4. POTTERY IN LATIN LITERATURE; SHAPES AND USES

Vessels of earthenware were extensively used by the Roman people in the earlier days of the Republic for all purposes of domestic life,[3153] and later writers often contrast their use with that of the costly vases of precious metal then customary. “Gold,” says Persius, “has driven away the vases of Numa and the brass vessels of Saturn, the urns of the Vestals and Etruscan earthenware”[3154]; and Juvenal speaks of those who laughed at “Numa’s black dish and bowl, and fragile saucers from the Vatican hill.”[3155] Even under the Empire fictile vases continued to be used by the poorer classes, and the use of the finer red glazed wares must have been even more general. But Juvenal, satirising the luxury of Domitian’s time, says that it is considered a reproach to dine off earthenware.[3156] In Republican times it was the proud boast of a Curius to prefer his earthenware service to Samnite gold,[3157] and in 167 B.C. the consul Q. Aclius Tubero was found by the Aetolian ambassador dining off earthenware[3158]; Seneca also tells how he, at his entertainment given in the temple of Jupiter, placed fictile vessels before his guests.[3159] But when Masinissa entertained the Romans in 148 B.C. the first course was served on silver, the second in golden baskets, which Ptolemy Euergetes describes respectively as the Roman and Italian fashions.[3160] Athenaeus says that up to Macedonian times dinners were served in fictile vessels, but that subsequently the Romans became more luxurious, and Cleopatra spent five minae a day on gold and silver wares.[3161] Subsequently earthenware was replaced by glass as well as metal, especially for unguent-bottles and drinking-cups, of which large numbers are found in Roman tombs, where they virtually take the place of pottery. Vases of immense size were sometimes made under the Empire, and stories are told of the absurdities perpetrated by some of the Emperors in this respect. Juvenal, in describing the turbot prepared for Domitian,[3162] says no dish could be found of sufficient size to cook it in, and Vitellius had a dish made which from its huge dimensions acquired the name of “the shield of Minerva.”[3163] Elsewhere it is scoffed at as a “swamp of dishes” (_patinarum paludes_).[3164] Pliny speaks of terracotta vases which sold for even more than precious crystal or myrrhine ware,[3165] and were therefore presumably of great size. The principal use of earthenware was for the transport and storage of wine, oil, corn, figs, honey, and other commodities, answering to the casks of the present day. Martial speaks of a jar (_testa_) reddened with the blood of tunnies exported from Antipolis (Antibes).[3166] Of the shapes used for this purpose and their names we shall speak presently in detail. Vases were also used in religious rites, but metal was probably more general; Plautus describes a miser who sacrificed to the Lares in earthenware (_vasis Samiis_) because he was afraid that they might steal silver vessels.[3167] They were also used for various operations in agriculture, medicine, and household economy; but above all for the domestic purposes of the table. Some of the peculiar uses have already been referred to (p. 387), and another that may be mentioned is the use of jars as bell-glasses for rearing vine-sprouts.[3168] Although the custom of burying vases with the dead was not so general among the Romans as among the Greeks, they were yet frequently used in graves in the form of cinerary urns, in the shape of a covered jar (_olla_ or _obrendarium_[3169]) of coarse ware and globular in form (p. 550). Vases containing ashes have often been found in England, as at Bartlow and Litlington in Cambridgeshire.[3170] At the latter place a tomb contained a sort of colander perforated with holes which formed the letters INDVLCIVS.[3171] Similar finds are recorded from Arnaise in France. Pliny states that many persons expressed their desire to be buried in coffins of terracotta.[3172] Roman sarcophagi of terracotta have been found at Saguntum in Spain, but for these stone and lead were the ordinary materials. The cinerary urns were often formed from large dolia or amphorae, the neck being broken off so as to produce a globular vessel. Examples have been found in England at Chesterford, Essex,[3173] at Southfleet in Kent,[3174] and in the Bedford Purlieus near Kingscliffe, Northants (now at Woburn Abbey); another is in the Cathedral Library at Lincoln.[3175] Roach-Smith also mentions specimens found in Lothbury, London, and in Kent, the latter being now in the Maidstone Museum.[3176] Vitruvius, in his chapter on _Echea_, or vases distributed around the ancient theatres for acoustic purposes, mentions that they were often made of earthenware for economical reasons[3177]; but they were usually of bronze. Seneca, too, alludes to this practice when he speaks of the voice of a singer falling upon a jar (_dolium_).[3178] It is certain that the Greeks and Romans often made use of earthenware jars in architecture, but it is probable that this was more often done with the object of diminishing weight than for acoustic reasons, or, as some have thought, for want of better material. The _dolium_, _amphora_, and _olla_ seem to have been the forms most usually employed. There are various examples in walls and substructures of the Augustan period, and they are also found in vaults, where their purpose is undoubtedly to lighten the weight.