in the Olympian Games, and certainly the most exciting to the spectators, as accidents were frequent, especially at the turn. Consummate skill was necessary to double the post as close and as fast as possible. Readers of Sophokles' Electra will remember the account given by the messenger of the alleged death of Orestes in a collision of chariots turning the post.³⁷

The Romans probably derived their custom of chariot-racing from the Greeks, as also the plan which, with some alterations in detail, they adopted for their circus. In the early days of Rome the marshy valley between the Palatine and Aventine Hills was the place chosen for the games, and remained so through the succeeding centuries, during which the course was gradually surrounded with an immense building; this in the fourth century after Christ held not far short of 180,000 people.

In the later Roman Empire the charioteers were hired by factions, which were distinguished by different colours, and excited violent enthusiasm among all classes of Roman society. The passion survived the introduction of Christianity, and was perhaps even more violent at Constantinople than at Rome; it was said that the inhabitants of the new capital of the Empire divided their interests between a passion for chariot-racing and theological discussion. Successful charioteers were transferred from one faction to another like modern football-players. Records exist of the number of victories gained by famous whips, and of the proportion won under the different colours.

The costume of the charioteer was always distinct. In Greece he wore a long robe girt at the waist, which is well seen on the [pg 72] bronze statue from Delphi,³⁸ and on the chariot-racing reliefs from the Mausoleum.³⁹ At Rome his dress was peculiar, and is illustrated by the terracotta relief (No. 179; fig. 62) and other objects in this Case, notably the small ivory statuette (No. 180; fig. 63). It consisted of a close-fitting cap, and a shirt fastened round the waist. Characteristic thongs called fasciae were wound round the ribs. The thongs of the reins were also wound about the body. A knife was stuck in the belt so that the reins might be quickly cut in the event of an accident.

[pg 73]

A sort of bird's-eye view of the whole circus, with a race in progress, is given on the lamp No. 181 (fig. 64), on which we see on one side the carceres or barriers with folding-doors from which the chariots started; on the other a stand with rows of spectators, while in the lower part of the design is the spina, or central rib of the circus, crowded with various structures. Not less instructive is the scene on the terracotta relief (No. 179), though only one chariot is there represented (fig. 62, above). Two lamps (Nos. 182, 183) illustrate respectively the return of a victorious horse (fig. 65) and a victorious four-horse chariot. The former is accompanied by men bearing palm-branches and a tablet probably inscribed with the name of the successful competitor.

The cast No. 184 is taken from a mould in the Terracotta Room [pg 74] (No. E 79) for the central panel of a large lamp. Its chief figure is a successful charioteer, crowned with a bulky wreath.

37: El. 680 ff.

38: Cat. of Casts, No. 94.

39: Cat. of Sculpture, II., Nos. 1036, 1037.

The arms and armour of the ancients are contained in Wall-Cases 111-119, and in Table-Case E. The weapons of attack date from the beginning of the use of metal, in the prehistoric period, but all the defensive armour belongs to the historical age.

Armour.—There is not much literary evidence for the armour of antiquity, but military subjects are very commonly represented in works of art, and these, with the actual remains of armour, give a good idea of the ancient panoply. The armour of the prehellenic civilisations of Greece, as described by Homer, is a subject of dispute, and as this collection possesses no specimen of such remnants as have been found, there is no need here to discuss the question. It is enough to say that the armour of the inhabitants of Greece of the Mycenaean or Bronze Age was entirely different from that of the Hellenic period, which began with the introduction of iron in the place of bronze, and that the heroes of the Homeric poems, who are so frequently portrayed in classical art, are represented in the armour not of their own day, but of that of the artist. The earliest Greek fashion is seen in a small bronze figure of a soldier from Dodona, a cast of which is exhibited in Case 113 (No. 185; fig. 66). The original is in the Antiquarium at Berlin. Its date is about 500 B.C. The man was striking with a spear; he carries a shield on his left arm, and wears a metal helmet, cuirass and greaves. These three pieces of body-armour were worn throughout classical times, being adopted from the Greeks by the Romans. All are represented in this collection.

Helmet.—The earliest type of helmet is known as Corinthian, because it is worn by the goddess Athena in the well-known coin-type of Corinth (fig. 12e). It was a complete metal casing of the [pg 75] head and neck, open only in front of the eyes and mouth; the nose was protected by a vertical strip which was left between the eyes, and the rest of the face was covered as by a mask (fig. 66). In the earliest specimens (No. 186) the metal is everywhere of the same thickness, the cheek-pieces large and clumsy, the nose-piece straight, and little attempt is made to curve the back so as to fit the neck. Later helmets were more gracefully designed: the nasal and cheek-pieces are shaped and curved, the crown is distinguished from the lower part, the neck has a natural contour, and is set off from the rest of the helmet by a notch on each side of the bottom rim (No. 187; fig. 67). The lines of hair and eyebrows are often indicated in embossed and engraved patterns (Nos. 188, 189; fig. 78).

It would seem that the Corinthian helmet at its best was a cumbrous piece of armour. The ears of the wearer were covered, and the ill-fitting shell must have sat loose upon the head, so as to be easily displaced by a sudden turn. This and the chafing of [pg 76] the metal were obviated in some degree by a lining of felt or leather, which was sewn inside the helmet in the rows of holes along the edges. In No. 189 the actual fastenings may be seen as well as the holes: thin twine along the bottom rim, and rivets in the holes elsewhere. This is an unusually well preserved helmet; the wooden peg on which the plume was tied is still in place (fig. 78). A leathern cap was also worn, and is seen on the coins of Corinth (fig. 12e), where the helmet is represented in the position in which it was carried when the wearer was not fighting, i.e., pushed back until the lower rim projected in a peak over the forehead. This position came to be adopted in battle also; for in the last of the Corinthian series (Nos. 190, 191, fig. 68, 192) there is not sufficient depth to the helmet to admit of its being worn over the face in the original way, nor are the eyeholes large enough to be of use, while in two examples these are represented only by engraving, a traditional design which shows the evolution of the helmet (No. 192). Such examples are, however, not really Greek. They come from South Italy, and belong to a late period, when the art and manners of Greek colonists were reproduced in barbarous form among the natives. Drawings of this helmet on Italian vases of the third century B.C. give a date for the class.

An additional value is given to three of the early helmets by inscriptions which they bear and which help to date them. The first (No. 188) is a record of a dedication of Corinthian spoils to [pg 77] Zeus by the Argives: ΤΑΡΓ[ΕΙ]ΟΙ ΑΝΕΘΕΝ ΤΟΙ ΔΙϜΙ ΤΟΝ ϘΟΡΙΝΘΟΘΕΝ, in lettering which belongs probably to the end of the sixth century B.C.⁴⁰ The helmet was found in the bed of the river Alpheios, near Olympia, and was doubtless dedicated in the sanctuary. A shield bearing the first word of a similar inscription has since been found at Olympia, and was probably part of the same offering. Another helmet (No. 186) has five letters, ΟΛΥΜΠ, scratched on the corner of one of the cheek-pieces in characters of about 500 B.C. The complete word was perhaps Ὀλυμπίῳ, "To the Olympian Zeus." This is said to have been found at Dodona in Epeiros. The third is inscribed on the front with the name of its owner, ΔΑΣΙΜΟΣ ΠΥΡΡΟΥ, "Dasimos son of Pyrrhos" (No. 194). The date of the writing is the beginning of the fifth century. This helmet, which comes from South Italy, differs from the Corinthian only in having holes for the ears, but it is really the first of a new type, the so-called Attic.

The evidence of inscriptions, painting and sculpture shows that the Corinthian helmet was generally worn by the Greeks from the first appearance of metal armour in the eighth century B.C. to the early years of the fifth. It then became less common, but never quite disappeared, and was used, certainly as a decorative type, by the Romans of the Empire.

The Attic helmet, which gets its name from its use on the coins [pg 78] of Athens (fig. 12, f-l), appeared first in the sixth century B.C., and in the fourth was the usual type. In shape it is lighter than the Corinthian, and resembles a cap with appendages to protect the neck, cheeks and nose. The ear was thus left free. The finest Attic helmet (No. 195, fig. 69) has been acquired recently from the British Salonika Force. It was found with a spearhead and other objects in a grave of about 500 B.C. in the camp of the 29th General Hospital at Mikra Karabournou, in January, 1918, and was transferred to this collection from the Imperial War Museum. The nasal is elegantly modelled, eyebrows and tongues of hair over the forehead are wrought in relief, and broad spiral bands in relief decorate and strengthen the cheek-pieces. The cheek-pieces were often hung on hinges (No. 197), and were pushed up from the face when the wearer was not fighting (fig. 81). No. 198 is a cheek-piece from Loryma in Caria, which reproduces the form of the face beneath it. An Attic helmet from Ruvo in Apulia (No. 196) has fixed cheek-pieces in the shape of rams' heads, which were completed [pg 79] with applied reliefs like those of a similar helmet at Naples (fig. 70). The nose-piece was often omitted. The forehead was well covered, and was usually marked by a triangular frontal band, often enclosing an ornament. No. 197 has the head of a young Satyr in relief. The Attic helmet was also adopted in Italy, especially by the Etruscans. No. 199 (fig. 78) was found in an Etruscan tomb at Vulci.

