RECEPTION TO THE BATHSRECEPTION TO THE BATHS (at Pompeii).ToList
RECEPTION TO THE BATHS (at Pompeii).ToList
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 glass fastened by small nuts and screws, very ingeniously contrived, with a view to remove the glass 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 ofcanting 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 laconicum, 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 thelaconicum, made as described above, on the other end the hot bath." This apartment is exactly as described, twice the length of its width, exclusively ofthe laconicum 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:
CNÆO. MELISSÆO. CNÆL FILIO. APRO. MARCO. STAIO. MARCI. FILIO.RUFO. DUUMVIRIS. ITERUM. IURE. DICUNDO. LABRUM. EX DECURIONUMDECRETO. EX. PECUNIA. PUBLICA. FACIENDUM. CURARUNTCONSTAT. HS. D.C.C.L.
CNÆO. MELISSÆO. CNÆL FILIO. APRO. MARCO. STAIO. MARCI. FILIO.RUFO. DUUMVIRIS. ITERUM. IURE. DICUNDO. LABRUM. EX DECURIONUMDECRETO. EX. PECUNIA. PUBLICA. FACIENDUM. CURARUNTCONSTAT. HS. D.C.C.L.
Relating that "Cnæus Melissæus Aper, son of Cnæus 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 glass.
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 laconicum, 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 similarto 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 pass 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 laconicum, 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 passes 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.
ANCIENT BATH-ROOM.ANCIENT BATH-ROOM. (As discovered).ToList
ANCIENT BATH-ROOM. (As discovered).ToList
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 hitherto 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, quæstor, ex multatitia pecunia conventus decreto fieri mandavit. That is: the Quæstor M. Atinius, in accordance with a decree of the assembly, caused it to be made out of money levied by fines. The title of "Quæstor" 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 palæstra.
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Jugglers of both sexes, 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 class 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 balls 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 andsalti-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 fathersof 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 balls, 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 class, 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 hitherto 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 weresuppusandplanusrespectively. 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 Titus 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 amusements of the Greeks. The existence ofcock-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 cock-fights, which made both these and the fights of quails popular among the Greeks. The breeding of fighting-cocks was a matter of great importance, Rhodes, Chalkis, and Media being particularly celebrated for their strong and large cocks. 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 ofmorra(il giuco alla morraorfare 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 amusements. Mimetic dances were another favorite amusement 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 apas 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 expresssentiment, passion, 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 worship 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 worship. 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 illustrated 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 illustrates the Pyrrhic dance of a later epoch.
Of other warlike dances we mention thekarpeia, 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 thepeaceful choral dances performed at the feasts of different gods, 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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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 amusement 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 shield (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. Parasols or umbrellas were also used in Assyria, Persia, and other Eastern countries.
When a visitor came in his car, he was attended by a number of servants, some of whom carried a stool, to enable him to alight, and others his writing tablet, or whatever he might want during his stay at the house. The guests are assembled in a sitting room within, and are entertained with music during the interval preceding the announcement of dinner; for, like the Greeks, they considered it a want of good breeding to sitdown to table immediately on arriving, and, as Bdelycleon, in Aristophanes, recommended his father Philocleon to do, they praised the beauty of the rooms and the furniture, taking care to show particular interest in those objects which were intended for admiration. As usual in all countries, some of the party arrived earlier than others; and the consequence, or affectation of fashion, in the person who now drives up in his curricle, is shown by his coming some time after the rest of the company; one of his footmen runs forward to knock at the door, others, close behind the chariot, are ready to take the reins, and to perform their accustomed duties; and the one holding his sandals in his hand, that he may run with greater ease, illustrates a custom, still common in Egypt, among the Arabs and peasants of the country, who find the power of the foot greater when freed from the encumbrance of a shoe.
To those who arrived from a journey, or who desired it, water was brought for their feet, previous to entering the festive chamber. They also washed their hands before dinner, the water being brought in the same manner as at the present day; and ewers, not unlike those used by the modern Egyptians, are represented, with the basins belonging to them, in the paintings of a Theban tomb. In the houses of the rich they were of gold, or other costly materials. Herodotus mentions the golden foot-pan, in which Amasis and his guests used to wash their feet.
