VASE REPRESENTING TROJAN WARVASE REPRESENTING TROJAN WAR (Found at Pompeii.)ToList
VASE REPRESENTING TROJAN WAR (Found at Pompeii.)ToList
We may consider, as belonging to the class of historical vases, those with paintings relative to public and private customs; those representing games, repasts, scenic representations of combats of animals, hunting and funeral subjects.
Millingen remarks that the subjects of the paintings vary according to the period and the places in which they have been executed; on the most ancient vases Dionysiac scenes are frequently seen. As, originally, the greater number were destined to contain wine, they were adorned with analogous subjects. Those of the beautiful period of the art, especially of the manufacture of Nola, a town in which Greek institutions were observed with extreme care, present the ancient traditions of mythological episodes in all their purity. Those of a later period represent subjects taken from the tragic writers. Lastly, on those of the decline, we see depicted the new ceremonies and superstitions which were mingled with the ancient and simple religion of the Greek. Painted vases are, therefore, of the greatest interest for the study of the manners and customs of ancient Greece, and of those which the Romans adopted from her in imitation.
VASE (Found at Pompeii.)VASE. (Found at Pompeii.)ToList
VASE. (Found at Pompeii.)ToList
As to the uses of these vases, there have been a variety of opinions; but a careful examination of a great number of vases would lead us to suppose that many were, doubtless, articles of household furniture, for use and adornment, such as the larger vases, destined, by their size, weight, and form, to remain in the same place, while others, of different sizes and shapes, were made to hold wine and other liquids, unguents, and perfumes. It is evident that they were more for ornament than use, and that they were considered as objects of art, for the paintings seem to have been executed by the best artists of the period. They were chiefly employed for entertainments, and the banquets of the wealthy. They are seen in use in scenes painted on the vases themselves. Many, especially those of the later style, were solely used for decorative purposes, as is evident from the fact of one side only being executed with care, while the other has been neglected, both in the drawing and in the subject. Those with Panathenaic subjects were probably given full of oil, as prizes at the national games. These were calledAthla. Certain vases bearing the inscription, "From Athens," or "Prize from Athens," seem to have been given to the victors in the pentathlon, or courses of athletic exercises in the Panathenæa. Others may have been given at the palæstric festivals, or as nuptial presents, or as pledges of love and friendship; and these are marked by some appropriate inscription.
A GREEK SACRIFICE.A GREEK SACRIFICE.ToList
A GREEK SACRIFICE.ToList
We find that they were also used in the ceremonies of the Mysteries, for we see their forms represented on the vases themselves: Bacchus frequently holds a cantharus, Satyrs carry a diota. A few seem to have been expressly for sepulchral purposes. Some have supposed that these vases were intended to hold the ashes of the dead; but this could not have been their use, for they are only found in tombs in which the bodies have been buried without being burnt. The piety of the relations adorned the tomb of the deceased with those vases, together with his armor andjewelry, which they had prized most in life, which were associated with their habits, or recalled circumstances the memory of which they cherished.
We could not but feel astonished at the perfect preservation of such fragile objects, did we not know that they were found in tombs. Those in which they are found, are placed near the walls, but outside the town, at a slight depth, except those of Nola, where the eruptions of Vesuvius have considerably raised the soil since the period when the tombs were made, so that some of the tombs of Nola are about twenty-one feet under ground.
In Greece, the graves are generally small, being designed for single corpses, which accounts for the comparatively small size of the vases discovered in that country. At Athens the earlier graves are sunk deepest in the soil, and those at Corinth, especially such as contain the early Corinthian vases, are found by boring to a depth of several feet beneath the surface.
The early tombs of Civita Vecchia, and Cære, or Cervetri, in Italy, are tunneled in the earth; and those at Vulci, and in the Etruscan territory, from which the finest and largest vases have been extracted, are chambers hewn in the rocks. In southern Italy, especially in Campania, the common tombs are constructed ofrude stones or tiles, and are exactly of sufficient size to contain a corpse and five or six vases; a small one is placed near the head, and the others between the legs of the body, or they are ranged on each side, frequently on the left side alone.
The number and beauty of the vases vary, probably, according to the rank and fortune of the owner of the tomb. The tombs of the first class are larger, and have been built with large cut stones, and rarely connected with cement; the walls inside are coated with stucco, and adorned with paintings; these tombs resemble a small chamber; the corpse is laid out in the middle, the vases are placed round it, frequently some others are hung up to the walls on nails of bronze. The number of vases is always greater in these tombs; they are also of a more elegant form.
Several other articles are sometimes found in the tombs, such as gold and silver fibulæ, swords, spears, armor, and several ornaments. The objects buried with the corpse generally bespeak the tastes and occupation of the deceased. Warriors are found with their armor, women with ornaments for the toilet, priests with their sacerdotal ornaments, as in the tomb at Cervetri. When the vases are taken out of the excavations, they are covered with a coating of whitish earth, something like tartar, and of a calcareous nature; it disappears on the application of aqua fortis. This operation ought to be done with great caution; for though the aqua fortis does not injure the black varnish, it might destroy some of the other colors.
