A COLLECTION OF CLASSICS from the holdings of the ANU CLASSICS DEPARTMENT MUSEUM The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, 20 March - 28 April 1996 (Exhibition open Wednesday-Sunday 12 noon to 5.00 pm)

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Introduction

The Classics Department Museum was founded in 1962 by Professor Richard Johnson, Professor of Classics at ANU. The intention behind the establishment of the collection has been to give our own students as well as visitors to the University, such as groups of secondary school students, the opportunity to study objects which had been handled, used, or enjoyed by the Greeks and Romans of the ancient world. The collection has been built up primarily from a fund established and maintained by the Faculty of Arts, but it has been enriched by loans and gifts from well-wishers. The Museum collection also contains a number of pieces on loan from the National Gallery of Australia.

The collection on view in the Drill Hall is a small but representative sample of the collection of the Classics Department Museum. Through it we aim to bring to your attention aspects of everyday life in the ancient world, to give you some insight into the cultural practices of this world, especially those which are different from our own, to provide some images of the variety of people who inhabited it, and to describe some of the remarkable techniques which lie behind the production of the items on display. And, of course, we hope that it will encourage you to visit the Museum itself, and to become acquainted with the collection as a whole.

In the ancient world liquids were carried or stored in vessels of baked clay or in skins. Dry goods were stored in pottery vessels. Wood, too, was used in the domestic context - for cups, platters and bowls. Neither wood nor leather from the ancient world has survived into this century in any significant quantity. Our principal reminder of the domestic life of the past is, therefore, the terracotta pot. ( On the development of glass in the ancient world, and its uses, see Case VIII .)

81.01 Amphora, Cypro-Geometric I (1050-950 BC). Height 38.7 cms.

The Cypriot amphora 81.01, like other vessels of similar full-bellied shape, but with a narrow neck, was an ideal vessel for the storage of wine or oil, or, possibly, dry goods. This vessel, dating from the period 1050-950 BC, is a product of the period which immediately follows the end of Bronze Age ci vilization in the Mediterranean world. In terms of its decoration, the pot is in the geometric style, although this vessel is by no means as heavily decorated as geometric pots may be. Its principal decoration consists of a number of bands of a dark umber below a double wavy line at the belly and further bands at the shoulder and neck.

The presence of the Cypriot amphora in this collection reminds us of the importance of Cyprus in the Mediterranean world, particularly in the Bronze Age. It was Cyprus which provided the region with much of the copper (hence its name) used in the manufacture of bronze.

The symposium was a Greek social institution. It was an evening drinking-party held in the home, in the men's quarters, in a room which was set aside for social gatherings. The participants, all men-friends of the host, would recline, garlanded, on couches. After making ritual offerings to the gods, they would drink and converse. The wine they drank was, as always in this world, diluted with water. It was mixed in a large vessel and thence dispensed int o cups. In the course of a symposium the host and his guests might play word-games, sing drinking-songs, tell stories, or gossip. Often a flute-girl, or dancers, would provide musical entertainment.

81.03 Fragment of a terracotta statuette of a reclining symposiast. Tarentum c. 520 BC. Height 36 cms.

The symposiast wears a garland of leaves and fruit. His features are stylized rather than realistic. His protruding lips are shaped into a mysterious, archaic smile reminiscent of slightly older work. The statuette is from Tarentum in South Italy, where a number of Greek colonies had been founded from about C8 BC.

The cup (65.15) is the kind of cup from which a symposiast might drink. It is a so-called black-figure cup: that is, its decorations are painted in a lustrous dark black-brown 'glaze' on the original buff-coloured surface of the clay. Details are incised. The same glaze is used as a wash on other select areas. At the lip of the cup is depicted a ram feeding. Below it is a meaningless inscription of random letters, included, perhaps, for its decorative quality or simply for the pleasure of alphabetic writing (a relatively recent invention in Greece). For other shapes of drinking cup, see the collection in the Classics Department Museum. Sixth-century cups represent a high point of Athenian pottery.

84.02 The Johnson Vase. Attic Black-Figure Belly Amphora, c. 540 BC. Height 40.9 cms.

Amphoras like 84.02 may have been used as storage vessels (the capacity of the Johnson Vase is approximately 12.5 litres) ; or they may have been intended for dedication - as a gift to a god - or for trade. The decoration of the Johnson Vase, like that of 65.15 in Case II, is black-figure. In one of the two reserved picture-panels (side A) is a mythological scene: Herakles, the hero of the twelve labours, fights the Nemean lion. This scene is observed by, perhaps, the goddess Athene on the left and Herakles' charioteer, Iolaos, on the right. On side B is a scene taken from epic, possibly Homer's Iliad. Two warriors, wearing helmets, corselets over a short tunic, and greaves, fight over a fallen warrior. One fights to take the armour of the fallen hero as a prize; the other fights to defend him. Two male attendants, wearing long cloaks, watch on either side.