The Greeks had the same custom of bringing water to the guests, numerous instances of which we find in Homer; as when Telemachus and the son of Nestor were received at the house of Menelaus, and when Asphalion poured it upon the hands of his master, and the same guests, on another occasion. Virgil also describes the servants bringing water for this purpose when Æneas was entertained by Dido. Nor was the ceremony thought superfluous, or declined, even though they had previously bathed and been anointed with oil.
It is also probable that, like the Greeks, the Egyptians anointed themselves before they left home; but still it was customary for a servant to attend every guest, as he seated himself, and to anoint his head; which was one of the principal tokens of welcome. The ointment was sweet-scented, and was contained in an alabaster, or in an elegant glass or porcelain vase, some of which have been found in the tombs of Thebes. Servants took the sandals of the guests as they arrived, and either put them by in a convenient place in the house, or held them on their arm while they waited upon them.
After the ceremony of anointing was over, and in some cases at the time of entering the saloon, a lotus flower was presented to each guest, who held it in his hand during the entertainment. Servants then brought necklaces of flowers, composed chiefly of the lotus; a garland was also put round the head, and a single lotus bud, or a full-blown flower, was so attached as to hang over the forehead. Many of them, made up into wreaths and other devices, were suspended upon stands in the room ready for immediate use; and servants were constantly employed to bring other fresh flowers from the garden, in order to supply the guests as their bouquets faded.
The Greeks and Romans had the same custom of presenting guests with flowers or garlands, which were brought in at the beginning of their entertainments, or before the second course. They not only adorned theirheads,necks, andbreasts, like the Egyptians, but often bestrewed the couches on which they lay, and all parts of the room, with flowers; though the head was chiefly regarded, as appears from Horace, Anacreon, Ovid, and other ancient authors. The wine-bowl, too, was crowned with flowers, as at an Egyptian banquet. They also perfumed the apartment with myrrh, frankincense and other choice odors, which they obtained from Syria; and if the sculptures do not give any direct representation of this practice among the Egyptians,we know it to have been adopted and deemed indispensable among them; and a striking instance is recorded by Plutarch, at the reception of Agesilaus by Tachos. A sumptuous dinner was prepared for the Spartan prince, consisting, as usual, of beef, goose, and other Egyptian dishes; he was crowned with garlands of papyrus, and received with every token of welcome; but when he refused "the sweatmeats, confections, and perfumes," the Egyptians held him in great contempt, as a person unaccustomed to, and unworthy of, the manners of civilized society.
The Greeks, and other ancient people, usually put on a particular garment at festive meetings, generally of a white color; but it does not appear to have been customary with the Egyptians to make any great alteration in their attire, though they evidently abstained from dresses of a gloomy hue.
The guests being seated, and having received these tokens of welcome, wine was offered them by the servants. To the ladies it was generally brought in a small vase, which, when emptied into the drinking-cup, was handed to an under servant, or slave, who followed; but to the men it was frequently presented in a one-handled goblet, without being poured into any cup, and sometimes in a larger or small vase of gold, silver, or other materials.
Herodotus and Hellanicus both say that they drank wine out of brass or bronze goblets; and, indeed, the former affirms that this was the only kind of drinking-cup known to the Egyptians; but Joseph had one of silver, and the sculptures represent them of glass and porcelain, as well as of gold, silver and bronze. Those who could not afford the more costly kind were satisfied with a cheaper quality, and many were contented with cups of common earthenware; but the wealthy Egyptians used vases of glass, porcelain, and the precious metals, for numerous purposes, both in their houses and in the temples of the gods.
The practice of introducing wine at the commencement of an entertainment, or before dinner had been served up, was notpeculiar to this people; and the Chinese, to the present day, offer it at their parties to all the guests, as they arrive, in the same manner as the ancient Egyptians. They also drank wine during the repast, perhaps to the health of one another or of an absent friend, like the Romans; and no doubt the master of the house, or "the ruler of the feast," recommended a choice wine, and pledged them to the cup.
