Moses, Henry [Hrsg.]: A collection of antique vases, altars, paterae, tripods, candelabra, sarcophagi, &c.: from various museums and collections (Mailand, 1814)

10 V A S £ S.

inscription to the following purport:' My dearPhik, adieu*
This vase to be placed in the second sepulchre.

To state fully the various purposes to which vases were
applied, or to ascertain the particular uses of such of them
as have come down to our own times, would be a vain at-
tempt. From what may be collected from the works of the
Greek and Roman writers, and from the representations of
their uses, as far as they are recorded upon the sculptured
or painted remains of antiquity, it appears that they were
employed in holding the lustral water used in the various
purifications of the ancients, in receiving the blood of the
victinrto be sacrificed, or in containing the consecrated wine
which was to bedew his devoted head. They served also
for the presentation of the first products of the harvest, of
the fruits of the vine, of the flowers, &c. which the grateful
worshipper offered to the gods. A number of votive vases
were to be seen in the lariaries or domestic chapels, where
the images of their gods being very small, the vases conse-
crated to them were proportionably minute. They were
used in the celebration of the Eleusinian and other myste-
ries, were carried ill the public processions* were given as
rewards in the gymnastic exercises, were customary presents
to a friend or a new-married couple, or to a youth upon his
assuming the toga virilis. They were used for various pur-
poses in the public and private baths f, in domestic enter-

* Vide Vignette I. . f Vide Vignette II.