2000 YEARS OLD.2000 YEARS OLD.ToList
2000 YEARS OLD.ToList
Some of these vases are as well preserved as if they had just been issued from the hands of the potter; others have been greatly injured by the earthy salts with which they have come in contact;many are found broken—these have been put together and restored with great skill. But this work of restoration, especially if the artist adds any details which are not visible on the original, might alter or metamorphose a subject, and the archæologist ought to set little value on these modern additions, in the study of a painted vase.
Several collections have been formed of these vases. The British Museum contains the finest collections, purchased by government from Sir William Hamilton and others. The Museum at Naples, and the Gregorian Museum in the Vatican, also contain many beautiful specimens from Magna Græcia and Etruria. The British Museum has about 2,600 vases of all kinds. The Museum at Naples contains about 2,100, and the Gregorian Museum at Rome about 1,000. Several amateurs have also formed collections in England, France, and Italy. We may mention those of Roger, Hope, Sir Harry Englefield, in England; those of the Duc de Blacas, the Comte Pourtales, in France; and that of the Marquis Campana, in Rome. The total number of vases in public and private collections probably amounts to 15,000 of all kinds. Some of these collections have been published, such as the first collection of Sir William Hamilton, explained by d'Hancarville; the second by Tischbein. Several works have also been published, giving detailed accounts of painted vases in general.
We have mentioned before the luxurious custom, common amongst the Romans after the conquest of Greece and Asia, of having their utensils of the table, and even of the kitchen, made of solid silver. Valuable plate was of common occurrence in the houses of the rich. According to Pliny, common soldiers had the handles of their swords and their belts studded with silver; the baths of women were covered with the same valuable material, which was even used for the common implements of kitchen and scullery. Large manufactories of silver utensils werestarted, in which each part of the work was assigned to a special artificer; here the orders of the silver-merchants were executed. Amongst the special workmen of these manufactories were the modelers, founders, turners or polishers, chiselers, the workmen who attached the bas-reliefs to the surface of the vessel, and the gilders. Many valuable vessels have been recovered in the present century; others (for instance, several hundred silver vessels found near the old Falerii) have tracelessly disappeared. Amongst the discoveries which happily have escaped the hands of the melter, we mention the treasure of more than one hundred silver vessels, weighing together about 50 pounds, found by Berney in Normandy (1830). According to their inscriptions, these vessels belonged to the treasury of a temple of Mercury; they are at present in the late imperial library at Paris. In the south of Russia the excavations carried on in 1831, 1862,and 1863, amongst the graves of the kings of the Bosphoric empire, have yielded an astonishing number of gold and silver vessels and ornaments belonging to the third century of our era. At Pompeii fourteen silver vases were discovered in 1835; at Cære (1836) a number of silver vases (now in the Museo Gregoriano) were found in a grave. One of the most interesting discoveries was made near Hildesheim, 7th October, 1868, consisting of seventy-four eating and drinking vessels, mostly well preserved; not to speak of numerous fragments which seem to prove that only part of the original treasure has been recovered; the weight of all the vessels (now in the Antiquarium of the Royal Museum, Berlin) amounts to 107,144 lbs., some over 53 tons, of silver. The style and technical finish of the vases prove them to have been manufactured in Rome; the form of the letters ofthe inscriptions found on twenty-four vessels indicates the first half of the first century after Christ. The surfaces of many of them are covered with alto-relievos of beaten silver—a circumstance which traces back their origin to imperial times, distinguishing them, at the same time, from the bas-relief ornamentations of the acme of Greek art. The gilding of the draperies and weapons, and the silver color of the naked parts, in imitation, as it were, of the gold-and-ivory statues of Greek art, also indicate Roman workmanship. The annexed cuts show some of the finest pieces of this treasure. The composition of the figures on the surface of the vase in cut on page 340 shows true artistic genius; naked children are balancing themselves on water-plants growing in winding curves from a pair of griffins; some of the children attack crabs and eels with harpoons, while others drag the killed animals from the water. The graceful groups on the drinking-vessels in the above cuts are mostly taken from the Bacchic cycle of myths.