Note the use of white and red-brown glaze in addition to black-brown. The device on the shield on side B, a tripod (a metallic device used to support cooking vessels over a fire), is white, as are Athene's face and limbs. Her skin, like that of any aristocratic woman, who spends her time indoors, is fair. Red-brown hues are used for contrast in hair and helmets, for example.

On the foot of the vase, on the underside, is a graffitto: the Greek letter u and a second mark, unidentified.

The amphora was purchased in 1984 to commemorate Richard Johnson's term as Professor of Classics at ANU, 1962-1984.

In Cases II and III are examples of black-figure pots, on which the design was painted in black slip onto the pot before firing. The figures appeared in black silhouette against the reddish background of the clay.

In Case IV are some examples of red-figure ware, a technique introduced about 530 BC. The images on red-figure ware are reserved in the colour of the clay and appear against a background of black slip. Inner lines, showing details, are painted in black slip. To achieve this effect it was necessary to sketch figures in outline on the clay surface with a blunt tool. The figures would then be drawn in outline; any inner details were added; and, finally, the background was painted in black. Only after the decoration was completed would the pot be fired.

Case IV contains a selection of four vessels found in the same tomb in a cemetery of a Greek settlement in Apulia in South Italy. The first three, and possibly the fourth, vessels listed below are the work of the one painter, the so-called Menzies Painter. All are painted in the newer red-figure technique. It is interesting to observe the thematic and stylistic consistency of the decoration from vessel to vessel.

The Apulian tomb-group was purchased by the ANU on the advice of Professor Dale Trendall, then Master of University House. Professor Trendall, who died late in 1995, was a highly-respected authority on the red-figure vases of Southern Italy.

This mug with splayed lip has a double handle in the form of a Herculean knot. The painted decoration depicts a woman leaning on a pillar looking towards a seated Eros. She holds an alabastron (?) in her right hand and a chain of flowers in her left. The Eros holds up a wreath in his right hand. There are palmette designs around the handle. A wash covers the inside surface.

This type of mug is similar to the Attic type A, common in red-figure and black-figure in the early fifth century.

Although similar in many respects to 65.25, this cup has a double handle simply treated. The decoration shows a woman seated on an Ionic capital looking back towards a seated Eros. The woman holds a box in her right hand and a bunch of grapes in her left. The Eros is seated on a draped surface and holds a dish (a phiale) in his right hand. There are palmette designs around the handle. A wash covers the inside surface.

The lid of this vessel is missing. Note its high knobbed handles. Side A depicts an Eros seated on a rock with a dish in his right hand. In the field is a rosette and a sash. On Side B a woman is seated on a pile of cushions. She holds a tambourine in her right hand and a wreath in her left. Note the triangular area of red which shows between the woman's face and shoulders and the tambourine. The painter has omitted to paint this area with black slip. There are palmette designs around the handles and, as on 65.25 and 26, a wave pattern beneath the scenes. There is no wash on the inside surface.

This vessel is a vessel used in the rituals of the marriage ceremony. This tomb may, therefore, have been the tomb of a young unmarried girl.

A rhyton is a wine-cup which may also take the form of a horn. The ANU Classics Department Museum contains a number of examples of such cups . The lower part of this finely moulded vessel is in the form of a goat's head. The horns are painted yellow; the eyes are reserved and detailed in black and white. At the deep lip of the cup is a depiction of an Amazon in flight, her arms spread. Her axe and her shield, in the form of a winged Gorgon's head, fall to the ground. In the field on either side is a sash.

Small terracottas such as 75.20 and 78.15 might be acquired as souvenirs or to be given as presents.

The figurine is of orange-buff clay. Note the traces of black paint all over. The gladiator wears a helmet that totally encloses his head. He wears body armour and a greave on his left leg. A short sword is in his right hand. His shield is missing. This heavily-armed type of gladiator is known as the 'Samnite'-type. Representations of gladiators of all kinds were popular in most parts of the Roman Empire: in relief sculpture, mosaics, paintings, even on lamps.

