Again, memoranda are found incised on the tiles, as on one at Hooldorn in Holland, KAL · IVNIS · QVARTVS LATERCLOS N(umero) CCXIIII, “Quartus (made) 214 tiles on the first of June”; and on another, found in Hesse in 1838, STRATVRA TERTIA LATERCVLI CAPITVLARES NVM · LEG · XXII, “In the third layer large tiles of the number of the twenty-second legion.”^[2532] A tile found in Hungary had scratched upon it two metrical lines in cursive writing:

and on others names such as Tertius, Kandidus, Verna, were incised.^[2534] Idle boys in the brickfields often seem to have scratched the alphabet or other words in the soft clay, and complete Roman alphabets are found at Hooldorn^[2535] and Stein on the Anger^[2536]; the letters I K L M on one at Winchester^[2537]; on another at Silchester is ... E PVELLAM.^[2538] On a tile in the Guildhall Museum (Fig. 195), found in Warwick Square, E.C., are the words AVSTALIS | DIBVS · III | VAGATVRSIB | COTIDIM, of which no satisfactory translation has been given, but it has been usually regarded as the gibe of a fellow-workman at a devout individual.^[2539] On another, now at Madrid, the first two lines of the Aeneid are written in excellent cursive characters of the first century after Christ.^[2540]

The Roman tiles, if rightly used, are found very useful for judging the dates of buildings. For instance, a study of those in the Pantheon showed that the walls were neither the original ones nor those built by Agrippa in 27 B.C., but were restored in the second century or supplied then with new brickwork. On the other hand, the stamps from the Flavian amphitheatre and Thermae Antoninianae confirm the dates of those buildings. Those tiles which bear the name M. Aurelius Antoninus as consul^[2541] seem to be the Emperor Caracalla’s. In the time of Diocletian the dates cannot be definitely ascertained, but before his time the shape of the stamp is a good criterion. Rectangular stamps are found in the best period, and in the first century B.C. only one line of inscription is usual. Two lines denote the period 50–100 A.D. or later; semicircular or lunate forms came into use under Claudius, and lasted to the end of the first century; perfect circles belong to the same period. The type with the cut-out orbiculus came in about Nero’s reign, and the size of the orbiculus gradually diminishes down to that of Severus, while the inscriptions gradually increase in length.^[2542]

A considerable number of the Roman tiles are inscribed with the names of the consuls of the current year in which they were made, presenting a long and interesting series, from the consulship of L. Licinius Sura and C. Sosius Senecio (A.D. 107) to that of Severus Alexander (A.D. 222). Many of these consulships do not, however, appear to have been recorded in the regular fasti consulares or official lists, and they were probably suffecti, whose names were not recorded after their temporary elevation. It seems likely that the occurrence of consuls’ names implies that such tiles were destined for public buildings, and were so marked to prevent their being stolen with impunity. They are fewer in number than those which have merely the names of praedia or potteries, but are yet sufficiently numerous to be an invaluable aid in tracing the succession for upwards of sixty years. Inscriptions of this class are only found on opus doliare, and chiefly in Italy. Their appearance is probably due to some law passed by the Senate about the reign of Trajan to regulate the potteries. As an example may be given a tile from Hooldorn in the Netherlands, inscribed SVB · DIDIO · IVLIANO · COSS^[2543]; the date is A.D. 179, the name being that of the future emperor (COSS is a mistake for COS).

The following examples are taken from Dr. Dressel’s scheme of the chronological order of the stamps,^[2544] and show the style of inscription characteristic of the different periods:

I. First century after Christ.

1.  (a) With name of master only (either of praedia or figlinae):

Asini Pollionis.

(b) With name of officinator or potter:

C. Cosconi.

2.  (a) Master and potter (often a slave):

Felicis Domiti Afri.

(b) Master and conductor (lessee of the pottery), or potter:

Tegula C. Cosconi, figuli Asini Pollionis.

3.  (a) Master, potter, and name of pottery:

Amoeni duorum Domitiorum Lucani et Tulli, ex figlinis Caninianis.

(b) Master, lessee or potter, name of pottery:

T. Grei Ianuari ex figlinis Caninianis duorum Domitiorum.

II. Second century to third century.

1.  (a) Ex praedis L. Memmi Rufi.

(b) Opus doliare L. Bruttidi Augustalis.

L. Lurius Martialis fecit.

2.  (a) Ex figlinis (vel praedis) Domitiae Lucillae, opus doliare Terti Domitiae Lucillae (vel ab Tertio servo).

