The names of Vespasian and Titus as consuls are found on an amphora from Pompeii: VESPASIANO III ET FILIO CS, the year being A.D. 74[[3211]]; that of M. Aurelius (but not necessarily as consul) occurs on an amphora found at Newington in Kent[[3212]]; and on one in the British Museum from Leptis in Africa is L · CASSIO · C · MARIO · COS, the date being A.D. 107.[[3213]] On the neck of a fourth amphora, found at Pompeii, was FVNDAN · CN · LENTVL · M · ASINIO · COSS, “wine of Fundi in the consulship of Cn. Lentulus and M. Asinius (Agrippa),” of the year A.D. 26.[[3214]]
The character or origin of the wine or other commodity stored in the amphorae is given by such inscriptions as BARCAE, KOR · OPT (“best Corcyrean”),[[3215]] RVBR · VET · [=V] · P CII (“old red wine, 102 lbs. weight”), all from Pompeii, painted in red and black.[[3216]] MES · AM · XVIII, also on an amphora from Pompeii, appears to mean “eighteen amphorae [not measures] of Mesogitan wine” (from Mesogis in Lydia[[3217]]); or, again, we find at Pompeii SVRR · XXI, “twenty-one amphorae of wine of Surrentum”[[3218]]; TOSCOLA(n)ON (ex) OFFICINA SCAV(ri), “Tusculan wine from the manufactory of Scaurus.”[[3219]] On the other hand, LIQVAMEN OPTIMVM (“best pickle”), or such expressions as SCOMBRI (“mackerel”), GARVS (“brine”), etc., imply that the vessel has been used for conveying pickled fish.[[3220]]
Among expressions of a complimentary nature are: FABRILES MARCELLAE N · AD FELICITATEM, “the workmen of our Marcella to wish her joy”[[3221]]; (pr)OMO(s) FAMELIAI DONO(m) V(otum dedit), or DONO V(rnam dat), “Promus gave (an urn) as a gift and vow to his family” (from Ardea in Latium).[[3222]] The list may be concluded with the inscription on an amphora found in the garden of the Villa Farnese, among the ruins of the Aurea Domus of Nero, which held eight congii; on its neck was traced in ill-formed letters: L(iquaminis) FL(os) EXCEL(lens) L · PVRELLI GEMELLI M(...), “Finest brand of liquor, belonging to L. Purellus Gemellus.”[[3223]] An amphora was found at Pompeii with the name of Septimius or Stertinius Menodotus in Greek letters.[[3224]] There are occasional references in the classics to the practice of placing such stamps on vases, as when Plautus makes the slave say, with reference to the drinking that went on in his master’s house, “There you may see epistles written with letters in clay, sealed with pitch; the names are there in letters a foot and a half long.”[[3225]] Or, again, another slave, fearing to be caught with a jar in his possession, reflects, “This jar is lettered; it proclaims its ownership.”[[3226]] Juvenal speaks of wine whose country and brand had been obliterated by old age through long hanging in the smoke.[[3227]]
Another vase used much in the same way as the amphora, and particularly for keeping wine, was the cadus, the shape of which is not exactly known. It held about twelve congii, or seventy-two sextarii (pints), and is frequently mentioned by Horace and Martial.[[3228]] The former in the Odes refers to his jar of Alban wine nine years old, and in another passage to one stored in Sulpicius’ cellars[[3229]]; the latter speaks of cadi Vaticani, which may mean made of clay from the Vatican hill or containing Vatican wines[[3230]]; elsewhere he speaks of taking yellow honey from the ruddy jar (implying an earthenware vessel), and of the red jar which pours out home-made wine.[[3231]] We also learn from him that the cadus was hung in the chimney to give the wine a mellow flavour.[[3232]] From other passages we learn that the cadus was used for oil,[[3233]] fruit,[[3234]] and money,[[3235]] and also as a measure equivalent to one-and-a-half amphorae or three urnae.[[3236]] The orca is described by Isidorus as a kind of amphora, of which the urceus (see below) was a diminutive.[[3237]]
