FIG. 133. TERRACOTTA FROM CYPRUS. DONKEY WITH PANNIERS
A rude relief on a stone slab from Cyprus (Case 1) is a votive offering for rescue from an accident in quarrying or mining. Above is Apollo seated before an altar. Below, a man is hastening to help another who is standing in front of a large mass of rock or earth. Between them a pickaxe lies on the ground. Probably the relief represents a dangerous fall of rock or earth. The inscription runs: “Diithemis dedicated it to the god Apollo, in good fortune.”
FIG. 134. DONKEYS CARRYING JARS IN PANNIERS, 1922
Very few wooden objects have survived from ancient times, but examples of the tools used in making them and of metal fittings remain. The axe-blades from Cyprus in Case 5 and in wall-cases in the corridor are of almost pure copper. These blades were inserted in a haft or lashed to a handle. In Case B in the First Room are four double axes from Crete of the second millennium B.C., and in Case A in the Fifth Room another of much later date. Handles were inserted between the two blades, as in the modern hammer. The chisels, awl, nails, and hinges in Case 5 are Cypriote. In Case B in the First Room are chisels and an awl, and in Case D 2 several knives, from Crete. They are especially interesting in that they are well preserved and of excellent workmanship.
The keys exhibited in Case 5 ([figs. 135 and 137]) are of three types. The earlier one is shown with the bolt to which it belongs. The key when inserted into the bolt pushed upward with its teeth a series of pegs which fitted into holes in the bolt and took their place. It could then be used as a handle to pull the bolt backward. The second consists of a plate provided with notches which lifted a series of tumblers and allowed the bolt to be shot. The third key belongs to the type in use today, and as such keys have been found in Pompeii, they must have been known before 79 A.D. The lock-plate is perhaps from a strong-box ([fig. 136]).
FIG. 135. KEY EARLY TYPE