[3179] In the circus of Maxentius a number of large amphorae were found embedded in the vaulting and upper part of the walls, arranged neck downwards and with their axis inclined obliquely to the wall.[3180] All are now broken, but they illustrate the ingenious method in which the upper parts of the arches supporting the rows of seats were lightened. In the dome of the tomb of St. Helena, outside the Porta Labicana, rings of pots are embedded for the same purpose, whence the building is usually known as Torre Pignattara (from _pignatte_, pots).[3181] An oven found at Pompeii had a vaulted top formed of _ollae_ fitted into one another, each about a foot in height, of ordinary red ware; the span of the arch was 5 feet 6 inches, and the object here was to ensure extreme dryness as well as lightness.[3182] A similar arrangement occurs in the Stabian Thermae at Pompeii, and also in the church of San Stefano alla Rotonda at Rome, and the dome of San Vitale at Ravenna, built by Justinian in the sixth century, is similarly constructed, with an elaborate system of tubes and jars.[3183] The practice seems to have been continued during the Middle Ages, and an example occurs in England, at Fountains Abbey, where the purpose was acoustic.[3184] * * * * * We now proceed to describe in detail the principal shapes of Roman vases, so far as they can be identified from literary or epigraphical evidence or from other sources, on the same lines as in our previous chapter on the shapes of Greek pottery. Some of these shapes, it will be seen, they had in common with the Greeks, such as the amphora, the krater, and the phiale or patera, and in several instances (such as the cyathus and the scyphus) the Greek name is preserved. Beginning with vases used for storage, whether for liquids, as for wine and oil, or for solids, as for corn or fruit, which were chiefly kept in cellars, we take first the _dolium_, a gigantic cask corresponding to the Greek πίθος (Vol. I. p. 152), which from its general usage gave rise to the generic term _opus doliare_, for common work in clay. It was large enough to contain a man, as we know from the story of Diogenes illustrated on the Roman lamp already given (Plate LXIV. fig. 6); the vessel thereon depicted may serve to give an idea of its appearance. Columella[3185] speaks of _dolia sesquiculearia_, _i.e._ holding one-and-a-half _culei_ or thirty amphorae. They were buried in the earth of the cellars, and have been found thus in Italy at Anzi, in France at Apt, Vaucluse, and near Clermont, and at Tunis.[3186] They were used for wine, oil, corn, and salted meat, and Juvenal tells us that _dolia_ were used for new wine, being lined with wax, pitch, or gypsum.[3187] In 1858 a large number were found at Sarno in Campania, some being stamped with the makers’ names, as ONESIMVS FECIT, VITALIS F, L · TITI · T · F · PAP, and M · LVCCEI · QVARTIONIS.[3188] On one was incised L · XXXIV, or thirty-four _lagenae_ (see p. 446). One of the prodigies which was supposed to predict the future fortune of the Emperor Antoninus Pius was the discovery above ground of some _dolia_ which had been sunk in the earth in Etruria.[3189] An old name for the _dolium_ was _calpar_,[3190] and another smaller variety was the _seria_,[3191] containing only seven amphorae. A diminutive form of the latter, _seriola_, is described as a wine-vessel invented in Syria.[3192] _Dolia_ were made in separate pieces, the base and other parts being secured by leaden cramps, and they were also hooped with lead, as we learn from Cato.[3193] Pliny speaks of repairing casks by fitting on handles, scraping the hoops, and stopping up cracks.[3194] They are made both of white and red clay, baked in a slow furnace, great care being required to moderate the heat aright. Their makers were known as _doliarii_. Part of a large _dolium_ bound with leaden hoops was found near Modena, at Palzano; also at Spilamberto, one with the name of T. Gavelius and the numerals XXX, XIII, another of the capacity of 36 amphorae.[3195] On the mouth of one found in the Villa Peretta at Rome was the name of L. Calpurnius Eros,[3196] on another the name of T. Cocceius Fortunatus.[3197] Two good examples of _dolia_ were at one time preserved in the gardens of the Villa Albani, about 4 feet in diameter and as many in height, and of a coarse gritty pale red clay. This kind of vase was often used for sepulchral purposes, bodies having being found actually buried in them (see above, p. 457). Next in size and importance to the _dolium_ is the _amphora_, resembling in form the Greek wine-jar[3198]; it usually has a long cylindrical body with pointed base, a long narrow neck, and two straight handles. Hölder[3199] notes several varieties: the Canopic, the wide-bellied, the cylindrical, the globular, and the spheroidal, the former of which is a typical early form in the provinces.[3200] It was often without neck or handle, and was seldom ornamented, not being used for artistic purposes like its Greek prototype, but only for strictly utilitarian ends, that is, for the storage and transport of wine. It is usually of coarse red earthenware, made on the wheel, with a clay stopper to close the mouth, and the name of the maker in a rectangular label on the handle, like the _diota_ or wine-amphora of the Greeks. It was in fact often known as a diota, as in a familiar line of Horace[3201]: Deprome quadrimum Sabina, O Thaliarche, merum diota. The amphora was pitched internally to preserve the wine[3202]; the pointed base was of course adapted for fixing it in the ground in the cellar, but when brought up it was placed in a tripod-stand of metal or wood (_incitega_).