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Seat

(409 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] Essential item of furniture for sitting on in the sparsely furnished ancient household, mainly made of wood (maple, beech, oak), but sometimes also of bronze and partially or entirely of gold (Hdt. 1,14; Ath. 12,514) or marble. Occasionally individual parts of the chair also consisted of other materials such as ivory or onyx (Plin. HN 36,59), metal or precious metal. There were also woven seats made of willow branches (Plin. HN 16,174). Depictions and stone copies show what they looked like. In Antiquity the principal forms (cf.. Ath. 5,192e-f) were the díphros

Triga

(337 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (Latin from triiuga; Greek τρίπωλος/ trípōlos; 'team of three'). Its significance as a racing, hunting or war vehicle was far less than that of bigae and of the quadriga. In Homer only extra horses for a team of two are mentioned (cf. Hom. Il. 8,80-86; 16,152-154 and 467-476) and on one occasion a gift of three horses (Hom. Od. 4,590); otherwise the literary sources on trigae are rather rare (e.g. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 7,73). The same is true for representations in art; first and foremost are 9th-cent. BC Assyrian reliefs with battle and  huntin…

South Italian vases

(1,233 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] I. Beginnings The first workshops in southern Italy for red-figured pottery appeared around the mid 5th cent. BC, founded by Athenian vase-painters. Native artists were trained there. Thus, the initial dependence on Attic models, which expressed itself e.g. in the choice of motif or Atticizing forms (Lucanian vases), was replaced by a characteristic painting style and repertoire of decorations and motifs. Towards the end of the 5th cent. BC, the so-called 'ornate and plain styles' emerged in Apulian vase-painting (Apulian vases). Through th…

Mourning

(981 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] I. Literary sources In Greece and Rome, deaths and accidents, financial and business losses and military defeats were occasions for mourning (πένθος/ pénthos; Lat. luctus). Aside from the characteristic mourning dress, women displayed their mourning by renouncing gold jewellery (Dion. Hal. Ant. 5,48,4; Liv. 34,7,10), by beating, and sometimes baring, their chests (Prop. 2,13,27; Petron. 111,2), by loosening and tearing their hair (Catull. 64,348-351; Tib. 1,1,67 f.; Liv. 1,26,2), by crying and wailing (P…

Klismos

(111 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (κλισμός; klismós, Latin cathedra). The klismos is a high chair without armrests and with a broad, curved backrest, attested as early as in Homer (e.g. Il. 8,436; Od. 4,136) as a seat for nobility, gods, and heroes. Greek and Roman art confirms this, but the klismos is often seen in representations of domestic rooms, schools, and other everyday scenes as well. At times, the seated persons laid an arm on the backrest for comfort and relaxation, and often the relaxed way of sitting is supported by footrests and cushions. Diphros; Furniture Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bibliogr…

Mitra

(396 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) | Renger, Johannes (Berlin)
[German version] [1] Piece of armour (μίτρα/ mítra; μίτρη/ mítrē). (1) According to Homer (Hom. Il. 4,137; 187; 216; 5,857) a piece of armour worn to protect the lower body, identified by archaeological research with semicircular plates of bronze, dating from the early Archaic period and found particularly on Crete. Similarly, mitra is the name of a piece of armour worn by the Salii (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,70; Plut. Numa 13,4). (2) Belt for young women (Theocr. 27,55, cf. μιτροχίτων/ mitrochítōn, Athen. 12,523d) and goddesses (Callim. H. 1,120; 4,222, Epigr. 39) and also for…

Stola

(181 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] The stola was the garment worn in public by Roman matrons ( Matrona [1]), i.e. free-born women (Plin. HN 33,40), over a fairly close-fitting tunica or a looser calasis and under a palla, so that their bodies were entirely  enveloped (cf. Hor. Sat. 1,2,99). It reached to the ankles and was capacious, pleated and cinctured at bust or waist level (Mart. 3,93,4). The stola consisted of a tube of material which the wearer slipped into; it was held on the shoulders by means of twisted ribbons or strings. It had trimming ( instita) on the lower selvage, presumably a purple rib…