The material is a buff-coloured clay with some white slip and faint traces of colour remaining. Note the vent-hole at the back and the slight flaw where the two halves of the mould were joined. The centurion wears a helmet. His body armour (lorica segmentata ) is as depicted on Trajan's column; it consisted of breast and back plates strengthened by iron hoops around the body and arms. He wears greaves (part of parade dress) and carries an oval shield.

The fabric is buff-coloured clay; the slip is mottled from red-brown to black. The jug is moulded (in two parts, which have been joined) in the form of an old woman seated in a chair. Her age is indicated by the deep lines on her neck and face. Between her knees she clasps a flagon. Her hair is drawn back into a bun and her ears are pierced for earrings. On the underside of the base, in capit als, is the inscription AMO VINV [M] SIC MEDIAM P[ARTEM] VRES SI VERTAS. As this translates freely as "I love wine; so if you turn me up you burn my inside", it is likely that this vessel was used for wine.

The jug was purchased by the Friends of the ANU Classics Department Museum and presented to the Museum in 1987.

The most common source of light in antiquity was the small clay lamp. The body of the lamp was filled with olive oil; a wick was placed in the nozzle. A small lamp gave as much light as a candle. Finds indicate that they were often used in large numbers. Earlier lamps were made on the wheel, but many Roman lamps (i.e. lamps produced in the Roman Empire) were either wholly or partly made in moulds.

The material is a smooth fine orange-buff clay. On the shoulder at each side there is a spray in relief. In the channel at the bridge between the spout and the body is a cross with three dots about it. The junction between the upper and lower halves of the lamp (each is moulded separately) is clearly visible. Note the blackening around the nozzle, which indicates use. Features which suggest a late date are the Christian symbol of the cross, the simple handle, the channelling around the upper face, and the large oil-hole (which doubled as an air-hole) in the centre.

Of pink-buff clay, this lamp has been dipped in red glaze. The lamp is distinguished by its central disc, on which there is a bust of Africa in relief, with incised detail. The lamp's air-hole is to the left of the disc. The handle is double-grooved. The grooves terminate in two dots at the shoulder of the lamp. On the underside of the lamp is the stamped inscription MNOVIVSTI (of Marcus Nouius Iustus), indicating that M. Nou ius Iustus was the lampmaker.

The earliest images of Africa as a personification are to be found in the Hellenistic period. Her headdress in the form of an elephant head with a trunk and horns is a constant element in such representations. During the Republic this image appeared also on Roman coins, especially those issued by individuals who had some association with Africa, such as Pompey.

This lamp, from Tunisia, is of a brick-red fabric. On the central disc notice the superimposed Greek letters chi (\f144 c ) and rho (\f144 r ): the first two letters of Christ's name. Two air-holes have been created in this central area. Surrounding the chi-rho motif is a patterned border of pointed leaves - possibly ivy leaves . The seam of the two halves of the mould, the upper and the lower, has been carefully smoothed.

This North African mould is for the upper side of a series of lamps. The mould has been carved out of the soft limestone. The disc of the lamp is decorated with a design of triangles interspersed with volutes; the border has groups of concentric circles and palm leaves. Three rings appear at the bridge between the disc and the area designated for the spout.

88.01 Roman Terracotta Lamp Carrier, c. C3 AD. Height 24.4 cms.

The fabric is a coarse buff-coloured clay. The carrier, from the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, has an arched aperture, into which a lamp may be placed, and a number of pierced holes which allow ventilation. The handle is a grooved ring.

Purchased by the Friends of the ANU Classics Department Museum and presented to the Museum in 1988.

72.06 Marble Portrait Head of a Woman, mid-second century AD. Height 29.5 cms; width 17.6 cms.

The material is a smooth white fine-grained marble with some grey veins. The head itself is slightly damaged.

The modelling of the face has an air of realism. This is no idealised portrait. The head may be dated by the way in which certain features are treated: the eyes, which have a small drill-hole for the pupil and a circular incision for the iris, suggests a date after the rule of Hadrian (117-138 AD). The waves of hair at the temples and the arrangement of the hair probably belong to the period of the next ruler (Antoninus Pius ruled from 138-161). The hair is parted in the centre at the front and piled high on the head from a roll at the back. It is bound with double braids, knotted at the front.