[3203] In Cicero’s time the regulation size was equivalent to a quadrantal or two _urnae_.[3204] The use of this vase was very varied and extensive among the Romans; it was employed not only in cellars and granaries, but also at the table and for many other purposes of ordinary life, even where nowadays vessels of wood or iron would be preferred. D’Agincourt[3205] mentions the discovery at Rome, near the Porta del Popolo, of a row of amphorae in a cellar in 1789, and at Pompeii a hundred were found in the house of Arrius Diomedes, a hundred and fifty in that of the Faun; a hundred and twenty were found in a cellar near the baths of Titus, and many more at Milan in 1809, and at Turin. Numbers have been found in London, varying in capacity from four to twelve gallons, and others at Colchester and Mount Bures in Essex.[3206] But they are so universal all over the Roman Empire that to enlarge the list would be tedious. Many, however, evoke a special interest by reason of their stamps and inscriptions, and a few typical examples may profitably be given.[3207] The inscriptions vary in form and character; some amphorae give the name of the maker in the genitive, _officina_ being understood; others the consuls for the year in which they were filled; others, again, the name of the wine or other phrases descriptive of their contents; and others complimentary inscriptions to their owners. Among names of makers both single, double, and triple names are found, and among the former are many of a Gaulish or barbarian character, such as Bellucus, Dicetus, and Vacasatus, son of Brariatus; the last-named from Nimeguen, the first-named from London.[3208] Among the triple names, showing that the potters were Roman citizens or freedmen, are M. Aemilius Rusticus from Caerleon, and C. Antonius Quintus, also found in Britain.[3209] Sometimes the name is in the nominative with F for _fecit_, or with the genitive OF for _officina_ occurs. The stamps are in the form of oblong rectangular labels on the handle or neck, the letters in relief. One of the most curious stamps was on an amphora found in the Pontine marshes near Rome, a square one with a caduceus and other symbols arranged in twelve compartments; the inscription runs M · PETRON · VETERAN · LEO · SER · FECIT, “Leo, the slave of M. Petronius Veteranus, made it.”[3210] The names of Vespasian and Titus as consuls are found on an amphora from Pompeii: VESPASIANO III ET FILIO CS, the year being A.D. 74[3211]; that of M. Aurelius (but not necessarily as consul) occurs on an amphora found at Newington in Kent[3212]; and on one in the British Museum from Leptis in Africa is L · CASSIO · C · MARIO · COS, the date being A.D. 107.[3213] On the neck of a fourth amphora, found at Pompeii, was FVNDAN · CN · LENTVL · M · ASINIO · COSS, “wine of Fundi in the consulship of Cn. Lentulus and M. Asinius (Agrippa),” of the year A.D. 26.[3214] The character or origin of the wine or other commodity stored in the amphorae is given by such inscriptions as BARCAE, KOR · OPT (“best Corcyrean”),[3215] RVBR · VET · [=V] · P CII (“old red wine, 102 lbs. weight”), all from Pompeii, painted in red and black.[3216] MES · AM · XVIII, also on an amphora from Pompeii, appears to mean “eighteen amphorae [not measures] of Mesogitan wine” (from Mesogis in Lydia[3217]); or, again, we find at Pompeii SVRR · XXI, “twenty-one amphorae of wine of Surrentum”[3218]; TOSCOLA(_n_)ON (_ex_) OFFICINA SCAV(_ri_), “Tusculan wine from the manufactory of Scaurus.”[3219] On the other hand, LIQVAMEN OPTIMVM (“best pickle”), or such expressions as SCOMBRI (“mackerel”), GARVS (“brine”), etc., imply that the vessel has been used for conveying pickled fish.[3220] Among expressions of a complimentary nature are: FABRILES MARCELLAE N · AD FELICITATEM, “the workmen of our Marcella to wish her joy”[3221]; (_pr_)OMO(_s_) FAMELIAI DONO(_m_) V(_otum dedit_), or DONO V(_rnam dat_), “Promus gave (an urn) as a gift and vow to his family” (from Ardea in Latium).[3222] The list may be concluded with the inscription on an amphora found in the garden of the Villa Farnese, among the ruins of the Aurea Domus of Nero, which held eight _congii_; on its neck was traced in ill-formed letters: L(_iquaminis_) FL(_os_) EXCEL(_lens_) L · PVRELLI GEMELLI M(...), “Finest brand of liquor, belonging to L. Purellus Gemellus.”[3223] An amphora was found at Pompeii with the name of Septimius or Stertinius Menodotus in Greek letters.[3224] There are occasional references in the classics to the practice of placing such stamps on vases, as when Plautus makes the slave say, with reference to the drinking that went on in his master’s house, “There you may see epistles written with letters in clay, sealed with pitch; the names are there in letters a foot and a half long.”[3225] Or, again, another slave, fearing to be caught with a jar in his possession, reflects, “This jar is lettered; it proclaims its ownership.”[3226] Juvenal speaks of wine whose country and brand had been obliterated by old age through long hanging in the smoke.