These two helmets, the Corinthian and the Attic, were so far the most general among the Greeks as to merit the name of the classical types. No. 193 is an intermediate form which has been assigned to the Aegean Islands because of its occurrence in vase-paintings from the Cyclades. This example was found in the river Alpheios, and was no doubt originally dedicated, like several other pieces in this collection, in the temple at Olympia. It is cut straight over the eyes, has no nose-piece and no ear-holes (fig. 67). A peculiar feature is a broad band with high raised edges which runs over the crown of the head from forehead to neck. A stout pin in front of this shows that the band was a channel in which the crest was fixed. A row of silver studs and a silver band decorate the rim of this helmet, and there are remains of ornaments in relief, [pg 80] palmettes on forehead and at the ears, and on each cheek-piece a horseman. These were no doubt also of silver, but the plates have come away, leaving their impress upon the cement which used to hold them in place. The style of the modelling belongs to the end of the sixth century B.C. Another Greek type has the shape of a Phrygian cap, with the addition of movable cheek-pieces, of which the hinges are partially preserved (No. 200). Such a helmet is often worn by Amazons, for instance by the Queen Hippolyte on an Attic bowl of about 450 B.C., which is exhibited in the Third Vase Room (fig. 71). It is also shewn in the cast of an Etruscan bronze statuette which stands beside the helmet (No. 201). The tall oval helmet (No. 202, fig. 72) with its barbarous pair of horns in the shape of crests of sea-horses, is Italian, but the same type appears on Greek monuments.

Italian helmets are more like hats, giving no protection to the face unless cheek-pieces are added. An early form, from Ancona, is almost hemispherical, with wide brim and two large bosses on the sides (No. 203, fig. 73). The bosses would stop glancing blows on the head. The smaller knob on the front of this example may have held the crest; if so, the corresponding knob behind has been lost. Two helmets from Cannae are later developments of the same type (No. 204, fig. 74). They are decorated and stiffened with two curved bands in relief, one on each side of the crown. The bosses and brims are broken away. The earliest helmets of this shape belong to the seventh century B.C. Our later specimens were probably worn in the battle of Cannae (216 B.C.). They have wrongly [pg 81] been called Carthaginian because of their discovery on this battlefield, but the type is European, and has been found at Hallstatt. The helmet with sharp pointed top also belongs to a class which extended to France and Germany in the early Iron Age (No. 205, fig. 72). The arched socket for the crest is a peculiarity of this example, which is of later date, about fourth century B.C. More strictly of Italian origin are the heavy Etruscan helmets resembling reversed jockey-caps, with a knob on top, a short peak covering the wearer's neck, and attached cheek-pieces (No. 206, fig. 75). They are cast; nearly all other helmets are hammered work. Their date is from the fifth to the third century B.C. The Etruscans also used an oval helmet with ridged crown, of which the most notable example comes from Olympia, where it was dedicated as part of the Greek spoils from the naval battle of Kyme (B.C. 474). This helmet is described above among the Greek Inscriptions (p. 8, fig. 7, No. 13). Other examples are heavier, and have a broad decorated rim (No. 207, fig. 73).

There is no specimen of a Roman helmet in this collection. The scarcity of remains of Roman armour is due to the fact that it was mostly made of iron, which has decayed. Representations of different shapes may be seen, in a statuette of an officer (No. 219, fig. 85), a small model of a trophy (No. 233), a cast of a large marble [pg 82] relief (No. 236), and a drawing of a soldier from the Column of Trajan (fig. 90). All these show close-fitting caps with broad chin-straps, which also serve as cheek-pieces. They are varieties of the Attic type. Some Roman helmets found in England are exhibited in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities. One of them is reproduced in fig. 76. It is evidently related to the much older Etruscan "jockey-cap." The hinged cheek-pieces are wanting. It is likely that the Romans would combine Greek and Italian patterns in designing a uniform helmet for their own army.

A peculiar fashion of Roman helmet is represented by two bronze vizor-masks in Case 117 (Nos. 208, 209, fig. 77). A complete [pg 83] helmet of the same kind, exhibited in the Room of Roman Britain, was found at Ribchester in 1796, and two other specimens, a fragmentary iron helmet and a bronze mask, have recently been excavated at Newstead on the Tweed. The Newstead helmet has remains of padding still adhering, which prove that these strange helmets were actually worn, though Arrian, writing on tactics in the second century A.D., says that they were used for display, and not in battle. The earlier of our examples (No. 208, fig. 77, right), which probably belongs to the first century A.D., is said to have been found on the face of a skeleton in a grave at Nola in Italy in the eighteenth century. The other (No. 209, fig. 77, left), which has the more usual type of features, has lately been presented to the Museum, having been purchased at Aintab in Syria during the occupation of the country by British troops. Both masks are pierced at eyes, nostrils and mouth, and show traces of attachment to the helmet above the forehead. No. 209 has remains of white metal plating on the face, the hair being left in the colour of bronze.

Crests are shown on all kinds of helmets, as in the Greek, Etruscan and Roman statuettes (figs. 66, 81, 85), and the drawings on Greek and Italian vases (figs. 79, 86, etc.); it is not uncommon to find three on one helmet. They had thick horsehair plumes, sometimes simply wired to the helmet, sometimes mounted in sockets. Very few helmets show original fittings for the crests. These must have [pg 84] been added by the owners. Some helmets have holes drilled in the crown; No. 186 has remains of wire in the holes. No. 189 has a bronze socket still holding a wooden peg, but this is only fastened with cement, and its rough make is not in keeping with the fine finish of this helmet (fig. 78). The flanged channel and pins of No. 193 (fig. 67) are peculiar to that type of helmet. An Etruscan helmet of Attic shape (No. 199, fig. 78) had a pair of tubes to carry single feathers, only one of which remains (cf. fig. 80). It was an Italian habit to wear fantastic ornaments. The head of a horseman from a wall-painting at Capua shows horns, wings, and a plume or feather (fig. 79). A Corinthian helmet from Apulia has a pair of curved horns like those in the wall-painting (No. 190). An Attic helmet belonging to a suit of armour which was found in a grave at Capua, and is exhibited here on loan from H.M. Armoury in the Tower of London (No. 210), has horns of coiled wire (perhaps clips for feathers), and a pair of wings. The oval bronze hat [pg 85] (No. 202, fig. 72) has two crests of sea-horses mounted as horns, with the support for a plume between them. These accessories are detachable; they are cut out of thin sheet metal and fit on to flat ears on the helmet. Two of the latest of the Corinthian class (No. 191, fig. 68) have such attachments.

Cuirass.—The earliest metal cuirass consisted of two bronze plates roughly shaped to fit the body, and fastened together at the sides and shoulders. The bottom edge was turned up so as not to cut the hips. The Greek statuette from Dodona (No. 185, fig. 66) shows the form. It was contemporary with the Corinthian helmet in Greece, and was probably discarded there for the same reason, that it was as much a burden as a protection. In Italy it had a longer life, but in an improved shape which is represented in Italian vase-painting (fig. 80), and is shown here in the cast of an Etruscan statuette (No. 201), as well as in some actual specimens from Italy (Nos. 210, 211, 212). These fit closely to the body, of which [pg 86] the form is moulded in free style on the metal plates, and the bottom edge follows the line of the waist. A fringe of leather was often attached to the rim. The fastenings are rings for lacing, and pins in sockets which serve either as hinges or clasps. The other cuirass was generally used in Greece from the beginning of the fifth century B.C. An Etruscan statuette in the Bronze Room shows every detail of the type (fig. 81). It was made of leather plated with bronze, with shoulder-straps to buckle down upon the breast. In scenes of the arming of soldiers, for instance on a vase by the painter Douris, at Vienna (fig. 82), the method of putting on this cuirass is often represented, and the construction of the various parts is shown. The bronze plating might be in the form of square tabs or round scales. Two fragments of such plating are exhibited (No. 213, fig. 83, right). The larger consists of six plates of bronze with the lower edge scalloped, sewn with wire on a leathern coat, and overlapping in such a way as everywhere to present three thicknesses of metal. The leather of this example is modern. The other is of five much smaller scales, similarly wired together. The larger fragment is from France, the smaller from Oxyrhynchus, in Egypt. Some pieces of heavier bronze plating, one of them still clasping a shrivelled tongue of leather, may have served as the long tabs which form a skirt to this cuirass. They were excavated at Kertch in the Crimea (No. 214, fig. 83, left).

A peculiar Italian type is represented by a triangular bronze breastplate filled with three circles in relief (No. 215). This breastplate often appears on third-century vases of South Italian fabric, and a number of such plates have been found in tombs of the [pg 87] beginning of the Iron Age. It is therefore an ancient pattern, but this example is contemporary with the vases (fig. 84).