(b) C. Comini Proculi ex praedis Domitiae Lucillae.

Ex figlinis Q. Asini Marcelli doliare opus fecit C. Nunnidius Fortunatus.

Opus doliare ex praedis domini n(ostri) ex conductione Publiciaes Quintinae.

3.  (a) Ex figlinis (vel praedis) Caepionianis Plotiae Isauricae, fornace Peculiaris servi.

(b) Opus doliare ex praedis duorum Augustorum nostrorum, figlinis Domitianis minoribus, Fulvi Primitivi.

During the greater part of the third century chronological indications are absent, but about the time of Diocletian the practice of signatures is revived. The inscriptions, however, differ now from the earlier ones, not only in the forms of the letters and of the stamp, but also in style; they are less regular in form, and present several peculiarities. The expressions opus doliare and ex figlinis are now no longer found, and in place of the latter officina is invariable. Many of the officinae are the same as in the former period, but new ones, such as the Britannica, Claudia, Gemella, and Jobia, occur, the latter with the cognomen Diocletiana. Officina is sometimes used twice over, for the pottery and for the workshop. In place of praedia we have such expressions as statio, rationes, or possessiones. Formulae are introduced in an abbreviated form which give the method of administration or character of the estates: as R · S · P, ratio summae patrimonii or privatae; S · P · C, stationis patrimonii Caesaris; S · R for summae rei or stationis Romanae; S · P for summae privatae or stationis patrimonii; S · R · F for sacrae rationis fisci; or simply S for stationis or summarum.^[2545] Apparently several stationes might be united in one officina, or several officinae in one administratio; the number of the statio is given in some instances. The name of the statio may be replaced by that of the potter; or merely the administratio is given, as OFF · PRIVATA. Besides the names of master, lessee, and potter, that of the negotiator is sometimes mentioned. We also find the portus or depôt in which the tegulae were stored for distribution, as PORTU LICINI,^[2546] or the name of the building for which they were destined, as PORTVS AVGVSTI,^[2547] CASTRIS PRAETORI(s) AVG(usti) N(ostri), HORREIS POSTVMIANIS.^[2548] Some tiles dug up in Lambeth Hill, London, on the site of the Post Office, now in the British and Guildhall Museums,^[2549] were impressed with the letters P · P · BR · LON or PR · BR · LON (Fig. 196), which have been interpreted as publicani provinciae Britanniae Londinienses.^[2550]

Tiles made for military purposes are exceedingly common in the later period, and the stamps probably had a double use. In the first place, they show that they were made by the soldiers, from which we learn that in the legions, as in a modern army, there were many men acquainted with handicrafts. Secondly, they prevented theft or removal of the tiles, and served as a “broad arrow” to denote public property. They are not, of course, found in Rome, where there was no necessity for the legions to make bricks or tiles; here the camp seems to have been supplied by private individuals.

Of special interest are the inscriptions stamped on tiles which relate to the military divisions stationed throughout the provinces of the vast empire. These are found in soldiers’ graves (see above, p. 351), as well as in their camps and quarters; they contain the names and titles of the legions, and mark the extent of Roman conquest. Thus the route of the thirty legions through Germany has been traced; and in Britain an examination and comparison of such tiles shows the distribution of military force and the migrations of different legions from one quarter to another. The stamps are in the form of long labels (tesserae), circles, or crescents, occasionally surrounded by a wreath, or else in the shape of a foot, an ivy-leaf, or a vase; the letters are in relief, sharply impressed, as if from a metal die. The names and titles of the legions are given either in initials or in contractions, as LEG · II · P(arthicae), and so on (see above, p. 351); sometimes the potter’s name is added, with FIGVLVS or FECIT.^[2551]

