Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Ascia

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

AS'CIA. The name given to several different implements employed in separate trades, and for distinct purposes, all of which were classed under the same term, because they possessed a general resemblance in form, or the manner in which they were handled. They are as follows: —

1. (σκέπαρνον). An instrument said to have been invented by Daedalus (Plin. H. N. vii. 57.), of common use amongst all workers in wood, such as carpenters, wheelwrights, shipwrights, &c. (XII. Tab. ap. Cic. Leg. ii. 23. Pet. Sat. 74. 16.), and corresponding in some respects with the adze or addice of our day; but with these important distinctions — that it was used for chopping surfaces placed in an upright, instead of horizontal, position (see the illustration s. ASCIO; had a shorter handle, so as to be used with one hand; and was formed with a bluff head, like a hammer, at one extremity of the blade, whilst the opposite end, which formed the cutting edge, was slightly hollow, and curved over for the convenience of chopping to the hollow side of a piece of wood, or for scooping out flat surfaces, all which characteristics are distinctly shown by the example (Ascia/1.1), which represents two specimens, slightly differing from one another, both copied from sepulchral marbles.

2. (τύκος and τύχος). An instrument of nearly similar form, employed by masons and builders, to which allusion is often made in sepulchral inscriptions. It had a hammer at one end, and a blade, like a bird's bill, at the other (Aristoph. Av. 1138. Schol. ad l.), as seen in the illustration (Ascia/2.1), which is copied from an original found, with several other building implements, at Pompeii.

3. An instrument used by bricklayers for chopping lime and mixing mortar (Vitruv. vii. 7. Pallad. i. 14.), as in the example (Ascia/3.1) from Trajan's Column, which represents part of a figure employed in the process described.

4. A short-handled hoe, used by gardeners, agricultural labourers, &c. for breaking up the ground, excavating earth, and similar purposes. (Pallad. i. 43.) The illustration (Ascia/4.1) is from the Column of Trajan, and resembles both in use and form the zappa, or short hoe of the modern Italian peasant.

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  Ascia/1.1
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  Ascia/2.1
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  Ascia/3.1
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  Ascia/4.1