Another piece of native Italian fashion is the metal belt (No. 216) which is also represented in vase paintings of the third century B.C. (fig. 84). It was worn with the triangular breastplate. Rows of holes along the edges show that the belts were lined with cloth or leather. The fastening is simple, one end hooking into the other. Many elaborate hooks are exhibited (No. 217). Two oval bronze plaques (No. 218) may have belonged to belts of different type.

Remains of Roman cuirasses are as rare as of the helmets, and for the same reason; but the general type of the armour worn by the legionary soldier is illustrated by a small statuette (No. 219; fig. 85). The cuirass is of the same design as the flexible Greek type; it is made of overlapping bands of metal, which are fastened down the front. There are shoulder-pieces of similar construction, and straps are brought over from the back to hold the armour in place. Underneath is a kilt of leather or metal strips. Two other varieties of Roman cuirass are shown in the cast of the relief representing pieces of armour (No. 236), and a fourth is the coat of mail, which appears in the reliefs of the Columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius at Rome [pg 88] (about 110 and 190 A.D. respectively). It is represented here by fragments of two different patterns and sizes (No. 220).

Greaves.—The third part of the Greek body armour is the greaves. Metal greaves may have been worn towards the close of the Mycenaean Age (the pair from Enkomi in Cyprus dates from about 1100 B.C.), but their general use was due, like that of the metal cuirass, to the adoption of the small shield, which necessitated a better covering of the body and legs. The poet Alcaeos says that the greave was a protection against missiles. It was a thin sheet of bronze, shaped to fit the leg, which it clasped and held of its own elasticity. Only the greaves from Enkomi (No. 221) are laced with bronze wire. Warriors putting on their greaves are often represented on the Attic vases. Fig. 86 is from the same scene as fig. 82. An ankle-pad was worn to keep the bottom edge from chafing. There is little difference of shape or decoration in the existing specimens. Some reach only to the knee, and some extend above it to cover part of the thigh (Nos. 222, 225). With the exception of the pair from Enkomi, all these date from the sixth to the third century B.C. Two of the finest (No. 223; fig. 87) from Ruvo in South Italy, are decorated on the knee with a figure of a Gorgon. The tongue and eyes were made of ivory. The style points to Ionia as the place, and the sixth century as the time of manufacture. Rather later is the pair with incised palmettes above the knees (No. 224). The only other decoration is the expression of the muscles of the leg to correspond with the similar representation of the body on the breastplate. As in the belt and helmet, there is usually a row of holes along the rim for the attachment of a lining. In the Roman army the greave was worn from early [pg 89] times, but under the Empire it became a mark of distinction for the centurions.

Some rare pieces of armour are arranged with the greaves. No. 226 is a thigh-piece, of which the provenance is not known. A similar piece was found at Olympia. Armour for the thigh is represented on some Greek vases of the sixth century B.C., but not on later monuments, although both Xenophon and Arrian mention it as part of the equipment of cavalry. A guard for the upper part of the right arm, from Italy, which is more familiar as armour of the later gladiator, dates from the fifth or fourth century B.C. (No. 227). It was fastened to the shoulder of the cuirass. Another piece of different shape is mounted with the suit of armour from Capua (No. 210). There are three pairs of shin-guards from Italy (No. 228). The ankle-pieces are designed to protect the "Achilles" tendon at the back of the foot (No. 229; fig. 88). These subsidiary pieces of leg-armour were probably worn by the Italians of the fourth century B.C., when the long greave was going out of fashion. Armour of an unusual kind is represented by the pair of bronze shoes, which are also from Ruvo (No. 230; fig. 89). The metal [pg 90] covering is only for the top of the foot, and the toes are on a separate plate, which is hinged at the joint. Part of a single shoe of the same type was found at Olympia.

Shield.—An essential part of the ancient panoply was the shield, but actual remains are rare. Greek shields were probably made of wood or leather studded or plated with metal. The prehistoric shield of Homer's time we know was a large bull-hide, which enveloped the man from head to foot, and was slung round his neck by a strap. Herodotus says that this unwieldy weapon was superseded by the smaller shield, an invention of the Carians, held on the left arm by a loop and a cross-bar (fig. 102). The common shapes were circular and oval; more fanciful patterns, lozenges and crescents, belonged to less civilised neighbours of the Greeks. Leather construction is seen in the shape of the Boeotian shield (so called from its use as the national coin-type of Boeotia), which the Dodona soldier carries (No. 185; fig. 66). This is oval with a gap in the middle of each long side, a shape produced by stretching a hide on a long frame with cross-bars at top and bottom. Strings for tightening the leather cover are drawn inside a shield in fig. 102. [pg 91] Two circular bronze shields are exhibited, both from Italy. The large one is decorated with narrow bands of Sphinxes, rosettes, palm- and lotus-patterns in relief, in the oriental Greek style of the sixth century B.C. (No. 231). The smaller (No. 232), which has a spiked boss and punctured geometric patterns, is probably Italian of about the same date. Neither of these examples has the fittings of a shield inside. They may have been made for decorative or votive use.

No Roman shields are represented, and none have survived entire, for they were also made of wood and leather, and only the central boss and the framework were of metal. The ordinary type is illustrated in the reliefs of the Trajan Column (fig. 90), where the legionaries are perhaps distinguished from the auxiliary soldiers by their oblong shields. These are further differentiated by the badges of the various legions; the illustration shows a thunderbolt. The Greeks also carried devices on their shields, mostly figures of animals (fig. 102, a bull's head), which would be chosen as the emblem of a man or family, like coats of arms in mediaeval Europe. Some states also had their badges; men of Lacedaemon, Sicyon, and Messene bore the initial letters of the names of their towns.

Trophies.—A peculiar usage of war among the Greeks, which was afterwards practised by the Romans, was the erection of trophies of the arms captured from a defeated enemy. Soldiers of all ages have celebrated their achievements by the display of armour or similar spoils which they have stripped from their opponents; but the custom of building effigies with the empty armour, to be left for a monument on the battlefield, as a token of victory, belonged properly to the Greeks. Helmet, cuirass and greaves were slung in position on a tree-trunk, and the shield and other weapons were bound to the arms of a cross-piece. An inscription was affixed, giving an account of the victory and the [pg 92] dedication of the monument to a deity, as other spoils were dedicated in the temples. In the centre of the Wall-Cases 116-117 two suits of armour are set up in this fashion (Nos. 210, 211). In Case 111 there are a small bronze model of a Roman trophy (No. 233), and two lamps with designs of the same subject. One of them has a trophy of barbarian arms, a horned helmet and oblong wooden shields, with a man and a woman captive at the foot (No. 234). The other is more fanciful: a trophy is borne aloft by a Victory, who is poised with her foot on a globe, to symbolise the subjection of the world (No. 235).

The Greeks had established customs in raising trophies, and these were strictly observed. The trophy was an assertion of victory, and was accepted by the vanquished and left inviolate by them. But it was contrary to usage for the victors to repair it, or to make the supports of anything more durable than wood. The native Roman practice was to fix captured armour in the house, like trophies of the chase. The built trophy was borrowed from the Greeks, but it was not necessarily erected on the battlefield. At Rome there were many trophies commemorating provincial victories, and the custom was continued in the representations of spoils on the triumphal arches and other monuments of the Imperial age. A marble relief of pieces of armour from one of these monuments is reproduced in a cast (No. 236). The arms are mostly Roman, but the dragon-standard and loose tunic belong to the Dacians, a barbarous people who made trouble on the north-east frontier of the Roman Empire in the second century after Christ.

Standards.—Military standards were not much used by the Greeks, but in the Roman army, which was a regular institution, not a temporary levy of citizens, they were elaborately developed. The eagle was the standard of the legion. It was a gilt image of the bird with spread wings, holding a thunderbolt in its claws. Marks of military distinction bestowed upon the legion—crowns, wreaths, and medallions—were carried on the staff which supported the eagle or on the eagle itself (fig. 109, p. 105). Smaller standards belonged to the companies of the legion (maniples or centuries). These [pg 93] were originally banners (vexilla) mounted on spears, with honorary wreaths and medallions attached to the shafts. A cast of such a standard is exhibited (No. 237). The cross-piece represents the bar on which the banner was hung, the sloping and vertical members at its ends are derived from the cords which fastened the cross-bar to the pole. The other standards shown in fig. 91, figures of birds or animals carried on a plain shaft, are also represented here, in the bronze boar (No. 238). Such standards were probably used by detachments of the legion. The regimental emblems were chosen or bestowed for various reasons; some legions had several badges, and the same badges are found with several legions. The boar is known to have belonged to the 1st (Italica), 2nd (Adjutrix), 10th (Fretensis) and 20th (Valeria Victrix). The bronze hand (No. 239) may have been part of a standard, but its poor structure rather indicates votive use. An open hand was the proper standard of the maniple, the Roman company of two centuries, which, indeed, derived its name from this device (manipulus, a handful). The Roman explanation, as recorded by Ovid and others, was that when Romulus first organised his men by hundreds, he gave each company a standard consisting of a handful of twigs or grass on the point of a spear. In any case the maniple took its name from the hand, and the hand is often represented as the standard of the maniple; fig. 92 is taken from the Trajan Column. The cross-bar, which originally carried the banner, and its hanging tassels are shown in this standard, as in No. 237, but the more important part of the cord, which fastened the bar to the shaft, has been omitted from the design. This fortuitous pattern of a cross was eagerly recognised by the early Church as a military [pg 94] emblem of Christianity, and the famous labarum, the miraculous standard which Christ gave to the Emperor Constantine on the eve of the battle of the Milvian Bridge, was a cavalry vexillum of the Roman army with the monogram of Christ emblazoned on its banner (fig. 93).

