TAPE´TE
TAPE´TE (
τάπης,
τάπις, or
δάπις), a
piece of tapestry, a carpet.
The use of tapestry was in very ancient times
[p. 2.762]characteristic of Oriental rather than of European habits (
Athen. 2.48 n); we find that the Asiatic, and also
the Carthaginians, who were of Asiatic origin, and the Egyptians, excelled
in the manufacture of carpets, displayed them on festivals and other public
occasions, and gave them as presents to their friends (
Xen. Anab. 7.3, § 18, 27). They were
nevertheless used by the Greeks as early as the age of Homer, sometimes as
pillows, sometimes as coverlets (
Il.
10.156;
16.224;
24.230,
645;--
Od. 4.298;
7.337), and by some of the later Roman
emperors they were given as presents to the combatants at the Circensian
Games (Sidon. Apoll.
Carm. 23.427). The places most renowned
for the manufacture were Babylon (Arrian,
Exped. Alex.
6.29.5; Sidon. Apoll.
Epist. 9.13), Tyre and Sidon (Heliodor.
v. p. 252, ed. Commelin.), Sardes (
Athen. 2.48 b,
vi. p. 255 ed, xii. p. 514 c; Non. Marcell. p. 542), Miletus (
Aristoph. Frogs 542), Alexandria (Plaut.
Pseud. 1.2, 13), Carthage (
Athen. 1.28 a), and Corinth (Id. i. p.
27 d). In reference to the texture, these articles were distinguished as
those which were light and thin with but little nap, chiefly made at Sardes
and called
ψιλοτάπιδες (
Athen. 6.255 e, xii. p. 514 c;
D. L. 5.72), and those in which the nap
(
μαλλὸς) was more abundant, and which
were soft and woolly (
οὖλοι,
Hom. Il. 16.224;
μαλακοῦ ἐρίοιο, 4.124). The thicker and more expensive
kinds (
μαλλωτοὶ) resembled our baize or
drugget, or even our soft and warm blankets, and were of two sorts, viz.
those which had the nap on one side only (
ἑτερόμαλλοι), and those which had it on both sides, called
ἀμφίταποι (
Athen.
5.197 b, vi. p. 255 e;
D. L. 5.72,
73),
amphitapae
(Non. Marcell. p. 540; Lucil.
Sat. i. p. 188,
ed. Bip.), or
ἀμφιτάπητες (Eustath.
in
Hom. Il. 9.200), and also
ἀμφίμαλλοι or
amphimalla (
Plin. Nat. 8.193).
They were frequently of splendid colours, being dyed either with the kermes
(Hor.
Sat. 2.6, 102-106) or with the murex
(
conchyliata,
ἁλουργεῖς, ἁλιπορφύροι), and having
figures, especially hunting-pieces, woven into them (Sidon. Apoll.
l.c.: Plaut.
Pseud. 1.2, 14;
Stich. 2.2, 54; Lucret. 2.35; Oribas. ii. p. 310, ed.
Daremberg). These fine specimens of tapestry were spread upon thrones or
chairs, and upon benches, couches, or sofas, at entertainments (
Hom. Il. 9.200,
Od.
4.124,
20.150;
Verg. A. 1.639,
697-
700; Ovid,
Ov. Met. 13.638;
Cic. Tusc. 5.21, 61;
LECTUS), more especially at the nuptials of persons
of distinction. Catullus (
64.47-
220) represents one to have been so employed,
which exhibited the whole story of Theseus and Ariadne. They were also used
to sleep upon (
Hom. Il. 10.156; Anac. 8.1,
2; Theocr. 15.125;
Aristoph. Pl. 540;
Verg. A. 9.325,
358), and for the clothing of horses (
Aen.
7.277). The tapestry used to decorate the bier and catafalque at the
APOTHEOSIS of a Roman emperor
was interwoven with gold (Herodian, 4.2, p. 82, ed. Bekker). The Orientals
upon occasions of state and ceremony spread carpets both over their floors
and upon the ground (Aeschyl.
Agam. 910-960;
Athen. 4.131 b, xii. p. 514 c). [For the use
of tapestry or Persian carpets as wall-hangings,
portières, &c., see AULAEA.]
The
toralia (valances, cf.
LECTUS p. 19
a) were
sometimes
segmentatae, i.e. either patchwork,
or ornamented with “applique” work, pieces of tapestry or of
embroidery in gold and colours sewn upon the
toral
(or
vestis) in different shapes, as squares,
rounds or stripes (
Juv. 6.89), and frequently in
Arval inscriptions (see Marquardt,
Privatl. 548). Tertullian
calls the process “vestes purpura
oculare” (
de Pud. 8).
Besides the terms which have now been explained, the same articles of
domestic furniture had denominations arising from the mode of using them,
either in the
TRICLINIUM
(
tricliniaria Babylonica,
Plin. Nat. 8.48.196) or in the
CUBICULUM (
cubicularia polymita,
Mart. 14.150), and especially from the
constant practice of spreading them out (
textile
stragulum,
Cic. Tusc. 5.21, 61;
vestis strageula,
Liv. 34.7; Hor.
Sat.
2.3, 118;
στρωμναί,
Plut. Lycurg. p. 86;
Athen. 4.142 a,
στρώματα, ii. p. 48 d). The Greek term
peristroma, which was transferred into the Latin (Diog.
Laert.
l.c.; Plaut.
Stich. 2.2, 54;
Cic. Phil. 2.27,
167), had probably the special signification
of
valance or drapery round the sides of the couch:
the distinction is marked in
Athen. 2.48 c (cf.
v. p. 197 b), and a representation of such
peristromata on a funeral couch may be seen under
FUNUS Vol. I. p. 890. Its meaning
therefore is much the same as that of
toral, but it
probably included (as indeed toral may have done) coverlets so large that
they not only covered the couch, as
στρώματα, but also hung down in drapery (Becker-Göll,
Charikies, 2.77; Marquardt,
Privatl. 586;
Semper,
der Stil. p. 258). The word
plagulae is sometimes used as equivalent to
stragula or
στρώματα, but usually means a curtain [see
LECTICA].
[
J.Y] [
G.E.M]