FOUND AT HILDESHEIM.FOUND AT HILDESHEIM.ToList
FOUND AT HILDESHEIM.ToList
FOUND AT HILDESHEIM.FOUND AT HILDESHEIM. (Of the first century)ToList
FOUND AT HILDESHEIM. (Of the first century)ToList
VASE OF THE FIRST CENTURYVASE OF THE FIRST CENTURY.ToList
VASE OF THE FIRST CENTURY.ToList
VASE OF THE FIRST CENTURYVASE OF THE FIRST CENTURY.ToList
VASE OF THE FIRST CENTURY.ToList
Besides vessels of precious metals and stones, those of glass were in favorite use among the Romans. The manufactory of glass, originating in Sidon, had reached its climax of perfection, both with regard to color and form, in Alexandria about thetime of the Ptolemies. Many of these Alexandrine glasses have been preserved to us, and their beauty fully explains their superiority in the opinion of the ancients to those manufactured in Italy. Here also, after the discovery of excellent sand at Cumæ and Linternum, glass works had been established. Most of our museums possess some specimens of antique glass manufacture, in the shape of balsam or medicine bottles of white or colored glass. We also possess goblets and drinking-bottles of various shapes and sizes, made of white or common green glass; they generally taper toward the bottom, and frequently show grooves or raised points on their outer surfaces, so as to prevent the glass from slipping from the hand; urns, oinochoai, and dishes of various sizes made of glass, are of frequent occurrence. Some of these are dark blue or green, others party-colored with stripes winding round them in zigzag or in spiral lines, reminding one of mosaic patterns. Pieces of glittering glass, being most likely fragments of so-calledallassontes versicolores(not to be mistaken for originally white glass which has been discolored by exposure to the weather), are not unfrequently found. We propose to name in the following pages a few of the more important specimens of antique glass-fabrication. One of the first amongst these is the vessel known as the Barberini or Portland Vase, which was found in the sixteenth century in the sarcophagus of the so-called tomb of Severus Alexander and of his mother Julia Mammæa. It was kept in the Barberini Palace for several centuries, till it was purchased by the Duke of Portland, after whose death it was placed in the British Museum. After having been broken by the hand of a barbarian, it has fortunately been restored satisfactorily. Many reproductions of this vase in china and terra-cotta have made it known in wide circles. The mythological bas-reliefs have not as yet been sufficiently explained. Similar glass vases with bas-relief ornamentation occur occasionally either whole or in fragments.
page decoration 9
Many arts and inventions were in common use in Egypt for centuries before they are generally supposed to have been known; and we are now and then as much surprised to find that certain things were old 3,000 years ago, as the Egyptians would be if they could hear us talk of them as late discoveries. One of them is the use of glass, with which they were acquainted at least as early as the reign of the first Osirtasen, more than 3,800 years ago; and the process of glass-blowing is represented during his reign, in the paintings of Beni Hassan, in the same manner as it is on later monuments, in different parts of Egypt, to the time of the Persian conquest.
The form of the bottle and the use of the blow-pipe are unequivocally indicated in those subjects; and the green hue of the fused material, taken from the fire at the point of the pipe, sufficiently proves the intention of the artist. But, even if we had not this evidence of the use of glass, it would be shown by those well-known images of glazed pottery, which were common at the same period; the vitrified substance that covers them being of the same quality as glass, and containing the same ingredients fused in the same manner. And besides the many glass ornaments known to be of an earlier period is a bead, found at Thebes, bearing the name of a Pharaoh who lived about 1450 B.C., the specific gravity of which, 25° 23', is precisely the same as of crown glass, now manufactured in England.
Glass bottles are even met with on monuments of the 4th dynasty, dating long before the Osirtasens, or more than 4,000 years ago; the transparent substance shows the red wine they contained; and this kind of bottle is represented in the same manner among the offerings to the gods, and at the fetes of individuals, wherever wine was introduced, from the earliest to the latest times. Bottles, and other objects of glass, are commonly found in the tombs; and though they have no kings' names or dates inscribed upon them (glass being seldom used for such a purpose), no doubt exists of their great antiquity; and we may consider it a fortunate chance that has preservedonebead with the name of a sovereign of the 18th dynasty. Nor is it necessary to point out how illogical is the inference that, because other kinds of glass have not been found bearing a king's name, they were not made in Egypt, at, or even before, the same early period.
Pliny ascribes the discovery of glass to some Phœnician sailors accidently lighting a fire on the sea-shore; but if an effect of chance, the secret is more likely to have been arrived at in Egypt, where natron (or subcarbonate of soda) abounded, than by the sea side; and if the Phœnicians really were the first to discover it on theSyriancoast, this would prove their migration from the Persian Gulf to have happened at a very remote period. Glass was certainly one of the great exports of the Phœnicians; who traded in beads, bottles, and other objects of that material, as well as various manufactures, made either in their own or in other countries: but Egypt was always famed for its manufacture; a peculiar kind of earth was found near Alexandria, without which, Strabo says, "it was impossible to make certain kinds of glass of many colors, and of a brilliant quality," and some vases, presented by an Egyptian priest to the Emperor Hadrian, were considered so curious and valuable that they were only used on grand occasions.
Glass bottles, of various colors, were eagerly bought from Egypt, and exported into other countries; and the manufacture as well as the patterns of many of those found in Greece, Etruria, and Rome, show that they were of Egyptian work; and though imitated in Italy and Greece, the original art was borrowed from the workmen of the Nile.