While dinner was preparing the party was enlivened by the sound of music; and a band, consisting of the harp, lyre,guitar, tambourine, double and single pipe, flute and other instruments, played the favorite airs and songs of the country. Nor was it deemed unbecoming the gravity and dignity of a priest to admit musicians into his house, or to take pleasure in witnessing the dance; and seated with their wives and family in the midst of their friends, the highest functionaries of the sacerdotal order enjoyed the lively scene. In the same manner, at a Greek entertainment, diversions of all kinds were introduced; and Xenophon and Plato inform us that Socrates, the wisest of men, amused his friends with music, jugglers, mimics, buffoons, and whatever could be desired for exciting cheerfulness and mirth.
The dance consisted mostly of a succession of figures, in which the performers endeavored to exhibit a great variety of gesture; men and women danced at the same time, or in separate parties, but the latter were generally preferred, from their superior grace and elegance. Some danced to slow airs, adapted to the style of their movement; the attitudes they assumed frequently partook of a grace not unworthy of the Greeks; and others preferred a lively step, regulated by an appropriate tune. Men sometimes danced with great spirit, bounding from the ground more in the manner of Europeans than of an Eastern people; on which occasions the music was not always composed of many instruments, but consisted only ofcrotalaor maces, aman clapping his hand, and a woman snapping her fingers to the time.
Graceful attitudes and gesticulation were the general style of their dance; but, as in other countries, the taste of the performance varied according to the rank of the person by whom they were employed, or their own skill; and the dance at the house of a priest differed from that among the uncouth peasantry, or the lower classes of townsmen.
It was not customary for the upper orders of Egyptians to indulge in this amusement, either in public or private assemblies, and none appear to have practiced it but the lower ranks of society, and those who gained their livelihood by attending festive meetings. The Greeks, however, though they employed women who professed music and dancing, to entertain the guests, looked upon the dance as a recreation in which all classes might indulge, and an accomplishment becoming a gentleman; and it was also a Jewish custom for young ladies to dance at private entertainments, as it still is at Damascus and other Eastern towns.
The Romans, on the contrary, were far from considering it worthy of a man of rank, or of a sensible person; and Cicero says: "No man who is sober dances, unless he is out of his mind, eitherwhen alone, or in any decent society; for dancing is the companion of wanton conviviality, dissoluteness, and luxury."
Nor did the Greeks indulge in it to excess; and effeminate dances, or extraordinary gesticulation, were deemed indecent in men of character and wisdom. Indeed, Herodotus tells a story of Hippoclides, the Athenian, who had been preferred before all the nobles of Greece, as a husband for the daughter of Clisthenes, king of Argos, having been rejected on account of his extravagant gestures in the dance.
Of all the Greeks, the Ionians were most noted for their fondness of this art; and, from the wanton and indecent tendency of their songs and gestures, dances of a voluptuous character(like those of the modern Almehs of the East) were styled by the Romans "Ionic movements." Moderate dancing was even deemed worthy of the gods themselves. Jupiter, "the father of gods and men," is represented dancing in the midst of the other deities; and Apollo is not only introduced by Homer thus engaged, but received the title of "the dancer," from his supposed excellence in the art.
Grace in posture and movement was the chief object of those employed at the assemblies of the rich Egyptians; and the ridiculous gestures of the buffoon were permitted there, so long as they did not transgress the rules of decency and moderation. Music was always indispensable, whether at the festive meetings of the rich or poor; and they danced to the sound of the harp, lyre, guitar, pipe, tambourine, and other instruments, and, in the streets, even to the drum.
Many of their postures resembled those of the modern ballet, and thepirouettedelighted an Egyptian party four thousand years ago.
The dresses of the female dancers were light, and of the finest texture, showing, by their transparent quality, the forms and movement of the limbs; they generally consisted of a loose flowing robe, reaching to the ankles, occasionally fastened tight at the waist; and round the hips was a small narrow girdle, adorned with beads, or ornaments of various colors. Sometimes the dancing figures appear to have been perfectly naked; but this is from the outline of the transparent robe having been effaced; and, like the Greeks, they represented the contour of the figure as if seen through the dress.