The tiles of the first legion have been found at Mainz and Nimeguen; those of the second, or Parthian, at Darmstadt, Ems, Hooldorn, Caerleon, and the Lake of Nemi^[2552]; of the third, in Scotland; of the fourth, at Mainz; of the fifth, in Scotland, and at Baden, Cleves, Xanten, and Nimeguen; of the sixth, at Nimeguen, Neuss, Aix-la-Chapelle, Darmstadt, and Windisch; the seventh, at Aix-la-Chapelle and Xanten; the eighth, at Mainz, Baden, and elsewhere; the ninth, at Baden and York; the tenth, at Nimeguen, Hooldorn, Vienna, and Jerusalem; the twentieth, at Chester^[2553]; and so on down to the thirtieth.^[2554] At Bonn tiles have been found of the Legio Cisrhenana on the left bank of the Rhine, and of the Legio Transrhenana on the right bank. Cohorts have also left their names on tiles: the second Asturian at Acsica on the Roman Wall^[2555]; the fourth (Breucorum), at Huddersfield^[2556]; the fourth Vindelician, at Frankfurt, Mainz, and Wiesbaden^[2557]; the Ulpian Pannonian at Buda-Pesth.^[2558] The vexillationes, whose main body was at Nimeguen, are similarly recorded; a British vexillatio was attached to the army at Hooldorn^[2559] and Nismes, and another to that of Lower Germany, as instanced by tiles inscribed VEX · EX · G · INF (vexillatio exercitus Germaniae inferioris), found at Utrecht and Nimeguen in the Netherlands, and at Xanten in Germany.^[2560] Tiles of the British fleet, CL(assis) BR(itannica), have been found at Boulogne, Lympne, and Dover.^[2561]

2. TERRACOTTA MURAL RELIEFS

Terracotta mural decoration was largely employed by the Romans for the interior and exterior of their buildings, in the form of slabs, ornamented with reliefs, which were placed round the impluvium or on the walls. Sometimes they seem to have formed a sort of hanging “curtain” round the lower edge of the cornice, as the open-work patterns along the edges seem to imply, a method of decoration which we have already met with at Civita Lavinia (Vol. I. p. 101), where also the hanging slabs are bordered with patterns in outline or open-work. But, as also at Civita Lavinia, these slabs seem to have been frequently used as antepagmenta,^[2562] being pierced with holes, which imply that they were nailed against the walls. In the Casa dei Cecilii at Tusculum there is evidence that they were used as wall-friezes,^[2563] and those found at Pompeii (where they are very rare) also have holes for fastening to walls. It may be to the first-named variety that Festus refers when he speaks of antefixa of fictile work which are affixed to the walls underneath the gutters.^[2564] There is also a reference to them in Cicero, who, in writing to Atticus, says, “I entrust to you the bas-reliefs (typos) which I shall insert in the cornice of my little atrium.”^[2565]

The slabs are usually about 18 inches long by 9 or more high, and 1 to 2 inches thick; they have nearly all been found at Rome, but specimens are also known from Civita Lavinia, Cervetri, Nemi, Pompeii, and Atri in Picenum.^[2566] The British Museum possesses a very fine series, numbering, with fragments, one hundred and sixty, nearly all of which were collected by Mr. Charles Towneley at Rome^[2567]; and there is an equally fine collection in the Louvre, which came from Signor Campana, who devoted a large work to the illustration of them.^[2568] Other good examples, some of which were found in the Baths of Caracalla, are in the various collections at Rome.^[2569]

The reliefs were evidently cast in moulds, as many subjects are repeated over and over again, or at least with only slight differences; moreover, the relief is low, with sharp and definite outlines, such as a mould would produce. Among the British Museum examples a group of Eros, a Satyr, and a Maenad is repeated in three cases (D 520-522), with no variations except in the colouring; another of Dionysos and Satyr three times (D 528-530), with only one small variation. It is evident that in the latter, as in some other cases, the relief had been retouched before baking. Reliefs entirely modelled are of much rarer occurrence, but exhibit considerable artistic feeling and freedom, as in an instance in the British Museum (D 651), which represents the sleeping Endymion; the hair is so fine and deeply cut that it could not possibly have been produced from a mould. The moulds may have been made of various materials—wood, stone, metal, or gypsum, as well as terracotta. Circular holes are left in the slabs for the plugs—usually of lead—by which they were attached to the woodwork or masonry. The clay varies in quality and appearance, being often coarser than that of Greek reliefs, and mixed with coarse sand in order to make it stronger and more durable; in tone it varies from a pale buff to dark reddish-brown. Traces of colouring are often found on the slabs,^[2570] and the background in some cases (as B.M. D 577, 623) was coloured a bright blue; the figures, or more often details such as hair, etc., were usually painted red, yellow, purple, or white. These colours are not fired, as in the earlier terracotta reliefs, but painted in tempera, and their use is entirely conventional. The slabs are ornamented above and below with bands or cornices in the form of egg-and-tongue mouldings, or a system of palmettes and intersecting arches; these are sometimes in low relief on a band, sometimes partly in outline or open-work.

