File:A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities.. (1849) (14779688992).jpg

Identifier: dictionaryofgree00smit_0 (find matches)
Title: A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities..
Year: 1849 (1840s)
Authors: Smith, William, 1813-1893
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Publisher: Boston
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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east two persons usuallytrod the grapes together. To tread the wine-press alone indicated desolation and distress.(Is. lxiii. 3.) The Egyptian paintings (Wilkinson,Man. and Gust. vol. ii. pp. 152—157) exhibit as manyas seven treading in the same vat, and supportingthemselves by taking hold of ropes or poles placedabove their heads. From the size of the Greekand Roman vats there can be no doubt that thecompany of treaders was often still more numerous.To prevent confusion and to animate them in theirlabour they moved in time or danced, as is seen inthe ancient mosaics of the church of St. Constantiaat Rome, sometimes also leaning upon one another.The preceding circumstances are illustrated in thefollowing woodcut, taken from a bas-relief. (Mon.Matth. iii. tab. 45.) An antefixa in the BritishMuseum (Combe, Anc. Terra-cottas, No. 59) showsa person by the side of the vat performing duringthis act on the scabellum and tibiae pares, for thepurpose of aiding and regulating the movements of
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those in it. Besides this instrumental music theywere cheered with a song, called p.e\os iiriX-rjuLoy(Athen. v. p. 199, a.) or vfivos iirihrivLos, specimensof which may be seen in Anacreon (Od. xvii. 1 andlii.; and Brunck, Anal. ii. 239. See Jacobs, ad loc;compare Theocrit. vii. 25). After the grapes hadbeen trodden sufficiently, they were subjected tothe more powerful pressure of a thick and heavybeam (Prelum) for the purpose of obtaining allthe juice yet remaining in them. (Vitruv. x. 1 ;Virg. Georg. ii. 242 ; Servius in loc. ; Hor. Carm.i. 20. 9.) Instead of a beam acted on by wedges,a press with a screw (Cochlea) was sometimesused for the same purpose. (Vitruv. vi. 6; Plin.H.N. xviii. 31. s. 74.) A strainer or colander(Colum) was employed to clear the must fromsolid particles, as it flowed from the vat. The preceding woodcut shows the apertures atthe bottom of the vat, by which the must (mustum,jKzvkos) was discharged, and the method of re-ceiving it, when the vat was small, in wi

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