was applied to a little fork with three teeth, for kitchen use only, as the Romans had no forks for eating. Perhaps no other cooking utensil is mentioned more frequently in Latin authors than the knife, although the Romans knew nothing of its use at table, except as a carving knife. From the days of Plautus down, the cook is regularly represented as armed with this weapon,' his attribute, so to speak, which he uses as the occasion demands. Plautus makes Congrio say that it is a fitting weapon for a cook, and a culinary artist, Machaerio, in the Aulularia receives his name from this necessary kitchen utensil. In the Miles Gloriosus, the following command is addressed to the chef Cario: "Culter probe." The cook in Petronius seizes his knife and slashes a pig, and in the Testamentum Porcelli Magirus cocus says: "Transi puer, affer mihi de cocina cultrum ut hunc porcellum faciam cruentum." The cook in Apuleius begins sharpening his knives to slay an ass. The Royal Ontario Museum possesses several specimens of this kitchen utensil, which were found in the Fayum, Egypt, and date from the Roman period, the first to the third century A.D. The handles are wooden, the blades iron, and are decorated in some cases with incised lines in designs similar to those found on the fryingpans. One has an inscription. In some cases there are iron bracelets for holding fast the wooden handles. The length of the knives varies from 9 to 13 inches. With the knives may be mentioned also an iron instrument which I think was a meat mincer, G. 652 (Fig. 12). It resembles FIGURE 12.-MEAT MINCER FROM UPPER EGYPT: TORONTO. closely certain kitchen utensils of modern days. It was found in upper Egypt, and consists of a somewhat crescent-shaped blade of iron with two uprights. Rings of iron, through which a wooden handle, now missing, once passed, were riveted to this piece. The state of preservation is good. The space between the rings is just large enough for the hand grasp. Dimensions: length 111 inches, depth 3 inches, blade 1 inch wide, width between rings 34 inches. One wonders if the kitchen maid Fotis whom Apuleius1 mentions may not have been using such an instrument. He says: "Suis parabat viscum fartim concisum et pulpam frustratim consectam." Not only was a large mortar used for crushing grain2 which was to be made into bread, but from the recipes in Apicius de re coquinaria we know that a smaller mortar for pounding pepper and other condiments was a necessary kitchen utensil. Of the large mortar, the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology shows several examples, one of black basalt which was made for that purpose, and a marble Corinthian capital which was hollowed out and used as a mortar. There are also several very interesting small mortars which were probably used for condiments, or, possibly, for medicine. One (G. 1641) is of stone and has had a small piece broken out on one side. It comes from the Fayum, Egypt, and is 5 inches in diameter. Another is of basalt and is similar in material and shape to the large basalt mortar. Plautus tells us that neighbors were wont to borrow mortars from each other. Many recipes in Apicius3 bid the cook pound pepper and dry mint, ginger, coriander, anise seed, or rue. Indeed, adicies piper in mortarium, fricabis or teres is a very common refrain in Apicius. Many references to the mortarium may be culled from that ancient cook book. 1 Metamorphoses II, 7. 2 Plaut. Aul. 95. 3 Apic. III, 98. In mortario teres piper ligisticum origanum, cepam, vinum, liquamen et oleum; III, 99. api semen, mentam siccam, cepam, liquamen, oleum, vinum; I, 41, Adicies in mortarium piper, ligisticum, origanum, fricabis in se, commisces in caccabum; III, 67. adicies in mortarium piper et ciminum, silfi modice (id est lasaris radicem) rutam modicam; III, 98 in mortario teres piper, etc.; IV, 117, Aliter sala cottabia apiciana; adicies in mortario api semen, puleium aridum, mentam aridam, gingiber, coriandrum viride, etc.; IV, 118, adicies in mortarium piper, mentam, alium coriandrum viride, caseum bubulum, sale conditum aquam, oleum, in super vinum et inferes; III, 99 in mortario teres piper, etc.; IV, 125. Patina de asparagis frigida accipies asparagos purgatos, in mortario fricabis, aqua suffundes perfricabis, per colum colabis, et mittes ficetulas curtas. Teres in mortario piperis scripulos VI, adicies liquamen, fricabis vini ciatum, etc., etc. . Roman recipes sometimes give the weight of the ingredients to be used in librae (pounds), unciae (ounces), and scripuli (scruples), and so one may perhaps include in a collection of cooking utensils the two ancient instruments for weighing, librae, balances and staterae, steelyards, examples of which are preserved in most museums. The Greeks seem to have used the balances only, and representations are fairly frequent in Greek art. The use of balances is illustrated by a Greek vase with a design showing Hermes weighing the souls of Achilles and Memnon, and by a Roman lamp1 representing a stork weighing an elephant and a mouse. On an amphora of Taleides reproduced in Wiener Vorlegeblätter, 1889 (taf. V, I, c,) there are balances suspended and men weighing. A