Thymiaterion

(457 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) | A.FR., Hans Georg
(θυμιατήριον/ thymiatḗrion). [German version] I. Classical Antiquity Fumigating apparatus for burning aromatic substances (incense etc.) - adopted by ancient Greek culture from the Orient - of bronze, clay, precious metals, less often stone, used in cults of gods, rulers and the dead. The thymiaterion was part of the domestic inventory (Dem. Or. 24,183) and was used on celebratory occasions in the private sphere (wedding, symposion). They were carried in festal processions (Ath. 5,196 f). The thymiaterion consisted of a fumigating capsule with a perforated lid, in whic…

Culter

(133 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (Greek μάχαιρα, máchaira). Originally the  knife, specifically the knife of butchers and therefore the butchering tool in  sacrifices (Hom. Hym. Apoll. 535f. for máchaira). On Greek and Roman representations, the hiereús or the victimarius has the sacrificial knife brought to him on a tray or holds it in his hand. The culter was used to open the carotid artery of the sacrificial animal and to cut out its intestines. The sacrificing victimarius was also called cultrarius after the sacrificial knife. Furthermore, the culter was the attribute of oriental peoples w…

Latrunculorum ludus

(249 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] The game in which it was a matter of defeating all the stones of the opponent by clever placement of one's own, takes its name from Latin latro (‘mercenary’, later also ‘bandit’); the winner was given the title Imperator (cf. SHA Proculus 13,2). The course of the game has not been fully clarified, but from the literary sources (Varro, Ling. 10,22; Ov. Ars am. 3,357f., cf. 2,207; Sen. De tranquillitate animi 14,7; Laus Pisonis 190-208) we have an approximate picture: the latrunculorum ludus was played by two partners on a chess-board-like playing board that norm…

Kredemnon

(191 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (κρήδεμνον; krḗdemnon, Latin calautica, also κάλυμνα/ kálymna, καλύπτρη/ kalýptrē). In general the top covering, also of a wine or storage vessel (Hom. Od. 3,392) or of a circular wall (Hom. Il. 16,100), but subsequently mostly a woman's headscarf which covered the shoulders and could be used to conceal the face (Hom. Il. 14,184; 16,470; Hom. Od. 1,334). In the 5th cent. BC the word continued to be used only in poetry (e.g. Eur. Phoen. 1490); the usual expressions for veils and especially for bridal veils were kálymna and kalýptrē (cf. Aesch. Ag. 1178). The krḗdemnon was a…

Lamp

(725 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] As containers for flammable oil and wick holders, lamps made of clay are a ubiquitous find from antiquity; less numerous are lamps made of bronze, marble and plaster. The basic shape of the lamp was the stone bowl, which was already used as a lamp early in the Stone Age. Early lamps of clay follow this basic form; they are shaped on a potter's wheel and creased one or several times to accommodate the wick in the spout that is thereby created. These Phoenician lamps (also called ‘P…

Bathing costume

(98 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (ᾤα λουτρίς; ṓia loutrís, subligar). Men and women wore loin cloths or bath towels made from sheepskins or cloth during the communal bath in bath houses (Poll. 7,66; 10,181,   perizoma ,   subligaculum ), women also wore a breast band (vase paintings, ‘bikini girl’ of  Piazza Armerina). Men's bathing costumes could also be made from leather ( aluta, Mart. 7,35,1). In Pap. Cair. Zen. 60,8, there is mention of an ἐκλουστρίς ( ekloustrís). It is uncertain if bonnets ( vesica) were worn. Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bibliography R. Ginouvès, Balaneutikè, 1962, 223-225 W. Hein…

Karchesion

(89 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] [1] see Schiffahrt see Navigation Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) [German version] [2] Drinking vessel A quite large drinking vessel, similar in shape to the kantharos (Ath. 11,474e-475b; Macrob. Sat. 5,21,1-6) for wine (Mart. 8,56,14; Ov. Met. 12,317), which according to Ath. 11,500f. was one of the vessels of a Greek symposium. In Rome, it was also a sacrificial vessel (e.g. Ov. Met. 7,246). Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) Bibliography W. Hilgers, Lat. Gefäßnamen, BJ, 31. Beih., 1969, 48; 140f. S. Rottroff, Hellenistic Pottery, The Athenian Agora 29, 1997, 88f.