Such, too, was their skill in making glass, and in the mode of staining it of various hues, that they counterfeited with success the emerald, the amethyst, and other precious stones; and even arrived at an excellence in the art of introducing numerous colors into the same vase, to which our European workmen, in spite of their improvements in many branches of this manufacture, are still unable to attain. A few years ago the glass-makers of Venice made several attempts to imitate the variety of colors found in antique cups; but as the component parts were of different densities, they did not all cool, or set, at the same rapidity, and the vase was unsound. And it is only by making an inner foundation of one color, to which those of the outer surface are afterwards added, that they have been able to produce their many-colored vases; some of which were sent to the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Not so the Egyptians, who combined all the colors they required in the same cup, without the interior lining: those which had it being of inferior and cheaper quality. They had even the secret of introducing gold between two surfaces of glass; and in their bottles, a gold band alternates within a set of blue, green, and other colors. Another curious process was also common in Egypt in early times, more than 3,000 years ago, which has only just been attempted at Venice; whereby the pattern on the surface was made to pass in right lines directly through the substance; so that if any number of horizontal sections were made through it, each one would have the same device on its upper and under surface. It is in fact a Mosaic in glass; made by fusing togetheras many delicate rods of an opaque glass of the color required for the picture, in the same manner as the woods in Tunbridge-ware are glued together, to form a larger and coarser pattern. The skill required in this exquisite work is not only shown by the art itself, but the fineness of the design; for some of the feathers of birds, and other details, are only to be made out with a lens; which means of magnifying was evidently used in Egypt, when this Mosaic glass was manufactured. Indeed, the discovery of a lens of crystal by Mr. Layard, at Nimroud, satisfactorily proves its use at an early period in Assyria; and we may conclude that it was neither a recent discovery there, nor confined to that country.
ANCIENT GLASS VESSELS.ANCIENT GLASS VESSELS.ToList
ANCIENT GLASS VESSELS.ToList
Winkleman is of opinion that "the ancients carried the artof glass-making to a higher degree of perfection than ourselves, though it may appear a paradox to those who have not seen their works in this material;" and we may even add that they used it for more purposes, excepting of course windows, the inconvenience of which in the hot sun of Egypt would have been unbearable, or even in Italy, and only one pane of glass has been found at Pompeii, in a place not exposed to the outer light.
GLASS BROACH.GLASS BROACH.ToList
GLASS BROACH.ToList
That the Egyptians, more than 3,000 years ago, were well acquainted not only with the manufacture of common glass, for beads and bottles of ordinary quality, but with the art of staining it with divers colors, is sufficiently proved by the fragments found in the tombs of Thebes; and so skillful were they in this complicated process, that they imitated the most fanciful devices, and succeeded in counterfeiting the rich hues, and brilliancy, of precious stones. The green emerald, the purple amethyst, and other expensive gems, were successfully imitated; a necklace of false stones could be purchased at an Egyptian jeweler's, to please the wearer, or deceive a stranger, by the appearance of reality; and some mock pearls (found lately at Thebes) have been so well counterfeited, that even now it is difficult with a strong lens to detect the imposition.
Pliny says the emerald was more easily counterfeited than any other gem, and considers the art of imitating precious stones a far more lucrative piece of deceit than any devised by the ingenuity of man; Egypt was, as usual, the country most noted for this manufacture; and we can readily believe that in Pliny's time they succeeded so completely in the imitation as to render it difficult to distinguish false from real stones.
Many, in the form of beads, have been met with in different parts of Egypt, particularly at Thebes; and so far did the Egyptians carry this spirit of imitation, that even small figures, scarabæi, and objects made of ordinary porcelain, were counterfeited, being composed of still cheaper materials. A figure, which was entirely of earthenware, with a glazed exterior, underwent a somewhat more complicated process than when cut out of stone and simply covered with a vitrified coating; this last could, therefore, be sold at a low price; it offered all the brilliancy of the former, and its weight alone betrayed its inferiority; by which means, whatever was novel, or pleasing from its external appearance, was placed within reach of all classes, or, at least, the possessor had the satisfaction of seeming to partake in each fashionable novelty.
IMITATION OF REAL STONES.IMITATION OF REAL STONES.ToList
IMITATION OF REAL STONES.ToList
Such inventions, and successful endeavors to imitate costly ornaments by humbler materials, not only show the progress of art among the Egyptians, but strongly argue the great advancement they had made in the customs of civilized life; since it is certain, that until society has arrived at a high degree of luxury and refinement, artificial wants of this nature are not created, and the poorer classes do not yet feel the desire of imitating the rich, in the adoption of objects dependent on taste or accidental caprice.
Glass bugles and beads were much used by the Egyptians for necklaces, and for a sort of network, with which they coveredthe wrappers and cartonage of mummies. They were arranged so as to form, by their varied hues, numerous devices or figures, in the manner of our bead purses; and women sometimes amused themselves by stringing them for ornamental purposes, as at the present day.
A far more numerous class were the potters; and all the processes of mixing the clay, and of turning, baking and polishing the vases are represented in the tombs of Thebes and Beni Hassan, of which we have already spoken.
