In the corners of Cases 41 and 48 are casts of reliefs from the
gravestone of L. Cornelius Atimetus, a Roman cutler of the first
century A.D. One relief (No. =457=; fig. 192) shows the cutler's
workshop, with two men working at some object placed on an anvil in
front of a furnace. One man holds the object with the tongs, the other
hammers it into shape. Above them hang a knife, sickle, tongs, etc.
Behind on the left is the bellows. The other relief (No. =458=; fig.
193) represents the cutler's shop, with numerous knives and sickles
hanging in an open cupboard. The cutler on the right, who wears the
tunic only, is showing a knife to a customer on the left, who wears
the toga, as a mark of dignity.
In Case 41 is a cast of a relief of a pork-butcher's shop, in the
Dresden Museum (No. =459=). On the left, the butcher's wife, seated
in a high chair, is busy with a set of tablets, for the accounts. The
butcher is jointing a side of bacon on a massive block. Portions
of bacon hang on hooks. Behind the butcher is a spare chopper and
a steelyard, at present hung out of the way. The details of the
steelyard such as the weight, the alternative hook for suspension, and
the scalepan are shown (see below p. 161).
XIV.--WEIGHTS AND SCALES.
(Wall-Cases 41-44.)
=Greek Weights.=--In Case B of the First Vase Room will be seen the
plaster model of a large stone object of triangular form, pierced
towards the apex with a hole.[52] It has the design of an octopus on
either side, and may with some probability be regarded as a standard
hanging weight (64 pounds). This object was found by Sir A. Evans at
Knossos in Crete, in the "Palace of Minos," and may be dated roughly
at 2000 B.C. A set of very early weights of the Mycenaean period from
Cyprus is in Case 41, consisting of haematite objects in the form of
sling bolts (No. =460=), passing in a series of gradations from large
to small. No definite system can, however, be deduced from these
weights.
[Illustration: FIG. 194.--LEAD AND BRONZE WEIGHTS. 2:3.]
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