[3227] Another vase used much in the same way as the amphora, and particularly for keeping wine, was the _cadus_, the shape of which is not exactly known. It held about twelve _congii_, or seventy-two _sextarii_ (pints), and is frequently mentioned by Horace and Martial.[3228] The former in the _Odes_ refers to his jar of Alban wine nine years old, and in another passage to one stored in Sulpicius’ cellars[3229]; the latter speaks of _cadi Vaticani_, which may mean made of clay from the Vatican hill or containing Vatican wines[3230]; elsewhere he speaks of taking yellow honey from the ruddy jar (implying an earthenware vessel), and of the red jar which pours out home-made wine.[3231] We also learn from him that the _cadus_ was hung in the chimney to give the wine a mellow flavour.[3232] From other passages we learn that the _cadus_ was used for oil,[3233] fruit,[3234] and money,[3235] and also as a measure equivalent to one-and-a-half amphorae or three urnae.[3236] The _orca_ is described by Isidorus as a kind of amphora, of which the _urceus_ (see below) was a diminutive.[3237] The Romans were presumably, like the Greeks, in the habit of mixing their wine with water, but we only find the _crater_ mentioned rarely, and that in a poetical manner.[3238] Moreover it was probably made in metal as a rule, and the rare instances of the _crater_ which occur in the Arretine ware are obvious imitations of metal prototypes; there is a fine example in the British Museum from Capua (see Fig. 219). Ovid, however, speaks of the _rubens crater_,[3239] implying terracotta, as in the case of the _rubens cadus_ of Martial mentioned above. The _vinarium_,[3240] the _acratophorum_ (for holding unmixed wine),[3241] and the _oenophorum_ were probably of the same character, but the latter was portable, as we know from Horace’s jeer at the man who took his cooking-stove and wine-jar (_oenophorum_) with him everywhere.[3242] The _urna_, the equivalent of the Greek _hydria_, was similarly used for carrying water, and also for casting lots, or as a voting-urn[3243]; in the latter sense Cicero actually uses the word _hydria_.[3244] Its size was half that of the amphora. Both the _urna_ and the hydria are found in connection with funerary usages, and appear to have held the ashes of the dead.[3245] The _situla_, or bucket, with its diminutive _sitella_, was also used for water and for lots,[3246] but was principally of metal. Isidorus says it is the Greek κάδος (Vol. I. p. 165).[3247] The _cupa_ and the _cumera_ seem to have been of wood rather than earthenware[3248]; the former was a kind of tub, the latter was used for keeping grain, and also by brides for conveying their effects to their new home.[3249] Another large vessel for holding liquids was the _sinus_, or _sinum_, used both for water and milk.[3250] The _nasiterna_, so called from its long spout or _nasus_, had three handles, and was used as a watering-pot.[3251] The _fidelia_ appears to have been a kind of large pail or bucket; Cicero in one of his letters[3252] cites the proverb, _de eadem fidelia duos parietes dealbare_, which answers to our “killing two birds with one stone.” It implies that it would be used for holding paint or whitewash. Of smaller vases for holding liquids, such as jugs, bottles, and flasks, the principal were the _urceus_ (with its diminutive _urceolus_), the _ampulla_, and the _lagena_ or _lagona_. The _hirnea_ is also mentioned as a jug which was filled from the jar or cadus.[3253] The _urceus_ seems to be a small jug, the equivalent of the Greek οἰνοχόη, having one handle; it was also used as a measure.[3254] The _ampulla_ was used both as a wine-flask and an oil-flask, corresponding thus to the Greek λήκυθος, as is seen in its metaphorical use.[3255] It was used for bringing the wine to table, like a decanter,[3256] and is described by Apuleius[3257] as lenticular in form, being therefore like a flat round-bodied flask with two handles. [Illustration: FIG. 216. AMPULLA (BRITISH MUSEUM).] An interesting example of an _ampulla_ of this kind, of red ware with a coarse reddish-brown glaze was found some years ago near the Hôtel Dieu, Paris.[3258] It bore two inscriptions round the body, one on either side, with letters in relief; on one side was OSPITA REPLE LAGONA CERVESA, “Mine host, fill the flask with beer”; on the other, COPO CNODI TV ABES EST REPLETA, “Innkeeper, (?), be off, it is full.” Similar vases have been found in Hainault and at Trier, and are said to be still made in Spain. Another of the same kind, but with only one handle, recently acquired by the British Museum from the Morel collection, has on it the word AMPULLA painted in white (Fig. 216). The _lagena_ (Greek, λάγυνος) was a jug or bottle with narrow neck, wide mouth, and handle, and was used as a sign by wine-sellers.[3259] It was sealed up until required for use,[3260] and being proverbially brittle, was protected, like a modern Italian wine-flask, by wicker-work.[3261] It was also used as a travelling-flask, and carried by hunters and fishermen[3262]; the younger Pliny exhorts Tacitus, when he goes hunting, to take not only a “sandwich-box and brandy-flask” (_panarium ac lagunculam_), but also a notebook to jot down ideas.[3263] The Roman barmaid carried a _lagena_ at her side when serving in the tavern,[3264] and it was used as a wine-jug at the table.