him, or that he could have inherited traditional shapes based on such analyses.

To sum up, when we notice (1) the multiplicity of indices for the containing rectangles, (2) the elaborately various and seemingly arbitrary combinations of sub-rectangles and diagonals by which the chief points of the vase are established, (3) the complete irrelevance of these rectangles to the actual areas of the vase, and especially to the contour-curves which are so largely the animating life of an ancient vase, and (4) the frequent minute divergence between this intricate analysis and the simple ratios of the linear scale, we must allow that Mr. Hambidge's discovery of a farreaching and long-forgotten Graeco-Egyptian lore of dynamic symmetry is still very much sub judice. As it stands, the evidence is ingenious, but ambiguous. A priori, the probabilities are all against its being true.

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE.

RHYS CARPENTER.

Institute of America

ROMAN COOKING UTENSILS IN THE ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY

THE Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto, Canada, although young in years, is unusually rich in the possession of material which illuminates the private life of the Romans in its most intimate daily detail. The opportunity which this museum affords, in the Walter Massey collection, to examine tapestries, towels, sandals and tunics which were used and worn nearly two thousand years ago; to see the hairpins, toilet boxes, mirrors, jewelry, the weaving material and the beautifiers of the ancient Roman lady; to study children's dolls, balls, games and dishes; certainly brings one closer in spirit to the men, women and children who once owned these things, and impresses one with the modernity of the ancients. By no means least of the Museum's treasures, in their importance to the ancient Roman, and, I hope, still of some interest to us today, are the many excellent examples of Roman cooking utensils. These show us that in many respects the cooking utensils of antiquity were the direct ancestors of those of today. Time and experience have enabled us to improve even on the practical Romans from the point of view of utility; yet, with the exception of the fireless cooker, aluminum ware and electrical appliances, there are few modern utensils which were not found in an ancient kitchen.

The commonest and also probably the earliest of Roman cooking utensils is the wide-mouthed terra-cotta bowl, olla or caccabus, in which porridge, vegetables, meat and fowl were cooked. A cooking pot in the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, (G. 1733), is fairly typical of this style. It is made of terra-cotta and measures 8 inches across the mouth. The type has remained permanent and is the direct ancestor of the vessel in which the famous lentil porridge is made by the peasants in Italy today. It was generally placed on a tripod, but might stand directly over the fire. Probably Romulus's dinner of boiled turnips,1 which he is

1 Seneca, Apocolocyntosis Divi Claudii, 9.

American Journal of Archaeology, Second Series. Journal of the
Archaeological Institute of America, Vol. XXV (1921), No. 1.

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represented as enjoying even in the heavens, was cooked in such a pot. In the days of Juvenal,' it was used by the peasants both for cooking and serving. Martial calls it rubra testa.2 "If the pale bean," says he, "boils for you in a red earthen pot (rubra testa) you may scorn the tables of rich patrons.' The same author mentions this vessel again in connection with porridge.3 Apuleius writes of a pretty kitchen maid, Fotis, who prepared mellitum pulmentum in a little olla, ollulam. In our one surviving Roman cook book, Apicius de re coquinaria, this utensil is called olla or caccabus. Many are the things therein referred to, which are cooked in it,5 among others, fish, porridge, beans, peas, fowl, pork, and rabbit.

The great majority of the cooking utensils in the Royal Ontario Museum were found in Egypt. Near Thebes, in what appeared to be the remains of a burnt house, a rather complete kitchen. equipment was discovered. This set belongs to the Walter Massey collection and contains twenty-seven pieces of bronze in an excellent state of preservation, with a beautiful green patina. The quality and the number of the pieces indicate that they come from a rather pretentious establishment, and Professor Currelly calls them "The Cooking Utensils of a Rich Man's House." The vessels are cast and the sheet of the metal is quite thin. Their date is probably the early period after the Roman occupation of Egypt. It is interesting to note that all are designed for stewing or boiling. In this connection, one recalls the statement of Celsus, that food is more digestible when boiled than when fried or broiled. It is also interesting to observe that the small size of these vessels does not indicate that the Romans were gourmands.

