PHA´LERAE
PHA´LERAE The Latin word is probably derived from
its Greek equivalent,
φάλαρα (
τά). Oddly enough, the singular, both in Latin
and Greek, only occurs once in literature,
φάλαρον, in Aeschylus,
Persae, 661,
and
phalera, in a quotation from an old
annalist given by Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 33.8).
(Some commentators regard it as neut. plur.; others amend the text.)
The only passage in Homer where
τὰ φάλαρα
are mentioned is in the description of the Trojan attack on the Achaean
ships (
Il. 16.105). The poet says that the
helm of Ajax rang out, as it was struck ever and anon,
κὰπ φάλαρα εὐποίητα,--a use of the word very different
from that of classical Greek, where it is only used of the ornaments of
horses' harness. The old grammarians understood the meaning to be somewhat
the same as in later times, and interpreted it as denoting disks worn as
ornaments on the vizor of the helmet. Buttmann, however, maintained that
they ornamented the strap of the helmet; but this, as Helbig shows
(
Das homerische Epos, ed. 1887, p. 305), assumes a form
of helmet not known to Homer. Commentators since Buttmann have been inclined
to connect the word, as synonymous, with
φάλοι, meaning the ridges to which the crest was fixed; but as
the same helmet could be
τετραφάληρος and
yet
ἀμφίφαλος, this must be wrong. Helbig,
from the analogy of ancient Italian and Phoenician helmets, decides (
op. cit. p. 307) that they were studs or bosses, not
on the vizor, as the grammarians said, but on the lower part of the casque
near the cheek-pieces. There may possibly be a reminiscence of this old
meaning in Aeschylus (
Aesch. Pers. 661),
when he speaks of the
φάλαρον of the tiara
of the great king. With these exceptions, the word is always used of the
metal disks or crescents with which a horse's harness was ornamented. These
ornaments, which were used not only in Greece but all over the ancient
world, are frequently mentioned, and received different names according to
the part of the harness to which they were attached. Thus, the
προμετωπίδια (=
frontalia) were on the brow (
Xen.
Cyrop. 6.4,
1;
7.1,
2), the
παρήια (
Hom.
Il. 4.141) and the
παραγναθῖδες
on the cheeks, the
ἀνθήλια and
παρώπια near the eyes, while the
προστερνίδια (
Xen.
Anab. 1.8,
7;
de Re
Eq. 12, 8) and
προστηθίδια were on
the breast. They were occasionally worn by other animals, as, for instance,
by the asses and bulls in the great
pompa of
Ptolemy II. and by the elephants of Antiochus (
Liv.
37.40; and
Plin. Nat. 8.12).
They were made not only of bronze, but of silver (
Liv.
22.52), and even of gold (
Hdt. 1.215,
speaking of the Scythians). They were sometimes jewelled (Appian,
Mithrad. 115), and were as a rule covered with most
artistic designs, so that they were often of great value (cf.
Cic. in Verr. 4.12, 29). One of
the most favourite ornamentations was the well-known Gorgon's head (Eur.
Rhesus, 306).
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Phalerae, from statue of Alexander. (Naples Museum.)
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The Romans attached even more importance to
phalerae than the Greeks, and Juvenal sarcastically describes the
soldier of the old school who cut up masterpieces of chased work “ut
phaleris gauderet ecus” (
Sat.
11.103). This was no doubt, to a large extent, owing to the Roman custom of
bestowing them as
dona militaria, not only to
the cavalry, but also to the infantry. Polybius (
6.29) says that (
φιάλαι were given
to the infantry and
φάλαρα to the cavalry,
the difference being probably that the former were without, the latter with
ornament. In any case, though there is no distinction in Latin, it would be
straining Greek usage to apply the word to ornaments worn by a soldier.
However this may be, both kinds of
phlalerae were
worn by the soldiers themselves along with the
torques,
armillae, catellae, fibulae, and other military decorations,
and as such are mentioned frequently in Latin literature (
Verg. A. 9.359; Florus,
3.10,
26;
Liv.
9.46). These, like the Greek (
φάλαρα, were made of gold and silver no less than bronze (
Plb. 31.3;
Plin. Nat.