[3265] A jar found at Saintes in France has engraved on it MARTIALI SOL(_i_)DAM LAGONAM, “A whole flask to Martialis,”[3266] and gives a clue to the form associated with this word (see Fig. 217). [Illustration: FIG. 217. LAGENA FROM FRANCE, INSCRIBED.] The words in use for a ladle are _cyathus_, corresponding to the Greek κύαθος (Vol. I. p. 179),[3267] in measure equivalent to one-twelfth of the sextarius or pint, and _simpulum_ or _simpuvium_. The latter were chiefly associated with sacrifices, and will be dealt with later (p. 471); the _cyathus_ was regularly used at the table for measuring out the wine into the drinking-cups. We learn from Martial that in drinking a toast it was customary to use the number of cyathi that corresponded to the letters in the name of the recipient, as in the epigram Laevia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur, Quinque Lycas, Lyde quattuor, Ida tribus.[3268] Of drinking-cups the Romans had almost as large a variety as the Greeks, the majority of the ornamented vases preserved to this day being apparently for this purpose; the number of names recorded in literature is, however, much less, as many of those given in the long list on pp. 181-183 of Vol. I. are mere nick-names for ordinary forms. The generic name for a drinking-cup was _poculum_,[3269] the Greek ποτήριον, just as _vas_ was the generic name for a larger vessel; it occurs constantly in the poets, who, indeed, use it somewhat loosely, and has already been met with in the series of small bowls with Latin inscriptions described in Chapter XI. (p. 490). Many forms of drinking-cups used by the Romans were only made in metal, such as the _cantharus_,[3270] _carchesium_,[3271] and _scyphus_[3272] (see Vol. I. pp. 184, 187). All these were forms borrowed from the Greeks, as were the _calix_ (_kylix_), the _cotula_ (chiefly used as a measure = half-a-pint), and the _scaphium_[3273] and _cymbium_,[3274] which were boat-shaped vessels. The _ciborium_ (a rare word, but used by Horace[3275]) was supposed to be made in the form of the leaves or pods of the _colocasia_, or Egyptian bean.[3276] Its later ecclesiastical use is well known. Other names of which we hear are the _batioca_,[3277] the _gaulus_,[3278] the _scutella_ (see below),[3279] and the _amystis_, or cup drained at one draught (see Vol. I. p. 181).[3280] Like the Greek _kylix_, the _calix_ appears to have been of all these the one most commonly in use, and is constantly referred to by poets and prose writers. Those of terracotta could often be purchased at a very low price, and formed, it is evident, the ordinary drinking-cups of the Roman citizen; they were also frequently of glass. Juvenal speaks of “plebeian cups purchased for a few _asses_”[3281]; and Martial describes a man buying two _calices_ for an _as_ and taking them home with him.[3282] We have no exact information as to its form, but it must have been something like the Greek _kylix_, only probably without handles; it was also used for solid food such as herbs.[3283] Seneca speaks of _calices Tiburtinae_, which seem from the context to have been of earthenware.[3284] Varieties of the _calix_ are probably represented by the typical Gaulish forms illustrated in Chapter XXIII., Figs. 221-223. Of dishes and other utensils employed for food at the table, the largest were the _lanx_ and the _patina_. The former is described by Horace and Juvenal as large enough to hold a whole boar,[3285] and was probably of metal; the _patina_ is described as a dish for holding fish, crabs, or lobsters,[3286] but that it was not necessarily limited in size is shown by the stories already alluded to of Domitian and Vitellius (p. 456). The latter, when dragged to his death, was insulted by the epithet of _patinarius_, or dish-maker.[3287] The patina was flat, and made of clay, and is also described as a wide and shallow vessel for cooking.[3288] It is contrasted with the _lagena_ in the well-known fable of the fox and the stork.[3289] Smaller dishes for sweetmeats and other dainties were the _catinum_ and _catillum_, and the _patella_.[3290] The _discus_ and _paropsis_[3291] appear to have been, like the _lanx_, principally of metal; the former was like a shield (whence _scutula_ and _scutella_); the latter is mentioned by Isidorus, who describes it as quadrangular, and by Martial, together with some obscurely-named dishes[3292]: Sic implet gabatas paropsidesque Et leves scutulas cavasque lances. Martial speaks of the _patella_ as a dish for a turbot, and also as a vessel of black ware which was used to hold vegetables[3293]; the _catinus_ (a fictile dish) was large enough to hold a good-sized fish, such as a tunny,[3294] and the _catillus_ appears to have been a sort of porringer. Sauces were placed in small dishes or cups, known as _acetabula_ (the Greek ὀξύβαφον), which were evidently of earthenware[3295]; the _catellus_ held pepper,[3296] and the _concha_ or shell was used for a salt-cellar, also for unguents.[3297] The latter was probably a real shell, not of earthenware. Another kind of dish which is only once mentioned, in Horace’s account of Nasidienus’ banquet, was the _mazonomum_, probably a kind of _lanx_, in metal, which held on that occasion a sort of _ragoût_ of game.[3298] His own table, however, he boasts, was adorned only by a _cyathus_ and two cups, an _echinus_ or rinsing-bowl, a _guttus_, and a _patera_ or libation bowl.[3299] The _guttus_ seems to have corresponded to the Greek _lekythos_ or _askos_, and is the general name for an oil-flask or cruet.