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Vasa Murrina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

A. I. Loewental  and
D. B. Harden
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Extract

Vasa murrina are a type of costly vessel mentioned by various ancient authors of the last century B.C. and later. The best account of them is given by the elder Pliny, who had ample opportunity of seeing and using these vessels, though his description of them is difficult to reconcile with any known product, natural or artificial, of the ancient or modern world. References in other authorities, of whom the earliest is Propertius, add little to the information given by Pliny.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 1-2 , November 1949 , pp. 31 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © D. B. Harden 1949. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 In both Greek and Latin there are alternative spellings of the substantival and adjectival forms. To avoid confusion, only the Greek forms μορρíα and μóρρινοσ and the Latin murra, murreus, and murrinus will be used in this article. Strictly speaking, the material of which vasa murrina are made should, in Greek, be μορρíα but the author of the Periplus Maris Erythraei uses the feminine singular of the adjectival form μούρρινοσ to denote it. Similarly, in Latin, the material should be murra, but Pliny uses the adjectival form murrinus in the neuter plural (agreeing with vasa) both as an adjective and also seemingly as a substantive equivalent to murra which he never uses. For the purposes of this article, murra will indicate the material and vasa murrina the vessels made of it.

2 NH XXXVII, 18–22; XXXIII, 5; XXXV, 158; XXXVI, 1 and 198; XXXVII, 30 and 204.

3 An extensive collection of these references is contained in Trowbridge, M. L., Philological Studies in Ancient Glass (University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature, XIII, 1930), 83–94Google Scholar.

4 o.c. XXXVII, 18.

5 IV, 5, 26.

6 o.c XXXVII, 21.

7 As there were three towns in Egypt which bore the name Diospolis, one in the Delta, and the other two, Diospolis Magna and Diospolis Parva, in Upper Egypt, it is impossible to be certain which is indicated here.

8 o.c. XXXVI, 198.

9 o.c. XXXIII, 5.

10 o.c. XXXVII, 21.

11 IV, 5, 26.

12 o.c. XXXVII, 21.

13 The Latin abacus has many meanings. It is obvious from the context that Pliny meant to emphasize the small dimensions of murra in its natural state. Abaci must therefore be translated accordingly.

14 ibid. 21–2.

15 x, 80, 1.

16 XIII, 110, 1.

17 XIV, 113.

18 o.c. XXXIII, 5.

19 o.c. XXXVII, 18.

20 o.c. XXXIII, 5; XXXVII, 204.

21 o.c. XXXVII, 20.

22 Seneca, , De Beneficiis VII, 9, 3Google Scholar; Lucan, , De Bello Civili IV, 380Google Scholar; Martial, III, 26, 2; XI, 70,7–8. Suet., Divus Augustus LXXXI, 1.

23 o.c. XXXIII, 5; XXXV, 158; XXXVI, 1.

24 Seneca, , Epist. CXIX, 3Google Scholar; CXXIII, 7; Statius, , Silvae III, 4, 58Google Scholar; Martial III, 82, 25; Juvenal VI, 155–6; SHA Verus V, 3.

25 VIII, 18, 5.

26 Dig. XXXIII, 10, 11.

27 Carm. XI, 21.

28 SHA Heliog. XXXII, 2Google Scholar.

29 Dig. XXXIV, 2, 19.

30 Das Glas im Altertume (Leipzig, 1908), 532–69.

31 o.c. XXXVI, 198.

32 La Gravure en Pierres fines — Camées et Intailles, Paris 1895, 136–9.

33 o.c. XXXVI, 59 and 61.

34 Appian, Mith. 115.

35 o.c. XXXVII, 139–142 (agate); XXXVI, 59–61, and XXXVII, 90–1 (onyx); XXXVII, 86–9 (sardonyx).

36 The Beginnings of Porcelain in China (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Anthropological Series, vol. XV, no. 2, 1917), 124.

37 o.c. XXXVII, 80–4 (opal); XXXVII, 30–51 (amber).

38 Mémoires sur les Vases murrines.

39 Glass, New York, 1927, 1, 170–3.

40 o.c. XXXIII, 5.

41 o.c. 131 and 133.

42 o.c. XXXVII, 22.

43 XIV, 113.

44 IV, 5, 26.

45 Babelon, E., Le Cabinet des Antiques (Paris, 1887) 145Google Scholar, pl. XLV and Catalogue des Camées antiques et modernes de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1897), no. 368, p. 201, pl. XLIII.

46 Pernice, and Winter, , Der Hildesheimer Silberfund (Berlin, 1901), 34–40, pl. X-XVI.Google Scholar

47 Babelon, E., Le Trésor d'Argenterie de Berthouville (Paris, 1916), 94–7, pl. XI-XIIIGoogle Scholar.

48 Pernice and Winter, o.c. 41, pl. XVII; E. Babelon, o.c. pl. XIII.

49 o.c. XXXIII, 155.

50 Mon. Piot V, 1899, 52–7, 83–5, 134–148, pl. V–VI, XVII, XXXI–XXXVI.

51 Maiuri, A., La Casa del Menandro e il suo Tesoro di Argenteria, Rome, 1933, 265–321, pl. XVI-XXXGoogle Scholar.

52 Nordiske Fortidsminder 11, 1923, 120–139, pl. VIII-IX.

53 La Géologie et les Richesses minérales de l'Asie, Paris, 1911, 660.

54 Eclogae geologicae Helvetiae XXXVIII, no. 1 (June 1944).

55 Manual of Precious Stones and Antique Gems, London, 1874, 130.

56 The Elder Pliny's Chapters on Chemical subjects, London, 1 (1929), 176.