The figures are mostly in low relief, being usually grouped with large flat surfaces between, in the manner of Hellenistic art; in some cases the design is composed in such a way that the whole surface (except the principal figures) is occupied by patterns of scroll-work or foliage, more or less conventional. The compositions are either in the form of narrow friezes, usually with rows of busts or figures of Cupids, or square metope-like groups with two or three figures on a large scale. For the narrower slabs the busts were preferred, owing to the scope they gave for high relief, which better suited the distance from the eye; but this rule is not invariable. The style is, in general, bold and vigorous, and, though essentially architectural, not devoid of dignity and beauty; but it is somewhat conventional, and at times even archaistic.^[2571] Those found at Pompeii are usually of remarkably good style, especially the Nereid frieze,^[2572] with its rich colouring. These are earlier than the earthquake of A.D. 63, and probably belong to the Augustan period, to which also the majority may be assigned. On one or two names of potters are found, such as Annia Arescusa(na) and M. Antonius Epaphras in the British Museum.^[2573]

The subjects on these reliefs cover a very wide field, almost as wide as those on the painted vases, and quite as wide as those on the Roman lamps. In many cases they are doubtless copies of well-known works of art, and may even go back to prototypes of the fifth century, as in the case of a figure of a girl in the British Museum (D 648), or one of Eros, conceived as a full-grown youth, in the Campana collection.^[2574] Others, again, present points of comparison with the Hellenistic reliefs, as is the case with that representing the visit of Dionysos to a mortal (B.M. D 531). Lastly, we find in the reliefs, as also on the Arretine vases (below, p. 492), a series of types closely related to the New Attic reliefs, in which it was sought to revive an older style^[2575]; among the types borrowed from these originals are Maenads in frenzy or dancing in various attitudes,^[2576] and the figures of the four Seasons.^[2577] Among those which reflect the character of their time rather than the spirit of Greek art, we have representations of Egyptian landscapes, or Egyptian deities and emblems; scenes from the circus or gladiatorial arena; and quasi-historical subjects, such as triumphs over barbarian enemies. Of mythological subjects, the most popular are Dionysiac scenes or groups; next to these, Apollo, Aphrodite, Eros, and Victory. Heroic legend is represented by the labours of Theseus, Herakles, Perseus, and Jason, and occasional scenes from the Iliad and Odyssey. Lastly, there are a certain number which are purely decorative, with a single figure of Eros or Victory (treated in archaistic fashion), or an ideal head surrounded by elaborate and graceful scrolls or acanthus foliage; others, again, have conventional groups of two priestesses or canephori, with a candelabrum or a foliated pattern between (Plate LXII.), a mask between two Cupids, and so on. Even the figures in some cases tail off into conventional patterns.^[2578]

To mention a few of the more interesting subjects in detail, it may suffice to quote examples from the two best-known collections—those of the British Museum and Louvre. Beginning with the Olympian deities, we have the infant Zeus in the cave on Mount Ida, protected by the Curetes, who dance above him, wielding swords and shields (Plate LXI.); in one instance he is in his nurse’s arms.^[2579] On a narrow frieze the busts of Zeus, Ares, Hera, and Athena are represented^[2580]; Apollo receives a libation from Victory,^[2581] or a warrior consults his oracle, indicated by a bird in a cage^[2582]; Aphrodite is seen riding on a sea-horse or on a goose.^[2583] Eros or Cupid appears in various attitudes and combinations of figures: flying, embracing Psyche, or being embraced by a Satyr; accompanying Aphrodite, Triton, and the Nereids; a pair on either side of a mask of Triton or Medusa; or a group of three struggling under the weight of a heavy garland of fruit and flowers.^[2584] Busts or masks of Demeter,^[2585] Zeus Ammon, and Triton are also found; a group of Aphrodite and Peitho; and the three Eleusinian deities, Demeter, Persephone, and Iacchos.^[2586]

The Dionysiac scenes are very frequent, though often of little interest, and mere groups without definite action. The best known is the reception of Dionysos in the house of a mortal,^[2587] a subject formerly interpreted as his reception by Ikarios at Athens (cf. p. 139); this type is remarkable for its rich and elaborate composition, probably derived from a Hellenistic original. A very effective composition is that of a dancing Satyr and Maenad swinging the infant Dionysos in a λίκνον (vannus) or winnowing-van, which serves as his cradle (Plate LXII.).^[2588] Among other scenes may be mentioned Dionysos giving drink to a panther; two Satyrs standing on tiptoe to peep into a laver; Satyrs gathering or pressing grapes (of which many replicas exist), or working an oil-press; Ampelos (the personified vine) between two Satyrs^[2589]; Bacchic processions, sacrifices, or ceremonies^[2590]; and friezes of Bacchic masks and masks of Pan.^[2591]

