the attic stelai - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

294 W. KENDRICK PRITCHETT
In the Edict of Diocletian (Col. XI, 3), the price of hair twisted into rope was
10 denarii per pound. The cost of a piece of rope for hanging a person is known to
have been an obol.52
9. KapKtvo9 (II, 126). Forceps, crane. The etymological meaning of karkinos
is crayfish or crab,3 from which the word has taken on many derivative meanings,54
including a type of women's shoe and a sign in the zodiac. As a tool, at least two
meanings are attested for karkinos: 'compass ' and ' forceps, a pair of tongs.'
Photius defines karkinos as ' forceps' and this meaning of the word occurs in
Euripides, Cyclops, 609; Anth. Pal. 6, 117, and Athenaeus, X, 456 d. This instrument
is illustrated in Bliimner, Technologie, II, pp. 192-193; and by S. Reinach in Daremberg-Saglio,
Dictionnaire, s.v. Forceps. The later meaning of compass occurs in
Sextus Empiricus, M., X, 54, for which E. Saglio in Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire,
s.v. Circinus, has given illustrations.
Pollux, however, refers to a karkinos as listed in the Attic Stelai. He states (X,
148): E' & mag 'ATTtKaig cr7TXavg avayEypa,IT'at rTptc7 v XtOOgTptGTr17s KalI KapK&O9 XVOOV
E'Xcov (v.1. EAXCv; Bekker E'XKCOV). Pollux clearly had in mind the machine for raising
weights which is commonly called a crane; for he continues, EtrOts 8oLV Ka1l 7-Xav-v
Xdiaywyoyv. It is to be noted, moreover, that Pollux lists karkinos under the heading of
builders' tools (O1KO80wOV OWKEV7-)). Such a machine is described with illustrations in
Bliimner, Technologie, III, pp. 111-131.
It is possible that Pollux or his source had before him some other quotation from
the Attic Stelai which referred more specifically to stonework than our preserved
reference in Stelai II. His meaning, however, is not inappropriate for a word inscribed
on the same line with toros.
10. KXqLae (II, 27, 28; V, 85) .5 Ladder. The word was used both for staircase
and for ladder.56 In some instances the staircase was probably no more secure than the
ordinary ladder. Lysias tells of the wife who was permitted to sleep on the first floor
with her small child in order to avoid the risk of falling down the staircase when she
went to tend it.57 In I.G., II2, 1668, line 84, reference is clearly made to a wooden
stairway for the arsenal of Philo. The context of our word, however, requires the
52 Lucian, Timon, 131.
53 Boisacq, Dictionnaire4, s.v.
54 See Thesaurus Graecae Linguae, s.v.
55 The form KXiAT[x3] was used in Part I (p. 266), but it may be noted that xXL6a [Ktov] is also a
candidate, particularly since Pollux (X, 178) associates it with our Stelai.
56 In architectural contexts, the word klimax has other meanings. These have not been considered
in this section. In the Erechtheion accounts (I.G., I2, 372, 373) the diminutive means a
coffer or wooden frame with openings for coffers in ceilings. See J. M. Paton, Erechtheum, Cambridge,
1927, pp. 365-66. Cf. Robinson, Olynthus, XII, p. 462, and I.G., XI, 2, 144 A, line 42. In
building inscriptions from Epidauros klimax means, according to Ebert (Fachausdriicke, pp. 49, 60),
the screen or railing (Gitter). Prices for the latter are contained in I.G., IV2, 102.
'57 Lysias, I, 9.