Weapons.—The weapons of offence, which are exhibited in Table-Case E, differ from the majority of the antiquities shown in this room, in that many of them were made at a remote period in the history of Greece and Italy, some even dating from the beginning of the Bronze Age, when the use of metal had not long supplanted that of stone. In a few examples from the island of Cyprus, the metal is almost pure copper. It is therefore not strictly accurate to call these weapons Greek and Roman, for they were made a thousand years before those nations began; but they come from the lands which were afterwards inhabited by the Greeks and Romans, and are valuable as representing the development of arms in those parts of the world, and as being the work of the primitive races in whom the Greeks and Romans had their origin.

Early Greek Bronze Age.—The first class consists of arms which belong to the Early Bronze Age in Greece, a period preceding the mature and extensive civilisation to which the name of Mycenaean is commonly applied. The general date of 3000 to 2000 B.C., which is assigned to the weapons of this period, serves rather to indicate their chronological relations than to give their precise age. In any case they stand as a definite beginning of the history of arms in Europe. In these early times the sword had not been invented, and short daggers or spear-heads only were produced by workmen with a still imperfect mastery of metallurgy. The most ancient form was a short thick blade, with rivets in the base, where it was fastened to the hilt or shaft. A more secure attachment was contrived by prolonging the broad base of the blade into a tang, which was let [pg 95] into the handle and held by a rivet through the end. But the greatest advance was the discovery that if a rib were left up the middle of the blade, the edges could be fined down and tapered to a sharp point without loss of strength. In the final development the stiffening rib and the tang were connected, so that the strongest part of the blade was continued down into the handle. Yet in spite of progress and improvements in design, the old patterns remained in use to the end of the Bronze Age, and even later, so that a chronological classification based on the forms of early Weapons is untrustworthy.

All the stages in the development are shown in these examples. The most primitive types are represented by a series of blades from Cyprus (No. 241; fig. 94a), which, from material and technique, might be placed at a very early period; but they were excavated from Mycenaean tombs of the end of the Bronze Age. To the same island belong the narrow blades with long tangs, which are turned round at the end in a hook to hold the handle (No. 242; fig. 94b). This type is said to have been found in graves of 3000 B.C. It is certainly a primitive shape, and peculiar to the pre-Mycenaean civilisation of Cyprus. Another local variety is known in the leaf-shaped blade with a sharp tang and two slits, one on each side of the midrib, through which the shaft was lashed in place (No. 243; fig. 94c). The pattern is characteristic of the contemporary civilisation of the Cycladic Islands. Two pointed blades with no tang belong to the same early period. The smaller of the two was found at Athens (No. 244; fig. 94d).

Mycenaean swords and daggers.—The next period was the close of the Bronze Age in Greece, occupying the second millennium before Christ. It has been called, from its [pg 96] best-known centre at Mycenae, the Mycenaean Age. In this period, by improvement in metal-working, the short daggers were lengthened into swords, which, towards the end of the age, were made even a yard long, and very slender. Such weapons were used mainly for thrusting, for they would break with a direct blow. Homer records many such accidents on the battlefield. At the same time the spear-head was differentiated from the dagger-blade, being provided with a socket for the shaft. Mycenaean weapons are represented here by swords and spear-heads [pg 97] found mainly at Ialysos in Rhodes, and belonging to the end of the period. The swords are short and heavy, and are made in one piece with the hilt. The guard is straight in the earlier specimens, and the pommel of the hilt was a round knob, of which the tang remains (No. 245; fig. 95a). This is the form of the well-known daggers from Mycenae, which have the blades inlaid with designs in coloured metals, the hilts and pommels embossed and chased in gold. Electrotype copies of the Mycenae daggers are exhibited in the Gold Ornament Room Passage. A closer parallel to these is a blade from Cameiros which has the rivets still in place (No. 246). In other swords the raised flange on the edges of the hilt is continued to form a crescent-shaped pommel. The hollow space was filled with an ornamental material for the grip. The rivets are usually in place, and on a small dagger from Karpathos a great part of the ivory mount is preserved (No. 247; fig. 95b). The last form of this hilt appears in a heavy sword, formerly in the Woodhouse Collection (No. 248; fig. 95c). The projection of flanges and pommel is accentuated, and the ends of the guard are curled up like horns. This type survived into the Hellenic period. Another late Mycenaean form is seen in a long and slender sword with a broad base to the blade, which contracts again towards the hilt (No. 249; fig. 96a). At the other end of the hilt are two divergent tongues of metal, which are better preserved in another example, of heavier fabric, from Enkomi, in Cyprus (No. 250; fig. 96b). The type is that in which the earliest iron swords of Greece were made (No. 263; fig. 101b), and which was the prototype of the common bronze sword of the rest of Europe. The lighter specimen (No. 249) is from Scutari in Albania.

Mycenaean spears and arrows.—The spear was in Homeric times the soldier's most important arm, a long and heavy weapon which was thrown with great force or used for thrusting. Mycenaean spearheads are illustrated in a series from [pg 98] Ialysos (No. 251; fig. 97). They are skilfully made to secure the greatest strength with the least expenditure of material; in most cases the shaft runs far up into the blade, which is narrow and springs gently from the socket, some being wider near the point than at the base. There is considerable variety of shape, but all are characterised by the thin blade with shallow curves. Mycenaean arrowheads from the same site are of more primitive design (No. 252; fig. 98). The best are large and heavy, and have long barbs; a tang and no socket to take the shaft. Others are curiously flat and weak, and are plainly metal reproductions of a stone pattern.

Italian Bronze Age.—The Bronze Age of Italy is represented here by daggers and spears which date from about the fifteenth to the tenth century B.C. Italian daggers are remarkable for the use of engraved geometrical decoration on the blades. The first class resembles the Mycenaean weapons in the form of the hilt with edges raised for inlay and crescent-shaped pommel, and the round base of the blade is also similar to an early Mycenaean type. The haft of one dagger is wound with bronze wire, another has an ivory handle bound with gold (No. 253; fig. 99a), and a third has the pommel filled with ivory (No. 254). Some of the blades were made separately, and riveted to the hilt after the primitive fashion (No. 255; fig. 99b). In that case the hilt was split to receive the tang, and overlapped the base (No. 256). Some of these daggers diverge still further [pg 99] from the Mycenaean in having the blade with recurving edges which is characteristic of a cutting sword (No. 257; fig. 99c). The sheaths are of peculiar shape, being made of a thin plate of bronze with an ornament at the end in the form of a large round knob or several discs on a peg (No. 258; fig. 99 e, f). They are decorated with the same linear designs as the blades. A later variety of Italian sword, known from the horned extremities of the pommel as the Antennae type, is represented by two specimens (No. 259; fig. 99d). In the first, the horns are simply curved projections, in the other they are developed into large rings or spiral coils. The type is of frequent occurrence throughout Europe, even in the north.

Italian spearheads do not suggest so much connection with [pg 100] Mycenaean types. Some of them are narrow, but most have broad and strongly-curving blades which spring sharply from the sockets (No. 260; fig. 100). A spearhead from Sicily is remarkable for its great size (No. 261): it is thirty-five inches long.

The rest of the arms belong to the historical period. The usual weapons of the Greeks were the spear and sword. The bow was a special arm, which did not form part of the equipment of the ordinary soldier, and its use, like that of the sling, was practised by men of certain districts, who served as mercenaries to other states. The axe was a barbarous weapon, and is generally represented in the hands of Amazons, who brought their mode of warfare from the wilds of Scythia (see fig. 109).

Greek swords.—The earliest Greek swords in this collection date from the tenth century B.C., when iron was fast taking the place of bronze; but forms common in the Bronze Age were still reproduced in iron, just as those peculiar to stone implements were for some time preserved in bronze. This conservative tendency is noticeable in three iron swords, of which two are from Cyprus (Nos. 262, 263; fig. 101b). They reproduce the general form of the bronze sword from Enkomi in the same island (No. 250; fig. 96). A short iron dagger is similar to the common Mycenaean type (No. 264; fig. 101a).

The ordinary Greek sword of the fifth century B.C. is represented by three examples. The type appears frequently in works of art. On a vase in the Third Vase Room (E 468; Pedestal 6) there is a drawing of the combat of Achilles and Memnon, in which Memnon is armed with this sword. In the sheath by his side is another, so that it is possible to see both hilt and blade at once (fig. 102). The shape is entirely different from that of prehistoric times. The hilt is round and the pommel a small knob, [pg 101] while the guard is a plain crosspiece. The blade, which, being made of iron, is long and thin, swells from the hilt towards the point in the manner characteristic of the cutting sword. All these features are visible in the examples (No. 265; fig. 104a, b). The swelling blade is best seen in the largest specimen, while the iron-handled fragment, which was excavated from a tomb near the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, shows the original form of the hilt. The small dagger with a bone hilt and the bone end of the scabbard forms part of a group of weapons which were found on the battlefield of Marathon (No. 266; fig. 103). The others are iron spearheads, arrowheads both of bronze and iron, and leaden slingshot, two of which are marked with a thunderbolt and the Greek name Zoilos.