[3300] It was either a small, long-necked bottle or a squat flask with a narrow spout, which allowed the oil to pour slowly. Roach-Smith published a relief dedicated by Egnatius, a physician, to the Deae Matres, on which small vases of the first-named form appear, indicating that he consecrated his medicine bottles to these divinities.[3301] Of vessels for cooking, washing, and other common domestic purposes, the _olla_ was that in most general use[3302]; the word is, in fact, a generic name for a jar or pot (Gk. χύτρα), as in the play of Plautus, the _Aulularia_, the name of which embodies an archaic form of the word, _aula_, _aulula_. Here it was used for hiding a hoard of gold. It was also, as has been noted, used as a funerary urn, and some inscribed examples of marble _ollae_ have been found in tombs. The _pelvis_ was more particularly a washing basin, but Juvenal speaks of it as scented with Falernian wine.[3303] It is usually identified with the _mortarium_, a large, shallow, open bowl with a spout, frequently found in Britain and Central Europe (see below, p. 550); it is of coarse light-red clay, and often has the potter’s name stamped upon it. That it was used for pounding substances is shown by the fact that it often has small pebbles embedded in the surface of the interior. The _scutra_ is mentioned by Cato and Plautus,[3304] and appears to have been used only in Republican times; its Imperial successor was the _cacabus_.[3305] The _trua_ or _trulla_[3306] was a saucepan with a flat handle; numerous examples in bronze, silver, and earthenware have been preserved, and some have elaborate designs in relief on the handle.[3307] A number of obscure and archaic names of vases are recorded by the etymologists and other writers, especially in regard to those used for sacrificial purposes and libations. The _capis_ or _capedo_ was probably a kind of jug (from _capere_, to contain)[3308]; Cicero refers to the _capedunculae_ which were a legacy from Numa.[3309] The _praefericulum_[3310] was not, as usually supposed in popular archaeology, a jug, but a shallow basin of bronze without handles, like a _patera_. The _lepasta_ or _lepesta_ (cf. Greek λεπάστη) is recorded as used in Sabine temples,[3311] and the _futile_ was used in the cult of Vesta for holding water[3473]; the _cuturnium_[3313] is also mentioned. The _simpulum_[3314] and _simpuvium_[3315] represent similar utensils, though the words are distinct; they were small-sized ladles used almost exclusively in religious rites, and sometimes regarded as old-fashioned. With reference to the size, _fluctus in simpulo excitare_[3316] became a proverbial expression for “a storm in a teacup.” They seem to have been usually of metal, but Pliny speaks of fictile _simpula_[3317]; the _simpuvium_ is represented on coins and sacrificial reliefs. The _lanx_ appears to have been used for offerings to Bacchus,[3318] and the _guttus_, _cymbium_, and other forms also appear in a sacrificial connection[3319]; conversely the _patera_, which is for the most part exclusively a libation bowl, was sometimes used for secular purposes[3320]; there is evidence that its use as a drinking vessel is older than its use for libations. The last-named corresponds to the Greek φιάλη (Vol. I. p. 191),[3321] and is constantly referred to or represented; its essential feature was the hollow knob or _omphalos_ in the centre, and it was either made of metal or earthenware. The _patella_ was also used for libations or for offering first-fruits to the household gods.[3322] Other obscure words referring to vases of secular use are the _pollubrum_ (Greek, ποδανιπτήρ)[3323] and _malluvium_ (Greek, χέρνιψ),[3324] meaning respectively basins for washing the feet and hands; the _aquiminarium_ for washing vessels[3325]; the _galeola_, a variety of the _sinus_[3326]; the _pultarius_, a vessel used for warm drinks, for must, for preserving grapes, for coals, for fumigating, and as a cupping-glass[3327]; and the _obba_, which Persius describes as _sessilis_, _i.e._ squat and flat-bottomed.[3328] The _culeus_, _congius_, _hemina_, and _sextarius_ appear to have been measures only, not vases in general use; the _congius_ was one-eighth of an amphora, or six _sextarii_, about six English pints.[3329] In the case of the majority of the names discussed in the foregoing pages, any attempt at identification with existing forms is hopeless; we have very few clues in the literature to the shapes of the vases described, and little evidence from themselves, as is often the case with Greek shapes; nor is any Roman writer except Isidorus, whose date is too late to be trustworthy, so explicit as Athenaeus. At present little has been done in the way of collecting the different forms of existing vases, but a valuable treatise on the subject was recently issued by the late O. Hölder, a Würtemberg professor, who collected all the forms found in Germany and Italy,[3330] and although he did not attempt to identify them by Latin names, he has done much service in grouping them together, classified as urns, jars, jugs, and so on, in a series of twenty-three plates of outline drawings. There is, in fact, in Roman pottery no clear line of distinction to be drawn between the various forms of drinking-cups or of jugs or dishes, as is the case with Greek vases; different forms again are found in different fabrics, and those typical of ornamented wares are not found in plain pottery, and so on. Nor must it be forgotten that in Roman pottery the ornamented wares are the exception rather than the rule. Where the Greeks used painted vases, the Romans used metal; and apart from the plain pottery, the forms are almost limited to a few varieties of cups, bowls, and dishes. Comparisons with the Greek equivalents illustrated in Chapter IV. may give a probable idea of what the Roman meant when he spoke of an _urceus_ or an _olla_, but for the rest the modern investigator can do little beyond attempting to point out what types of vases were peculiar to different periods or fabrics, and in most cases any attempt to give specific names can only be regarded as arbitrary. ----- Footnote 3080: _H.N._ xxxiii. 