These tablets are of various forms, but the majority are rectangular,
and bear the owner's name, like the one in this Case from Arles
(No. =580=), with the name of Q. Julius Renatus; others have merely
initials. Some are made in the form of a shoe or the sole of a foot,
and this is a shape frequently employed by the potters of the Roman
period in Italy for stamping their names on vases. Other forms to be
here observed are a leaf (No. =581=), a ship (No. =582=), and a fish
(No. =583=). The letters in most cases are in relief, producing an
impression in _intaglio_ on a soft substance such as unbaked clay.
They were probably used for the most part for stamping the plaster
stoppers of wine jars, loaves of bread and such like objects.
An example of a rare form is the rolling stamp with the name of
Alexander (No. =584=; fig. 229).
The remainder of the guide is devoted to the personal life of the
individual from the cradle to the grave. Successive sections are
devoted to Infancy and its Amusements; to Education and School
Life--to which sections on Writing and Painting are annexed; to games,
marriages, music, dancing, pet animals; and, finally, to objects
bearing on death and burial.
XXI.--INFANCY. TOYS.
At the end of Case J are four terracotta models of cradles (No.
=585=) with young children in them. One is a winged Eros, and one is
swaddled. Beside the cradles are three cups (No. =586=), with spouts
shaped as mouth-pieces, which may be supposed to be for milk or pap.
Here also are two clay rattles (No. =587=), and a child's wooden
clapper (No. =588=).
[Illustration: FIG. 230.--CHILD IN HIGH CHAIR (NO. 590).]
A set of small trefoil-lipped jugs (No. =589=) is painted with designs
closely connected with child life. Children are shown playing with
jugs of this type, with animals and toy carts, or other objects. It
is probable that these jugs were given to Athenian children on the
festival day of the wine god Dionysos, which went by the name of
[Greek: Choes] ("Jugs"). Note No. =590= (fig. 230), with a child
confined in a turret-shaped high chair, and No. =591= (fig. 231), with
two children with draw-carts, each holding a jug.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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