DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49928#0279
PLATE XCII
Fig. i.—Abacus and Table.
Engraved Gem in the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris.
Fabretti, Corpus Inscriptionum italicarum, No. 2578.
Chabouillet, Catalogue, No. 1898.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., fig. 1.
The calculating board {abacus, cf. Pl. 60, figs. 6, 9, 11) is
set on a three-legged table. The youth is working a sum with
the aid of pebbles (ψήφοι., calculi) and a tablet. Some early
Italian characters (Oscan ?) are inscribed on the latter.
Fig. 2.—Etruscan Deity with an inscribed Diptychon.
Corssen, Etrusker, 1, 19, 5.
Fig. 3.—Ground Plan of the Precinct of Athena with
the Library at Pergamon. Scale in Metres.
Excavated by the German Expedition, 1879-1886.
Built by Eumenes II. (i97-!59 b-c·)·
Conze, Ausgrabungen zu Pergamon, ii., Pl. 2.
Baumeister, Denkmdler, figs. 1403, 1406.
The precinct of Athena stands on the Acropolis above the
great Altar of Zeus (Pl. 15, fig. 2), due north. It is approached
through the citadel gate (“Burg Thor,” in right bottom corner
of plan) the entrance being guarded by a massive tower.
The precinct itself is a terrace, the southern side being sup-
ported by a retaining wall which rises above the theatre on the
slope. The Temple of Athena Polias stands on the western
side. The northern and eastern sides are formed by long
colonnades (στοαί, marked “ Halle ” on the plan). These are
in two stories, the lower with columns 18 feet high. The
balustrade of the upper story is decorated with trophies of
armour in relief, a slab of which is given Pl. 37, fig. 6. The
upper story is on a level with the rising ground behind, and
from it opens a passage leading to a complex of rooms, which
has been identified with the famous Library of Pergamon. The
stone supports for shelves projecting a little from the walls, and
the holes for the iron clamps which secured the woodwork still
remain.
A colossal statue of Athena and a number of bases on
which the busts of famous Greek writers once stood make
the identification almost a certainty. The library (or
“libraries,” Strabo, xiii., § 624) was founded by Eumenes II.
(1:97-159 B.c.) who rebuilt the precinct, adding the colonnade.
The fame of the library rivalled that of the great library at
Alexandria, in which it was absorbed over a hundred years
later, when Antony presented its two hundred thousand
volumes to Cleopatra (Plutarch, Anton. 58).
Its name is still preserved in the word parchment = charta
pergamena, the story (Pliny, N. H, xiii., 11) being that, when
Ptolemy out of jealousy forbade the exportation of papyrus,
Eumenes fell back on skins (δι</>0εραι, membranae) and invented
vellum or parchment. The invention, if the improvement of
a well-known substance for writing can be so called, lay in the
fact that vellum is prepared, so that it can receive writing on
both sides. Whatever the precise improvement was, there can
be no doubt that Pergamon was the head-quarters of the manu-
facture of vellum, and at a later date gave it its name (cf.
Maunde Thompson, Paleography, pp. 35-36.
Fig. 4.— Bookcase and Writing Instruments.
A Miniature. Period of Later Empire.
Garrucci, Storia di arte cristiana, 3, Pl. 126.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., figs. 525, 853.
Molinier, Les Manuscrits, p. 40.
The scribe, whose halo shows him to be a saint (Evangelist ?)
is seated on a cushioned bench with his feet on a stool, writing
in a vellum codex. He is probably illuminating, for a palette
with colours (cf. Pl. 8, fig. 3) lies on a table before him.
Various instruments, a stilus, flask (?), a pair of compasses
(cf. figs. 7-9) and a book lie on the floor. A bookcase (arma-
rium, (cf. Pl. 91, fig. 8) with five shelves fills the background.
It is decorated with painting in the Byzantine style, and con-
tains a number of books (libri) bound in richly decorated
covers, closed with straps or clasps. Two of them are stamped
with the emblem of the cross.
Fig. 5.—Inscribed Potsherd (οστράκου) from Egypt.
End of Sixth Century a.d. In the Imperial Museum,
Vienna.
Wiener Studien, 1882, Pl. 4, p. 314.
Potsherds are constantly found bearing inscriptions scratched
on them with a sharp point. Sometimes these are the owner’s
names, more often dedications to a deity, and occasionally
mottoes or casual memoranda. The formal use of potsherds
at Athens for “ ostracism ” is too well known to need descrip-
tion (cf. Sandys, Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens, p. 88, note).
The Vienna sherd is inscribed with a list of names, pre-
sumably of Coptic Christians; Paulus, Jacob, Damianus
(TAMIAN02), and native names, Pap(nuthius) and Psate, being
still legible.
Fig. 6.—Inscribed Wooden Tablet from Egypt.
Attached to a Corpse.
Revue Archeologique, 1875, N. S., Pl. 5, fig. 41.
The inscription runs Ώ[ρ]ίων νεώτερο? 'Ηλιοδώρου εβίωσεν ετον
εντ/κοντα ττλείου ελατόν.
Fig. 7·—Compasses (Circinus').
From a Relief showing Mason’s Tools on a Tomb
from Rome.
Gruter, Corpus Inscriptionum, Vol. i., Pl. 2, p. 644.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., fig. 1510.
Smith, Diet. Ant. i., p. 429.
