FIRING THE VASES
Geoponica, VI, 3 (5).
5. The firing is no small part of the potter’s craft. Not too little or too much fire should be built under the pots, but just enough.
Οὐ μικρὸν δὲ τῆς κεραμίας ἐστὶ μέρος ἡ ὄπτησις· δεῖ δὲ μήτε ἔλαττον, μήτε πλέον, ἀλλὰ μεμετρημένως τὸ πῦρ ὑποβάλλειν.
Vita Herodotea λβ = Epigrammata Homerica, 14.
(Text of T. W. Allen, in Oxford University Classical Texts.)
Some potters, seeing him [Homer] setting out the next morning while they were building a fire in a kiln of fine pottery, called him to them, knowing that he was a poet, and they bade him sing, promising to give him some of the pottery and whatever else they had, and Homer sang to them the following poem, which is called the “Kiln”:—
“If you will give me a reward I will sing to you, O potters. Come hither, Athena, and stretch thy hand over the kiln, and may the kotyloi blacken well and all the ... and may they be well baked, and receive the price due to their value, many being sold in the market, and many in the streets. May they gain much.... But if you turn to shamelessness, and choose falsehood, then I summon the destroyers to fall upon the kiln, Crasher and Smasher and Unquenchable and Shatterer and Fierce Conquerer, who would bring many evils upon this craft ... and may the whole kiln be thrown into confusion, while the potters lament loudly. As a horse’s jaw eats greedily, so may the kiln devour all the pottery within it, making it brittle. Come hither, Circe, daughter of the sun, skilled in drugs; bring malignant poisons, afflict the men and ruin their work. Let Cheiron bring hither many Centaurs, both those who escaped the hands of Herakles, and those who perished. Let them harshly smite the work and smite the kiln, and may the men themselves see these grievous deeds with lamentations. But I shall be happy when I see their unlucky craft. And the man who peeps over, may his whole face burn on account of this, so that all may know how to do what is right.”
Tῇ δὲ εἰσαύριον ἀποπορευόμενον ἰδόντες κεραμέες τινες κάμινον ἐγκαίοντες κεράμου λεπτοῦ, προσεκαλέσαντο αὐτόν, πεπυσμένοι ὅτι σοφὸς εἴη· καὶ ἐκέλευόν σφιν ἀεῖσαι, φάμενοι δώσειν αὐτῷ τοῦ κεράμου καὶ ὅ τι ἂν ἄλλο ἔχωσιν. ὁ δὲ Ὅμηρος ἀείδει αὐτοῖς τὰ ἔπεα τάδε ἃ καλέεται Κάμινος·
Εἰ μὲν δώσετε μισθὸν ἀείσω, ὦ κεραμῆες·
δεῦρ’ ἄγ’ Ἀθηναίη καὶ ὑπείρεχε χεῖρα καμίνου,
εὖ δὲ μελανθεῖεν κότυλοι καὶ πάντα μάλευρα,
φρυχθῆναί τε καλῶς καὶ τιμῆς ὦνον ἀρέσθαι,
πολλὰ μέν εἰν ἀγορῇ πωλεύμενα, πολλὰ δ’ ἀγυιᾶς,
πολλὰ δὲ κερδῆναι, ἡμῖν δὲ δὴ ὥς σφι νοῆσαι.
ἢν δ’ ἐπ’ ἀναιδείην τρεφθέντες ψεύδε’ ἄρησθε,
συγκαλέω δ’ ἤπειτα καμίνῳ δηλητῆρας,
Σύντριβ’ ὁμῶς Σμάραγόν τε καὶ Ἄσβετον ἠδέ γ’ Ἄβακτον,
Ὠμόδαμόν θ’ ὃς τῇδε τέχνῃ κακὰ πολλὰ πορίζοι.
πεῖθε πυραίθουσαν καὶ δώματα, σὺν δὲ κάμινος
πᾶσα κυκηθείη κεραμέων μέγα κωκυσάντων.
ὡς γνάθος ἱππείη βρύκει, βρύκοι δὲ κάμινος
πάντ’ ἐντοσθ’ αὐτῆς κεραμήϊα λεπτὰ ποιοῦσα.
δεῦρο καὶ ἠελίου θύγατερ πολυφάρμακε Κίρκη.
ἄγρια φάρμακα βάλλε, κάκου δ’ αὐτούς τε καὶ ἔργα.
δεῦρο δὲ καὶ Χείρων ἀγέτω πολέας Κενταύρους,
οἵ θ’ Ἡρακλείους χεῖρας φύγον, οἵ τ’ ἀπόλοντο·
τύπτοιεν τάδε ἔργα κακῶς, τύπτοι δὲ κάμινον,
αὐτοὶ δ’ οἰμῴζοντες ὁρῷατο ἔργα πονηρά.
γηθήσω δ’ ὁρόων αὐτῶν κακοδαίμονα τέχνην.
ὃς δὲ χ’ ὑπερκύψῃ, περὶ τούτου πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον
φλεχθείη, ὡς πάντες ἐπίσταιντ’ αἴσιμα ῥέζειν.
This is a good picture of the havoc that may happen in a kiln.
Hippokrates, Epidemia, IV, 20; Littré, V, p. 160.
The man who fell down from the potter’s oven, since a cupping-glass was not applied immediately, suffered from an internal inflammation and on the twentieth day grew worse.
Ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ κεραμέου ἴπνου καταπεσὼν, ᾧ οὐ προσβλήθη αὐτίκα σικύη, ἐκαύθη ἔσω, καὶ εἰκοστῇ ἐπαλιγκότησεν.
This reminds us of the men we see climbing on the kilns in the representations on Corinthian pinakes ([p. 76]).
Pollux, Onomasticon, VII, 108.
It was the custom for bronze casters to hang something ridiculous in front of their furnaces, or to mould something upon them, in order to avert envy. These were called βασκάνια.
Πρὸ δὲ τῶν καμίνων τοῖς χαλκεῦσιν ἔθος ἦν γελοῖά τινα καταρτᾶν, ἢ ἐπιπλάττειν, ἐπὶ φθόνου ἀποτροπῇ. ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ βασκάνια.
Such devices to avert the evil eye would apply equally to pottery kilns, as we know from actual representations (cf. [pp. 64 f.]). It is natural that the vagaries of a kiln should be ascribed by the superstitious ancients to supernatural forces.