Slaves were taught dancing as well as music; and in the houses of the rich, besides their other occupations, that of dancing to entertain the family, or a party of friends, was required of them; and free Egyptians also gained a livelihood by their performances.
While the party was amused with music and dancing, and the late arrivals were successively announced, refreshments continued to be handed round, and every attention was shown to the assembled guests. Wine was offered to each new comer, and chaplets of flowers were brought by men servants to the gentlemen, and by women or white slaves to the ladies, as they took their seats. An upper servant, or slave, had the office of handing the wine, and a black woman sometimes followed, in an inferior capacity, to receive an empty cup when the wine had been poured into the goblet. The same black slave also carried the fruits and other refreshments; and the peculiar mode of holding a plate with the hand reversed, so generally adopted by women from Africa, is characteristically shown in the Theban paintings.
To each person after drinking a napkin was presented for wiping the mouth, answering to themahramaof the modern Egyptians; and the bearer of it uttered a complimentary sentiment, when she offered it and received back the goblet: as, "May it benefit you!" and no oriental at the present day drinks water without receiving a similar wish. But it was not considered rude to refuse wine when offered, even though it had been poured out; and a teetotaller might continue smelling a lotus without any affront.
Men and women either sat together, or separately, in a different part of the room; but no rigid mistrust prevented strangers, as well as members of the family, being received into the same society; which shows how greatly the Egyptians were advanced in the habits of social life. In this they, like the Romans, differed widely from the Greeks, and might say with Cornelius Nepos, "Which of us is ashamed to bring his wife to an entertainment? and what mistress of a family can be shown who does not inhabit the chief and most frequented part of the house? Whereas in Greece she never appears at any entertainments, except those to which relations alone are invited, and constantlylives in the women's apartments at the upper part of the house, into which no man has admission, unless he be a near relation." Nor were married people afraid of sitting together, and no idea of their having had too much of each other's company made it necessary to divide them. In short, they were the most Darby and Joan people possible, and they shared the same chair at home, at a party, and even in their tomb, where sculpture grouped them together.
The master and mistress of the house accordingly sat side by side on a large fauteuil, and each guest as he arrived walked up to receive their welcome. The musicians and dancers hired for the occasion also did obeisance to them, before they began their part. To the leg of the fauteuil was tied a favorite monkey, a dog, a gazelle, or some other pet; and a young child was permitted to sit on the ground at the side of its mother, or on its father's knee.
In the meantime the conversation became animated, especially in those parts of the room where the ladies sat together, and the numerous subjects that occurred to them were fluently discussed. Among these the question of dress was not forgotten, and the patterns, or the value of trinkets, were examined with proportionate interest. The maker of an ear-ring, and the store where it was purchased, were anxiously inquired; each compared the workmanship, the style, and the materials of those she wore, coveted her neighbor's, or preferred her own; and women of every class vied with each other in the display of "jewels of silver and jewels of gold," in the texture of their "raiment," the neatness of their sandals, and the arrangement or beauty of their plaited hair.
It was considered a pretty compliment to offer each other a flower from their own bouquet, and all the vivacity of the Egyptians was called forth as they sat together. The hosts omitted nothing that could make their party pass off pleasantly, and keepup agreeable conversation, which was with them the great charm of accomplished society, as with the Greeks, who thought it "more requisite and becoming to gratify the company by cheerful conversation, than with variety of dishes." The guests, too, neglected no opportunity of showing how much they enjoyed themselves; and as they drew each other's attention to the many nick-nacks that adorned the rooms, paid a well-turned compliment to the taste of the owner of the house. They admired the vases, the carved boxes of wood or ivory, and the light tables on which many a curious trinket was displayed; and commended the elegance and comfort of the luxurious fauteuils, the rich cushions and coverings of the couches and ottomans, the carpets and the other furniture. Some, who were invited to see the sleeping apartments, found in the ornaments on the toilet-tables, and in the general arrangements, fresh subjects for admiration; and their return to the guest-chamber gave an opportunity of declaring that good taste prevailed throughout the whole house. On one occasion, while some of the delighted guests were in these raptures of admiration, and others were busied with the chitchat, perhaps the politics, or the scandal of the day, an awkward youth, either from inadvertence, or a little too much wine, reclined against a wooden column placed in the centre of the room to support some temporary ornament, and threw it down upon those who sat beneath it.[20]The confusion was great: the women screamed; and some, with uplifted hands, endeavored to protect their heads and escape its fall. No one, however, seems to have been hurt; and the harmony of the party being restored, the incident afforded fresh matter for conversation; to be related in full detail to their friends, when they returned home.