Among other deities Victory is by far the most common. She is usually represented slaying a bull for sacrifice, a subject of which there are two principal varieties, according as she turns to right or left. The motive is a well-known one, and found in fifth- and fourth-century art, from the balustrade of the Nike temple at Athens onwards.^[2592] She is also depicted flying with a wreath, or as a conventional archaistic figure between tendrils and scrolls.^[2593] Of the figures of the Seasons we have already spoken; they are characterised by the attributes they carry, as a kid for Spring, corn for Summer, fruit for Autumn, and a hare and boar for Winter. Masks of Medusa, Sirens, and Sphinxes (both male and female) are found in compositions of a decorative character.

Of heroic legends, the rape of the Leukippidae by Castor and Pollux is repeated more than once^[2594]; Herakles is seen contending with the Nemean lion, the hydra, and the Cretan bull, and with Apollo for the Delphic tripod^[2595]; Theseus raises the rock which discloses his father’s weapons (Plate LXI.), contends with the Marathonian bull, or overcomes a Centaur; Jason builds the Argo, superintended by Athena, and, assisted by Medeia, obtains the golden fleece; Perseus rescues Andromeda, and brings the Medusa’s head to Athena; Aktaeon is slain by his hounds.^[2596] The Homeric scenes include Paris carrying off Helen from Sparta (or, as some interpret it, Pelops with Hippodameia); Nestor healing the wounded Machaon with a potion^[2597]; Priam bringing offerings to Achilles; Penelope mourning for the absent Odysseus; Odysseus recognised by Eurykleia; and Orestes on the Delphic omphalos.^[2598] There are also numerous semi-mythical scenes, such as combats between Amazons and Gryphons, between Amazons and Greeks, or between Arimaspi and Gryphons.^[2599]

With the exception of the Roman subjects from the circus and arena, the remaining subjects are purely decorative, and of little interest; the former, some of which have reference to the conquest of Dacia, admit of the dating of the reliefs in the reign of Trajan. Others depict gladiators contending with lions; chariots racing in the circus, which is indicated by the obelisks and other adornments of the spina; or colonnades adorned with statues of boxers and victorious athletes.^[2600] Some of the Egyptian subjects are interesting for their local colouring, with their representations of the Nile, on which pygmies ply a boat, among hippopotami, crocodiles, and lotos-flowers, and ibises^[2601]; but these compositions are more curious than artistically effective.

II. Sculpture

1. ROMAN STATUES AND STATUETTES

In the earlier ages of Rome the laws and institutions, based without doubt on the sentiments of the people, were unfavourable to art. Numa was said to have prohibited the representation of the deity in human form,^[2602] and the statues of great men were not allowed to exceed three Roman feet. To women the privilege of having statues was not conceded until much later. Pliny constantly compares the luxury of his own day with the simplicity of early times, to the disadvantage of the former, dwelling fondly on the times when men could be content with plain terracotta images, and it was not necessary or possible to make a display of silver and gold.

Most of the ancient statues of the Romans were of terracotta, a fact to which constant allusion is made by their writers. Juvenal speaks of “a fictile Jove, not spoiled by gold”^[2603] and Propertius speaks of the early days of the golden temples, when their gods were only of clay.^[2604] Similarly Pliny expresses his surprise that, since statuary in Italy goes back to such a remote period, statues of clay should even in his day still be preferred in the temples.^[2605] Vitruvius alludes to the favourite Tuscan fashion of ornamenting pediments with signa fictilia,^[2606] examples of which, he says, may be seen in the temple of Ceres in the Circus Maximus (see below), and the temple of Hercules at Pompeii. Cicero speaks of a statue of Summanus on the pediment of the Capitoline temple “which at that time was of terracotta,”^[2607] and Livy^[2608] tells how in 211 B.C. a figure of Victory on the apex of the pediment of the temple of Concord was struck by lightning and fell, but was caught on the antefixal ornaments, also figures of Victory, and there stuck fast. Though not stated to be of terracotta, these figures would hardly be of any other material at that period. Other allusions may be found in Ovid and Seneca.^[2609]