[pg 102]

Another common type of Greek sword is the heavy knife-like sabre with a hilt in the shape of a bird's head (No. 267; fig. 104c). Its original appearance may be seen on the Athenian bowl already mentioned on page 80 (fig. 105). The classical name was machaira. Xenophon recommends it as a cavalry weapon, because of its heavy down-stroke. This example comes from Spain, where many similar swords have been found, but the origin of the type is Greek or even Oriental. The dagger with a cylindrical bronze hilt of which the pommel is a lynx-head, appears from the style of the decoration to be Graeco-Roman (No. 268). Some models in terracotta from Naukratis give the types of the Hellenistic period (No. 269).

Greek and Roman spears.—Classical spears are represented by a variety of heads both in bronze and iron. The earliest Greek type is an iron head found with pottery of the tenth or ninth century B.C. in a grave at Assarlik in Asia Minor (No. 271). Those with three and four blades are a small class, examples of which came to light at Olympia, and suggest as a date the end of the sixth century [pg 103] B.C. (No. 272; fig. 106a). To the same date may belong the decoratively modelled bronze spear from Kameiros, and another of plainer design from the same place (No. 273; fig. 106b, c), with two from Olympia, and a large iron one (No. 274) found with the fine Attic helmet (p. 78) in Macedonia. A curious spearhead, or perhaps a butt, from Olympia is shown among the Greek Inscriptions (p. 9, No. 14, fig. 8). Spearbutts are not uncommon. Some are plain tapered ferrules (No. 279; fig. 107), others end in two-pronged forks (Nos. 280, 281; fig. 107). The bronze forks are from Egypt, the iron one (fig. 107, bottom centre) was found on the bank of the Tiber with the spearheads mentioned below. The unusually long iron head, which was found in Spain with the iron machaira, is probably a later Greek form (No. 275; fig. 106d). This example exhibits in a high degree the superiority of iron to bronze. Other iron spearheads are from Italy; some are from the Tiber (No. 276). Three specimens, one with remains of the wooden shaft and the lashing of wire, were found near the village of Talamone on the west coast of Italy (No. 277; fig. 108), where in 225 B.C. the Romans won a decisive victory over the Gauls, who had marched successfully to within a few days of Rome, and were returning home with their plunder. Like the helmets from Kyme and Cannae, and the arms from Marathon, these spears are relics of one of the famous battles of antiquity. The Roman soldiers of later times carried spears of a different kind. They had no thrusting lance, but an extremely heavy weapon, the pilum, which they threw with great effect at close quarters. The small iron heads from Licenza (No. 278) have much the same shape as the head of the pilum. They probably belonged to light throwing-spears. [pg 104] The purpose of the long head was to bend and encumber the enemy after piercing his shield or armour.

Roman swords.—The collection of swords ends in those which belong to the Roman period. A fragment of a sword with a heavy iron blade seems too big for the natives of Italy, and may have been used by a Gaulish invader (No. 282). The large sword with a flat guard and an ivory and bronze handle (No. 283) is perhaps a Roman gladius, which was afterwards superseded in the army by a sword of Spanish pattern.

[pg 105]

[pg 106]

The later Roman sword is excellently represented by the so-called "Sword of Tiberius," which was found in a field at Mainz on the Rhine (No. 284; fig. 109). The short iron blade is of the usual type, measuring twenty-one inches in length and two and a half in width at the base, from whence it tapers gently to a sharp point. The scabbard was made of wood covered with a plate of silver-gilt which is decorated with reliefs in gilt bronze. The plates of the bands which were hooked to the sword-belt are ornamented with wreaths of oak. At the hilt is a group which represents the Emperor Tiberius receiving his nephew Germanicus on the latter's return, in the year 17 A.D., from his victorious campaigns against the Germans, in the course of which he had recovered one of the legionary eagles which Varus had lost. The emperor, robed as a deity, is seated on a throne, resting his left arm on a shield which is inscribed  FELICITAS · TIBERI—"The Good Fortune of Tiberius"—and holding in his right hand a small figure of Victory with wreath and palm, which he has just taken from his returning general. Germanicus stands before him in military attire, with his right hand stretched out. In the background is an armed figure, and behind the emperor a winged Victory brings a shield upon which is the legend  VIC · AVG—"The Victory of Augustus." The middle of the scabbard is occupied by a medallion charged with a portrait of Tiberius, and at the point is a larger plate which is divided into two fields. The uppermost has a representation of a Roman eagle in a temple, and in the other is an Amazon armed with battle-axe and lance. It [pg 107] might not be wrong to connect the eagle with that of Varus; and the figure of the Amazon calls to mind the ode of Horace (Carm. iv. 4) celebrating the success of Drusus, the father of this Germanicus, against the Germans of the Danube, in which the poet expresses surprise that those barbarians should be armed with the Amazonian axe. Perhaps the next generation attributed this legendary weapon also to the Germans of the Rhine, and the Amazon is an allusion to the campaigns which the sword commemorates. From the contrast of the elaboration of the design with the cheapness of the execution, it would seem that the weapon is one of many copies which were turned out for some official purpose, probably a sword of honour presented to officers who had served with Germanicus.

Other remains of Roman swords are less complete. There are several fragments of scabbards, a bronze guard, two ivory pieces which may have been pommels of the hilt or caps of the sheath, and a good specimen of an entire hilt in bone (No. 285). This is very similar to the classical Greek pattern.

Sling-shot and arrowheads.—Weapons which show little difference of form in Greek or Roman times are the sling-shot (No. 286) and arrowheads. Sling-shot are mostly cast in lead, but some are of bronze and stone. The inscribed sling-bolts from Marathon have already been mentioned, and others similarly bear inscriptions in raised letters: a personal name, of the maker or the general or the slinger; or the name of the state from whose army it was shot—"From the Corinthians"; or a message to the bullet or to the enemy—"Strike hard," and "Take this." A large bronze arrowhead from Olynthus (No. 291) bears the name of Philip, probably the father of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king against whom Demosthenes wrote his Olynthiac and Philippic orations.

Some of the arrowheads have already been described, the [pg 108] Mycenaean from Rhodes (No. 252; fig. 98), and those from Marathon (No. 266; fig. 103). The large iron heads with knife-like blade and long tang are Oriental (No. 287); those from Marathon were no doubt used by Persian bowmen. A similar group from Cyprus, but of bronze, shows long square heads (No. 288; fig. 110, top, right). A bundle of six bronze arrowheads of broad leaf shape, found in a grave at Enkomi in Cyprus, has rusted together as the arrows lay in the quiver, remains of which and of the wooden shafts can still be seen (No. 289). Greek examples belong to two classes; they are all made of bronze. The commoner class has sockets and blades like miniature spearheads; (No. 290; fig. 110). Many of these have three blades; the large inscribed head from Olynthus (No. 291) is of this shape, but barbed. Another variety, which always has barbs, is triangular with a central hole for the shaft. The second class consists of heavy heads with long barbs and tangs (No. 292). These appear to be related to a Mycenaean form (see fig. 98), and as they are often represented on coins of Crete, they may perhaps be identified as the arrows of the Cretan bow. The Roman period is represented by six iron arrowheads from Xanten (Castra Vetera) on the Rhine. They show the spearhead and triangular shapes, and are all barbed (No. 293; fig. 111).

Such is the regular series of classical weapons. Exceptional pieces are the bronze double-axe (No. 294), if this can be called a weapon, the ridged mace-head from Rome (No. 295), and the calthrop [pg 109] (No. 296; fig. 112), a contrivance for disabling cavalry. This singular object, which was found at Kertch in the Crimea, is cut from a human radius bone.

40:  Τἀργεῖοι ἀνέθεν τῶι Διϝὶ τῶν Κορινθόθεν.

Cases 25-40 contain furniture, lamps and lamp-stands, cooking utensils, objects used in connection with the bath, and objects illustrating the methods of heating buildings and supplying them with water. With the house itself, its plan and its appearance we are not concerned in this work. It is enough to say that the fundamental distinction between the ancient and modern house is that the one looked inwards, the other looks outwards. The ancient house received its light and air either from the open courtyard, round which it was built, or else from a large aperture in the roof. The former was the prevailing arrangement in Greece, the latter (in the earlier period) that adopted in Italy. The outside of the average Greek house was probably very destitute of architectural ornament, presenting a wide space of blank wall broken but by few windows.

The Roman house in its final development assumed a form closely resembling that of the Greek house just described. At an early period it was based on the early Italian house. This consisted merely of an oblong chamber, with a small opening in the roof for the admission of light and emission of smoke. This chamber was called an atrium, perhaps because walls and roof were black (ater) with soot from the smoke of the fire. Gradually the opening in the roof became larger. Rain fell in the centre into a basin called the impluvium. The atrium lost its character as a living room, and further courts and rooms in the Greek manner were added to it.

