Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

COLORES. COLORES. 221
blue glass of the ancients he found to be stained proved of by the ancients; its tint depended upon
with oxide of cobalt, and the purple with oxide of the quantity of carbonate of lime mixed with it.
manganese. Pliny mentions various kinds of verdigris (diaThe following list, compiled from the different cetate of copper), aertseo, Ids, i's XaXKor, cypria
sources of our information concerning the pigments aeruyo, and aeruca, and a particular preparation of
known to the ancients, will serve to convey an verdigris called scolecia. Sir H. Davy supposes
idea of the great resources of the Greek and Ro- the ancients to have used also acetate of copper
man painters in this department of their art; and (distilled verdigris) as a pigment. Besides the
which, in the opinion of Sir H. Davy, were fully above were several green earths, all cupreous
equal to the resources of the great Italian painters oxides: Theodotion (Oeo'drs'ov), so called from
in the sixteenth century:- being found upon the estate of Theodotius, near
RED. The ancient reds were very numerous. Smyrna; Appi79anum; and the creta vi-idis, comKrvvcldCapt, pIXAros, cinnaba-is, cinnabar, vermilion, mon green earth of Verona.
bisulphuret of mercury, called also by Pliny and BLUE. The ancient blues were also very
Vitruvius siniumnZ. numerous; the principal of these was coaerslesmz,
The icLvvdCapL'IraK V,, cinnabaris Indica, men- ictavos, azure, a species of verditer or blue carbotioned by Pliny and Dioscorides, was what is nate of copper, of which there were many varieties.
vulgarly called dragon's-blood, the resin obtained It was generally mixed' with carbonate of lime.
from various species of the calamus palm. Vitruvius and Pliny speak of the Alexandrian,
M[LATos seems to have had various significa- the Cyprian, and the Scythian; the Alexandrinll
tions; it was used for cinnabaris, miiniurn, red lead, was the most valued, as approaching nearest to
and r-zsica, red ochre. There were various kinds ultramarine. It was made also at Pozzuoli by a
of rulbicae, the Cappadocian, the Egyptian, the certain Vestorins, who had learnt the method of its
Spanish, and the Lemnian; all were, however, preparation in Egypt; this was distinguished by
red iron oxides, of which the best were. the the name of coelon. There was also a washed
Lemnian, from the isle of Lemnos, and the Cap- caeruleum called lomen2tum, and an inferior descrippadocian, called by the Romans rubrica Sinopica, tion of this called tritunm..ly the Greeks: uo'rirs, from Sinope in Paphlagonia, It appears that ultramarine (lapis lazuli) was
whence it was first brought. There was also an known to the ancients under the name of An4seAfrican rtsbrica called cicerculum. nium,'Apv&,rov, from Armenia, whence it was
Minium, red oxide of lead, red lead, was called procured. Sulphburet of sodium is the colouring
by the Romans ces ssa uzsta, and, according to principle of lapis lazuli, according to M. Gmelin of
Vitruvius, sandaracha; by the Greeks, pIALros, Tiibingen.
and, according to Dioscorides (v. 122), ravs3apad i. Indigo, Indicum,'aIYSIsO'Y, was well known to
Pliny tells us that it was discovered through the the ancients.
accidental calcination of some cerussa (white lead) COBALT. The ancient name for this mineral is
by a fire in the Peiraeeus, and was first used as a not known; but it has been supposed to be the
pigment by Nicias of Athens, about 330 B. C. XaKO's of Theophrastus, which he mentions was
The Roman sandaracha seems to have had used for staining glass. No cobalt, however, has
various significations, and it is evidently used been discovered in any of the remains of ancient
differently by the Greek and Roman writers. painting.
Pliny speaks of different shades of sandaracha, PURPLE. The ancients had also several kinds
the pale or massicot (yellow oxide of lead), and a of purple, pzupurissumn, ostrum'7s, /sysginum, and
mixture of the pale with minium; it apparently various compound colours. The most valuable of
also signified realgar or the red sulphuret of arsenic: these was the purpu-rissum, prepared by mixing
there was also a compound colour of equal parts of the creta argentceria with the purple secretion of
sandaracha and rubrica calcined, called sandyx, the murex (7roppdpa).
advauv. Sir H. Davy supposed this colour.to ap- NI/sgiyzum,'yLvov (o'-y?,, woad?), according to
proeach our crimson in tint; in painting it was Vitruvius, is a colour between scarlet and purple.
frequently glazed with purple to give it additional The Roman ostrusn -was a compound of red
lustre. ochre and blue oxide of copper.
Pliny speaks of a dark ochre from the isle of Vitruvius mentions a purple which was obtained
Syros, which he calls Syricum; but he says also by cooling the ochra usta with wine vinegar.
that it was made by mixing sandyx with rubrica Rubiae radix, madder-root.
Sinopica. BROWN. Ochrse susta, burnt ochre. The browns
YELLOW. Yellow ochre, hydrated peroxide of were ochres calcined, oxides of iron and of mangairon, the sil of the Romans, the b&Xpc of the Greeks, nese, and compounds of ochres and blacks.
formed the base of many other yellows mixed with BLACe, at-amentume, *ps'ea'. The ancient
various colours and carbonate of lime. Ochre was blacks were mostly carbonaceous. The best for
procured front different parts; the Attic was con- the purposes of painting were eleplantinzem, EAesidered the best; it was first used in painting, ac- pdvrs-7ov, ivory-black; and tlryinusnz, -rp'oyrvo.,
cording to Pliny, by Polygnotus and Micon, at vine-black, made of burnt vine twigs. The former
Athens, about 460 B. C. was used by Apelles, the latter by Polygnotus and'ApEVKucs,V asuripigmentsums orpiment (yellow Micon.
sulphuret of arsenic), was also an important yel- The atramnentum Indicumn, mentioned by Pliny
low; but it has not been discovered in any of the and Vitruvius, was probably the Chinese Indian
ancient paintings. The sandaracha has been al- ink. The blacks from sepia, and the black woad,
ready nmentioned. have been already mentioned.
GrEIZEN. Chrysocolla, Xptl-'idcoXha, which ap- WHITE. The ordinary Greek white was melinu2m,
pears to have been green carbonate of copper or L7jXids, an earth from the isle of Melos; for fresco
malachite (green vezditter), was the green most ap- painting the best was the African psaraetoniam,
Y