Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient LifeYaggy, L. W. (Levi W.)
History
Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient Life
Yaggy, L. W. (Levi W.)
Civilization, Ancient; Classical antiquities
The ceiling is worked in stucco, in low relief, with scattered figures
and ornaments of little flying genii, delicately relieved on
medallions, with foliage carved round them. The ground is painted,
sometimes red and sometimes blue. The room is lighted by a window two
feet six inches high and three feet wide, in the bronze frame of which
were found set four very beautiful panes of glass fastened by small
nuts and screws, very ingeniously contrived, with a view to remove the
glass at pleasure. In this room was found a brazier, seven feet long
and two feet six inches broad, made entirely of bronze, with the
exception of an iron lining. The two front legs are winged sphinxes,
terminating in lions' paws, the two other legs are plain, being
intended to stand against the wall. The bottom is formed with bronze
bars, on which are laid bricks supporting pumice-stones for the
reception of charcoal. There is a sort of false battlement worked on
the rim, and in the middle a cow is to be seen in high relief. Three
bronze benches also were found, alike in form and pattern. They are
one foot four inches high, one foot in width, and about six feet long,
supported by four legs, terminating in the cloven hoofs of a cow, and
ornamented at the upper ends with the heads of the same animal. Upon
the seat is inscribed, M. NIGIDIUS, VACCULA. P.S.
Varro, in his book upon rural affairs, tells us that many of the
surnames of the Roman families had their origin in pastoral life, and
especially are derived from the animals to whose breeding they paid
most attention. As, for instance, the Porcii took their name from
their occupation as swine-herds; the Ovini from their care of sheep;
the Caprilli, of goats; the Equarii, of horses; the Tauri, of bulls,
etc. We may conclude, therefore, that the family of this Marcus
Vaccula were originally cow-keepers, and that the figures of cows so
plentifully impressed on all the articles which he presented to the
baths are a sort of _canting arms_, to borrow an expression from
heraldry, as in Rome the family Toria caused a bull to be stamped on
their money.
A doorway led from the tepidarium into the caldarium, or vapor-bath.
It had on one side the laconicum, containing the vase called labrum.
On the opposite side of the room was the hot bath called lavacrum.
Here it is necessary to refer to the words of Vitruvius as explanatory
of the structure of the apartments (cap. xi. lib. v.): "Here should be
placed the vaulted sweating-room, twice the length of its width, which
should have at each extremity, on one end the _laconicum_, made as
described above, on the other end the hot bath." This apartment is
exactly as described, twice the length of its width, exclusively of
the laconicum at one end and the hot bath at the other. The pavement
and walls of the whole were hollowed to admit the heat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account