154 ff.: see below, p. 489. Footnote 3081: _Vases ornés de la Gaule Romaine_, i. p. 190 ff. Footnote 3082: The term is applied to clay suited to receive stamps (_sigilla_) or impressions. Footnote 3083: Déchelette, _Vases ornés de la Gaule Romaine_, ii. p. 335. Footnote 3084: _Ibid._ i. p. 41 ff. Footnote 3085: _Der Stil_, ii. p. 148. Footnote 3086: _Bonner Jahrbücher_, xcvi. p. 20. Footnote 3087: In the case of fragment No. 3 the clay and lime could not be differentiated. Footnote 3088: In the case of fragments 2 and 5 no definite general result was obtained. Footnote 3089: Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 421; Blümner, _Technologie_, ii. p. 91. See also _Handbook to Collection of Pottery in the Museum of Practical Geology_, 1893, p. 65, for an analysis made on a fragment of glazed red ware by Dr. Percy: Silica 54·45 Alumina 22·08 Peroxide of iron 7·31 Lime 9·76 Magnesia 1·67 Potash 3·22 Soda 1·76 ——— 100·25 ====== Footnote 3090: _Storia degli ant. vast aretini_, p. 65. Footnote 3091: _Ueber die rothe Topferwaare_, p. 16. Footnote 3092: Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 423; Déchelette, ii. p. 339. Footnote 3093: Blümner, _Technol._ ii. p. 91. Footnote 3094: _Op. cit._ i. p. 381: cf. Blümner, ii. p. 64. Footnote 3095: _Roman Art in Cirencester_, p. 77. Footnote 3096: Plaut. _Epid._ iii. 2, 35; Pliny, _H.N._ vii. 198. Footnote 3097: _Art. Poet._ 21. Footnote 3098: _Sat._ ii. 7, 86. Footnote 3099: ii. 3, 48. Footnote 3100: _Capt._ ii. 3, 9; Persius, iii. 23; Avianus, _Fab._ 41, 9. Footnote 3101: Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._, Act 1, scene 5, line 19. Footnote 3102: Smith, _Dict. of Antiqs._[3312] i. p. 844: see below, p. 480; also Vol. I. p. 207. Footnote 3103: _Vases ornés_, ii. p. 338. Footnote 3104: See Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 423 ff.; Blümner, _Technol._ ii. p. 106; Von Hefner, in _Oberbayr. Archiv für vaterl. Gesch._ xxii. (1863), pp. 23, 35; and _Röm. Mitth._ 1897, p. 286. Footnote 3105: See Fabroni, _Storia degli vasi aretini_, pl. 5, fig. 4. Footnote 3106: _Handbook to Mus._ (1891), p. 111. Footnote 3107: Brongniart and Riocreux, _Mus. de Sèvres_, pp. 16, 128. For Cerialis see p. 536 and _C.I.L._ xiii. 10010, 544; for Cobnertus, _ibid._ 592, and Déchelette, i. p. 179. Footnote 3108: _Oberbayr. Archiv für vaterl. Gesch._ xxii. (1863), pp. 23, 24. Footnote 3109: Blümner, _Technologie_, ii. p. 104, fig. 21; _Brit. Arch. Assoc. Journ._ iv. p. 19. Déchelette states that about fifty in all are known (_op. cit._ i. p. 337). Footnote 3110: Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 424, pl. 30; _Mus. de Sèvres_, p. 128, and pl. 9, fig. 8. Footnote 3111: _Oberbayr. Archiv_, 1863, p. 24. Footnote 3112: Examples of this technique often occur in Gaul and Britain: see Déchelette, ii. p. 169 ff., and cf. Roach-Smith, _Ill. Rom. Lond._ p. 91, and a fine vase from Felixstowe in the British Museum. See also Plate LXIX. fig. 2, and p. 529. Footnote 3113: See below, p. 530, and Déchelette, ii. p. 235 ff. Footnote 3114: Blümner, _Technol._ ii. p. 112. Footnote 3115: _E.g._ Blümner, _Technol._ ii. pp. 106, 107, figs. 22, 23. Footnote 3116: _Gaz. Arch._ 1881-82, p. 17; Brongniart, _Traité_, pl. 30, figs. 2-4: see also Déchelette, i. p. 141 ff., and below, p. 525 ff. Footnote 3117: Cf. Déchelette in _Revue des Études Anciens_, v. (1903), p. 42. Footnote 3118: Blümner, ii. p. 110, fig. 25: cf. Von Hefner in _Oberbayr. Archiv_, 1863, p. 56; Fabroni, _Storia degli antichi vasi aretini_, pls. 3, 5, p. 63. Footnote 3119: Blümner, ii. p. 111; Daremberg and Saglio, ii. _art._ Figlinum, p. 1130. Footnote 3120: Cf. von Hefner in _Oberbayr. Archiv für vaterl. Gesch._ xxii. (1863), p. 55. Footnote 3121: _Vases ornés_, ii. p. 312. Footnote 3122: Mau-Kelsey, _Pompeii_, p. 386; _Bull. dell’ Inst._ 1875. p. 192; _Mon. Antichi_, i. pl. 8, 7, p. 282. Footnote 3123: _Oberbayr. Archiv für vaterl. Gesch._ xxii. (1863), p. 56 ff.: see also Blümner, ii. p. 23 ff., and Daremberg and Saglio, ii. _art._ Figlinum. Footnote 3124: _Bullet. Arch._ 1898, p. 18 ff., and _Mélanges Gallo-romaines_, ii. (1902), p. 93 ff. Footnote 3125: Brongniart, i. p. 439. Footnote 3126: _Rev. Arch._ xviii. (1868), pl. 23, p. 297. Footnote 3127: See for a full account of the last-named Von Hefner in _op. cit._ p. 8 ff., p. 56, pl. 4. Footnote 3128: See _Ann. dell’ Inst._ 1882, pl. U, to which the letters in the cut refer. Other kilns found at Heddernheim are described in _Westdeutsche Zeitschrift_, xviii. (1899), p. 215 ff. Footnote 3129: See Haverfield in _Victoria County Hist. of Northants_, i. pp. 167, 207 ff. Footnote 3130: _Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc._ i. p. 1 ff., ii. p. 164: see also Wright, _Celt, Roman, and