They frequently kneaded the clay with their feet, and after it had been properly worked up, they formed it into a mass of convenient size with the hand, and placed it on the wheel, which was of very simple construction, and generally turned with the hand. The various forms of the vases were made out by the finger during the revolution; the handles, if they had any, were afterwards affixed to them; and the devices and other ornamental parts were traced with a wooden or metal instrument, previous to their being baked. They were then suffered to dry, and for this purpose were placed on planks of wood; they were afterwards arranged with great care in trays, and carried, by means of the usual yoke, borne on men's shoulders, to the oven.
The Egyptians displayed much taste in their gold, silver, porcelain, and glass vases, but when made of earthenware, for ordinary purposes, they were frequently devoid of elegance, and scarcely superior to those of England before the taste of Wedgewood substituted the graceful forms of Greek models, for some of the unseemly productions of our old potteries. Though the clay of Upper Egypt was particularly suited to porous bottles, it could be obtained of a sufficiently fine quality for the manufacture of vases like those of Greece and Italy; in Egypt, too, good taste did not extend to all classes, as in Greece; and vases used for fetching water from a well, or from the Nile, were of a very ordinary kind, far inferior to those carried by the Athenian women to the fountain of Kallirhoe.
The Greeks, it is true, were indebted to Egypt for much useful knowledge, and for many early hints in art, but they speedily surpassed their instructors; and in nothing, perhaps, is this more strikingly manifested than in the productions of the potter. Samples of the more common are seen below.
Carpenters and cabinet-makers were a very numerous class of workmen; and their occupations form one of the most important subjects in the paintings which represent the Egyptian trades.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN POTTERY.ANCIENT EGYPTIAN POTTERY.ToList
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN POTTERY.ToList
For ornamental purposes, and sometimes even for coffins, doors and boxes, foreign woods were employed; deal and cedar were imported from Syria; and part of the contributions, exacted from the conquered tribes of Ethiopia, and Asia, consisted in ebony and other rare woods, which were annually brought by the chiefs, deputed to present their country's tribute to the Egyptian Pharaohs.
Boxes, chairs, tables, sofas, and other pieces of furniture were frequently made of ebony, inlaid with ivory, sycamore and acacia, were veneered with thin layers, or ornamented with carved devices of rare wood, applied or let into them; and a fondness for this display suggested to the Egyptians the art of painting common boards, to imitate foreign varieties, so generally adopted in other countries at the present day.
The colors were usually applied on a thin coating of stucco, laid smoothly upon the previously prepared wood, and the various knots and grains painted upon this ground indicated the quality of the wood they intended to counterfeit.
The usual tools of the carpenter were the ax, adze, handsaw, chisels of various kinds (which were struck with a wooden mallet), the drill, and two sorts of planes (one resembling a chisel, the other apparently of stone, acting as a rasp on the surface of the wood, which was afterwards polished by a smooth body, probably also of stone); and these, with the ruler, plummet, and right angle, a leather bag containing nails, the hone, and the horn of oil, constituted the principal, and perhaps the only, implements he used.
Many adzes, saws and chisels, have been found at Thebes. The blades are all of bronze, the handles of the acacia or the tamarisk; and the general mode of fastening the blade to the handle appears to have been by thongs of hide. It is probable that some of those discovered in the tombs are only models, or unfinished specimens, and it may have been thought sufficient to show their external appearance, without the necessity of nailing them, beneath the thongs, for those they worked with were bound in the same manner, though we believe them to have been also secured with nails. Some, however, evidently belonged to the individuals in whose tombs they were buried, and appear to have been used; and the chisels often bear signs of having been beaten with the mallet.
The drill is frequently represented in the sculptures. Like all the other tools, it was of the earliest date, and precisely similar to that of modern Egypt, even to the nut of thedomin which it turned, and the form of its bow with a leathern thong.
The chisel was employed for the same purposes, and in the same manner, as at the present day, and was struck with a wooden mallet, sometimes flat at the two ends, sometimes of circular or oval form; several of which last have been found at Thebes, and are in European museums. The handles of the chisel were of acacia, tamarisk, or other compact wood, the blades of bronze, and the form of the points varied in breadth, according to the work for which they were intended.
The hatchet was principally used by boat-builders, and those who made large pieces of frame-work; and trees were felled with the same instrument.
With the carpenters may be mentioned the wheelwrights, the makers of coffins, and the coopers, and this sub-division of one class of artisans shows that they had systematically adopted the partition of labor.
The makers of chariots and traveling carriages were of the same class; but both carpenters and workers of leather were employed in their manufacture; and chariots either passed through the hands of both, or, which is more probable, chariot makers constituted a distinct trade.
The tanning and preparation of leather was also a branch of art in which the Egyptians evinced considerable skill; the leather cutters constituted one of the principal sub-divisions of the fourth-class, and a district of the city was exclusively appropriated to them, in the Libyan part of Thebes, where they were known as "the leather-cutters of the Memnonia."
Many of the occupations of their trade are portrayed on the painted walls of the tombs at Thebes. They made shoes, sandals, the coverings and seats of chairs or sofas, bow-cases, and most of the ornamental furniture of the chariot; harps were also adorned with colored leather, and shields and numerous other things were covered with skin prepared in various ways. They also make skins for carrying water, wine, and other liquids, coated within with a resinous substance, as is still the custom in Egypt.
