It would be impossible to enter into the technical details of all the
trades. A few pictures taken from the life of artisans must suffice
instead. The terra-cotta figure, No. 198, represents an artisan in his
usual costume, the exomis, which left the right side free, and the
pilos, or felt cap; it is not clear from the picture what occupation he
is carrying on, since the object in his left hand is not distinct. Fig.
199 introduces us to a shoemaker at his work; he is seated on a low
stool in front of his work-table, and with one hand holds a piece of
leather, stretched over a board of hard wood; he is just about to cut it
out with the curved shoemaker’s knife; a second knife is suspended above
near some shoes, a hammer, and some strips of leather on the wall. Fig.
200 also introduces us into a shoemaker’s workshop. Here a girl is being
measured for a pair of shoes; for this purpose she has got
[Illustration: Fig. 199.]
on the table, so that the bearded workman, who is sitting in front of
it, may mark the outline of her soles on the leather on which she is
standing. In his right hand the shoemaker holds his crescent, a knife
with a curved blade; the apprentice, seated on the other side, is
holding a piece of leather bent together, probably destined to make the
upper part of the shoes. A white-haired old man, perhaps the master of
the workshop, or the father of the girl, stands by giving directions;
tools, lasts, strips of leather, and such like, are hung round on the
walls. Fig. 201, the counterpart to Fig. 200, represents a smithy. Near
the hearth, of which only a portion can be seen, crouches a young
workman, holding a piece of iron on the anvil with the forceps in his
right hand, while another workman, also without any clothing, strikes
the iron with a massive hammer, suspended above his head by both hands.
Two men wearing the himation, perhaps visitors to the workshop, are
seated on low stools. On the ground lie a hammer and forceps; on the
walls hang tools, such as hammers, chisels, drills, and productions of
the workshop, viz. a sword and a can.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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