Museum of Antiquity Part 9

"On occasion of the dedication of the baths, at the expense of Cnaeus Alleius Nigidius Maius, there will be the chase of wild beasts, athletic contests, sprinkling of perfumes, and an awning. Prosperity to Maius, chief of the colony."

This announcement of a public entertainment is written on a wall of the court of the baths, to the right hand on entering.

The provincial towns, imitating the example of Rome, and equally fond of all sorts of theatrical and gladiatorial exhibitions, of which we have spoken at length in describing the various theatres of Pompeii, usually solemnized the completion of any edifices or monuments erected for the public service by dedicating them. This ceremony was nothing more than opening or exhibiting the building to the people in a solemn manner, gratifying them at the same time with largesses and various spectacles. When a private man had erected the building, he himself was usually the person who dedicated it. When undertaken by the public order and at the public cost, the citizens deputed some magistrate or rich and popular person to perform the ceremony. In the capital vast sums were expended in this manner; and a man who aspired to become a popular leader could scarcely lay out his money to better interest than in courting favor by the prodigality of his expenses on these or similar occasions. It appears, then, that upon the completion of the baths, the Pompeians committed the dedication to Cnaeus Alleius Nigidius Maius, who entertained them with a sumptuous spectacle.

There were combats (_venatio_) between wild beasts, or between beasts and men, a cruel sport, to which the Romans were pa.s.sionately addicted; athletic games (_athletae_), sprinkling of perfumes (_sparsiones_), and it was further engaged that an awning should be raised over the amphitheatre. The convenience of such a covering will be evident, no less as a protection against sun than rain under an Italian sky: the merit of the promise, which may seem but a trifle, will be understood by considering the difficulty of stretching a covering over the immense area of an ancient amphitheatre. We may observe, by the way, that representations of hunting and of combats between wild beasts are common subjects of the paintings of Pompeii. A combat between a lion and a horse, and another, between a bear and a bull, have been found depicted in the amphitheatre. The velarium, or awning, is advertised in all the inscriptions yet found which give notice of public games. Athletae and sparsiones appear in no other. We learn from Seneca that the perfumes were disseminated by being mixed with boiling water, and then placed in the centre of the amphitheatre, so that the scents rose with the steam, and soon became diffused throughout the building.

There is some reason to suppose that the completion and dedication of the baths preceded the destruction of the city but a short time, from the inscription being found perfect on the wall of the baths, for it was the custom to write these notices in the most public places, and after a very short season they were covered over by others, as one billsticker defaces the labors of his predecessors. This is abundantly evident even in the present ruined state of the town, especially at the corners of the princ.i.p.al streets, where it is easy to discover one inscription painted over another.

But to return to the Baths. They occupy almost an entire block, forming an irregular quadrangle; the northern front, facing to the Street of the Baths, being about 162 feet in length, the southern front about 93 feet, and the average depth about 174 feet. They are divided into three separate and distinct compartments, one of which was appropriated to the fireplaces and to the servants of the establishment; the other two were occupied each by a set of baths, contiguous to each other, similar and adapted to the same purposes, and supplied with heat and water from the same furnace and from the same reservoir. It is conjectured that the most s.p.a.cious of them was for the use of the men, the lesser for that of the women. The apartments and pa.s.sages are paved with white marble in mosaic. It appears, from Varro and Vitruvius, that baths for men and women were originally united, as well for convenience as economy of fuel, but were separated afterwards for the preservation of morals, and had no communication except that from the furnaces. We shall call these the _old_ Baths by way of distinction, and because they were first discovered; but in reality, the more recently discovered Stabian Baths may probably be the more ancient.

It should be observed here that the old Pompeian _thermae_ are adapted solely to the original purposes of a bath, namely, a place for bathing and was.h.i.+ng. They can not therefore for a moment be compared to the baths constructed at Rome during the period of the empire, of which such magnificent remains may still be seen at the baths of Diocletian, and especially at those of Caracalla. In these vast establishments the bath formed only a part of the entertainment provided. There were also s.p.a.cious porticoes for walking and conversing, halls and courts for athletic games and gladiatorial combats, apartments for the lectures and recitations of philosophers, rhetoricians and poets. In short, they formed a sort of vast public club, in which almost every species of amus.e.m.e.nt was provided. In the more recently discovered baths, called the Thermae Stabianae, there is indeed a large quadrangular court, or palaestra, which may have served for gymnastic exercises, and among others for the game of ball, as appears from some large b.a.l.l.s of stone having been found in it. Yet even this larger establishment makes but a very slight approach to the magnificence and luxury of a Roman bath.