The vases were very numerous, and varied in shape, size, and materials; being of hard stone, alabaster, glass, ivory, bone, porcelain, bronze, brass, silver, or gold; and those of the poorerclasses were of glazed pottery, or common earthenware. Many of their ornamental vases, as well as those in ordinary use, were of the most elegant shape, which would do honor to the Greeks, the Egyptians frequently displaying in these objects of privateluxethe taste of a highly refined people; and so strong a resemblance did they bear to the productions of the best epochs of ancient Greece, both in their shape and in the fancy devices upon them, that some might even suppose them borrowed from Greek patterns. But they were purely Egyptian, and had been universally adopted in the valley of the Nile, long before the graceful forms we admire were known in Greece; a fact invariably acknowledged by those who are acquainted with the remote age of Egyptian monuments, and of the paintings that represent them.
EGYPTIAN VASES.EGYPTIAN VASES.ToList
EGYPTIAN VASES.ToList
For some of the most elegant date in the early age of the third Thothmes, who lived between 3,300 and 3,400 years before our time; and we not only admire their forms, but the richness of the materials of which they were made, their color, as well as the hieroglyphics, showing them to have been of gold and silver, or of this last, inlaid with the more precious metal.
Those of bronze, alabaster, glass, porcelain, and even of ordinary pottery, were also deserving of admiration, from the beauty of their shapes, the designs which ornamented them, and the superior quality of the material; and gold and silver cups wereoften beautifully engraved, and studded with precious stones. Among these we readily distinguish the green emerald, the purple amethyst, and other gems; and when an animal's head adorned their handles, the eyes were frequently composed of them, except when enamel, or some colored composition, was employed as a substitute.
While the guests were entertained with music and the dance dinner was prepared; but as it consisted of a considerable number of dishes, and the meat was killed for the occasion, as at the present day in Eastern and tropical climates, some time elapsed before it was put upon table. An ox, kid, wild goat, gazelle or an oryx, and a quantity of geese, ducks, teal, quails and other birds, were generally selected; but mutton was excluded from a Theban table. Plutarch even states that "no Egyptians would eat the flesh of sheep, except the Lycopolites," who did so out of compliment to the wolves they venerated; and Strabo confines the sacrifice of them to the Nome of Nitriotis. But though sheep were not killed for the altar or the table, they abounded in Egypt and even at Thebes; and large flocks were kept for their wool, particularly in the neighborhood of Memphis. Sometimes a flock consisted of more than 2,000; and in a tomb below the Pyramids, dating upwards of 4,000 years ago, 974 rams are brought to be registered by his scribes, as part of the stock of the deceased; implying an equal number of ewes, independent of lambs.
A considerable quantity of meat was served up at those repasts, to which strangers were invited, as among people of the East at the present day; whoseazooma, or feast, prides itself in the quantity and variety of dishes, in the unsparing profusion of viands, and, whenever wine is permitted, in the freedom of the bowl. An endless succession of vegetables was also required on all occasions; and, when dining in private, dishes composed chiefly of them were in greater request than joints, even at the tables of the rich, and consequently the Israelites, who, by their longresidence there, had acquired similar habits, regretted them equally with the meat and fish of Egypt.
Their mode of dining was very similar to that now adopted in Cairo and throughout the East; each person sitting round a table, and dipping his bread into a dish placed in the centre, removed on a sign made by the host, and succeeded by others, whose rotation depends on established rule, and whose number is predetermined according to the size of the party, or the quality of the guests.