The stores of an Egyptian town were probably similar to those of Cairo and other Eastern cities, which consist of a square room, open in front, with falling or sliding shutters to close it at night, and the goods, ranged on shelves or suspended against the walls, are exposed to the view of those who pass. In front is generally a raised seat, where the owner of the shop and hiscustomers sit during the long process of concluding a bargain previous to the sale and purchase of the smallest article, and here an idle lounger frequently passes whole hours, less intent on benefiting the merchant than in amusing himself with the busy scene of the passing crowd.
It is probable that, as at the present day, they ate in the open front of their shops, exposed to the view of every one who passed, and to this custom Herodotus may allude, when he says, "the Egyptians eat in the street."
There is no direct evidence that the ancient Egyptians affixed the name and trade of the owner of the shop, though the presence of hieroglyphics, denoting this last, together with the emblem which indicated it, may seem to argue in favor of the question; and the absence of many individuals' names in the sculpture is readily accounted for by the fact that these scenes refer to the occupation of the whole trade, and not to any particular person.
The high estimation in which the priestly and military professions were held in Egypt placed them far above the rest of the community; but the other classes had also their degrees of consequence, and individuals enjoyed a position and importance in proportion to their respectability, their talents, or their wealth.
According to Herodotus, the whole Egyptian community was divided into seven tribes, one of which was the sacerdotal, another of the soldiers, and the remaining five of the herdsmen, swineherds, merchants, interpreters, and boatmen. Diodorus states that, like the Athenians, they were distributed into three classes—the priests, the peasants, or husbandmen, from whom the soldiers were levied, and the artisans, who were employed in handicraft and other similar occupations, and in common offices among the people—but in another place he extends the number to five, and reckons the pastors, husbandmen, and artificers independent of the soldiers and priests. Strabo limits them tothree, the military, husbandmen, and priests; and Plato divides them into six bodies, the priests, artificers, shepherds, huntsmen, husbandmen, and soldiers; each peculiar art or occupation he observes being confined to a certain sub-division of the caste, and every one being engaged in his own branch without interfering with the occupation of another. Hence it appears that the first class consisted of the priests, the second of the soldiers, the third of the husbandmen, gardeners, huntsmen, boatmen of the Nile, and others; the fourth of artificers, tradesmen and merchants, carpenters, boat-builders, masons, and probably potters, public weighers, and notaries; and in the fifth may be reckoned pastors, poulterers, fowlers, fishermen, laborers, and, generally speaking, the common people. Many of these were again sub-divided, as the artificers and tradesmen, according to their peculiar trade or occupation; and as the pastors, into oxherds, shepherds, goatherds, and swineherds, which last were, according to Herodotus, the lowest grade, not only of the class, but of the whole community, since no one would either marry their daughters or establish any family connection with them. So degrading was the occupation of tending swine, that they were looked upon as impure, and were even forbidden to enter a temple without previously undergoing a purification; and the prejudices of the Indians against this class of persons almost justify our belief in the statement of the historian.
Without stopping to inquire into the relative rank of the different sub-divisions of the third class, the importance of agriculture in a country like Egypt, where the richness and productiveness of the soil have always been proverbial, suffices to claim the first place for the husbandmen.
The abundant supply of grain and other produce gave to Egypt advantages which no other country possessed. Not only was her dense population supplied with a profusion of the necessaries of life, but the sale of the surplus conferred considerablebenefits on the peasant in addition to the profits which thence accrued to the state, for Egypt was a granary, where, from the earliest times, all people felt sure of finding a plenteous store of corn, and some idea may be formed of the immense quantity produced there from the circumstance of "seven plenteous years" affording, from the superabundance of the crops, a sufficiency of corn to supply the whole population during seven years of dearth, as well as "all countries" which sent to Egypt "to buy" it, when Pharaoh, by the advice of Joseph, laid up the annual surplus for that purpose.
The right of exportation, and the sale of superfluous produce to foreigners, belonged exclusively to the government, as is distinctly shown by the sale of corn to the Israelites from the royal stores, and the collection having been made by Pharaoh only; and it is probable that even the rich landowners were in the habit of selling to government whatever quantity remained on hand at the approach of each successive harvest, while the agricultural laborers, from their frugal mode of living, required very little wheat and barley, and were generally contented, as at the present day, with bread made of theDooraflour; children and even grown persons, according to Diodorus, often living on roots and esculent herbs, as the papyrus, lotus, and others, either raw, toasted, or boiled.