Fig. i.—Abacus and Table.
Engraved Gem in the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris.
Fabretti, Corpus Inscriptionum italicarum, No. 2578.
Chabouillet, Catalogue, No. 1898.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., fig. 1.
The calculating board {abacus, cf. Pl. 60, figs. 6, 9, 11) is
set on a three-legged table. The youth is working a sum with
the aid of pebbles (ψήφοι., calculi) and a tablet. Some early
Italian characters (Oscan ?) are inscribed on the latter.
Fig. 2.—Etruscan Deity with an inscribed Diptychon.
Corssen, Etrusker, 1, 19, 5.
Fig. 3.—Ground Plan of the Precinct of Athena with
the Library at Pergamon. Scale in Metres.
Excavated by the German Expedition, 1879-1886.
Built by Eumenes II. (i97-!59 b-c·)·
Conze, Ausgrabungen zu Pergamon, ii., Pl. 2.
Baumeister, Denkmdler, figs. 1403, 1406.
The precinct of Athena stands on the Acropolis above the
great Altar of Zeus (Pl. 15, fig. 2), due north. It is approached
through the citadel gate (“Burg Thor,” in right bottom corner
of plan) the entrance being guarded by a massive tower.
The precinct itself is a terrace, the southern side being sup-
ported by a retaining wall which rises above the theatre on the
slope. The Temple of Athena Polias stands on the western
side. The northern and eastern sides are formed by long
colonnades (στοαί, marked “ Halle ” on the plan). These are
in two stories, the lower with columns 18 feet high. The
balustrade of the upper story is decorated with trophies of
armour in relief, a slab of which is given Pl. 37, fig. 6. The
upper story is on a level with the rising ground behind, and
from it opens a passage leading to a complex of rooms, which
has been identified with the famous Library of Pergamon. The
stone supports for shelves projecting a little from the walls, and
the holes for the iron clamps which secured the woodwork still
remain.
A colossal statue of Athena and a number of bases on
which the busts of famous Greek writers once stood make
the identification almost a certainty. The library (or
“libraries,” Strabo, xiii., § 624) was founded by Eumenes II.
(1:97-159 B.c.) who rebuilt the precinct, adding the colonnade.
The fame of the library rivalled that of the great library at
Alexandria, in which it was absorbed over a hundred years
later, when Antony presented its two hundred thousand
volumes to Cleopatra (Plutarch, Anton. 58).
Its name is still preserved in the word parchment = charta
pergamena, the story (Pliny, N. H, xiii., 11) being that, when
Ptolemy out of jealousy forbade the exportation of papyrus,
Eumenes fell back on skins (δι</>0εραι, membranae) and invented
vellum or parchment. The invention, if the improvement of
a well-known substance for writing can be so called, lay in the
fact that vellum is prepared, so that it can receive writing on
both sides. Whatever the precise improvement was, there can
be no doubt that Pergamon was the head-quarters of the manu-
facture of vellum, and at a later date gave it its name (cf.
Maunde Thompson, Paleography, pp. 35-36.
Fig. 4.— Bookcase and Writing Instruments.
A Miniature. Period of Later Empire.
Garrucci, Storia di arte cristiana, 3, Pl. 126.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., figs. 525, 853.
Molinier, Les Manuscrits, p. 40.
The scribe, whose halo shows him to be a saint (Evangelist ?)
is seated on a cushioned bench with his feet on a stool, writing
in a vellum codex. He is probably illuminating, for a palette
with colours (cf. Pl. 8, fig. 3) lies on a table before him.
Various instruments, a stilus, flask (?), a pair of compasses
(cf. figs. 7-9) and a book lie on the floor. A bookcase (arma-
rium, (cf. Pl. 91, fig. 8) with five shelves fills the background.
It is decorated with painting in the Byzantine style, and con-
tains a number of books (libri) bound in richly decorated
covers, closed with straps or clasps. Two of them are stamped
with the emblem of the cross.
Fig. 5.—Inscribed Potsherd (οστράκου) from Egypt.
End of Sixth Century a.d. In the Imperial Museum,
Vienna.
Wiener Studien, 1882, Pl. 4, p. 314.
Potsherds are constantly found bearing inscriptions scratched
on them with a sharp point. Sometimes these are the owner’s
names, more often dedications to a deity, and occasionally
mottoes or casual memoranda. The formal use of potsherds
at Athens for “ ostracism ” is too well known to need descrip-
tion (cf. Sandys, Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens, p. 88, note).
The Vienna sherd is inscribed with a list of names, pre-
sumably of Coptic Christians; Paulus, Jacob, Damianus
(TAMIAN02), and native names, Pap(nuthius) and Psate, being
still legible.
Fig. 6.—Inscribed Wooden Tablet from Egypt.
Attached to a Corpse.
Revue Archeologique, 1875, N. S., Pl. 5, fig. 41.
The inscription runs Ώ[ρ]ίων νεώτερο? 'Ηλιοδώρου εβίωσεν ετον
εντ/κοντα ττλείου ελατόν.
Fig. 7·—Compasses (Circinus').
From a Relief showing Mason’s Tools on a Tomb
from Rome.
Gruter, Corpus Inscriptionum, Vol. i., Pl. 2, p. 644.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., fig. 1510.
Smith, Diet. Ant. i., p. 429.