Nudity

(1,906 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg) | Weiler, Ingomar (Graz) | Willers, Dietrich (Berne)
[German version] A. Myth Nudity and disrobement are hardly ever themes in Greek myth. The most striking portrayal is the undressing of Aphrodite by Anchises in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (H. Hom. Aphr. 155-167), even if the nudity of the goddess is not explicitly mentioned (cf. Hom. Od. 8,265-305). More frequent is the accidental observation of a goddess bathing, followed by punishment (transformation, blinding etc). Instances are Erymanthus, Actaeon and Teiresias. The case of Arethusa [7] is dif…

Beard

(709 words)

Author(s): Colbow, Gudrun (Liege) | Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] I. Ancient Orient Adult men in the ancient Orient are mostly represented wearing beards, but they can also be depicted like gods and demons as beardless without having any different meaning. Beards consisted of a long or short full beard with or without a shaved lip part. The short beard finishes half-rounded or pointed below, the long beard is straight or half-rounded; the wavy strands of hair falling onto the chest mostly end in curls that form decorative rows in the layered types.…

Top

(119 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (στρόβιλος/ stróbilos, also βέμβηξ/ bémbēx, κῶνος/ kônos, στρόμβος/ strómbos, στρόφαλος/ stróphalos, Latin rhombus, turbo). The top was a popular toy in Antiquity (Children's games); made of box wood (hence also called buxum in Latin) with cross grooves, it was set rotating with the fingers and then propelled with a whip (Verg. Aen. 7,373-383 in an epic simile;  Callim. Epigr. 1,9; Tib. 1,5,3; Anth. Pal. 7,89). Original tops of clay, bronze, lead and other materials have been preserved as grave goods and votive gifts in sanctuaries (cf. Anth. Pal. 6,309) [1]. Hurschman…

Children's Games

(662 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] The educational value of children's games was already known in antiquity; thus Plato (Pl. Leg. 643b-c; cf. Aristot. Pol. 7,17,1336a) saw in games imitating the activities of adults a preparation for later life. Quintilian (Quint. Inst. 1,1,20; 1,1,26; 1,3,11) fostered guessing games, games with ivory letters and learning in games in order to promote the child's mental capacities; for this purpose, the ostomáchion game ( loculus Archimedius) -- in which 14 variously shaped geometric figures had to be placed into a square or objects, people or ani…

Curtain

(135 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] (παραπέτασμα/ parapétasma, προκάλυμμα/ prokálymma, αὐλαία/ aulaía; Lat. velum, aulaea). In Greek and Roman tents (Ath. 12,538d), houses, palaces, occasionally also in temples (Lk 23,45; cf. Paus. 5,12,4), curtains were attached to doors, windows (Juv. 9,105), as wall decoration (Juv. 6,227) and to the intercolumnia of the atria and peristyles; they served to keep out the rain or sun (Ov. Met. 10,595). Depictions of such curtains are known from Greek and Roman art (e.g. the parapétasma representations on Roman relief sarcophagi) and are extant in origina…

Asteas

(212 words)

Author(s): Hurschmann, Rolf (Hamburg)
[German version] Leading representative of Paestan red-figured vase painting ( Paestan ware), and along with  Python the only southern Italian vase painter who signed his name; he was working c. 360-330 BC. Most importantly, on the eleven signed vases depicting various myths (Telephus, Heracles, Europa i.a.) and mythic travesty (Ajax and Cassandra,  Phlyakes vases) A. named the persons depicted, and in one case (Hesperids lekythos: Naples, MN 2873) gave the scene a title. On one phlyakes vase (Berlin, SM F 3044) he is evidently referring to a contemporary stage-play. …
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