The origins of glass-manufacture go back to the second millennium BC in Syria and Egypt, but there was little advance in technique until the invention of glass-blowing, probably in Syria, in the first century BC. Until then production of glassware had been laborious, and limited to small luxury items. But now efficient and cheap mass production was possible and new shapes and larger vessels could be made. Under the Roman Empire glass largely replaced pottery for domestic use. Furthermore, the Empire provided ideal conditions for the growth of the glass trade. Remains of foundries have been located in many provinces; it is probable that many of them had been run by Syrian craftsmen. The expression 'Roman glass' refers to glass produced throughout the Roman Empire in the first four centuries AD.

The flask is thin, light, and finely made. The glass is a yellow-green colour, with some clouding on the surface. The vessel has a rolled rim, a funnel mouth with a crease on one side, and a concave base. The form is characteristic of later Roman work and occurs often in Gaul in the third and fourth centuries AD.

The shallow bowl is of pale greenish glass, a colour characteristic of earlier Roman glass. We should bear in mind that it was not possible to produce a colourless glass (see 66.68) until the early second century, when manganese oxide was added. The dish was made by blowing it into a clay mould which would form a ribbed exterior, and, when the glass had cooled, the lip and interior were ground smooth on a lapidary's wheel. The shape occurs over most of the Western Empire: in Gaul, Germany, Spain, and Italy. There are several examples in Corinth as well as to the east.

A clear blown glass jar with a rounded bowl, probably for domestic use. The base is indented. The lip is strengthened by being turned to the inside. This vessel is almost colourless, slightly tinted only by impurities in the sand (see 68.01 above).

A deep manganese-coloured small glass flask, with a depressed rounded body, cylindrical neck and out-turned rim. The whole vessel is decorated with white veining. Such a vessel may have been used for perfumed oil.

71.04 Marble Tablet with Latin Inscriptions , C1 or C2 AD (each side). 35 cms x 19 cms.

On either side of this tablet, which was found in Rome, is an inscription commemorating a death. It is relatively common for tablets to be re-used in this way . Side A reads as follows:

D.M.
M. SERVILIO GEMELLO
VIXIT ANNIS VIIII M. II D. XXVII
FECERVNT PARENTES STEPHANVS
ET FORTVNATA FILIO PIISSIMO
SIBI ET POSTERISQ. EORV M

"To the departed spirit of M. Seruilius Gemellus, who lived for nine years, two months and twenty-seven days: set up by his parents Stephanus and Fortunata for their dutiful son and for themselves and for their descendants."

Note that the son has the three names which indicate Roman citizenship (Marcus Seruilius Gemellus) and that his parents each have only one. This may indicate that they are slaves. If the boy's parents are slaves,

he has attained citizenship by manumission; he is a freedman.

Side A has been published: see Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 6.264049. Side B has not. The tablet had been hung for many years with side A to the front in Lowther Castle, Scotland. Side B reads as follows:

D.M.
ANTONINAE SATV RNINA[E]
SEMPRONIA EPICTESIS
FECIT VERNAE SVAE
LIB. LIBERTABVS
POSTERISQ. EORV M

"To the departed spirit of Antonina Saturnina: set up by Sempronia Epictesis for the girl raised as a slave in her house since childhood; also for their freedm en and freedwomen and for their descendants."

Antonina was a uerna: a slave-girl possibly born in a household, but certainly raised there from an early age. Such slaves were often brought up alongside the children of the master of the house. Their position within the household was to a certain extent privileged.

79.03 Roman Marble Cinerary Urn, second half C1 AD. Height 30.5 cms; width 27.4 cms; depth 22.2 cms.

Urns of this kind are receptacles for the ashes of the dead. The lid of this urn is in the form of a gabled roof. Its pediment is decorated with a circular garland of leaves finishing in scrolls. On either side the gable is flanked by acroteria with half palmettes. The urn is decorated with rosettes and a central panel of inscription:

DIS MANIBVS
NICEPHORI VIX
ANN II MENS
VIII DIEBVS
XVIIII

"To the departed spirit of Nicephor, who lived two years, eight months, and nineteen days."

As in the case of 71.04 we are reminded that many children did not survive into adulthood in the ancient world. But, for all that the death of children was proportionally so much more frequent than today, note that parents commemorate their children with every indication that the loss of this particular child was a source of sorrow.

