Search

Your search for 'dc_creator:( "Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)" ) OR dc_contributor:( "Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)" )' returned 268 results. Modify search

Sort Results by Relevance | Newest titles first | Oldest titles first

Ostrakinda

(162 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (ὀστρακίνδα/ ostrakínda). The 'shard game' or 'day and night game', a running and catching game played by Greek boys: of two groups with an equal number of players, one group stands facing east (day) and the other west (night) on a line over which a player throws a shard (ὄστρακον, óstrakon) that is painted white on one side = day (ἡμέρα, hēméra) and black on the other = night (νύξ, nýx); as he does so, the thrower calls 'day or night'. If the disc falls on the black side, the members of the west team attempt to catch the east team who are running a…

Ceremonial dress

(491 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] Wearing the ceremonial dress (CD) distinguished persons in society and identified them in their official roles. This holds true particularly for priestesses, state officials, but also for delegates (herald's staff) and others. In Greece, priests wore a white robe (Pl. Leg. 12,965a), the ungirded  chiton, which could also be red, or, less often, dyed with saffron or purple. Another characteristic was the  wreath ( stephanophóroi, ‘wearers of the wreath’, was thus the name of priests in e.g. Miletus); less commonly, priests displayed the attribu…

Loculi

(185 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (also lucellus). Loculi refer to boxes of different size that are divided into several compartments, such as caskets, cabinets, coffers etc. The loculi were used to hold the counting stones ( calculi) of students for class as well as to store jewellery or money (Hor. Sat. 1,3,17; 2,3,146; Frontin. Aq. 118); for the latter use, one could even carry them around as a purse (Juv. 11,38; Mart. 14,12f., cf. Petron. Sat. 140); holding spaces for any kind of animal in agriculture could also be referred to as loculi, as could the urns for voting. In the funerary practices, loculus desi…

Delphica

(70 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] The round decorative table on three legs ( Household equipment;  Furniture) was called delphica by the Romans in imitation of the Delphic tripod (Procop. Vand. 1,21). The delphicae mentioned in literature (Mart. 12,66f.; Cic. Verr. 2,4,131) are probably to be identified with surviving tables from, in particular, the cities around Vesuvius. Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bibliography G. M. A. Richter, The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, 1966, 111-112.

Xenon group

(245 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] A special group of South Italian vases, named after a label on a pot in Frankfurt with the charioteer Xenon preparing to start [1]. The decoration of XG vases was applied with red slip to a pot covered with dark glaze (Gnathia ware). The pots (Pottery) used are quite small in scale. Decoration is chiefly limited to ornamentation (Ornaments) such as ivy and laurel branches, rod ornaments, wavy lines, meanders etc.; in contrast, representations of animals or people are distinctly ra…

Cradle

(193 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (λίκνον/ líknon, σκάφη/ skáphē; Lat. cunae, cunabula, n. pl.). The líknon, actually the ‘grain rocker’, was used as a cradle (H. Hom. 4,150; 254; 290; 358; [1. 298, fig. 285]; cf. Callim. H. 1,48). A container similar to a tub served as a second form of the cradle (Soph. TrGF IV, 385; Ath. 13,606f; 607a;   scáphē ). There were often notches or small struts on the frame of the cradle for attaching cords. Safety belts could be drawn crosswise over the cradle. From time to time two children could be accommodated in them (Plut. Romulus 3,4). Depictions of infants in skáphai are know…

Ephedrismos

(156 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (ἐφεδρισμός; ephedrismós). A game where a target (δίορος; díoros) on the ground is to be hit with a rock or a ball; the loser had to carry the winner, who covered the loser's eyes, on his back until he touched the target with his foot. Boys and girls participated in ephedrismos, which according to the evidence of monuments became popular in the 5th cent. BC and is depicted in various stages. The representations also show satyrs and Erotes playing ephedrismos. The piggyback motif is very widespread in the Greek and Roman art (intaglios, sculpture; group in Ro…

Kemos

(92 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (κημός; kēmós, late Ancient Greek χάμος; chámos; Lat. c[h]amus, -um). Kemoi cover a variety of objects that apparently relate to the basic concept of wrapping, covering, etc. Part of these are nosebags for horses, from which they take their fodder (Hesych. s.v.), as well as bow nets for fish, and the type of cloth that bakers tied around their mouth and nose (Ath. 12,548c) and that women wore in public to cover the lower part of their face. Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bibliography H. Schenkl, s.v. K., RE 11, 157-162.

Alveus

(128 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] [1] Trough-shaped container; actually cavity, vault or trough. The alveus served as wine press trough, bath for newborn children and as hot-water bath tub for one or more persons. Moreover, alveus can also mean a sarcophagus. In archaeological research alveus designates a large hip bath built in stone or brick, in the caldarium of the Roman thermae [1] (the smaller versions were called alveolus), which were heated by the praefurnium above the testudo alvei, a semicircular kettle. Functionally allied with the alveus are solium and   labrum . Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bi…

Swaddling Clothes

(139 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (σπάργανον/ spárganon; Latin incunabula). SC in their modern form were not known in Antiquity; instead, a baby would be wrapped entirely - apart from the head - with narrow strips of wool. Wrapping was supposed to ensure the striaght growth of the body and the limbs (Sen. Ben. 6,24,1,  cf. Plin. HN 7,3). In Thessaly only the lower half of the body was wrapped, in Sparta SC were dispensed with entirely (Plut. Lycurgus 16,3). Depictions of babies survive from the Bronze Age onwards (e.…

Lakonikai

(64 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (λακωνικαί; lakōnikaí). Men's shoes or boots, similar to the embas ( Shoes). Originally a Lacedaemonian (Spartan) phenomenon (Aristoph. Vesp. 1158-1165), later also worn elsewhere (Aristoph. Eccl. 74; 269; 345; 507, Aristoph. Thesm. 142); the elegant lakonikai were white (Ath. 215c) and red (Poll. 7,88). Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bibliography O. Lau, Schuster und Schusterhandwerk in der griech.-röm. Lit. und Kunst, 1967, 126f.

