THE OYSTER CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. 363 



the houses, which they believe to represent waves of the sea as viewed 

 by a spectator looking seawards. According to this theory the scene 

 would have been situated to the south of Baise. The lighthouse (faros) 

 might have been built on the site of the Fortino la Tenaglia, just beneath 

 the hill on which Toledo's castle now stands ; and the oyster-culture 

 ground (ostriaria) might have been in the shallows between the 

 Fortino la Tenaglia and Baiie, where at the present day from a boat 

 many ruined walls can be seen below the clear water. On the other 

 hand, it may be urged that if indeed the lines seen between the houses 

 were meant to indicate water and not to be purely decorative, they 

 might wdth equal truth represent the ripples of the Lucrine Lake seen 

 from the sea, and their obviously artistic effect might have induced 

 the artist to fill up his background with similar lines all round the vase. 



Be the scene where it may, there can be no doubt that here we have 

 a contemporary representation of Eoman oyster cultivation not far from 

 BaifB. 



Before proceeding to describe the ancient system of cultivation, a 

 brief sketch of the modern system may facilitate the interpretation 

 of the details shown none too clearly in the vase drawings. The 

 method of culture employed at the present day in the Lucrine Lake is a 

 method of hanging culture, as opposed to oyster culture in beds on the 

 bottom. 



The oysters are attached to coarse ropes, of loosely-twisted or plaited 

 spartum grass, by being thrust between the strands (Fig. 6). These 

 ropes, called pergolari at Taranto, are hung in the water from 

 other ropes which are stretched horizontally between stakes driven into 

 the mud at the bottom of the shallow lake. The tops of the stakes, and 

 the horizontal ropes connecting them, are usually conspicuous objects 

 on the surface of the water (Fig. 4). In the Mare piccolo, or inner 

 harbour of Taranto, and in Lake Fusaro * (Fig. 5), a similar method 

 of culture obtains. At Taranto the horizontal ropes are arranged so as 

 to enclose quadrangular spaces, which are known as sciaje. 



If we now turn to the ostriaria as depicted on the vases, we find 

 that the oysters and pergolari are shown as well as the perpendicular 

 stakes, but that the modern horizontal ropes are replaced by more solid 

 cross poles of wood. The ropes {jpergolari) used for suspending the 



* For a description of the oyster culture of Lake Fusaro, see Coste's Voyage d'cxplo- 

 ration sur Ic Littoral cle la France tt de V Italic. Although he makes no statement to that 

 effect, Coste's illustrations (cf. Figs. 9-12) would lead oue to suppose that the rouud objects 

 hanging from the framework of tlie Koman ostrearia were intended to be baskets of oysters 

 similar to those in use at the present day, both in Lake Fusaro and in the Lucrine, in 

 addition to the ropes of the larger oysters. This interpretation may apply to the Piombino 

 vase-picture, although even there the ropes project beyond the round objects, but does not, 

 I think, agree with the Borgiano vase-picture so well as the one advanced above. My thanks 

 are due to Mr. E. J. Allen for drawing my attention to Coste's memoir. 



NEW SERIES. — VOL. IV. NO. 4. 2 C 