Among the lower orders, vegetables constituted a very great part of their ordinary food, and they gladly availed themselves of the variety and abundance of esculent roots growing spontaneously, in the lands irrigated by the rising Nile, as soon as its waters had subsided; some of which were eaten in a crude state, and others roasted in the ashes, boiled or stewed: their chief aliment, and that of their children, consisting of milk and cheese, roots, leguminous, cucurbitaceous and other plants, and the ordinary fruits of the country. Herodotus describes the food of the workmen who built the Pyramids, to have been the "raphanus, onions and garlic;" the first of which, now calledfigl, is like a turnip-radish in flavor; but he has omitted one more vegetable, lentils, which were always, as at the present day, the chief article of their diet; and which Strabo very properly adds to the number.
The nummulite rock, in the vicinity of those monuments, frequently presents a conglomerate of testacea imbedded in it, which, in some positions, resemble small seeds; and Strabo imagines they were the petrified residue of the lentils brought there by the workmen, from their having been the ordinary food of the laboring classes, and of all the lower orders of Egyptians.
Much attention was bestowed on the culture of this useful pulse, and certain varieties became remarkable for their excellence, the lentils of Pelusium being esteemed both in Egypt and in foreign countries.
That dinner was served up at mid-day, may be inferred from the invitation given by Joseph to his brethren; but it is probable that, like the Romans, they also ate supper in the evening, as is still the custom in the East. The table was much the same as that of the present day in Egypt: a small stool, supporting a round tray, on which the dishes are placed; but it differed from this in having its circular summit fixed on a pillar, or leg, which was often in the form of a man, generally a captive, who supported the slab upon his head; the whole being of stone, or some hard wood. On this the dishes were placed, together with loaves of bread, some of which were not unlike those of the present day in Egypt, flat and round as our crumpets. Others had the form of rolls or cakes, sprinkled with seeds.
It was not generally covered with any linen, but, like the Greek table, was washed with a sponge, or napkin, after the dishes were removed, and polished by the servants, when the company had retired; though an instance sometimes occurs of a napkin spread on it, at least on those which bore offerings in honor of the dead.
One or two guests generally sat at a table, though from the mention of persons seated in rows according to rank, it has been supposed the tables were occasionally of a long shape, as may have been the case when the brethren of Joseph "sat before him, the first born according to his birth-right, and the youngest according to his youth," Joseph eating alone at another table where "they set on for him by himself." But even if round, they might still sit according to rank; one place being always the post of honor, even at the present day, at the round table of Egypt.
In the houses of the rich, bread was made of wheat; the poorer classes being contented with bakes of barley, or ofdoora(holcus sorghum), which last is still so commonly used by them; for Herodotus is as wrong in saying that they thought it "thegreatest disgrace to live on wheat and barley," as that "no one drank out of any but bronze (or brazen) cups." The drinking cups of the Egyptians not only varied in their materials, but also in their forms. Some were plain and unornamented; others, though of small dimensions, were made after the models of larger vases; many were like our own cups without handles; and others may come under the denomination of beakers, and saucers. Of these the former were frequently made of alabaster, with a round base, so that they could not stand when filled, and were held in the hand, or, when empty, were turned downwards upon their rim: and the saucers, which were of glazed pottery, had sometimes lotus blossoms, or fish, represented on their concave surface.
The tables, as at a Roman repast, were occasionally brought in, and removed, with the dishes on them; sometimes each joint was served up separately, and the fruit, deposited in a plate or trencher, succeeded the meat at the close of the dinner; but in less fashionable circles, particularly of the olden time, fruit was brought in baskets, which stood beside the table. The dishes consisted of fish; meat boiled, roasted, and dressed in various ways; game, poultry, and a profusion of vegetables and fruit, particularly figs and grapes, during the season; and a soup, or "pottage of lentils," as with the modern Egyptians, was not an unusual dish.
Of figs and grapes they were particularly fond, which is shown by their constant introduction, even among the choice offerings presented to the gods; and figs of the sycamore must have been highly esteemed, since they were selected as the heavenly fruit, given by the goddess Netpe to those who were judged worthy of admission to the regions of eternal happiness. Fresh dates during the season, and in a dried state at other periods of the year, were also brought to table, as well as a preserve of thefruit, made into a cake of the same form as the tamarinds now brought from the interior of Africa, and sold in the Cairo market.
