DIATRE´TA
DIATRE´TA sc.
vasa,
mentioned only by Martial (
12.70,
9) and Ulpian (
calices
diatreti,
Dig. 9,
2,
27.29), were probably glass cups in the shape of
an egg, which could not therefore be put down, but must be emptied at a
draught. Seven such cups are still in existence. (See Marquardt, below.) The
makers of such cups were called
diatretarii (Cod.
Theod. 13.4, 2; Cod.
Just. 10.66 (64), 1).
These cups are contained within a network, also of glass, to which they are
attached by a series of short and very fine glass props, placed at equal
distances from each other. The one figured here is described in
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Calix diatretus, cup of glass. (Winckelmann.)
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the notes to Winckelmann (1.2.21). Round the rim is an
inscription, BIBE VIVAS MULTOS ANNOS; the letters
being connected with the cup in the same manner as the network. The letters
are green, the network is blue, and the cup itself resembles opal. Neither
the letters nor the network have been soldered to the cup, but the whole has
been cut out of a solid mass, after the manner of a cameo, the marks of the
wheel being still visible on the little props. These cups were of great
value, as we may perceive from the penalties imposed, in case of their being
broken in the manufacture (Dig.
l.c.). A passage of
Pliny relating to certain glass cups may refer to these
diatreta (
H. N. 36.195, where the word
petrotos is evidently corrupt). (Marquardt,
Privatl. d. Römer, p. 733; Becker-Göll,
Gallus, ii. p. 384; Blümner,
Technol., &c., iv. p. 400.)
[
W.S]