The tepidarium, or warm chamber, was so called from a warm, but soft and mild temperature, which prepared the bodies of the bathers for the more intense heat which they were to undergo in the vapor and hot baths; and, _vice versa_, softened the transition from the hot bath to the external air. The wall is divided into a number of niches or compartments by Telamones, two feet high, in high relief, and supporting a rich cornice. These are male, as Caryatides are female statues placed to perform the office of pillars. By the Greeks they were named Atlantes, from the well-known fable of Atlas supporting the heavens. Here they are made of terra-cotta, or baked clay, incrusted with the finest marble stucco. Their only covering is a girdle round the loins; they have been painted flesh-color, with black hair and beards; the moulding of the pedestal and the baskets on their heads were in imitation of gold; and the pedestal itself, as well as the wall behind them and the niches for the reception of the clothes of the bathers, were colored to resemble red porphyry. Six of these niches are closed up without any apparent reason.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RECEPTION TO THE BATHS (_at Pompeii_).]

The ceiling is worked in stucco, in low relief, with scattered figures and ornaments of little flying genii, delicately relieved on medallions, with foliage carved round them. The ground is painted, sometimes red and sometimes blue. The room is lighted by a window two feet six inches high and three feet wide, in the bronze frame of which were found set four very beautiful panes of gla.s.s fastened by small nuts and screws, very ingeniously contrived, with a view to remove the gla.s.s at pleasure. In this room was found a brazier, seven feet long and two feet six inches broad, made entirely of bronze, with the exception of an iron lining. The two front legs are winged sphinxes, terminating in lions' paws, the two other legs are plain, being intended to stand against the wall. The bottom is formed with bronze bars, on which are laid bricks supporting pumice-stones for the reception of charcoal. There is a sort of false battlement worked on the rim, and in the middle a cow is to be seen in high relief. Three bronze benches also were found, alike in form and pattern. They are one foot four inches high, one foot in width, and about six feet long, supported by four legs, terminating in the cloven hoofs of a cow, and ornamented at the upper ends with the heads of the same animal. Upon the seat is inscribed, M. NIGIDIUS, VACCULA. P.S.

Varro, in his book upon rural affairs, tells us that many of the surnames of the Roman families had their origin in pastoral life, and especially are derived from the animals to whose breeding they paid most attention. As, for instance, the Porcii took their name from their occupation as swine-herds; the Ovini from their care of sheep; the Caprilli, of goats; the Equarii, of horses; the Tauri, of bulls, etc. We may conclude, therefore, that the family of this Marcus Vaccula were originally cow-keepers, and that the figures of cows so plentifully impressed on all the articles which he presented to the baths are a sort of _canting arms_, to borrow an expression from heraldry, as in Rome the family Toria caused a bull to be stamped on their money.

A doorway led from the tepidarium into the caldarium, or vapor-bath.

It had on one side the laconic.u.m, containing the vase called labrum.

On the opposite side of the room was the hot bath called lavacrum.

Here it is necessary to refer to the words of Vitruvius as explanatory of the structure of the apartments (cap. xi. lib. v.): "Here should be placed the vaulted sweating-room, twice the length of its width, which should have at each extremity, on one end the _laconic.u.m_, made as described above, on the other end the hot bath." This apartment is exactly as described, twice the length of its width, exclusively of the laconic.u.m at one end and the hot bath at the other. The pavement and walls of the whole were hollowed to admit the heat.

The labrum was a great basin or round vase of white marble, rather more than five feet in diameter, into which the hot water bubbled up through a pipe in its centre, and served for the partial ablutions of those who took the vapor-bath. It was raised about three feet six inches above the level of the pavement, on a round base built of small pieces of stone or lava, stuccoed and colored red, five feet six inches in diameter, and has within it a bronze inscription, which runs thus:

CNaeO. MELISSaeO. CNaeL FILIO. APRO. MARCO. STAIO. MARCI. FILIO.

RUFO. DUUMVIRIS. ITERUM. IURE. DICUNDO. LABRUM. EX DECURIONUM DECRETO. EX. PECUNIA. PUBLICA. FACIENDUM. CURARUNT CONSTAT. HS. D.C.C.L.