The guests sat on the ground, or on stools and chairs, and, having neither knives and forks, nor any substitute for them answering to the chop-sticks of the Chinese, they ate with their fingers, like the modern Asiatics, and invariably with the right hand; nor did the Jews and Etruscans, though they had forks for other purposes, use any at table.
Spoons were introduced when required for soup, or other liquids; and, perhaps, even a knife was employed on some occasions, to facilitate the carving of a large joint, which is sometimes done in the East at the present day.
The Egyptians washed after, as well as before, dinner; an invariable custom throughout the East, as among the Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and others; and Herodotus speaks of a golden basin, belonging to Amasis, which was used by the King, and "the guests who were in the habit of eating at his table."
An absorbent seems also to have been adopted for scouring the hands; and a powder of ground lupins, thedoqaqof modern Egypt, is no doubt an old invention, handed down to the present inhabitants.
Soap was not unknown to the ancients, and a small quantity has been found at Pompeii. Pliny, who mentions it as an invention of the Gauls, says it was made of fat and ashes; and Aretæus, the physician of Cappadocia, tells us that the Greeks borrowed their knowledge of its medicinal properties from the Romans. But there is no evidence of soap having been used by the Egyptians; and if by accident they discovered something of the kind, while engaged with mixtures of natron or potash, and other ingredients, it is probable that it was only an absorbent, without oil or grease, and on a par with steatite, or the argillaceous earths, with which, no doubt, they were long acquainted.
The Egyptians, a scrupulously religious people, were neverremiss in expressing their gratitude for the blessings they enjoyed, and in returning thanks to the gods for that peculiar protection they were thought to extend to them and to their country, above all the nations of the earth.
They, therefore, never sat down to meals without saying grace; and Josephus says that when the seventy-two elders were invited by Ptolemy Philadelphus to sup at the palace, Nicanor requested Eleazer to say grace for his countrymen, instead of those Egyptians to whom that duty was committed on other occasions.
It was also a custom of the Egyptians, during or after their repasts, to introduce a wooden image of Osiris, from one foot and a half to three feet in height, in the form of a human mummy, standing erect, or lying on a bier, and to show it to each of the guests, warning him of his mortality, and the transitory nature of human pleasures. He was reminded that some day he would be like that figure; that men ought "to love one another, and avoid those evils which tend to make them consider life too long, when in reality it is too short;" and while enjoying the blessings of this world, to bear in mind that their existence was precarious, and that death, which all ought to be prepared to meet, must eventually close their earthly career.
Thus, while the guests were permitted, and even encouraged, to indulge in conviviality, the pleasures of the table, and the mirth so congenial to their lively disposition, they were exhorted to put a certain degree of restraint upon their conduct; and though this sentiment was perverted by other people, and used as an incentive to present excesses, it was perfectly consistent with the ideas of the Egyptians to be reminded that this life was only a lodging, or "inn" on their way, and that their existence here was the preparation for a future state.
"The ungodly," too, of Solomon's time, thus expressed themselves: "Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of aman there is no remedy; neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. For we are born at all adventure, and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been, ... come on, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present, ... let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments; and let no flower of the spring pass by us; let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered; let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness; let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place."
But even if the Egyptians, like other men, neglected a good warning, the original object of it was praiseworthy; and Plutarch expressly states that it was intended to convey a moral lesson. The idea of death had nothing revolting to them; and so little did the Egyptians object to have it brought before them, that they even introduced the mummy of a deceased relative at their parties, and placed it at table, as one of the guests; a fact which is recorded by Lucian, in his "Essay on Grief," and of which he declares himself to have been an eye-witness.
After dinner, music and singing were resumed; hired men and women displayed feats of agility; swinging each other round by the hand; throwing up and catching the ball; or flinging themselves round backwards head-over-heels, in imitation of a wheel; which was usually a performance of women. They also stood on each other's backs, and made a somersault from that position; and a necklace, or other reward, was given to the most successful tumbler.