In the early days of the Republic art was clearly at a very low ebb—in fact, Roman art can hardly be said to have existed—and everything was either borrowed from the Etruscans or imported from Greece. Hence the statues of terracotta which adorned their temples are spoken of as signa Tuscanica. The most celebrated works in ancient Rome were made by artists of Veii or the Volscian Fregellae, such as the famous quadriga on the pediment of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and the statue of the god himself, described elsewhere (p. 314), which were made by Veientine artists in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. Numa, ever attentive to Roman arts and institutions, is said to have founded a corporation or guild of potters.^[2610] In 493 B.C. Gorgasos and Damophilos, natives of Himera in Sicily, ornamented with terracotta reliefs and figures the temple of Ceres at Rome (now Santa Maria in Cosmedin).^[2611] Their work, which is alluded to by Vitruvius in the passage referred to above, was probably Greek rather than Etruscan in style, as we have seen to be the case generally with the archaic terracotta relief-work of Italy (p. 317). In the reign of Augustus the temple was restored, and so great was the esteem in which the works of these old masters were held that they were taken out of the walls and framed in wood.

Coming down to later times, Possis, “who made fruit and bunches of grapes,” and Arkesilaos are cited by Pliny,^[2612] on the authority of Varro, as modellers in clay. The latter made for Julius Caesar a statue of Venus, which, although unfinished, was highly prized. Pliny also mentions a terracotta figure of Felicitas made by order of Lucullus.^[2613] It seems probable that the extensive use of terracotta was mainly due to the absence of white marble in Italy, none being discovered till imperial times. The siege of Corinth, which unfolded to the eyes of the Romans an entirely new school of art in the quantities of Greek masterpieces carried by Mummius to Rome, as also the conquest of Magna Graecia and other parts of Greece, caused the old fashion of sculpture in terracotta to fall into contempt and neglect. Henceforth the temples of the gods and houses of the nobility became enriched and beautified with the spoils of Greek art in all materials. Even at an earlier period (195 B.C.) Cato in vain protested against the invading flood of luxury, and especially against the new taste in sculpture. “Hateful, believe me,” says he, “are the statues brought from Syracuse into this city. Already do I hear too many who praise and admire the ornaments of Corinth and Athens, and deride the terracotta antefixes of the Roman gods. For my part I prefer these propitious gods, and hope they will continue to be so, if we allow them to remain in their places.”^[2614] Yet up to the close of the Republic, and even later, great works continued to be executed in terracotta, and were much esteemed.^[2615] The statue made for Lucullus is an instance, and existing statues in this material, which we shall shortly discuss, are probably of early Imperial date.

Few statues of any size in this material have escaped the ravages of time, but there are some specimens to be seen in our museums. In the Vatican is a figure of Mercury about life-size,^[2616] and in the British Museum a colossal torso,^[2617] to which the head and limbs had been mortised separately. A head of a youth from a large statue, found on the Esquiline, was exhibited in 1888 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club.^[2618] A series of female figures, including a seated Athena, ranging from two to four feet in height, was found in a well near the Porta Latina at Rome in 1767.^[2619] They were purchased by the sculptor Nollekens, who restored them and sold them to Mr. Towneley, from whom they were acquired for the British Museum. They are made of the same clay as the mural reliefs already described, and are supposed to have decorated a garden. Some of them have been identified, on somewhat slight authority, as the Muses Ourania, Calliope, and Thaleia; there are also two terminal busts of the bearded Indian Bacchus, which show some traces of conventional archaism in their style. Other large figures have been found at Nemi and Ardea in Latium, the latter being now in the Louvre.^[2620]

At Pompeii in 1766 three pieces of colossal sculpture in terracotta were found in the temple of Aesculapius, representing a male and female deity and a bust of Minerva with her shield. The two former used to be identified as Aesculapius and Hygieia, but it is more probable that they are Jupiter and Juno, making, with the bust, the triad of Capitoline deities,^[2621] a subject found on lamps at Pompeii. The execution is careful, and they seem to date from the latter half of the first century B.C. They formed the cult-statues of the temple. Other statues appear to have been employed for adorning gardens, or for niches in private houses, among which are a portrait of a seated physician of great originality,^[2622] a nude boy, and two actors.^[2623] A figure of Eros appears to have been attached to a wall as an ornament^[2624]; a fragment of a colossal Minerva found in a niche near the Porta Marina is an excellent example of sculpture of the first century B.C. Figures were also employed as architectural members, such as the Atlantes supporting the entablature in the tepidarium of the Thermae in the Forum,^[2625] dating from the Augustan period; the former seem to be copied from originals in tufa. Of later date is a Caryatid figure, probably of the Neronian epoch.^[2626] These sculptures are all of great importance for the history of art at the end of the first century B.C., and as showing the continued popularity of terracotta; the fashion, however, did not outlive the reign of Nero, and all those in Pompeii must be anterior to the earthquake of A.D. 63.

