Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-03-07
ANCIENT ART.
Important Discovery at Hill
desheim, Germany.
From this Pail Mall Gazette, January Al

From this Pail Mall Gazstie, January ~
The more carefully the antique treas
ure-trove of Hildesheim, of which we
gave general account a short while
since, is examined, the more important
its discovery appears. Though they
are by no means the only remnants Of
classical table plate in existence, the yes
sells that have lately come to light sur
pass all former trOuUaiIleS Of a similar
nature in numbers, elegance and preser-
vation. About sixty apparently Sc
leeted specimens Of argentum esearium
ct potorium of the best time, repre-
senting a metal value of between two
and three thousand thalers, have within
few hours rewarded the easy labOIs of
half dozen Prussian arch@ologists-
privates in the army te wit, who were
originally intent upon preparing shoot
ing ground. Southern Russia, and Et-
ruria, and many another ancient ''sacred"
spot in north and south, have at various
times given up similar treasures, but IN
most cases the better portion of them
disappeared before competent eyes had
been allowed to examine them; hence
their extreme rarity now. That Taeitus
fancy Germans were so utterly indiffer
ent to gold and silver as he would have
US suppose, unless he wishes to imply
that they were so brutally stupid that
they really did not even know the value
of precious metals, we do not believe.
We know, however, that many barba-
rians of their ilk. and even of late times,
knowingly destroyed, by melting aud
breaking up, many gold and silver YES
sci that fell into their hands: and when,
as late as the seventeenth century, a num-
Der of silver articles were discovered in
Baden, near Zurich, and were scrupulous-
ly divided among the eight ruling
cities" from every one Of these towns
they speedily disappeared. Perhaps
they gained larger circulation by diff
ferent shape. Finds of a similar kind
were reported in this century from
Berthonville, in Normandy, in the me-
dicinal springs of VicarellO (the whilOm
Aqua Apollinares in Etruria), into
which grateful patients threw their fees
in the shape of gold and silver table ser
vices. At Pompeii, as late as 1888,
fifteen such vessels were discovered and
that was considered one of the largest
and Iuckiest acquisitions ever made.
The most magnificent Of all the mag
nifcent works Of art-for such they all
are-found at Hildesheim, is unques-
tionably the cup with the Minerva, to
which we called special attention in our
former brief enumeration. The gliding
npon it, covering both her garments and
arms, while it leaves the flesh untouched
in clear silver hue, is, even at this mo-
ment, when it has become nearly black.
of the most happy artistic effect. Hell
met and agis, shield and olive garland
and owl-her divine attributes-are clear
enough but the mysterious implement
upon which the right arm Of the god
dess rests has not been satisfactorily ex-
planned yet A staff, a plough, war
trumpet. the crozicr Of the auger,
all have been suggested, but none will
do In the first place the instrument IS
neither of these things in the next,
their connection with Minerva is as yet
unknown to archaeology.
Next in beauty and workmanship, and
fraught with no puzzle for investigators,
ranks the great crater, chastel y encircled
by a garland of leaves and tendrils, be-
tween which the sweetest little amorettes
with childrens faces, disport themselves
hunting crabs and harpooning cutie
fish. The other goblets, with their in
exhaustible display Of artistic invention,
their masks, their thyrsus slaves, their
herme, their flowers, and leaves, and
branches. are each in themselves MASTER
pieces of It's own kind. One of the
smaller cups, in high relief, represents
the iolliest little Hercules imaginable.
He has Just caught hold of two serpents
that have come to kill him, and with his
chubby little fingers he strangles them
forthwith, laughing at the sport. The
two others contain raised figures of Cy-
belle and Attis, or, as Professor Weiseler
has it, Deus Lunus, on account of
crescent not commonly found with Attls.
But on this and other minute antigua
rian points, Professor Wieseler has
promised to speak in this years 9" Wine
kelman Programme" the appearance of
which has probably been delayed for
this reason. 1t has not reached US yet.
But were these cups intended for use :?
The question has been negatived, and
chiefly because their real beauty only
comes out when they are seen IN a some
what slantiDg position. They would
thus have been intended to lean against
the back of the show table. Perhaps
they were, if used at all, only used for
the purpose of receiving the water
poured over the heads Of the guests
after dinner. The question as to the form
er proprietor is not solved apparently by
the inscriptions on the vessels themselves.
We may here observe, parenthetically,
that the "piece of parchment found
with them, and which was supposed to
contain some sort of explanation, has
turned out, on careful examination, to
be without the slightest trace OF char
acter, and to bea piece Of honest Ieath-
er, prepared for writing purposes, as 1t
might have been by chance. The in
scriptions in the cups are those which
we have mentioned already, and their
reading seems pretty certain in some in
stances. Lucius Manlius Bocchius is
the name clearly to be made out on sew
eraI pieces, slightly abbreviated though
it be. Next is found NJ. AYR. c.,
which may indicate according to Saup-
PEI M(arcus) Aur(elius) Gotta, though
Schone rightly asks why not M(arcD
Aur( (nnculei) C(eleris) as well? Two
other authorizations are MARS and SH !;
the former, since there is no Chris
tian " name to it-a thing very unusual
in the Augustan period-perhaps a wo-
mans name, say Marsenia, or Marsidia,
the latter Sestia Hospita or Servillia
Hilara. All those names, however,
seem rather to belong to the manufac-
turers than to the owners. The weights
are given very accurately, and in such a
manner that the " Abargento," or slave
who had the charge of the silver, could
at once detect the smallest deficiency !;
all the pieces belonging to one set-cups,
goblets, plates, etc.,-bearing the same
sign, and indicating not only their in