scene on a Cyrenaic cylix, which was found at Vulci in Etruria, and is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, probably represents Arcesilas II presiding at the weighing of silphium on balances suspended from the wall. That the Egyptians also made use of balances in weighing is shown by a picture on a mummy case in Toronto. The Royal Ontario Museum has an excellent example of small balances which come from Upper Egypt and belong to the late Roman period (G. 648). It is of iron and consists of a horizontal bar with rings at either end to which were attached chains which extended to the two circular pans. The chains are missing but the pans have four holes each showing where they were attached. A vertical piece of iron extends upward from the centre of the horizontal bar. To this is attached by a rivet an iron loop which swings freely and which has a ring in the upper end. Dimensions: diameter of pans 43 inches, length of horizontal bar 161⁄2 inches, height of vertical piece 13 inches, height of loop 2 inches. This is perhaps the simplest and most common form of the libra. In Notizie degli Scavi, V, 1908, p. 280, is recorded the discovery, August 19, 1904, of balances with an upright standard, so that, instead of being suspended, they could be placed erect on a table or shelf by means of this standard. The crossbar rested on a standard with a square base.2 The instrument for weighing which was more popular with the Romans than the balances, however, was the statera or steelyards, 1 Cf. British Museum, Guide to Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, p. 161. 2 Cf. also Mon. Ant., Vol. 21, p. 6, 1912, for an article on Librae Pompeianae by Matteo della Corte. which was practically of the same type then, as at the present day. It has been suggested' that its portability made it especially desirable to hawkers and street sellers, then as now. It consists usually of a bar divided into two unequal parts. On the longer of these, there is a scale which may be marked on one or more of the several faces. Along this portion of the bar, a movable weight may be suspended, which is prevented from sliding off by a knob at the end. The shorter portion of the bar has several hooks attached. The Royal Ontario Museum possesses two good specimens in bronze of the statera. One (G. 1679) was bought from a dealer in Rome. The length is 13 inches, length of scale 8 inches, length of shorter part of rod 4 inches. The rod is of square section but only three faces are marked. Three hooks were attached at intervals to the shorter portion of the rod, the first at the beginning of this shorter portion, the second 2 inches away, and the third inch from the second. Only one hook is now in place, one is missing, and one is broken off. The sliding weight in the form of a man's head is exactly 8 ounces. The second specimen in the Royal Ontario Museum (G. 642) was found in Egypt and is very similar to those just described. The rod is of bronze, but the hooks are of iron. The scale is marked on three faces. As has been said, many of the recipes in Apicius give the weight of the ingredients in pounds, ounces and scruples.2 These examples, though not exhaustive, are, I think, sufficient to show that a Roman chef might equip his kitchen quite satisfactorily to-day from the collection of cooking utensils in the Royal Ontario Museum. ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM, CORNELIA G. HARCUM. 1 British Museum, Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating Greek and Roman Life, p. 161. 2 Apic. I, 29. Sales conditos ad multa sales communes frictos lib. I, sales ammonicos frictos lib. II, piperis albi unc, III, gingiberis unc. II, ammeos unc. I, semis, timi unc. I, semis, mittere nolueris, petrosilini mittis unc. III, origani unc. III, erucae seminis unc. 1, semis, piperis nigri unc. III, croci unc. I, isopi cretici unc. II, foli unc. II, petrosilini unc. II, aneti unc. II. Ibid. I, 46. In isicia de pullo; olei floris lib. I, liquaminis quartarium, piperis semunciam. Ibid. III, 105. Et ne lactucae laedant: cimini unc. II, gingiberis unc. I, rutae viridis unc. I, dactilorum pinguium scripulos XII, piperis unc. I, mellis unc. VIIII dimidium cocleare cum liquamine et aceto modico misces aut post cenam dimidium cocleare accipies, etc., etc. Institute of America TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE CLASSIC PEDIMENT IN ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE ROMAN architecture, both colonial and metropolitan, shows two fundamental types of construction. In the first, inherited from Greece, the walls are built of large cut stones laid without mortar. All ornamentation is fashioned in the stone itself and forms an integral part of the building. This is the type of construction FIGURE 1.-OPUS RETICULATUM WITH HORIZONTAL BANDS OF BRICKWORK: HADRIAN'S VILLA, TIVOLI. used in the earlier temples, the amphitheatres, triumphal arches, etc. In the second, introduced at a later period, the walls are built of brick and small stones laid in thick beds of cement (Fig. 1.). Frequently the heart of the wall consists entirely of American Journal of Archaeology, Second Series. Journal of the 55 |