Sculptors sometimes made preliminary models in clay of the statues which they intended to execute in bronze and marble. This was not a common practice with the Greeks, and the first sculptor who made use of it, according to Pliny,^[2627] was Lysistratos, the brother of Lysippos. But at Rome in the time of Augustus it became much more frequent; Pasiteles is said by Pliny^[2628] never to have made a statue except in this manner. These models, known as proplasmata, were much sought after, as exhibiting the artist’s style and powers of conception in the most free and unfettered manner, and those of Arkesilaos, another artist of the period, fetched a high price.^[2629]

Terracotta statuettes, similar in proportions and subjects to those of Greece, are found in houses and tombs of the Roman period, and also as votive objects on sacred sites. They were known to the Romans as sigilla, and were employed as toys and presents, or placed in the lararia or domestic shrines; the same subjects are found applied to all these uses. Thus in the lararia were placed not only figures of deities, such as Venus, Mercury, or Bacchus, but masks, busts of children, and so on.^[2630] Sometimes they served to decorate the walls, as in the house of Julia Felix at Pompeii, where in the wall surrounding the garden were eighteen niches, containing alternately marble terms and terracotta figures, one of the latter representing a woman feeding a prisoner with her own milk.^[2631] In the Via Holconia forty-three terracotta figures from a workshop were found, showing that there was a local manufacture at Pompeii; the types were the same as in the houses.^[2632] It is noteworthy that the terracottas, of which some two hundred have been found, were nearly all from the lower parts of the city and the inferior houses, or in the domestic quarters of the large houses. This implies that the richer Romans preferred bronze statuettes for their shrines and household decoration. Comparatively few were found in tombs.

A few notices relating to terracotta figures are found in Roman authors. Martial speaks of a statuette of Hercules, which he calls sigillum^[2633]; he also alludes to a caricature of a man which was so repulsive that Prometheus could only have made it when intoxicated at the Saturnalia, and to a grotesque mask of a Batavian.^[2634] In another epigram he refers to the imitation of a well-known statue of a boy in terracotta.^[2635] Persius speaks of clay dolls (pupae) dedicated by a maiden to Venus,^[2636] and Achilles Tatius of clay figures of Marsyas made by coroplathi.^[2637] Elagabalus, by way of a jest, used to place viands made of earthenware before his parasitical guests, and force them to enjoy a Barmecide feast.^[2638]

There is also an interesting passage in the Satires of Macrobius relating to the festival of the Sigillaria,^[2639] at which large numbers of terracotta masks and figures were in demand. This festival took place on the twelfth to the tenth days before the Kalends of January, forming the fifth to seventh days of the Saturnalia, and corresponding to the 21st to 23rd of December. Ausonius says that the festival was so named from the sigilla or figurines,^[2640] and Macrobius more explicitly states that it was added to the Saturnalia to extend the religious festival and time of public relaxation.^[2641] Subsequently he diverges into an excursus on the origin of the feast, more curious than convincing. Epicadus is quoted by him as referring it to the story of Hercules on his return from slaying Geryon, when he threw into the river from the Pons Sublicius images of men which represented his lost travelling-companions, in order that they might be carried by the sea to their native shores.^[2642] His own view is that they represent expiatory offerings (piacula) to Saturn, each man offering an oscillum or mask on his own behalf in the chapel of that god. Hence, he says, sigilla were made by the potter and put on sale at the Saturnalia.^[2643] Elsewhere he states that clay oscilla were given to children as playthings at this season even before they had learned to walk.^[2644] The festival was indulged in by all classes of society, who vied in making presents of statuettes and figures to one another^[2645]; and we are told that Hadrian exchanged gifts with others, and even sent them to those who did not expect to receive them.^[2646] Similarly, Caracalla, when a child, gave to his tutors and clients, as a mark of condescension, those which he had received from his parents.^[2647]