DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0489
444 SEPULCHRE CONTAINING A MASK.
All the arms, both offensive and defensive, which have as yet been
found in Greece are of bronze,1 except this iron sword, and a curi-
ous helmet found near Athens.2
The former metal was the most early in use, according to Lu-
cretius :3
" Posterius ferri vis est, aerisque, reperta;
Et prior aeris erat, quam ferri, cognitus usus."
Iron however was used at so early a period as thirteen or fourteen
centuries before Christ. The Curetes are supposed to have disco-
vered it on Mount Ida, during the reign of Pandion, king of Athens.
Hesiod, according to Pliny,4 says, that in early times they worked
in brass, because iron was unknown.
Tzetzes5 informs us, that the ancients had a mode of tempering
brass so as to give it a sharp and durable edge; but that when this
secret was lost iron came into use.
The Greeks valued the shield above all other parts of their armour;
and since it was not discovered in the sepulchre in question, I am
led to imagine, that it was more commonly of wood or leather than
of metal.
Near this sepulchre another was opened, containing only a small
tragic mask of terra cotta, with the mouth wide open, representing
the npotramov, or persona, of the ancients. This may have indicated
the tomb of an actor: but masks0 are so commonly represented
on funereal monuments, that they probably allude to the rites of
Mithras, Osiris, and Bacchus,7 in which they were much employed.
The mask may indeed, in some cases, be an allegorical manner of
1 Excepting also the leaden sling bullets, and flint arrow beads.
2 In the possession of Colonel Leake. 3 B. 5. v. 1285.
* Nat. Hist. b. 7. c 56. s yar. Hist.
0 About masks consult Caylus, Recueil d'Autiquites, torn. 2. p. 80. pi. 26.
7 Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis,
Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta.—Virgil. Georg. 2. v. 387.
All the arms, both offensive and defensive, which have as yet been
found in Greece are of bronze,1 except this iron sword, and a curi-
ous helmet found near Athens.2
The former metal was the most early in use, according to Lu-
cretius :3
" Posterius ferri vis est, aerisque, reperta;
Et prior aeris erat, quam ferri, cognitus usus."
Iron however was used at so early a period as thirteen or fourteen
centuries before Christ. The Curetes are supposed to have disco-
vered it on Mount Ida, during the reign of Pandion, king of Athens.
Hesiod, according to Pliny,4 says, that in early times they worked
in brass, because iron was unknown.
Tzetzes5 informs us, that the ancients had a mode of tempering
brass so as to give it a sharp and durable edge; but that when this
secret was lost iron came into use.
The Greeks valued the shield above all other parts of their armour;
and since it was not discovered in the sepulchre in question, I am
led to imagine, that it was more commonly of wood or leather than
of metal.
Near this sepulchre another was opened, containing only a small
tragic mask of terra cotta, with the mouth wide open, representing
the npotramov, or persona, of the ancients. This may have indicated
the tomb of an actor: but masks0 are so commonly represented
on funereal monuments, that they probably allude to the rites of
Mithras, Osiris, and Bacchus,7 in which they were much employed.
The mask may indeed, in some cases, be an allegorical manner of
1 Excepting also the leaden sling bullets, and flint arrow beads.
2 In the possession of Colonel Leake. 3 B. 5. v. 1285.
* Nat. Hist. b. 7. c 56. s yar. Hist.
0 About masks consult Caylus, Recueil d'Autiquites, torn. 2. p. 80. pi. 26.
7 Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis,
Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta.—Virgil. Georg. 2. v. 387.