Orarium

(138 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (also called sudarium). The use of a 'face-cloth' ( orarium) or 'sweat-cloth' ( sudarium) is attested from the 1st cent. BC (Quint. Inst. 6,3,60; 11,3,148); it was used to wipe away sweat, cover the mouth (Suet. Nero 25), cover the head (Suet. Nero 45) or dry the hands (Petron. 67). It could also be worn around the neck (Suet. Nero 51; Petron. 67). According to Catull. 12,14 and 25,7, sudaria were made of Spanish linen. The name orarium does not emerge until the 3rd cent. AD; the two were used synonymously, with the orarium now being used for applause in arenas, for cover…

Plaga

(227 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] [1] Roman hunting net Roman hunting net, esp. for entrapment, into which game (stags, boars) was flushed from cover by dogs (Hor. Epod. 2,31-32; Hor. Epist. 1,6,58; 1,18,45), and so contrasts with the retia ('strike nets') and casses ('drop or purse nets'); of plagae plaited from rope, those from Cumae were the most highly valued (Plin. HN 19,11). The battue with the plaga, depicted in ancient art from early times (Vaphio Cup), later became primarily a theme of Roman mosaic and sarcophagus art. The term plaga is no longer used in modern archaeological scholarship, …

Pilos

(175 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (πῖλος/ pîlos). Originally the term for the felt lining of helmets (Hom. Il. 10,265), shoes and caps (Hes. Op. 542-546) and the protective part of the armour (Thuc. 4,34,4), later for felt blankets (Hdt. 4,73 and 75) and shoes of felt (Cratinus 100 CAF), but esp. for a conical headdress (Hes. Op. 546, Anth. Pal. 6,90 and 199, cf. Hdt. 3,12; 7,61; 62; 92 on the felt mitres and tiaras of eastern peoples). The last resembles half an egg (Lycoph. 506), at times with a loop on the point for hanging up or carrying by the finger. The pîlos was worn by craftsmen (in pictorial represen…

Neck ornaments

(655 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] A. Greece Neck ornaments famously play a role in the myth of Eriphyle, as they do in that of Scylla (Aesch. Choe. 613-622). The comedy Plókion by Menander also deserves mention (cf. Plut. Mor. 2,141d; Gell. 2,23,6). In Aristaen. 1,1 the stones of the necklace are organised in such a way that they give the name of Lais. Neck ornaments (ἁλύσιον/ halúsion, κάθημα/ káthēma, μάννος/ mánnos, μανιάκης/ maniákēs, ὅρμος/ hormos, πλόκιον/ plókoin) as a chain or a rope, with and without pendants, have survived in great numbers throughout the Mediterranean since…

Kekryphalos

(246 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (κεκρύφαλος, -άλιον; kekrýphalos, -álion, Lat. reticulum), hair net, hair cloth. Mentioned already in Hom. Il. 22,469 as part of the female costume, the kekryphalos was used to cover the hair or parts thereof. Greek (cf. e.g. Aristoph. Thesm. 257) and Roman women wore a kekryphalos not only at night to keep their carefully arranged hairstyle together, but also during the day (Varro, Ling. 130; Non. 14,32 et al.). Men who occasionally were seen to wear a kekryphalos were criticized (Ath. 15,681c; Juv. 2,96) and perceived as effeminate. As a cloth, the kekryphalos could b…

Paludamentum

(262 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] Rectangularly cut, mostly purple but also red or white, Roman cloak of linen or wool, corresponding to the Greek chlamys; Agrippina's gold-braided paludamentum is, however, unusual (Plin. HN. 33,63). Initially paludamenta were worn only by Roman generals and other high-ranking officers; they advanced in the imperial period to insignia of Imperial ruling power. Paludamenta were part of the battle dress of generals and emperors (cf. Varro Ling. 7,37) and were not to be worn within the limits of the city of Rome (Tac. Hist. 2,89); thu…

Fimbriae

(153 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (κροσσοί/ krossoí; θύσανοι/ thýsanoi). These were actually the thread ends left at the edge of the cloth that ─ with several knotted together or hanging individually ─ decorated materials of all kinds such as cloths, blankets and clothes. They could also be worked separately and sewed on. Thus, for example, the ταραντῖνον ( tarantînon), a luxury garment, or the rica, a Roman head scarf, are explicitly defined as trimmed with fimbriae (Fest. 288,10; Non. 549,9). The Oriental and Egyptian garments already show evidence of fimbriae; they are also documented in Greek…

Trigon

(122 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] Roman ball game, recorded for the Imperial period; it was played on the Field of Mars  (Hor. Sat. 1,6,126) and in baths (Petron. 27,1-3). Three players (Mart. 7,72,9) were needed for trigon; they positioned themselves in a triangle and played one or more small balls between themselves, either catching them (Mart. 12,82,4) or hitting them with both hands so that they were passed back to the thrower or to the third player (Mart. 14,46,1), sometimes with such violence that the palms …

Applause

(607 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (κρότος, ἐπικροτεῖν [ krótos, epikroteîn], plausus, plaudere). The impulsive and impromptu expression of praise and approval, also of rejection, cursing and reprimand communicated through words, sounds, gestures and actions; these forms of expressing approval are so closely related to   acclamatio that it is often difficult to distinguish between them [1]. In the ancient world, the most frequent gesture used to express approval was the clapping of hands, for example, in the theatre, during music, danc…
▲   Back to top   ▲