We may now deal with the internal arrangements and the furniture. The objects may be described as they concern (1) the [pg 110] general furniture of the house; (2) the lighting; (3) the kitchen; (4) the bath; (5) water supply; (6) the warming. (7) Annexed is a small type-series of vases.

The Furniture of the house.—In the nature of things, wooden furniture rarely occurs outside Egypt, except in South Russia. Thus we have a wooden table leg: a dog springs upward, from an acanthus leaf, surmounting an animal's leg (No. 300). This comes from Kertch in the Crimea. In general, the remains of furniture shown in this section are the metal accessories and fittings. These are for the most part of Roman date, but Roman furniture was so largely derived from the Greek, that they may be regarded as illustrating Greek furniture as well.

Some remarkable examples of bolster-ends in bronze, bronze inlaid with silver, and ivory, are shown in Cases 27, 28. They usually terminate above in a head of a mule, or of a duck, and below in a medallion bust.

The seat (No. 301) is incorrectly put together. It is composed of the parts of one or two couches which should be restored as in fig. 113.

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 [pg 111] 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.

[pg 113]

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. [pg 114] 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 [pg 115] 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 [pg 116] 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 [pg 117] 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 [pg 118] 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 [pg 119] 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 [pg 120] 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 [pg 121] 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 ἀσσάρια ("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 [pg 122] Mon. Ant. vii., p. 454, fig. 45a). 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).

41:  Martial, xiv. 44:

42:  Cf. Martial, xiv. 121:

[pg 124]

Greek Male Dress.—A dress worn in early times was a tunic falling to the feet, with or without the mantle. It continued in use as a ceremonial and festal attire of elderly men, minstrels and charioteers. It is illustrated in a drawing of Peleus by the vase-painter Amasis (?) (fig. 134), in which the soft texture of the long white Ionian chiton is indicated by wavy lines, and the heavy mantle hangs stiffly across the shoulders. Subsequently the long tunic was discarded, and [pg 126] either a short form of the same garment, which had been in use before for outdoor exercise, was adopted in its place, or the outer cloak was worn alone. The short tunic was worn as before by men engaged in active pursuits, and by boys, workmen and slaves. A common fashion of wearing it was to fasten the shoulder on one side only, so that the right arm and breast were free for violent movement. A series of statuettes in the Bronze Room represents the blacksmith god Hephaestos in this working garb (fig. 135). The ordinary costume of the citizen was the himation or a mantle of smaller size. With this the right shoulder was usually left free, as with the tunic; it is the common dress of men on the red-figure Athenian vases (see the Third Vase Room), from one of which (E 61) the illustration is taken (fig. 136). Men of leisure or high rank affected a more elaborate arrangement of the himation, by which the whole body was enveloped and the free movement of the hands impeded. The statue of Sophokles in the Lateran Museum at Rome is a good example of the care which a cultivated man of the fifth century bestowed upon the adjustment of this garment (fig. 137).

Other mantles were of various sizes and were distinguished by many names. The chlamys was the smallest, and differed from the rest also in shape, though its scheme was still rectangular. It was rather longer in proportion to its width, and was clasped round the neck by a brooch. Its origin was in Thessaly, where it was the cape of the native horsemen, and it continued to be used for this purpose in the rest of Greece. Young men wore it, especially when riding, and it was a light and convenient dress for travellers. A young [pg 127] horseman on a cup by the painter Euphronios (fig. 138) has a gaily embroidered chlamys hung evenly across his shoulders, and underneath is seen the skirt of the short chiton.

Roman Dress.—The dress of Roman women was the same as that of the Greeks of the Hellenistic period, who are vividly portrayed in the terracotta statuettes (fig. 133). Their undergarment was the Ionian chiton, now called tunica, of which two were sometimes worn together, and the overmantle was the Greek himation, by its Roman name, palla.

For men there was also a tunic similar to that worn by the Greeks; but in place of the himation the Roman toga was worn, a garment of entirely different shape. In the relief of a cutler's shop, which is exhibited in Case 41, the shopman wears the tunic without a belt, while the customer, who has just come in from the street, wears the toga as well (fig. 193). In that of the forge, in Case 48, both the smiths have the tunic alone, with but the right shoulders unfastened and the skirts girt up to the knee in Greek fashion (fig. 192; compare fig. 135). Yet the Roman tunic seems already to have departed from the Greek pattern in having sleeves, though only to the elbows. Sleeved tunics were not unknown to [pg 128] the Greeks, whose slaves are often represented in this dress; but it was a foreign habit, and as such avoided.

The shape of the toga was roughly semicircular, the straight edge being about six yards long and the width in the middle about two yards, as in the diagram (fig. 139). The simplest mode of putting it on was to place one end on the left shoulder, with the straight edge nearest the centre of the body and the point almost touching the ground. The left hand would be just covered by the curved edge. The rest was then passed behind the back, over or under the right arm, and over the left shoulder again, so that the point hung almost to the ground behind. This was also a method [pg 129] of wearing the Greek himation, and it is difficult to distinguish the two garments when so arranged; but a close examination will discover the sharp point and the curved edge in the case of the toga. At the end of the Republic and under the Empire, to which period most of the monuments belong, more elaborate fashions were developed, as in fig. 140, from a statuette in the Bronze Room.

We turn to the accessories of the dress and the toilet in Table Case F.

Greek and Roman Footwear.—The general distinction was that the Greeks wore both sandals, and also boots or shoes. The Romans wore the boot, the calceus, but disapproved of the sandal. Part of Cicero's charge against Verres was that he wore sandals, as well as other Greek dress.

The objects shown in Case F are either actual shoes and sandals or representations of them from works of art, such as fragments of statues; or applications of the device of a foot to the decoration of such things as vases, lamps, tripod-feet, etc.

The extant specimens include a Roman leather shoe (No. 344) of cut leather work, found in London; slippers from Antinoe in Egypt (No. 345), with coloured and cut leather work; a pair [pg 130] of cork soles from Egypt (No. 346), the edges of which were formerly gilt. A well-preserved pair of soles is exhibited (No. 347). They are made of wood, divided at the instep, and plated with bronze, held in place by iron nails. These appear to be of Etruscan origin, as several examples have been found at Vulci (Mus. Etr. Vat., I., pl. 57, fig. 7). The sandal in its simplest form, as in the vase B 587 (No. 348), consists of a sole attached to the foot by thongs passing between the great and second toes, and round the heel. The arrangement of the thongs gradually became more elaborate, with the result that the uncomfortable separation of the toes could be avoided. In the case of the foot of the Hermes of Olympia (No. 349; fig. 141) there is no toe-thong, but only a reminiscence of the ornament from which it formerly started. An undershoe or sock now became possible, and the shoe and laced sandal in combination (cf. the statue of Mausolos, about 350 B.C.) became highly elaborate. See also the cast of a relief in the Third Graeco-Roman Room (No. 350) and the feet in marble and bronze. In effect, the result was not greatly different from the Roman military boot (caliga) bound up the leg with thongs.

A simpler boot or shoe of modern pattern was also in use. In its plainest forms it represents the Roman boot (calceus). Several examples (No. 351) are shown in this case. See also a vase (No. 352) in the form of a modern lace-boot. The nails on the sole are arranged so as to impress alpha and omega, and the mystic symbol of the swastika on the ground. A delicate gold model of a boot (No. 353) has πατοῦ "walk!" (?) on the sole. A shoe has been found in Egypt, impressing at every step the invitation ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕΙ ("follow!") The shoemaker at work in his workshop is seen in the fifth century kylix (E 86; No. 354). [pg 131] He is in the act of cutting the leather with the semicircular knife of the form still in use.

In conclusion, attention should be drawn to the bronze statuette (No. 355; fig. 142) of a kneeling negro slave cleaning a boot.

Fibulae.—Although the straight pin (cf. p. 137) was used for fastening the dress, fibulae—that is, brooches on the safety-pin principle—were most commonly worn. This method of fastening was of early origin, and its use can be traced in all parts of Europe, but, curiously enough, it seems to have been unknown in Egypt and the East. The fibula experienced in the first centuries of its existence and in the hands of different peoples so many variations and developments of form, that these can be classified in distinct types, and their presence in tombs and other deposits affords valuable evidence of the date and origin of the objects with which they occur.

The reader who wishes to pursue the study of the fibula with more detail is referred to drawers 1-8 in Case D of the Bronze Room, and to the collections in the Iron Age Room. In this case of toilet accessories only a few of the typical forms are shown.

