E´NDROMIS
E´NDROMIS (
ἐνδρομίς).
1. A kind of topboot worn by Cretan huntsmen and by Artemis (Nonn.
Dionys. 5.237: cf. Schol. on Callimach.
Del. 238,
Dian. 16; Poll. 7.93;
Anthol. Planud. 253); “they would also,”
says Pollux (3.155), “suit athletes, and this is the name they give
the boots of runners.” From people “running in” them
(cf.
οὐδὲ ταχείας ἐνδρομίδας,
Call. Del. 238), they got their name, and
similarly we find the adjective
ἐνδρομίδες
applied to shields in a Delphic Inscription ap. Curtius,
40. Rich says they left the toes exposed, on the basis of the
illustrations in
Mus. Borb. viii, pl. 23 and 25, and he
considers this exposure of the toes the chief difference between the
ἐνδρομὶς and the
κόθορνος. But this does not appear at all certain: for the
boot of the Cretan huntsmen described by Galen (18.1, 682, ed. Kuhn), which
is doubtless the
ἐνδρομίς, is constructed,
he says, for the rough and uneven nature of that country; and surely
exposure of the toes can be no advantage under such circumstances; and
further the boot fits, Galen says, all the articulations of the foot
(
τῆς κατὰ φύσιν διαρθρώσεως ὅλης).
The
ἐνδρομίδες reached a considerable way
above the ankle, and the top of the leg of the boot turned over and hung
down in a flap, as may be seen from the annexed cut of an
ἐνδρομὶς taken from
Museo
Borbonico, x. pl. 20. They were generally open down the front, with
eyes on each side leather, for running the fastenings through, like our
laced boots. However, there is a vase-painting given by Millin
(
Peint. des Vases, ii. pl. 69) which shows, from the way
the man on the right is drawing on his boot, that the apparent lacing was
sometimes mere ornament. (See cut in next column.) The Romans translated the
ἐνδρομὶς of Artemis by
cothurnus (
Verg. Ecl.
7.32;
Aen. 1.337). (For further information, see
Spanheim on
Call. Dian. 16.)
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Endromis. (From a Pompeian painting.)
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2. In Roman times
endromis was used for a thick
woollen rug (Tert.
Pall. 4, “endromidis solocem aliqua
multicia synthesi extrusit” ), sometimes in the palaestra thrown
over the body after violent exercise (
Juv.
6.246), but also used by the humbler classes as a protection against
cold and rain (
Mart. 4.19,
14.126; cf.
Juv.
3.102). We hear that such rugs came from the woollen manufactories of
the
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Endromis. (From a vase-painting.)
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Sequani in Gaul (
Mart. 4.19,
1) and from Tyre (
Juv. 6.246).
[
L.C.P]