Relating that "Cnaeus Melissaeus Aper, son of Cnaeus Aper. Marcus Staius Rufus, son of M. Rufus, duumvirs of justice for the second time, caused the labrum to be made at the public expense, by order of the Decurions. It cost 5,250 sesterces" (about $200). There is in the Vatican a magnificent porphyry labrum found in one of the imperial baths; and Baccius, a great modern authority on baths, speaks of labra made of gla.s.s.

This apartment, like the others, is well stuccoed and painted yellow; a cornice, highly enriched with stucco ornaments, is supported by fluted pilasters placed at irregular intervals. These are red, as is also the cornice and ceiling of the laconic.u.m, which is worked in stucco with little figures of boys and animals.

The women's bath resembles very much that of the men, and differs only in being smaller and less ornamented. It is heated, as we have already mentioned, by the same fire, and supplied with water from the same boilers. Near the entrance is an inscription painted in red letters.

All the rooms yet retain in perfection their vaulted roofs. In the vestibule are seats similar to those which have been described in the men's baths as appropriated to slaves or servants of the establishment. The robing-room contains a cold bath; it is painted with red and yellow pilasters alternating with one another on a blue or black ground, and has a light cornice of white stucco and a white mosaic pavement with a narrow black border. There are accommodations for ten persons to undress at the same time. The cold bath is much damaged, the wall only remaining of the alveus, which is square, the whole incrustation of marble being destroyed. From this room we pa.s.s into the tepidarium, about twenty feet square, painted yellow with red pilasters, lighted by a small window far from the ground. This apartment communicates with the warm bath, which, like the men's, is heated by flues formed in the floors and walls.

There are in this room paintings of grotesque design upon a yellow ground, but they are much damaged and scarcely visible. The pavement is of white marble laid in mosaic. The room in its general arrangement resembles the hot bath of the men; it has a labrum in the laconic.u.m, and a hot bath contiguous to the furnace. The hollow pavement and the flues in the walls are almost entirely destroyed; and of the labrum, the foot, in the middle of which was a piece of the leaden conduit that introduced the water, alone remains. On the right of the entrance into these women's baths is a wall of stone of great thickness and in a good style of masonry.

These baths are so well arranged, with so prudent an economy of room and convenient distribution of their parts, and are adorned with such appropriate elegance, as to show clearly the intellect and resources of an excellent architect. At the same time some errors of the grossest kind have been committed, such as would be inexcusable in the most ignorant workman; as, for instance, the symmetry of parts has been neglected where the parts correspond; a pilaster is cut off by a door which pa.s.ses through the middle of it; and other mistakes occur which might have been avoided without difficulty. This strange mixture of good and bad taste, of skill and carelessness, is not very easily accounted for, but it is of constant recurrence in Pompeii.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANCIENT BATH-ROOM. (_As discovered_).]

Vitruvius recommends the selecting a situation for baths defended from the north and northwest winds, and forming windows opposite the south, or if the nature of the ground would not permit this, at least towards the south, because the hours of bathing used by the ancients being from after mid-day till evening, those who bathed could, by those windows, have the advantage of the rays and of the heat of the declining sun.

For this reason the Pompeian baths. .h.i.therto described have the greater part of their windows turned to the south, and are constructed in a low part of the city, where the adjoining buildings served as a protection to them from the inconvenience of the northwest winds.

Before concluding this account of the Stabian baths, we should mention that under the portico, near the entrance to the men's baths, was found a sun-dial, consisting as usual of a half circle inscribed in a rectangle, and with the gnomon in perfect preservation. It was supported by lion's feet and elegantly ornamented. On its base was an Oscan inscription, which has been interpreted as follows by Minervini: Marius. Atinius, Marii filius, quaestor, ex multat.i.tia pecunia conventus decreto fieri mandavit. That is: the Quaestor M. Atinius, in accordance with a decree of the a.s.sembly, caused it to be made out of money levied by fines. The t.i.tle of "Quaestor" seems to show that this inscription must have been written after the occupation of Pompeii by the Romans, but at the same time at a period when the Oscan tongue continued to be generally spoken. The fines alluded to were probably levied for breaches of the rules to be observed in the palaestra.

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SOCIAL GAMES AND SPORTS.