The simplest form of fibula is represented here by examples excavated at Enkomi in Cyprus, which belong to the end of the Bronze Age, before 1000 B.C. (No. 356; fig. 143). Starting from this primitive form, the history of the fibula is one of progressive development and elaboration. It must be observed in the first place that the whole class of fibulae may be divided into two great [pg 132] groups—viz., an older group, in which the coiled spring is unilateral, that is, a plain spiral, between the bow and the pin; and a younger group, in which the spring is bilateral, that is a symmetrically disposed double coil, on each side of the pin. We deal first with the Unilateral group. In Greek regions the development of the form, fig. 143, was mainly a development of the catchplate in a vertical plane—that is in the plane of the bow of the fibula. This plate, often with incised patterns (Fig. 144; No. 357) was a characteristic of the period of geometric art in Greece. Two very large examples are shown above Case D in the Bronze Room. The plainly curved bows may have some further ornament, such as beads strung on them (No. 358; fig. 145) or imitation bead patterns, or a figure of a standing bird (No. 359; fig. 146). All these examples come from the island of Rhodes.

Some from Cyprus are quite distinct, and seem to have no connection with the others (No. 360; fig. 147). In the classical period the fibula was little used in Greece, in consequence of modifications in dress which rendered such fastenings unnecessary.

In Italy, on the other hand, the fibula flourished exceedingly. The plain wire original, such as that given above (fig. 143) was soon elaborated. In the catch-plate it developed either horizontally, [pg 133] that is, by a beating out of the plate in a plane at right angles to that of the bow (No. 361; fig. 148) or longitudinally, by the elongation of the catch-plate as in Nos. 362-3 (figs. 149-150). At the same time developments were taking place in the bow. It became larger (fig. 149), and then was hollowed out to save weight and material (fig. 150), and assumed forms known as leech-shaped and boat-shaped—and these threw out lateral knobs and ornaments (fig. 150), often of great elaboration. Alternatively, the bow makes a second convolution (fig. 148), and may be adorned with horn-like pairs of projections (No. 364).

An independent form is chiefly found at Hallstatt, in cemeteries of the early European Iron Age. In this, two, or perhaps four, spiral coils make the whole decoration of the brooch (No. 365, fig. 151).

The Bilateral form.—The fibulae with the spring coiled on each side of the central bow came into use about 400 B.C., in the late Iron Age civilization, called the La Tène period, from the site on the Lake of Neufchatel, where the richest finds have been made. Together with the introduction of the double spring, there is a continued elongation of the catch-plate, which is turned up as in No. 366 (fig. 152) and attached to the bow as in No. 367 (fig. 153). Later its structural origin is forgotten, and it becomes a solid framework (No. 368).

[pg 134]

The fibula of the Roman Empire was more like a brooch than a safety-pin, if a distinction can be drawn between the two. The bow became broad and heavy, while the pin was often made separately and attached by a hinge. But it shows a strong connection with the La Tène types, especially in the double coil of the spring, which was often protected by a sheath (No. 369; fig. 154). Even when the spring went out of use, the fibula retained this cross-bow shape (No. 370; fig. 155). The elaborate bronze brooch in the form of a ribbed band passing through a ring (No. 371; fig. 156) is stamped underneath with the name of the maker (VLATI), in the manner of the Roman pottery. Enamel or metal inlay was liberally applied in the decoration of the later brooches. A large collection with great variety of shapes is exhibited. The effect of the bright colours is best seen in the big round pieces which were popular in the third and fourth centuries A.D. (No. 373; fig. 157). Animal forms were also common at this time, and were similarly [pg 135] decorated with inlay (No. 374; fig. 158). These types were widely spread over the western provinces of the Empire, and continued in use among the nations who succeeded to the Roman power.

Somewhat akin to the fibulae are the strap buckles, which appear to have come into use at a late period only. A group, nearly of the modern form, is exhibited (No. 374*).

Jewellery and Ornaments.—Jewellery in gold and silver can be best studied in the Room of Gold Ornaments. The examples shown here are chosen as types of the forms, rather than as choice pieces.

Bracelets.—A favourite form of bracelet or armlet was modelled in imitation of a snake coiled round the arm or wrist. See the small silver bracelet of about the fourth to third century B.C., inscribed with the names of its owner Kletis (No. 375; fig. 159). The same design is also used for finger-rings (No. 376). Snake-coils of a large size were also worn on the legs, as shown by a small terracotta torso from Ephesus, which has this ornament on the thigh (No. 377). This torso also has a chain of beads passing over the shoulders and crossing between the breasts. Such an arrangement is common on figures in vases of the fourth to third century B.C.

Finger-rings.—The rings are generally set with an engraved gem or bezel; some have revolving scarabs which are pierced through the middle (No. 378), another has a gold intaglio portrait of the Empress Faustina (No. 379), while an enormous bronze ring has the design cut in the bezel itself, a double head of Hermes and a Seilenos (No. 380). These examples are in bronze and of poor workmanship, but they serve to illustrate the general style of ancient rings. A great number in gold and silver, arranged [pg 136] in order of date, are exhibited in the Room of Gold Ornaments, where the subject can be more adequately studied. The intaglio designs were for use in sealing, which was more commonly practised by the ancients than it is now. Others have a purely decorative purpose, and were worn in profusion. The bronze hand (No. 381) has rings on the upper joints of the fingers, in accordance with a common fashion of the Roman Imperial period. Fragments of bronze and terracotta also show the fashions of wear. The Greeks of an early period did not usually wear ornamental rings, although signets were in constant use, and it was not until the fourth century B.C. that rings were worn for display. In Rome there were class restrictions on the use of the gold ring, but these were lessened as time went on, until in the late Empire they practically disappeared. Betrothal rings were customary among the Romans, but in Greece there is no record of their use. A gold betrothal ring is shown in Case 53 (No. 639).

Earrings.—The bronze earrings are from the site of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and are earlier than the sixth century B.C. (fig. 160). Two types are represented; the swelling hoop of wire, which hung like a liquid drop (No. 382) and the heavy coil, which was suspended from a ring (No. 383). For a very great variety of earrings, see the collection in the Room of Gold Ornaments.

Bullae.—The flat bronze pendants (No. 384), with a circular receptacle in the middle, are bullae. These are ornaments of Etruscan origin, introduced early into Rome. They were designed to contain amulets and charms, and were worn principally by freeborn Roman boys, and occasionally by domestic animals.

Necklaces.—The necklaces here exhibited (No. 385) consist of beads of painted terracotta and glass. See also the imitation jewellery in terracotta, in the Terracotta Room, Table Case C. Those of more precious materials are in the Gold Ornament Room. Some fragments of terracotta show the Cypriote fashion of wearing numerous necklaces together (No. 386).

Studs, etc.—Links and studs of Roman times (No. 387) bear a striking resemblance to the modern articles, as does a coiled hook-and-eye [pg 137] which dates actually from the Bronze Age Period (No. 388). A peculiar fastening is seen in the double hooks which probably served to loop together the two sides of a shawl or cloak (No. 389). They are probably of Roman date, and come in some instances from the province of Gaul.

Pins.—Some of the pins may have been used equally well to fasten the clothing or to adorn the hair; but others were evidently designed to serve only one of these purposes. Those in carved ivory are plainly hair-pins (No. 390; fig. 161). The roughly worked busts of Roman ladies of the Empire indicate the period to which the series belongs. The little statuette is intended to represent Aphrodite wringing the water out of her hair, after rising from the sea. A fine gold pin similarly modelled is exhibited in the Gold Ornament Room (Case K; No. 3034). The ivory hand, which holds a cone and is encircled by a serpent, has some magical significance, like the bronze votive-hands in Case 106 (p. 57).

The metal pins are less elaborate. The simplest shape was straight and headless, a direct copy of the natural thorn which first suggested the idea. A very primitive head is seen on the small bronze [pg 138] pin which is bent round at the top (No. 391; fig. 162a). It was found in the island of Kalymnos, and belongs to the pre-Mycenaean age, say 2000 B.C. A silver pin is similarly bent, but as it has a head as well, is not so early (No. 392; fig. 162b). Another prehistoric type is represented by several bronze pins which were excavated from tombs of the late Mycenaean age at Enkomi in Cyprus (No. 393; fig. 162c). These are pierced with eyes in which chains were fastened to secure the pins to the dress or to each other. Three pins crowned by large ivory knobs come from the same site and belong to the same period (No. 394; fig. 162d). The bronze pin with a head made of several discs is Greek of the sixth century B.C., as it appears in the paintings of the François Vase at Florence, which is an Attic work of that date (No. 395; figs. 162e, 163). Another classical type is the silver pin with a moulded head (No. 396; fig. 162f). Others of less remarkable designs cannot be definitely dated.

Toilet.—In the most personal aspects of life and manners there is least room for change, for in the course of ages it is not man that has altered, but his surroundings; and the study of such intimate details reveals a close similarity between the ancient and the modern worlds.