Saxon_^1, p. 264 ff.; Roach-Smith, _Coll. Antiq._ iv. p. 81, vi. p. 181 ff. Footnote 3131: No. 958, fol. 105; reproduced by Roach-Smith, _Collect. Antiq._ vi. pl. 37, fig. 4, and _Ill. Rom. Lond._ p. 79; _Proc. Soc. Antiqs._ 2nd Ser. xvi. p. 42. Footnote 3132: _Proc. Soc. Antiqs._ xvii. 1898, p. 262. Footnote 3133: _Ibid._ xvi. (1895), p. 40. Footnote 3134: _Vict. County Hist. of Norfolk_, i. p. 291, fig. 7: see below, p. 449. Footnote 3135: _Op. cit._ i. p. 314. Footnote 3136: _Ibid._ p. 322. Footnote 3137: _Archaeologia_, xxxv. p. 91; _Vict. County Hist. of Hants_, i. p. 326. Footnote 3138: Roach-Smith, _Collect. Antiq._ vi. p. 191 ff.; _Vict. County Hist. of Hants_, i. p. 306. Footnote 3139: Roach-Smith, _op. cit._ ii. p. 38; vii. p. 1 ff., pls. 1-3. Footnote 3140: Wright, _Celt, Roman, and Saxon_^1, p. 264 ff., and Haverfield in _Vict. County Hist. of Northants_, give the most satisfactory epitomes of Artis’ descriptions. Footnote 3141: Cato, _Agricult._ 38. Footnote 3142: Cf. Von Hefner, _op. cit._ pl. 4, 28-31: see also _Arch. Journ._ vii. p. 176, and an example from Switzerland in the British Museum (Romano-British Collection). Footnote 3143: See also Déchelette, ii. p. 341. Footnote 3144: See Haverfield in _Vict. County Hist. of Northants_, i. p. 207. Footnote 3145: _Traité_, i. p. 426. Footnote 3146: _Vict. County Hist. of Northants_, i. p. 209. Footnote 3147: See Haverfield, _op. cit._ p. 210, fig. 31. Footnote 3148: Haverfield, _ibid._; _Handbook of Pottery in Mus. of Pract. Geol._ 1893, p. 71. Footnote 3149: _Archaeologia_, xxii. pl. 36, p. 413; _Vict. County Hist._ i. p. 291. Footnote 3150: See Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 428, pl. 1; Artis, _Durobrivae_, pl. 27, figs. 3 and 6; Daremberg and Saglio _s.v._ Fornax, figs. 3201-02. Footnote 3151: Brongniart, i. p. 429. Footnote 3152: Von Hefner in _Oberbayr. Archiv_ (1863), p. 58. Footnote 3153: Cf. Tibull. i. 1, 38: “Nec e puris spernere fictilibus. Fictilia antiquus primum sibi fecit agrestis Pocula de facili composuitque luto.” Footnote 3154: _Sat._ ii. 60. Footnote 3155: _Sat._ vi. 342. Footnote 3156: _Sat._ iii. 168. Footnote 3157: Florus, i. 18, 22. Footnote 3158: Pliny, _H.N._ xxxiii. 142. Footnote 3159: _Ep._ 95, 72. Footnote 3160: _Apud_ Athen. vi. 229 D. He uses the curious expression, κέραμος ἀργυροῦς, which, as in the use of the word κέραμος for marble tiles (Vol. I. p. 100), implies the antiquity of the use of fictile ware. See the next note. Footnote 3161: vi. 229 C, where the use of κέραμος or dinner-service is discussed. Footnote 3162: iv. 72, 131: cf. Mart. xiii. 81. Footnote 3163: Suet. _Vit. Vitell._ 13 (_clypeum Minervae_, αἰγίδα πολιούχου). Footnote 3164: Pliny, _H.N._ xxxv. 164. Footnote 3165: _Ibid._ 163. Footnote 3166: iv. 88. Footnote 3167: _Capt._ ii. 2, 41. Footnote 3168: Virg. _Georg._ ii. 351. Footnote 3169: Orelli, _Inser._ 4544; Gruter 607, 1; and see _C.I.L._ i. p 209. Footnote 3170: See above, p. 351; and cf. _Archaeologia_, xxv. p. 1 ff. Footnote 3171: _C.I.L._ vii. 1335, 1. The vase is now at Clare College, Cambridge. Footnote 3172: _H.N._ xxxv. 160 (_fictilibus soliis_). Footnote 3173: _Arch. Journ._ x. (1853), p. 230. Footnote 3174: _Archaeologia_, xiv. pl. 6, p. 37 (in B.M.). Footnote 3175: _Arch. Journ._, _loc. cit._ Footnote 3176: _Ill. Rom. Lond._ p. 88, and see p. 550. Footnote 3177: v. 5, 8. Footnote 3178: _Quaest. Nat._ vi. 19: cf. Arist. _Probl._ xi. 8, and Pliny, _H.N._ xi. 270, _doliis inanibus_. Footnote 3179: Krause, _Angeiologie_, pp. 126, 463. Footnote 3180: See Middleton, _Remains of Ancient Rome_, ii. p. 56. Footnote 3181: Middleton, _loc. cit._ Footnote 3182: Nissen, _Pompeian. Studien_, p. 64. Footnote 3183: Nissen, _ibid._ Footnote 3184: See _Yorks. Arch. Journ._ iii. p. 1 ff., xv. p. 303; _Trans. Roy. Inst. of Brit. Architects_, 1881-2, p. 65 ff.; _Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc._ xxxv. p. 95, xxxviii. p. 218. Footnote 3185: xii. 18. Footnote 3186: Brongniart, _Traité_, i. p. 407 ff. Footnote 3187: ix. 58. Footnote 3188: _Bull. Arch. Nap._ N.S. vii. 1859, p. 84; _C.I.L._ x. 8047, 10, 18. Footnote 3189: Capitolinus, _Vit. Anton. Pii_, 3. Footnote 3190: Varro _ap._ Non. p. 26; Paul, _ex_ Fest. p. 46 (Müller). Footnote 3191: Columella, xii. 28, 1; Plaut. _Capt._ iv. 4, 9 (“preserve-jar”). Footnote 3192: Isid. _Etym._ xx. 6. Footnote 3193: _Agricult._ 39. Footnote 3194: _H.N._ xviii. 236. Footnote 3195: _Bull. dell’ Inst._ 1846, p. 34. Footnote 3196: Marini, _Inscr. Ant. Doliari_, p. 406, No. 2. Footnote 3197: Marini, No. 4. Footnote 3198: See Fig. 22, Vol. I. p. 154. Footnote 3199: _Formen der röm. Thongef._ p. 16, pls. 1-8. Footnote 3200: Cf. Koenen, _Gefässkunde_, pls. 10-12. Footnote 3201: _Od._ i. 9, 7. Footnote 3202: Pliny, _H.N._ xiv. 135. Footnote 3203: Cf. Jahn, _Wandgem. d. Villa Pamph._ pl. 5, p. 42. Footnote 3204: See Hultsch, _Metrologie_, p. 113. Footnote 3205: _Recueil_, p. 46. Footnote 3206: Roach-Smith, _Ill. Rom. Lond._ p. 87; _Collect. Antiq._ ii. p. 26. Footnote 3207: General reference may be made to the various volumes of the Latin _Corpus_, under the headings _Instrumentum Domesticum_, sub-heading _Vascula_, e.g. vii. 1331 for those found in Britain; for examples from Spain see _Arch. Journ._ lvi. p. 299. Footnote 3208: _C.I.L._ vii. 1331, 22, xiii. 10005, 25; Steiner, _Cod. Inscr. Rom. Danubii et Rheni_, ii. pp. 271, 287; and see generally _C.I.L._ xiii.