The entire process of making clay vessels in Egypt has been preserved in a scene depicted in a tomb (Fig. 24). The clay was first trampled underfoot to give it evenness of consistency and make it more perfectly plastic. It was then prepared for working by being rolled out, and was then put on the wheel. The latter was either round or polygonal and flat. It was placed upon a stand, and was turned with one hand, while with the other the potter shaped the clay, and, as he worked, sat either upon a low stool or upon the ground. Both the hollowing and external shaping were done by hand. The furnaces were hollow cylinders, about six and a half feet high, in which the wares to be baked were placed about half-way up. An aperture at the bottom admitted draught sufficient to drive the flames out of the top of the furnace. Among the Greeks the wheel was also employed at a very early period, so early that its inventor or introducer is forgotten. One of the Grecian legends ascribes the honor to Dædalus, an Athenian of royal descent, and inventor of the wedge, axe, and other mechanical contrivances. Another legend ascribes it to Talos, the nephew of Dædalus, whose murder compelled the latter to seek safety in flight. To whatever individual or city the credit may be due, the wheel was used by Grecian potters from time immemorial. They turned it with the foot--as did the Egyptians also at one period--and it appears that the turning was sometimes left to an assistant. The process was almost identical with that described above. The clay was placed upon the wheel and shaped by the hand, and when the vessel was of so large a size as to make it necessary, one hand supported and shaped the clay from the inside. In this way the body of the vessel was made, and before the clay dried, the feet, handles, and other parts were fixed to it. Before the wheel was known, the vessels were hollowed out and shaped by the hand, and the larger vessels were subsequently made in the same way. It is said that the potter’s wheel was invented in Japan, in the year 724, by a priest named Giyoki, and the event at once raised the potter’s art into very high estimation. In Arita, the wheel consists of a fly-wheel and revolving disk, the latter placed about a foot above the former, and connected with it by a hollow wooden prismatic axle. In the centre of the working disk, and between the three sides of the prism, a hollow piece of porcelain is inserted. The whole is then placed upon a pointed stick fixed firmly in the ground, in such a way that the entire weight is supported upon the point of the upright wood. As that point comes in contact with the inserted porcelain, friction is reduced to a minimum. Vessels of any size can be thrown in this way--from the huge basin three feet in diameter to the smallest work which the potter’s hand has shaped. A driving cord is employed for turning the wheel when very large pieces are being made.