Mária T. Biró: The Bone Objects of the Roman Collection. (Catalogi Musei Nationalis Hungarici. Seria Archeologica 2; Budapest, 1994)

V. BONE OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH COSMETICS AND PHYSICAL CULTURE - 1. Unguentum jars (narthecium)

1. Unguentum jars (narthecium) (Figs. 442-451.) There are several contemporary sources giving data as to the perfumeries of the Romans. Rhetorics castigating contemporary morals were referring to perfumeries thus in an anachronistic way preserving for us everything that they wanted to annihilate. Poets are also writing about perfumeries in their love poems and the employment of different perfumeries is told by descriptions of exotic folk lore (Plin. H. N. XIII. 4-18.; Cic. de Fin. II. 7. 22.; Mart. XIV. 78.) Romans were using solid consistence perfumeries of greasy character. This perfumery was called "unguentum". According to authors they were kept in small cylindric shaped ivory or bone jars. This jar was called "narthecium". Fig. 15. Reconstruction of an unguentum bo Bone jars were constructed of three parts. (Fig. 15.) From the circular lid made of bone or more seldom from glass at the centre of which a protruding handle was formed. (Nos. 448449., 450.) The side of the jar was slightly widening downwards; on its upper part either a narrow rim can be seen or the side of the jar was deepened on the inner side in a way that the lid of the jar could be placed on it or pressed into it like a plug. (No. 451.) On the cylinder shaped superficies of the jar near the bottom small bone pegs and bores can be found. Into these were the separately turned circular bottom part of the jar fitted. (No. 451.) On the bottom of one of the specimens from Szőny the bone peg to be fitted into the superficies of the jar can be well discerned together with the traces of the two bores serving for fixing the pegs. (No. 442.) On the side of another jar from Dunapentele the place of the pegs serving for fitting in the missing bottom plate can be well observed. This way of fastening was also discernible with decorative pins. In the Collection of the Hungarian National Museum there are some nartheciums that remained intact (Dunapentele, Koronczó, SzilasBalhás; Nos. 442-447.). The sides of the jars are decorated by carved or projecting circles and ribs; their base is widening and more decorated. The top and bottom plates are covered with circles. However, in the course of excavations intact jars are very rarely unearthed. The identification of fragments requires certain care since Roman bone carvers often used almost the same form with slight alternations for different purposes. On the basis of fragments it is not always possible to differentiate narthecium (unguentum jar) from fritillus (dice box). The sides of the unguentum jars are running parallely and there is but 2-3 mm difference in the diameters of the top and bottom end respectively. The bottom of dice boxes is definitely widening and they are somewhat higher than unguentum jars; the widening bottom is sometimes made separately. If the fragment of a bone cylinder arc postulate a diameter smaller than 3 cm then the cylinder fragment may also be the part of an ink-pot, a needle case or a casket hinge as well. The surface of the above mentioned objects is processed exactly the way like that of unguentum jars or dice boxes. The identification of covering lids or bottom plates raises even more problems. These small bone objects are usually registered in collections as spindle-weights, tesseras or discs or draughts. In spite of their ostensible similarity there are significant differences between them. The lids of jars are carvings of higher quality; the concentric circles decorating them are not evenly distributed on the surface but grouped around the place of the lid handle. (Nos. 448., 449.) The rim of the lids varies depending whether the lid was placed on the jar in which case the edge of the lid is arched; if it is plugged into the jar the edge of the lid is straight. For practical reasons it was especially in this latter case that a seizable handle was an important accessory. (No. 450.) These handles are differently carved bone sticks rounded at the end. With lids of jars it is necessary to take care of exact measures because the same lids and handles were made for the pieces of games only in half size. Similar carved sticks can be found on the closing element of the chest and casket hinges; the keys of musical instruments like lute are also rather similar.