Jugglers of both s.e.xes, either single or in gangs, were common all over Greece putting up their booths, as Xenophon says, wherever money and silly people could be found. These frequently amused the guests at drinking feasts with their tricks. The reputation of this cla.s.s of people was anything but above suspicion, as is proved by the verse of Manetho ("Apotheles," IV., 276), in which they are described as the "birds of the country, the foulest brood of the city." Their tricks were innumerable, and outvied in boldness and ingenuity those of our conjurors, barring, of course such as are founded on the modern discoveries of natural science. Male and female jugglers jumped forwards and backwards over swords or tables; girls threw up and caught again a number of b.a.l.l.s or hoops to the accompaniment of a musical instrument; others displayed an astounding skill with their feet and toes while standing on their hands. Rope-dancers performed the most dangerous dances and _salti-mortali_. In Rome even elephants were trained to mount the rope. Flying-machines of a construction unknown to us are also mentioned, on which bold aeronauts traversed the air. Alkiphron tells a story about a peasant who, on seeing a juggler pulling little bullets from the noses, ears, and heads of the spectators, exclaimed: "Let such a beast never enter my yard, or else everything would soon disappear." Descriptions of these tricks are frequent in ancient writers, particularly in the indignant invectives of the early fathers of the Church. Amongst the pictures of female jugglers in all kinds of impossible postures, can be seen a girl performing the dangerous sword-dance, described by Plato. It consists in her turning somersaults forwards and backwards across the points of three swords stuck in the ground. A similar picture we see on a vase of the Berlin Museum. Another vase shows a female juggler dressed in long drawers standing on her hands, and filling with her feet a kantharos from a krater placed in front of her. She holds the handle of the kantharos with the toes of her left foot, while the toes of her other foot cling round the stem of the kyathos used for drawing the liquor. A woman sitting in front of her performs a game with three b.a.l.l.s, in which the other artiste also seems to take a part. In another, a girl in a rather awkward position is shooting an arrow from a bow.

Of social games played by the topers we mention, besides the complicated kottabos, the games played on a board or with dice. Homer already mentions a game of the former cla.s.s, and names Palamedes as its inventor; of the exact nature of this game we know little or nothing. Neither are we informed of the details of another kind of petteia played with five little stones on a board divided by five lines.

The so-called "game of cities" seems to have resembled our chess or draughts. The board was divided into five parts. Each player tried to checkmate the other by the skillful use of his men. Games of hazard with dice and astragaloi were most likely greater favorites with the topers than the intellectual ones. .h.i.therto described. The number of dice was at first three, afterwards two; the figures on the parallel sides being 1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4. In order to prevent cheating, they were cast from conical beakers, the interior of which was formed into different steps. Each cast had its name, sixty-four of which have been transmitted to us by the grammarians. The luckiest cast, each of the dice showing the figure 6, was called Aphrodite; the unluckiest, the three dice showing the figure 1, had the names of "dog" or "wine"

applied to it.

Another game of a similar nature was played with the so-called astragaloi, dice of a lengthy shape made of the knuckles of animals.

Two of the surfaces were flat, the third being raised, and the fourth indented slightly. The last-mentioned side was marked 1, and had, amongst many other names, that of "dog;" the opposite surface, marked 6. The Latin names of the two other sides marked 3 and 4 were _suppus_ and _pla.n.u.s_ respectively. The figures 2 and 5 were wanting on the astragaloi, the narrow end-surfaces not being counted. The number of astragaloi used was always four, being the same as in the game of dice. Here also the luckiest cast was called Aphrodite, with which at the same time the honor of king-of-the-feast was connected.

Young girls liked to play at a game with five astragaloi, or little stones, which were thrown into the air and caught on the upper surface of the hand. This game is still in use in many countries. We possess many antique representations of these various games.

Two vase paintings show soldiers playing at draughts. Astragaloi and dice of different sizes, some with the figures as above described on them, others evidently counterfeited, are preserved in several museums. Of larger representations we mention the marble statue of a girl playing with astragaloi in the Berlin Museum, and a Pompeian wall-painting in which the children of Jason play the same game, while Medea threatens their lives with a drawn sword. The celebrated masterpiece of Polykletes, representing two boys playing with astragaloi, formerly in the palace of t.i.tus in Rome, has unfortunately been lost. Another wall-painting shows in the foreground Aglaia and Hileaira, daughters of Niobe, kneeling and playing the same game.

