DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0307
CUPS. 281
daily on the increase j a simple cup, which would hold no more than
three sextani (pints) having been purchased at the price of 70,000
sesterces." lie thus describes the material of which these vases
were made : " The East scuds us murrhina* (the pieces in the
rough). For they are found there in several places, in not very re-
markable parts of the Parthian dominions, principally however in
Carmania. They are supposed to be formed of a moist substance
solidified by subterraneous heat. In superficial extent they never
exceed that required for small dishes (abaci). In thickness, they
are rarely large enough for a drinking cup, such as already men-
tioned. The polish they take is without strength, being rather a
gloss or lustre than a brilliant polish. But their value lies in the
variety of their colours—the spots, or strata, winding around, here
and there, presenting hues of purple and white, and a third colour
made of both, which assumes a fiery tint, as if by the passage of the
colour through the purple, or that the milky white colour assumes
a ruddy glow. Some especially admire in them the ends or
boundaries of the colours, and a certain play of colours, such as
is seen in the rainbow. To others the opaque spots, or strata,
are more agreeable ; any transparency or paleness in them is con-
sidered a defect. Murrhine exhibits also crystals and warts, not
prominent, but frequently as if imbedded in the substance itself.
There is some recommendation also in the agreeable odour."
The material that answers best to this description of Tliny, is
the piece of " murra" found under the ruins of a house by a dealer
iu antiquities in Rome. It was purchased by the Jesuits, was cut
up into thin slices, and now forms the front of the altar in the
Ohiesa del Gesu, at Rome. It fully answers the description of
Pliny. It is purple in colour, with strata of dull white through it;
on the edges of the white layer there is a slight iridescence. In
some parts it has a reddish hue. It exhibits crystals also.f The
specimens of it shown to Mr. Tennant and Mr. Davis of the British
Museum have been pronounced by them to be fluor spar, the white
stratum being a layer of homstone, sometimes, but rarely found
* Here Pliny is evidently speaking of the material itself, pieces in the rough,
and not of vases or vessels as generally understood. _
t If the word " sales," is to be translated crystals, as in Mr. Bostock's translation
of Pliny it would confirm the view of the murrhine being of fluor spar, as fluor is
characterized by crystallizing in regular cubes. Agate exhibits no crystallization.
In further confirmation of the murrhine vases being of fluor spar, we may adduce
Pliny's statement of a person of consular rank, who used to drink out of a murrhine
vase, and'grew so passionately fond of it, as to gnaw its edges ; this could be clone
to fluor spar, as ii is of a very brittle nature, and could be easily abraded by the
teeth, but could not be done to agate or any other siliceous stone.
daily on the increase j a simple cup, which would hold no more than
three sextani (pints) having been purchased at the price of 70,000
sesterces." lie thus describes the material of which these vases
were made : " The East scuds us murrhina* (the pieces in the
rough). For they are found there in several places, in not very re-
markable parts of the Parthian dominions, principally however in
Carmania. They are supposed to be formed of a moist substance
solidified by subterraneous heat. In superficial extent they never
exceed that required for small dishes (abaci). In thickness, they
are rarely large enough for a drinking cup, such as already men-
tioned. The polish they take is without strength, being rather a
gloss or lustre than a brilliant polish. But their value lies in the
variety of their colours—the spots, or strata, winding around, here
and there, presenting hues of purple and white, and a third colour
made of both, which assumes a fiery tint, as if by the passage of the
colour through the purple, or that the milky white colour assumes
a ruddy glow. Some especially admire in them the ends or
boundaries of the colours, and a certain play of colours, such as
is seen in the rainbow. To others the opaque spots, or strata,
are more agreeable ; any transparency or paleness in them is con-
sidered a defect. Murrhine exhibits also crystals and warts, not
prominent, but frequently as if imbedded in the substance itself.
There is some recommendation also in the agreeable odour."
The material that answers best to this description of Tliny, is
the piece of " murra" found under the ruins of a house by a dealer
iu antiquities in Rome. It was purchased by the Jesuits, was cut
up into thin slices, and now forms the front of the altar in the
Ohiesa del Gesu, at Rome. It fully answers the description of
Pliny. It is purple in colour, with strata of dull white through it;
on the edges of the white layer there is a slight iridescence. In
some parts it has a reddish hue. It exhibits crystals also.f The
specimens of it shown to Mr. Tennant and Mr. Davis of the British
Museum have been pronounced by them to be fluor spar, the white
stratum being a layer of homstone, sometimes, but rarely found
* Here Pliny is evidently speaking of the material itself, pieces in the rough,
and not of vases or vessels as generally understood. _
t If the word " sales," is to be translated crystals, as in Mr. Bostock's translation
of Pliny it would confirm the view of the murrhine being of fluor spar, as fluor is
characterized by crystallizing in regular cubes. Agate exhibits no crystallization.
In further confirmation of the murrhine vases being of fluor spar, we may adduce
Pliny's statement of a person of consular rank, who used to drink out of a murrhine
vase, and'grew so passionately fond of it, as to gnaw its edges ; this could be clone
to fluor spar, as ii is of a very brittle nature, and could be easily abraded by the
teeth, but could not be done to agate or any other siliceous stone.