The daily life of the Greeks and Romans as illustrated in the classical collectionsMetropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
History
The daily life of the Greeks and Romans as illustrated in the classical collections
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Art, Greek; Art, Roman; Greece -- Social life and customs; Rome -- Social life and customs
A rude relief on a stone slab from Cyprus (Case 1) is a votive offering
for rescue from an accident in quarrying or mining. Above is Apollo
seated before an altar. Below, a man is hastening to help another who
is standing in front of a large mass of rock or earth. Between them a
pickaxe lies on the ground. Probably the relief represents a dangerous
fall of rock or earth. The inscription runs: “Diithemis dedicated it to
the god Apollo, in good fortune.”
[Illustration: FIG. 134. DONKEYS CARRYING JARS IN PANNIERS, 1922]
Very few wooden objects have survived from ancient times, but examples
of the tools used in making them and of metal fittings remain. The
axe-blades from Cyprus in Case 5 and in wall-cases in the corridor are
of almost pure copper. These blades were inserted in a haft or lashed to
a handle. In Case B in the First Room are four double axes from Crete
of the second millennium B.C., and in Case A in the Fifth Room another
of much later date. Handles were inserted between the two blades, as in
the modern hammer. The chisels, awl, nails, and hinges in Case 5 are
Cypriote. In Case B in the First Room are chisels and an awl, and in Case
D 2 several knives, from Crete. They are especially interesting in that
they are well preserved and of excellent workmanship.
The keys exhibited in Case 5 (figs. 135 and 137) are of three types. The
earlier one is shown with the bolt to which it belongs. The key when
inserted into the bolt pushed upward with its teeth a series of pegs
which fitted into holes in the bolt and took their place. It could then
be used as a handle to pull the bolt backward. The second consists of a
plate provided with notches which lifted a series of tumblers and allowed
the bolt to be shot. The third key belongs to the type in use today, and
as such keys have been found in Pompeii, they must have been known before
79 A.D. The lock-plate is perhaps from a strong-box (fig. 136).
[Illustration: FIG. 135. KEY EARLY TYPE]
[Illustration: FIG. 136. LOCK-PLATE]
[Illustration: FIG. 137. KEY LATER TYPE]
Only the balance seems to have been known to the Greeks, but the Romans
made use of the steelyard also. The example shown in Case 1 does not
differ from those of modern times. The hooks and chains at the end of
the rod were used for suspending the articles to be weighed. Three other
hooks, of which two are preserved on movable rings, were for hanging the
steelyard. Each is attached to a different side. When the steelyard was
hung by the hook nearest to the graduated bar, articles up to twelve
pounds could be weighed by sliding the weights along the bar. The second
side of the bar weighs articles of from five pounds to twenty-two; the
third, articles of from twenty to fifty-eight pounds. The large weight is
made of lead covered with bronze, and weighs two pounds, while the small
weight is entirely of bronze and weighs one ounce (see head-band, p. 109.)
[Illustration: FIG. 138. WAR-VESSELS. VASE PAINTING]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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