From classical times the Greeks and then the Romans used inscriptions on stone for official purposes (cf. the funerary inscriptions in Case IX). For day-to-day writing purposes the wax-tablet was used

(see the example in the Classics Department Museum: 73.01). Potsherds (ostraka) were used in Greece as voting tablets, but not for other purposes. But in Egypt, after the Greek conquest, potsherds were used as a writing surface for relatively brief texts: for tax-receipts, lists, magical spells, and religious texts. Papyrus was used first in Egypt, and thereafter was commonly used throughout the Mediterranean world for centuries, until it was superseded by vellum. Papyrus was prepared as a writing surface from the Egyptian reed Cyperus papyrus. Thin slices of the reed were placed in two crosswise layers, one on top of the other; the layers were beaten together and the resulting sheets were polished. The sheets then were glued side by side to form a long scroll. The side with the fibres running horizontally is called the recto and was the preferred side for writing. The other side, on which the fibres are vertical, is called the verso . Papyrus was scarce, with the result that discarded documents might be recycled and new material could be written on the clean side. Papyrus documents have survived until today because they have been preserved in the dry sands of Egypt.

Potsherd inscribed in now faded ink with five lines of Greek. The text is an acknowledgment of the payment of bath-taxes: paid by Dekmos, the son of Heron "for the fifth year for the Northern District". The first payment, made on the 21 Epeiph (15 July), was a payment of four drachmas; the second, made on the following day, was of ten.

The single page is in three pieces, with many gaps. On the recto is a letter in Coptic; on the verso a contract in Greek. The letter, of the period 550-650 AD, seems to be an apology from the elders of the village of Kratos to a Bishop. The letter may be from the archives of the Bishop of Coptos, near Thebes in Upper Egypt.

The contract, probably of the same period, is difficult to decipher because of the ink-strokes with which it was cancelled.

It appears to refer to repayment of grain at harvest-time, and a payment of money. It may therefore be a record of a loan of seed corn. The first fifteen lines of the contract set out the names of the parties (lines 1-3) and the details of the transaction. This is perhaps written by a scribe. In lines 16-18 one of the parties has written a brief statement of his part in the contract (equivalent to a signature in today's practice). The last two lines, written in a third hand, attest the consent of another party who could not write. The clearest section is the bottom right hand corner where the words \f144 kaqw;" protevtaktai ("as set out above"), may be seen in line 18 and, less clearly, in line 19, \f144 ajgrammavtou o[nto [\f144 " ] ("as he is illiterate").

In the ancient world wealth acquired in the form of precious metal could be converted into jewellery to wear or silver plate to display and use in the home. The jewellery of the Greeks was technically very fine, distinguished by two techniques: granulation and filigree work. The Hellenistic era introduced inset gems, a fashion which continued to be popular into later times. In Roman times the technical quality of Greek craftsmanship was maintained in necklaces, pendants, bracelets, and brooches. Finger rings were worn by women as signs of engagement and by men as signets.

The diadem consists of a band of very thin sheet gold with rounded ends and a peak in the centre. There are tie-holes at each end. The decoration is repousse. The main decorative band is a scroll pattern between lines; in the apex is an inverted palmette. Diadems such as this were clearly impractical for everyday use, by virtue of their fragility. They were tied about the heads of deceas ed women and buried with them as part of their funerary adornment. They have been found in most areas of the Greek world, but appear to have been particularly popular in Northern Greece in the early Hellenistic period.

Each of this pair of earrings of the Hellenistic period features a ram's head as a decorative terminal and spirally twisted loops.

Each earring consists of a gold sphere on a circle of gold wire, the ends of which were twisted together to leave a small hoop at the top. The sphere has four indentations arranged regularly around its surface, each decorated with two concentric circles of filigree. The hooks which would have passed through the ears are missing. There is no indication that stones had been inset into the indented circles.

A Roman flexible chain, plaited from fine lengths of worked gold. The chain is finished at each end with a beaten gold endpiece and a loop (not a clasp).

Purchased by the Friends of the Classics Department Museum and presented to the Museum in 1986.

The gold ring is set with a cornelian bearing the intaglio head of a young woman in profile, left. It is likely that the head is a portrait rather than a representation of a goddess, for example. The style recalls the portraits of the wife of Antoninus Pius, Faustina (who died in 141 AD).

The figure stands with left leg bent. She holds a dish (for a ritual) in her right hand and a pomegranate in her left. She appears to be wearing a wreath or a headband about her head. Her figure is flattened, her arms are exaggerated, and her face is rendered without detail. This small bronze was probably a votive object (that is , it was acquired so that it might be offered as a dedication to a god) of a type made in quantity in the later Republican period. A number of similar figures have been found in Latium, the area around Rome.

Elizabeth Minchin
Classics Department
The Australian National University