In connection with these social games we mention a few other favorite amus.e.m.e.nts of the Greeks. The existence of c.o.c.k-fights is proved by vase-paintings, gems, and written evidence. It was a favorite pastime with both old and young. Themistokles, after his victory over the Persians, is said to have founded an annual entertainment of c.o.c.k-fights, which made both these and the fights of quails popular among the Greeks. The breeding of fighting-c.o.c.ks was a matter of great importance, Rhodes, Chalkis, and Media being particularly celebrated for their strong and large c.o.c.ks. In order to increase their fury, the animals were fed with garlic previous to the fight. Sharp metal spurs were attached to their legs, after which they were placed on a table with a raised border. Very large sums were frequently staked on them by owners and spectators.

Here, again, we see antique customs reproduced by various modern nations. The Italian game of _morra_ (_il giuco alla morra_ or _fare alla morra_) was also known to the ancients. In it both players open their clenched right hands simultaneously with the speed of lightning, whereat each has to call out the number of fingers extended by the other. It is the same game which figured among Egyptian amus.e.m.e.nts.

Mimetic dances were another favorite amus.e.m.e.nt at symposia. They mostly represented mythological scenes. A few words about Greek dancing ought to be added.

Homer mentions dancing as one of the chief delights of the feast; he also praises the artistic dances of the Phaiakian youths. This proves the esteem in which this art was held even at that early period. In the dances of the Phaiakai, all the young men performed a circular movement round a singer standing in the centre, or else two skilled dancers executed a _pas de deux_. Homer's words seem to indicate that the rhythmical motion was not limited to the legs, as in our modern dances, but extended to the upper part of the body and the arms.

Perhaps the germs of mimetic art may be looked for in this dance.

According to Lucian, the aim of the dance was to express sentiment, pa.s.sion, and action by means of gestures. It soon developed into highest artistic beauty, combined with the rhythmic grace peculiar to the Greeks. Like the gymnastic and agonistic arts, the dance retained its original purity as long as public morality prevailed in Greece: its connection with religious wors.h.i.+p preserved it from neglect.

Gradually, however, here also mechanical virtuosity began to supplant true artistic principles.

The division of dances according to their warlike or religious character seems objectionable, because all of them were originally connected with religious wors.h.i.+p. The distinction between warlike and peaceful dances is more appropriate. Among the warlike dances particularly adapted to the Doric character, was the oldest and that most in favor. It dates from mythical times. Pyrrhichos, either a Kretan or Spartan by birth, the Dioskuroi, also Pyrrhos, the son of Achilles, are mentioned as its originators. The Pyrrhic dance, performed by several men in armor, imitated the movements of attack and defence. The various positions were defined by rule; hands and arms played an important part in the mimetic action. It formed the chief feature of the Doric gymnopaidia and of the greater and lesser Panathenaia at Athens. The value attached to it in the latter city is proved by the fact of the Athenians making Phrynichos commander-in-chief owing to the skill displayed by him in the Pyrrhic dance.

Later a Bacchic element was introduced into this dance, which henceforth ill.u.s.trated the deeds of Dionysos. A fragment of a marble frieze shows a satyr with a thyrsos and laurel crown performing a wild Bacchic dance between two soldiers, also executing a dancing movement; it most likely ill.u.s.trates the Pyrrhic dance of a later epoch.

Of other warlike dances we mention the _karpeia_, which rendered the surprise of a warrior plowing a field by robbers, and the scuffle between them. It was accompanied on the flute.

More numerous, although less complicated, were the peaceful choral dances performed at the feasts of different G.o.ds, according to their individualities. With the exception of the Bacchic dances, they consisted of measured movements round the altar. More lively in character were the gymnopaidic dances performed by men and boys. They were, like most Spartan choral dances, renowned for their graceful rhythms. They consisted of an imitation of gymnastic exercises, particularly of the wrestling-match and the Pankration; in later times it was generally succeeded by the warlike Pyrrhic dance.

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SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENTS.

We will now give some of the more domestic entertainments, such as parties or dinners, given by the Egyptians. In their entertainments they appear to have omitted nothing which could promote festivity and the amus.e.m.e.nt of the guests. Music, songs, dancing, buffoonery, feats of agility, or games of chance, were generally introduced; and they welcomed them with all the luxuries which the cellar and the table could afford.

The party, when invited to dinner, met about midday, and they arrived successively in their chariots, in palanquins borne by their servants, or on foot. Sometimes their attendants screened them from the sun by holding up a s.h.i.+eld (as is still done in Southern Africa), or by some other contrivance; but the chariot of the king or of a princess, was often furnished with a large parasol; and the flabella borne behind the king, which belonged exclusively to royalty, answered the same purpose. They were composed of feathers, and were not very unlike those carried on state occasions behind the Pope in modern Rome.