Combs.—To begin with the more necessary implements, the combs go back to a high antiquity. An ivory comb from Enkomi in Cyprus dates from the Mycenaean age (No. 397; fig. 164). It is of simpler form than later combs, having only one row of teeth. The others are of the Greek and Roman periods, and are made both of wood and bone. The usual pattern is that of a modern tooth-comb, with a row of teeth on each side of the body—one coarse and one fine. There are wooden examples from Kertch, in South Russia (No. 398). More elaborate is the ivory piece, which is decorated with reliefs, a Gryphon and a lion on one side and two cranes at a fountain on the other (No. 399. The original is in the case of Ivories, L). Another of good Roman period is carved by an amateur hand with an inscription, doubtless in compliment to the lady to whom it belonged (No. 400; fig. 164). The legend reads MODESTINA·V·H·E·E—the four letters at the end being perhaps abbreviated epithets of the fair Modestina, V(irgo) H(onesta) E(t) E(gregia). A different type appears in the triangular pocket-comb, [pg 139] which fits into a protecting case (No. 401; fig. 164). This belongs to the end of the Roman Empire, the fourth century A.D., and may already show the influence of barbarian art. Similar combs were brought to England by the Danes, and some of them which have been found at York and elsewhere are exhibited in the British and Mediaeval Department.

With the combs is a brush of vegetable bristles from an Egyptian rubbish heap of a late period of the empire (No. 402).

Toilet Boxes.—Other relics of the dressing-table are the toilet-boxes and scent-bottles. There is a Greek toilet-box from Naukratis still coloured by the rouge which it contained (No. 403); and another has a carved wooden lid in the shape of a woman's head of great beauty (No. 404). A leaden box was found in a Greek tomb at Halikarnassos (No. 405). Another was given by Kratylos of Aegina to Eulimine. The inscription, the modern turn of which is perhaps not free from suspicion, describes it as a "slight token of respect from a certain small Aeginetan" (No. 406; fig. 165).⁴³ Other boxes of bronze and ivory date from the Roman period. Most of the wooden boxes are carved in fantastic or frivolous shapes: a swimming duck, a crouching boar, and a shoe (Nos. 407, 408, 409). These are divided into compartments for the various powders, and some blocks of paint are still preserved. For liquid ointments there are an alabaster box (No. 410) and three bottles of the same material and remains of a leather bottle with its cork (No. 411). An Etruscan bronze cista, which stands on three human feet, contains a set of movable tubes, each for a different unguent (No. 412). The lid of this receptacle was crowned by the small bronze statuette which [pg 140] stands beside it. Besides cosmetics for the complexion, the toilet-boxes may have held tooth-powders, for which there are many receipts in the works of ancient writers on medicine.

Mirrors.—For mirrors the ancients were at a disadvantage. The use of glass was known, but was not common, and the ordinary reflecting medium was a sheet of burnished metal. There are, however, two genuine looking-glasses—one in a leaden frame, from Olbia (No. 413), and the other set, with several fragments, in a plaster slab, from Gheyta, in Egypt (No. 414). The glass was probably backed with foil, and it is remarkable that the reflectors are convex, so that the image must have been distorted. A similar surface is attempted on the square sheet of metal, which is glazed with a vitreous enamel (No. 415).

[pg 141]

The more usual metal mirrors have two principal forms: a circular reflector, mounted on a handle like the modern hand-glass, which is represented by a specimen in silver from Naukratis (No. 416), and a similar disc enclosed in a folding box (No. 417). Both these varieties were often decorated with engraving. See No. 417, a mirror from Hermione, with an engraved design of Aphrodite and Eros. In the Bronze Room there are large collections of all types. A small pocket-mirror in this Case has on one side of the bronze box a head of Nero, and on the other the god Dionysos standing by a vine (No. 418). The disc is silver-plated, like most of these examples. Two similar boxes have been turned out of large brass coins of Nero (No. 419). A fragment of a silvered mirror from Amathus in Cyprus has a palm-tree engraved on its face (No. 420). Though the design indicates that this side is the front, yet the reflector was the convex back, and thus, in a spirit quite foreign to Greek art, the purpose of the thing was subordinated to its decoration.

Razors.—The razor is another toilet instrument which existed in the earliest times. No prehistoric specimens are in this collection, but a primitive shape is represented by two circular blades with stirrup-like handles (No. 421, fig. 166). Others are of square spade shape, with a twisted loop handle and a hole in the blade. One of these is from Athens (No. 422; fig. 167). A third type is shown in three razors of Phoenician origin (from Sardinia and Carthage), with long hatchet blades (No. 423; fig. 168). These are ornamented with engraving and have handles in the shape of swan's heads. All are made of bronze, and were no doubt capable of taking an edge [pg 142] so keen as to render them far more efficacious than their present appearance would suggest.

Miscellaneous Toilet Implements.—Next to the razors are placed various tools of which the functions are easily understood. There are several nail-files with a roughened surface, and a smooth notch for polishing (No. 424; fig. 169). Two of these are combined with ear-picks, which were in general use at Rome. They have a minute bowl at the end of a slender arm. A very elegant ear-pick, which has a leaf-shaped scraper at the other end, is made of silver (No. 425; fig. 170). Others end in a sharp point, which may have been used either for a tooth-pick or in emergency for a stilus pen (cf. p. 199). Another ear-pick is combined with a pair of tweezers and some other tools now lost (No. 426). The tweezers were used for plucking out such hairs as Roman fashion deemed unsightly.

43:  Σμικροῦ τινος Αἰγινήτου ἐνδεές εἰμι ἔνδειγμα λατρείας.

In this Table Case, under the general heading of "The Domestic Arts," objects are exhibited connected with the house industries of spinning, weaving, and sewing, together with various groups of objects connected with home life, such as locks and keys, seals, knives, etc.

Spinning and Weaving.—(a) Preparation of yarn.—The process of spinning is clearly seen in the accompanying drawings [pg 143] from Greek vases of the fourth and fifth centuries exhibited in this Case (Nos. 421-2; figs. 171-2). In each, a woman is holding up in her left hand the distaff, a rod which is thrust through a bunch of unspun wool. With the fingers of her right hand she is twisting fibres drawn from the wool. The yarn is attached below to the top of the spindle, a rod of wood or metal with a disc (whorl) near the bottom to assist the rotation. When some quantity of yarn had been twisted it was wound round the body of the spindle and hitched into a hook at its upper end (see figs. 171, 173), to prevent it from unwinding. The twisting process was then recommenced. An impressive description of the ancient spindle is given by Plato in the vision of Er at the end of the Republic,⁴⁴ where he likens the axis of the universe to the shaft of a spindle suspended by a hook of adamant, and the revolving starry heavens to a whorl made up of eight concentric rims, fitting one into the other like boxes.

Two bronze spindles (No. 423) are seen in the Case and are illustrated on either side of fig. 173. In the same [pg 144] figure are shown four ivory whorls from spindles (No. 424).

Before the wool was placed upon the distaff it appears to have been rubbed, with a view to the separation of the fibres, upon an instrument known as the epinetron or onos. This was semi-cylindrical in form and was placed upon the knee. Several examples in terracotta had long been known, and were explained with little plausibility as covering-tiles. One, however, was found with a painted design which first gave the clue to its real use (Fig. 174). One of these epinetra B 96 (No. 425) is exhibited in this Case, together with a fragment of a second. Other examples are to be seen in the Second Vase Room (Cases 24 and 25), and one of these is illustrated here (No. 426; fig. 175). A miniature example [pg 145] was found with the girl doll seated in a chair, exhibited in Table-Case J with the other dolls (p. 195, fig. 234, below).

(b) The Loom.—The only kind of loom in use in Greek and Roman times was probably the upright loom. A good idea of its form is obtained from the illustration (fig. 176), taken from a Greek vase-painting⁴⁵ of the fifth century B.C., representing Penelope seated beside the loom, with one of the suitors or Telemachos before her. The primary part of the loom is the wooden frame (jugum) resembling two posts with a cross-bar. Near the top is a roller, about which the threads of the warp and the finished cloth are wound. The threads of the warp hang downwards, strained by weights attached to their ends. The row of nine rods fitted into sockets in the top framework is probably for holding the balls of different coloured wool used in the weaving. Coloured patterns are woven towards each selvedge of the fabric. The band of winged figures must be regarded as a piece of embroidery. (For tapestry weaving see below.) The two horizontal rods lower down are the [pg 146] canons, which effect the alternation of the threads of the warp. It may be noted that the threads are alternately long and short at the lower end, so that the canon would be inserted correctly with great ease. The loom weights, which hang at the bottom, closely resemble in form the sets (No. 427) of pyramidal terracotta and lead weights in this Case. The terracotta discs (figs. 173 and 177), which are pierced with two holes and sometimes have a stamped design, are also probably loom-weights. No. 428 (fig. 177) has a design of two dolphins plunging into the sea; No. 429 (fig. 173) is stamped with a name—Kleodamos. As a loom weight was needed for every thread of a warp, it is not surprising that they are found in great numbers. Possibly the small bronze object (No. 430) seen at the bottom of fig. 173 may be an ancient shuttle, for passing the thread of the woof to and fro in a horizontal direction, alternately [pg 147] before and behind the threads of the warp. Afterwards they were driven close together by the batten (σπάθη), a possible example of which is the toothed bone object seen in this Case (No. 431).

Various specimens of ancient cloth are shown here. A piece from the Crimea (No. 432), with pretty geometric patterns in black on a light ground, and a large fragment from an Egyptian tomb (No. 433), inscribed in paint "Diogenes, who was a patcher in his lifetime,"⁴⁶ may be specially mentioned.