AS´CIA
AS´CIA a tool employed in somewhat different forms
for different purposes.
1. The
σκέπαρνον of Homer (
Hom. Od. 5.235,
9.391), used in working wood, and resembling our adze. It was
[p. 1.209]different from the
πέλεκυς, felling-axe or hatchet (Liddell and Scott, s. v.).
Muratori (
Inscr. 1.534-536) has published numerous
representations of the adze, as it is exhibited on ancient monuments. In the
accompanying cut the figure on the left hand represents a ship-builder
holding the ascia in his right hand, and using it to shape the rib of a
vessel. Nos. 1 and 2 show the instrument
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Ascla, or Carpenter's Adze.
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with a slight variety of form, and No. 3 is the
acisculus (see below), taken from a coin of the Valerian
gens. Its invention is attributed by Pliny (
Plin.
Nat. 6.198) to Daedalus. Cf.
XII. Tab. op.
Cic. de Leg. 2.2. 3;
Plin. Nat. 16.207; Petr. 74, 16; and App.
M. 3.6, where we find the proverb
in
crus sibi asciam impingere--“to cut one's own legs.”
2. The Greek
τύκος (Eur.
H.
F. 945; Pollux, 10.147) or
τύχος
(Theogn. 24), used in dressing stone, was a mason's hammer. Hence
τύκη signifies mason's work (
Eur. Ion 206) and
τύκισμα, working of stones (Eur.
Troad. 812).
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Ascia, Mason's Hammer or Pick.
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The ascia, or mason's hammer, often represented on tombs, especially in
Gallia Lugdunensis, together with inscriptions, of which
sub ascia posuit, sub ascia dedicavit (or
S. A.
D.),
vivus sibi sub ascia dedicavit,
may be taken as typical instances. The phrase is generally taken to mark a
new tomb, which is held to be still in the workman's hands. The object of
this, according to Facciolati, was to secure the right of re-opening the
tomb without having recourse to the governor of the province and the
pontiffs. For other views, which are numerous, see Mazzocchi,
De Formula
“
sub ascia dedicate
” (Naples, 1738), or a summary of the earlier views in Forcellini,
s.v. and A. de Barthélemy,
Recherches sur le formule
“
sub ascia.
”
3. A bricklayer's implement for chopping lime and mixing mortar (
Vitr. 7.7 ; Pallad. 1.14), seen in the woodcut
below from Trajan's Column.
4. A hoe, which probably resembled an adze in the shape of its blade and the
shortness of its handle. (Pallad. 1.43:
ascias in aversa
parte referentes rastros.）
Asciola is given by Isidore (
Orig. xix. 19) as
the diminutive of
ascia, and
acisculus (Id.
Gloss.) with the explanation
asciola, dolabra. The word
acisculus is also found on coins of the Valerian gens (in
which
Acisculus was a name), together with
representations of a tool, resembling an
ascia
(see first cut No. 3), but varying in shape on the different coins. [
J.Y] [
J.H.F]
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Ascia used by Bricklayers. (From Trajan's Column.)
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