Among the Egyptians and Greeks the wheel took the form of a low circular table, turned with the hand, not as nowadays with the foot.[761] The assumption that the wheel was turned with the foot is only supported by one passage in the Book of Ecclesiasticus[762]; the evidence of Plutarch[763] and Hippokrates[764] tells decidedly against it. In 1840 some discs of terracotta, strengthened with spokes and a leaden tire, came to light on the site of the ancient potteries at Arezzo, and these had evidently been used as potter’s wheels.[765] The process is also represented on two or three vases, as on a Corinthian painted tablet of about 600 B.C. (Fig. 65),[766] on a kylix in the British Museum (B 433), on a B.F. hydria in Munich (Fig. 67 _b_, below), and on a R.F. fragment from the Acropolis of Athens (Fig. 66),[767] which shows a man modelling the foot of a large krater, while a boy or slave turns the wheel, as on the Munich vase. On the British Museum cup the potter is seated on a low stool, apparently modelling a vase which he has just turned into shape on the wheel. [Illustration: FIG. 66. POTTER’S WHEEL (FROM A VASE OF ABOUT 500 B.C.).] In making the vases the wheel was used in the following manner:—A piece of paste of the required size was placed upon it vertically in the centre, and while it revolved was formed with the finger and thumb, the potter paying regard not only to the production of the right shape, but to the necessary thickness of the walls. This process sufficed for the smaller pieces, such as cups or jugs; the larger amphorae and hydriae required the introduction of the arm. The feet, necks, mouths, and handles were separately turned on moulds, and fixed on while the clay was moist. They are often modelled with great beauty and precision, especially the feet, which are admirably finished off, to effect which the vase must have been inverted. The modelling and separate attachment of the handle is represented in more than one ancient work of art (see Fig. 66). In many cases the joining of the handles is so excellent that it is easier to break than to detach them. Great technical skill was displayed in turning certain peculiar forms of vases, and generally speaking the Greeks with their simple wheel effected wonders, producing shapes still unrivalled for beauty.