The government did not interfere directly with the peasants respecting the nature of the produce they intended to cultivate; and the vexations of later times were unknown under the Pharaohs. They were thought to have the best opportunities of obtaining, from actual observation, an accurate knowledge on all subjects connected with husbandry, and, as Diodorus observes, "being from their infancy brought up to agricultural pursuits, they far excelled the husbandmen of other countries, and had become acquainted with the capabilities of the land, the mode of irrigation, the exact season for sowing and reaping, as well asall the most useful secrets connected with the harvest, which they had derived from their ancestors, and had improved by their own experience." "They rented," says the same historian, "the arable lands belonging to the kings, the priests, and the military class, for a small sum, and employed their whole time in the tillage of their farms," and the laborers who cultivated land for the rich peasant, or other landed proprietors, were superintended by the steward or owner of the estate, who had authority over them, and the power of condemning delinquents to the bastinado. This is shown by the paintings of the tombs, which frequently represent a person of consequence inspecting the tillage of the field, either seated in a chariot, walking, or leaning on his staff, accompanied by a favorite dog.
Their mode of irrigation was the same in the field of the peasant as in the garden of the villa; and the principal difference in the mode of tilling the former consisted in the use of the plow.
The usual contrivance for raising water from the Nile for watering the crops was theshadoof, or pole and bucket, so common still in Egypt, and even the water-wheel appears to have been employed in more recent times.
The sculptures of the tombs frequently represent canals conveying the water of the inundation into the fields, and the proprietor of the estate is seen, as described by Virgil, plying in a light painted skiff or papyrus punt, and superintending the maintenance of the dykes, or other important matters connected with the land. Boats carry the grain to the granary, or remove the flocks from the lowlands; as the water subsides the husbandman plows the soft earth with a pair of oxen, and the same subjects introduce the offering of first-fruits of the gods in acknowledgment of the benefits conferred by "a favorable Nile." The main canal was usually carried to the upper or southern side of the land, and small branches, leading from it at intervals, traversed the fields in straight or curving lines, according to the nature or elevation of the soil.
Guards were placed to watch the dykes which protected the lowlands, and the utmost care was taken to prevent any sudden influx of water which might endanger the produce still growing there, the cattle, or the villages. And of such importance was the preservation of the dykes that a strong guard of cavalry and infantry was always in attendance for their protection; certain officers of responsibility were appointed to superintend them, being furnished with large sums of money for their maintenance and repairs, and in the time of Romans any person found destroying a dyke was condemned to hard labor in the public works or in the mines, or was branded and transported to the Oasis. According to Strabo, the system was so admirably managed, "that art contrived sometimes to supply what nature denied, and, by means of canals and embankments, there was little difference in the quantity of land irrigated, whether the inundation was deficient or abundant." "If," continues the geographer, "it rose only to the height of eight cubits, the usual idea was that a famine would ensue, fourteen being required for a plentiful harvest; but when Petronius was præfect of Egypt twelve cubits gave the same abundance, nor did they suffer from want even at eight;" and it may be supposed that long experience had taught the ancient Egyptians to obtain similar results from the same means, which, neglected at a subsequent period, were revived, rather than, as Strabo thinks, first introduced, by the Romans.
In some parts of Egypt the villages were liable to be overflowed when the Nile rose to more than an ordinary height, by which the lives and property of the inhabitants were endangered, and when their crude brick houses had been long exposed to the damp the foundations gave way, and the fallen walls, saturated with water, were once more mixed with the mud from which they had been extracted. On these occasions the blessings of the Nile entailed heavy losses on the inhabitants, for, accordingto Pliny, "if the rise of water exceeded sixteen cubits famine was the result, as when it only reached the height of twelve." In another place he says, "a proper inundation is of sixteen cubits * * * * in twelve cubits the country suffers from famine, and feels a deficiency even in thirteen; fourteen cause joy, fifteen security, sixteen delight; the greatest rise of the river to this period being of eighteen cubits, in the reign of Claudius; the least during the Pharsalic war."
The land being cleared of the water, and presenting in some places a surface of liquid mud, in others nearly dried by the sun and the strong northwest winds (that continue at intervals to the end of Autumn and commencement of Winter), the husbandman prepared the ground to receive the seed, which was either done by the plow and hoe, or by more simple means, according to the nature of the soil, the quality of the produce they intended to cultivate, or the time the land had remained under water.
When the levels were low and the water had continued long upon the land they often dispensed with the plow, and, like their successors, broke up the ground with hoes, or simply dragged the moist mud with bushes after the seed had been thrown upon the surface, and then merely drove a number of cattle, asses, pigs, sheep, or goats into the field to tread in the grain. "In no country," says Herodotus, "do they gather their seed with so little labor. They are not obliged to trace deep furrows with the plow and break the clods, nor to partition out their fields into numerous forms as other people do, but when the river of itself overflows the land, and the water retires again, they sow their fields, driving the pigs over them to tread in the seed, and this being done every one patiently awaits the harvest." On other occasions they used to plow, but were contented, as we are told by Diodorus and Columella, with "tracing slight furrows with light plows on the surface of the land," andothers followed with wooden hoes to break the clods of the rich and tenacious soil.
