From Blanchet.
FIG. 199. GAULISH TERRACOTTA:
THE GODDESS EPONA.
Among other mythological types the Ephesian Artemis, Pallas, Mercury, Epona (Fig. [199]), and Abundantia occur; and among genre subjects the most interesting type is that of the Spinario, or boy extracting a thorn from his foot, familiar in Greek sculpture. Slaves, caricatures, and busts of ladies (see above) or children wearing the bulla, vases in the form of heads, and busts affixed to plates, also come under the latter category. Many of these are exceedingly rude and barbaric; children are transformed into coarse grotesques, and animals look (says M. Pottier) as if they had come out of a Noah’s ark.
The artistic origin of the Gaulish types has been discussed by M. Blanchet,[[2689]] who points out that although the modern tendency is to restrict the rôle played by Alexandrine art of the Hellenistic period in influencing that of Rome,[[2690]] yet its effect on Gaul cannot be altogether ignored. That Egyptian cults found their way into Gaul is well known,[[2691]] and in the terracottas such types as Isis and Horus appear, while comparisons may frequently be made with the late terracottas found in the Fayûm and at Naukratis. But there was also a stream of influence from Southern Italy, especially Campania, whence, as we have seen, the Mother-Goddess types were largely derived.
As regards the uses for which these terracottas were made, much that has been said on that head in Chapter III. will apply equally to Gaul. They have been found not only in tombs, but in wells and rivers, and on the sites of sanctuaries[[2692]]; but they do not seem to have had any special funerary significance. The majority were probably used for various domestic purposes in the houses, the figures of animals, for instance, as toys, and were then buried with their owners. Those found in wells or rivers may be regarded as votive offerings, as it is well known that the Gauls were fond of throwing votive figures into rivers or springs.
3. MISCELLANEOUS USES OF TERRACOTTA
It is impossible to enumerate all the purposes to which the Romans applied terracotta, but a few peculiar uses deserve special notice. The excavations at Pompeii have yielded several examples of its application to the decoration of a puteal, the circular structure which protected the mouth of a well; the core is of tufa or other hard material, and round this are laid curved slabs of terracotta decorated with reliefs.[[2693]] They are all of comparatively early date; one has triglyphs and bulls’ heads in relief, and is stuccoed over. Instances are also found at Pompeii of its use for table-legs, in the form of figures of kneeling Atlantes,[[2694]] like those supporting the entablature in the Thermae (p. [374]), but sculptured in the round. Small altars, or stands for holding lamps or for burning incense, supposed to have formed part of the furniture of the domestic shrines, have also been found in this material.[[2695]] Varro tells us that the dolia or large jars made by potters were used as cages for dormice which were being fattened for the palates of Roman epicures[[2696]]; and Columella gives instructions for the use of clay tiles in making beehives.[[2697]] Porphyry implies that it was customary to hive bees in kraters or amphorae of clay.[[2698]] Tickets (tesserae) for admission to the circus or amphitheatre were also occasionally made of clay, and on them were stamped letters or numbers referring to the position of the seat, or representations of the animals exhibited. Two from Catania in the British Museum[[2699]] have an elephant on the obverse and the letter A on the reverse, showing that they were for admission to a spectacle in which those beasts were shown. There are also possible instances of tesserae frumentariae, or tickets for the supply of cheap corn in time of necessity.[[2700]] Moulds of terracotta for making counters, with masks or figures of Fortune and Isis, have also been found; there is an example in the British Museum from Arezzo (E 46).[[2701]]
Herr Graeven, in a very interesting article,[[2702]] has recently collected all the known examples (numbering some fifty) of money-boxes in terracotta used by the Romans. There is no mention of such objects in Latin literature, but it is probable that they were known as loculi, and were made in imitation of the metal Θησαυροί used for keeping money in temples. Of this there is a clear instance in a specimen recently found at Priene in Asia Minor,[[2703]] in the form of a small shrine with a slit in the top. Graeven states that there is evidence of their having been placed on a cornice which ran round the walls of the rooms in the houses. This box has an additional hole at the back for extracting the money, but the Roman specimens have only one opening. An example of a clay treasure-box from Western Europe is one in the form of a chest, 12½ inches high, with a bust of Apollo on the top, found at Vichy, and now in the Museum at Moulins.[[2704]] It may have been placed in a sacellum or chapel for the offerings of those who visited the medicinal springs.
Of the Roman money-boxes proper four main types may be distinguished. The first, of which examples have been found at Pompeii,[[2705]] is in the form of a small chest or coffer (arca), and may have been known by the name arcula. The second type is that of a money-box in the form of a vase.[[2706]] The custom of hoarding money in jars (ollae, p. [470]) was universal in Roman times, as we know from the Aulularia of Plautus, the plot of which turns on this practice,[[2707]] and from the numerous finds of coins in jars in our own day. None of these have any ornamentation; they have been found in Germany, and there is a small specimen in the British Museum from Lincoln,[[2708]] of spherical form with a knob at the top. Aubrey records the finding of a similar one in North Wiltshire.[[2709]] These appear to be of very late date.
The next two types are of much greater interest, not only from their ornamentation, but from their form and the inscriptions which they bear. In the one the box takes a flat circular form, closely resembling the body of a lamp (the shape is that of Fig. [207]), with a design similarly placed in a medallion. One actually has a figure of Victory with a shield, which reproduces the type of the New Year lamps described on page [413] (B.M. No. 309), and has a similar inscription.[[2710]] It may be supposed that these boxes were carried round on New Year’s Day to solicit contributions, just as is done (says Herr Graeven) by boys in Rome at the present time. Others have figures of Fortune and Hermes in a shrine,[[2711]] the latter deity being of course specially associated with money-making. These two examples have their respective makers’ names on the back, C IVN BIT and PALLADI, names which are also found on Roman lamps,[[2712]] another detail which shows the close connection between these two classes of objects.