The Romans were presumably, like the Greeks, in the habit of mixing their wine with water, but we only find the crater mentioned rarely, and that in a poetical manner.[[3238]] Moreover it was probably made in metal as a rule, and the rare instances of the crater which occur in the Arretine ware are obvious imitations of metal prototypes; there is a fine example in the British Museum from Capua (see Fig. [219]). Ovid, however, speaks of the rubens crater,[[3239]] implying terracotta, as in the case of the rubens cadus of Martial mentioned above. The vinarium,[[3240]] the acratophorum (for holding unmixed wine),[[3241]] and the oenophorum were probably of the same character, but the latter was portable, as we know from Horace’s jeer at the man who took his cooking-stove and wine-jar (oenophorum) with him everywhere.[[3242]]
The urna, the equivalent of the Greek hydria, was similarly used for carrying water, and also for casting lots, or as a voting-urn[[3243]]; in the latter sense Cicero actually uses the word hydria.[[3244]] Its size was half that of the amphora. Both the urna and the hydria are found in connection with funerary usages, and appear to have held the ashes of the dead.[[3245]] The situla, or bucket, with its diminutive sitella, was also used for water and for lots,[[3246]] but was principally of metal. Isidorus says it is the Greek κάδος (Vol. I. p. [165]).[[3247]] The cupa and the cumera seem to have been of wood rather than earthenware[[3248]]; the former was a kind of tub, the latter was used for keeping grain, and also by brides for conveying their effects to their new home.[[3249]] Another large vessel for holding liquids was the sinus, or sinum, used both for water and milk.[[3250]] The nasiterna, so called from its long spout or nasus, had three handles, and was used as a watering-pot.[[3251]] The fidelia appears to have been a kind of large pail or bucket; Cicero in one of his letters[[3252]] cites the proverb, de eadem fidelia duos parietes dealbare, which answers to our “killing two birds with one stone.” It implies that it would be used for holding paint or whitewash.
Of smaller vases for holding liquids, such as jugs, bottles, and flasks, the principal were the urceus (with its diminutive urceolus), the ampulla, and the lagena or lagona. The hirnea is also mentioned as a jug which was filled from the jar or cadus.[[3253]] The urceus seems to be a small jug, the equivalent of the Greek οἰνοχόη, having one handle; it was also used as a measure.[[3254]] The ampulla was used both as a wine-flask and an oil-flask, corresponding thus to the Greek λήκυθος, as is seen in its metaphorical use.[[3255]] It was used for bringing the wine to table, like a decanter,[[3256]] and is described by Apuleius[[3257]] as lenticular in form, being therefore like a flat round-bodied flask with two handles.
FIG. 216. AMPULLA (BRITISH MUSEUM).
An interesting example of an ampulla of this kind, of red ware with a coarse reddish-brown glaze was found some years ago near the Hôtel Dieu, Paris.[[3258]] It bore two inscriptions round the body, one on either side, with letters in relief; on one side was OSPITA REPLE LAGONA CERVESA, “Mine host, fill the flask with beer”; on the other, COPO CNODI TV ABES EST REPLETA, “Innkeeper, (?), be off, it is full.” Similar vases have been found in Hainault and at Trier, and are said to be still made in Spain. Another of the same kind, but with only one handle, recently acquired by the British Museum from the Morel collection, has on it the word AMPULLA painted in white (Fig. [216]). The lagena (Greek, λάγυνος) was a jug or bottle with narrow neck, wide mouth, and handle, and was used as a sign by wine-sellers.[[3259]] It was sealed up until required for use,[[3260]] and being proverbially brittle, was protected, like a modern Italian wine-flask, by wicker-work.[[3261]] It was also used as a travelling-flask, and carried by hunters and fishermen[[3262]]; the younger Pliny exhorts Tacitus, when he goes hunting, to take not only a “sandwich-box and brandy-flask” (panarium ac lagunculam), but also a notebook to jot down ideas.[[3263]] The Roman barmaid carried a lagena at her side when serving in the tavern,[[3264]] and it was used as a wine-jug at the table.[[3265]] A jar found at Saintes in France has engraved on it MARTIALI SOL(i)DAM LAGONAM, “A whole flask to Martialis,”[[3266]] and gives a clue to the form associated with this word (see Fig. [217]).