1 Juv. Sat. XIV, 169 ff.

2 Epigrams, XIII, 7.

3 Epigrams, XIII, 8.

4 Metamorphoses II, 7.

5 Cf. Apic. II, 41; II, 45 hidrogarata isicia; III, 68 Aliter cucurbitas; IV, 134; IV, 135; IV, 154 Pisces frixos; IV, 160 Mullos; IV, 161 Aliter mullos; V, 185 Pultes; V, 186 Pultes; V, 188; V, 190 Lenticulam; V, 191 Lenticulam de castaneis; V, 194 Pisam farsilem; V, 195; V, 201 Pisam sive fabam; V, 203 Conciclam apicianam; V, 205, 206, 207 grue; VI, 213 In grue vel anate, perdice, turture, palumbo, columbo, et diversis avibus ornas et includis in ollam

.

levas et iterum in caccabum mittis; VI, 216 Aliter gruem vel anatem ex rapis lavas, ornas et in olla elixabis cum aqua levabis de olla; VI, 219; VI, 234 In fenicoptero, fenicopterum eliberas ornas, includis in caccabum; VI, 251 pullum in caccabum; VII, 319 Tubera radis mittis in caccabum VIII, 386 Porcellum in ollam mittes; VIII, 399 Aliter leporem.

There is also a bronze counterpart (G. 1693) of the terra-cotta bowl just mentioned above, which was used for a similar purpose. The height is 6 inches; diameter at mouth, 8 inches. There is a smaller utensil of similar shape (G. 1694) in the same collection. In this collection, also, are three kettles with swinging handles (G. 1700, G. 1715, G. 1716). Each of the handles is bent into a ring at the top so that the caldrons might be hung on a crane, or, to satisfy the Roman sense of order, on the wall when not in use. At the ends, the handles are bent into loops which fit into attachments riveted to the sides of

the caldrons. The rivets are very simple-a piece of metal put through the kettle and hammered flat on either side. G. 1700, the largest of these kettles (Fig. 1), is pear-shaped and is the only one of the three that has a lid. One end of the handle is broken. In the centre of the lid a ring has been fastened, and to this ring a chain of four links is attached. This is part of a chain which was probably originally fastened to the swinging handle, or its attachments, so that the lid might not be lost. This is the arrangement on a Greek caldron of earlier date,1 about the middle of the sixth century, B.C., and on kettles in the Naples Museum (Nos. 24172, and 24173). The dimensions of this kettle are: height with handle 13 inches, height without handle 8 inches, diameter at top 5 inches, girth at widest part 233 inches.

G. 1715 (Fig. 2) is slightly smaller and has no lid. Dimensions: height with handle 12 inches, height without handle 7 inches, diameter at mouth 63 inches, circumference around widest part. 24 inches. This kettle shows an interesting bit of ancient mending. The bottom of the pot evidently burned out. Then a disc of bronze of the exact diameter of the bottom was placed on the 1 Cf. Miss Richter, Metropolitan Museum, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Bronzes, fig. 621.

inside and soldered with soft solder in such

way as to make the kettle water-tight again. The solder has disintegrated and the disc is now loose but still in the kettle.

G. 1700 and G. 1715 belong to the class of utensils which bear the name aeneum, or the more general word for cooking pot,

caccabus; but G. 1716 is probably a situla or kettle for holding hot water, rather than a pot for cooking. Dimensions: height without handle 6 inches, diameter at mouth 6 inches. It had, originally, three feet, which were soldered on, but one is now missing. These feet served the purpose of preventing the hot surface of the bottom of the vessel from coming in contact with the stand or table on which it was placed.

It may be interesting, also, to note in passing a few cal

drons which, though not included in this excellent group, are somewhat similar to those which we have been discussing. G. 2024, of bronze, was found in upper Egypt. Dimensions: height without handle 7 inches, diameter of top 5 inches, girth of widest part 20 inches. It is probably of later date.

Another bronze kettle found in Upper Egypt (G. 2036), has the swinging handle attached in the usual way. This vessel has a very small mouth and must have been used for cooking soup or small vegetables. Dimensions: diameter 3 inches, height with handle 11 inches. Another small bronze caldron which was found in Egypt shows still another method of attaching a swinging handle. The handle has disappeared but sockets are left in the sides of the kettle.

Another interesting utensil in this collection of bronzes from

1 A situla of different shape but with feet similarly attached is shown in Arch. Anz. XV, 1900, p. 188, fig. 14, among other bronzes from Boscoreale, published by Erich Pernice. Three situlae with somewhat similar feet, three each, are given by Willers, Neue Untersuchungen über die römische Bronzeindustrie, taf. V, 1-3.