37.74). Necklaces worn by women were also occasionally called
phalerae (P. Syrus quoted by Petronius,
55), as were, too, those worn by the slaves of rich Romans (
Suet. Nero 30). In later writers it was used of
any kind of external ornament (cf. Pers. 3.21; Symmach.
Ep.
init. § 222).
In art not only are (
φάλαρα and
phalerae shown on monuments of all ages, but the
actual ornaments have been frequently found all over the ancient world. The
most important of these finds have been made in the Crimea, where, at Great
Blisnitza alone, no less than four complete sets of harness were found. The
phalerae consisted of 20 round disks
(
ἀσπιδίσκοι, Pollux and Suidas), four
lenticular plates, and several crescents. All are of the same make,
consisting of a bronze plate, to the top of which a thin piece of metal with
a design in hammered work
[p. 2.381]is soldered. In spite of
their being crushed, the beauty of the designs, representing Greeks and
Amazons and gods and giants in single combat, is very apparent. As a rule,
however, such
phalerae are ornamented with
busts of Aphrodite, Athene, and other deities. The Gorgon's head is the most
favourite design, and is interesting as showing that the figures were
intended to be
prophylactic (
ἀποτρόπαια). The crescents which are frequently found with
the other forms have doubtless the same purpose. One of the most curious
varieties is that in which two boar's or other curved teeth are joined
together at the base, forming a crescent. This is not only common on
monuments and in the graves, but is mentioned in literature, as when Statius
(
Stat. Theb. 9.689) speaks of
“niveo lunata monilia dente” (for other references see
Stephani,
Compte Rendu, 1865, p. 180). These crescents of
teeth are also seen in antique necklaces, have been found in Saxon graves,
and are still in use for the same purpose in parts of Europe, Africa, and
Asia. The monuments show that the
phalerae were
worn not only at the joints of the harness, but in long strings round the
breast of the horse. The horse of the celebrated bronze equestrian statue
from Herculaneum in the Naples Museum, generally known as Alexander the
Great, is one of the best instances, showing particularly well the Gorgon's
head at the horse's breast. There is a fine chain of pendent
phalerae (pensilia) in the British Museum, and a
very similar one in Vienna (see Arneth,
Die antiken Gold u. Silber
Monumente, S. 1, 1; Vienna, 1850).
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String of Phalerae. (From British Museum.)
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Roman
phalerae as worn by soldiers are shown on
many gravestones of veterans, who are represented as seated on rearing
chargers with enormous
phalerae, or as wearing
the
phalerae on their breast, with the other
dona militaria. These were of considerable
weight, and were worn on a framework of leather straps, which hung from the
shoulders, was braced across the chest with three or four straps, and
supported the
phalerae. On many coins these
leather frameworks are represented without a wearer. The best examples of
such ornaments are those found near Lanersfort, now in the Museum at Berlin.
Like the Greek, they consist of bronze disks covered with a thin plate of
hammered silver, ornamented with heads of deities and genii, in high relief;
the space underneath the silver being filled up with bitumen. On the back is
a stout hasp, by which they were attached to the harness or the leather
framework just mentioned. In many cases
phalerae of this description have pendants in the shape of leaves
hanging from them, and specimens of these are very numerous. Besides these
undoubted
phalerae, there are many brooches and
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Cippus of M. Cælius.
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necklaces of so similar a description that there seems to be no
good reason to refuse them the name, since we know that women occasionally
wore them.
The custom of giving
phalerae as rewards for
good service seems to have been discontinued in the time of Caracalla, who
began the custom of giving large gold medals with the emperor's bust in
relief instead, especially to the semi-barbarous chieftains on the Danube
frontier.
[The best account of
φάλαρα, both literary
and monumental, is given by Stephani in the
Compte Rendu de la
Commission Impériale for 1865 (St. Petersburg, 1866);
the best of the Roman
phalerae in Otto Jahn's
Die Lanersforter Phalerae, Bonn, 1860, and Marquardt,
Handbuch, vii. p. 655 foll., where references to the
later literature will be found. The best illustrations are in the
Atlas of the
Compte Rendu and in
Lindenschmidt's
Tracht und Bewaffnung des römischen Heeres
während der Kaiserzeit, 1882.]
[
W.C.F.A]