The modern Egyptians sometimes substitute for the hoe a machine calledkhonfud, "hedgehog," which consists of a cylinder studded with projecting iron pins, to break the clods after the land has been plowed, but this is only used when great care is required in the tillage of the land, and they frequently dispense with the hoe, contenting themselves, also, with the same slight furrows as their predecessors, which do not exceed the depth of a few inches, measuring from the lowest part to the summit of the ridge. It is difficult to say if the modern Egyptians derived the hint of the "hedgehog" from their predecessors, but it is a curious fact that a clod-crushing machine, not very unlike that of Egypt, has only lately been invented in England, which was shown at the Great Exhibition.
The ancient plow was entirely of wood, and of as simple a form as that of modern Egypt. It consisted of a share, two handles, and the pole or beam, which last was inserted into the lower end of the stilt, or the base of the handles, and was strengthened by a rope connecting it with the heel. It had no coulter, nor were wheels applied to any Egyptian plow, but it is probable that the point was shod with a metal sock, either of bronze or iron. It was drawn by two oxen, and the plowman guided and drove them with a long goad, without the assistance of reins, which are used by modern Egyptians. He was sometimes accompanied by another man, who drove the animals, while he managed the two handles of the plow, and sometimes the whip was substituted for the more usual goad.
Cows were occasionally put to the plow, and it may not have been unknown to them that the cow plows quicker than the ox.
The mode of yoking the beasts was exceedingly simple. Across the extremity of the pole, a wooden yoke or cross-bar,about fifty-five inches, or five feet, in length was fastened by a strap lashed backwards and forwards over a prominence projecting from the centre of the yoke, which corresponded to a similar peg, or knob, at the end of the pole, and, occasionally, in addition to these, was a ring passing over them as in some Greek chariots. At either end of the yoke was a flat or slightly concave projection, of semi-circular form, which rested on a pad placed upon the withers of the animal, and through a hole on either side of it passed a thong for suspending the shoulder-pieces which formed the collar. These were two wooden bars, forked at about half their length, padded so as to protect the shoulder from friction, and connected at the lower end by a strong broad band passing under the throat.
Sometimes the draught, instead of being from the withers, was from the head, the yoke being tied to the base of the horns, and in religious ceremonies oxen frequently drew the bier, or the sacred shrine, by a rope fastened to the upper part of the horns, without either yoke or pole.
From a passage in Deuteronomy, "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together," it might be inferred that the custom of yoking two different animals to the plow was common in Egypt; but it was evidently not so, and the Hebrew lawgiver had probably in view a practice adopted by some of the people of Syria, whose country the Israelites were about to occupy.
The hoe was of wood, like the fork, and many other implements of husbandry, and in form was not unlike the letter A, with one limb shorter than the other, and curving inwards. The longer limb, or handle, was of uniform thickness, round and smooth, sometimes with a knob at the end, and the lower extremity of the blade was of increased breadth, and either terminated in a sharp point, or was rounded at the end. The blade was frequently inserted into the handle, and they were bound together, about the centre, with twisted rope. Being the mostcommon tool, answering for hoe, spade, and pick, it is frequently represented in the sculptures, and several, which were found in the tombs of Thebes, are preserved in the museums of Europe.
The hoe in hieroglyphics stands for the letter M, though the name of this instrument was in Egyptian, as in Arabic,Tore. It forms the commencement of the wordMai, "beloved," and enters into numerous other combinations.
There are no instances of hoes with metal blades, except of very late time, nor is there any proof of the plowshare having been sheathed with metal.
The ax had a metal blade, either bronze or iron, and the peasants are sometimes represented felling trees with this implement, while others are employed in hoeing the field preparatory to its being sown—confirming what we have observed, that the ancient, as well as the modern, Egyptians frequently dispensed with the use of the plow.
The admission of swine into the fields, mentioned by Herodotus, should rather have been before than after they had sown the land, since their habits would do little good to the farmer, and other animals would answer as well for "treading in the grain;" but they may have been used before for clearing the fields of the roots and weeds encouraged by the inundation; and this seems to be confirmed by the herd of pigs with water plants represented in the tombs.
They sometimes used a top dressing of nitrous soil, which was spread over the surface; a custom continued to the present day; but this was confined to certain crops, and principally to those reared late in the year, the fertilizing properties of the alluvial deposit answering all the purposes of the richest manure.
Besides the admixture of nitrous earth the Egyptians made use of other kinds of dressing, and sought for different productions the soils best suited to them. They even took advantage of the edge of the desert for growing the vine and some otherplants, which, being composed of clay and sand, was peculiarly adapted to such as required a light soil, and the cultivation of this additional tract, which only stood in need of proper irrigation to become highly productive, had the advantage of increasing considerably the extent of the arable land of Egypt. In many places we still find evidence of its having been tilled by the ancient inhabitants, even to the late time of the Roman empire; and in some parts of the Fyoom the vestiges of beds and channels for irrigation, as well as the roots of vines, are found in sites lying far above the level of the rest of the country.
The occupation of the husbandman depended much on the produce he had determined on rearing. Those who solely cultivated corn had little more to do than to await the time of harvest, but many crops required constant attention, and some stood in need of frequent artificial irrigation.