A-dictionary-of-greek-and-roman-antiquities-william-smith

SERRA. SERTA.
1029
ders (paragaudae) were allowed to be made only
in the imperial gynaecea. [Paragauda.]
The production of raw silk (ufoa£a) in Europe
was first attempted under Justinian, A. D. 530.
The eggs of the silkworm were conveyed to Byzan
tium in the hollow stem of a plant from " Serinda,"
which was probably Khotan in Little Bucharia, by
some monks, who had learnt the method of hatch
ing and rearing them. The worms were fed with
the leaf of the Black or Common Mulberry (avKtiptvos.
Procop. B. Goth. iv. 17 ; Glycas, Ann. iv. p.
209 ; Zonar. Ann. xiv. p. 69, ed. Du Cange ; Phot
BiU. p. 80, ed. Roth.). The cultivation both of
this species and of the White Mulberry, the breeding
of silk-worms, and the manufacture of their pro
duce, having been long confined to Greece, were at
length in the twelfth century transported into
Sicily, and thence extended over the south of Eu
rope. (Otto Frisingen, Hist. Imp. Freder. i. 33 ;
Man. Comnenus, ii. 8.) The progress of this im
portant branch of industry was however greatly
impeded even in Greece both by sumptuary laws
restricting the use of silk except in the church ser
vice or in the dress and ornaments of the court,
and also by fines and prohibitions against private
silk-mills, and by other attempts to regulate the
price both of the raw and manufactured article.
It was at one time determined that the business
should be carried on solely by the imperial trea
surer. Peter Barsames, probably a Phoenician,
held the office, and conducted himself in the most
oppressive manner, so that the silk trade was ruined
both in Byzantium and at Tyre and Berytus, whilst
Justinian, the empress Theodora, and their trea
surer amassed great wealth by the monopoly.
(Procop. Hist. Arcan. 25.) The silks woven in
Europe previously to the thirteenth century were
in general plain in their pattern. Many of those
produced by the industry and taste of the Seres,
i. e. the silk manufacturers of the interior of Asia,
were highly elaborate, and appear to have been
very similar in their patterns and style of ornament
to the Persian shawls of modern times. [J. Y.]
SERRA, dim. SERRULA (*pt«r), a saw. It
was made of iron (ferrea, Non. Marc. p. 223,
ed. Merceri ; de ferro lamina, Isid. Orig. xix. 19;
Virg. Georg. i. 143). The form of the larger saw
used for cutting timber is seen in the annexed
woodcut, which is taken from a miniature in the
celebrated Dioscorides written at the beginning of
the sixth century. (Montfaucon, Pal. Grate, p.
203.) It is of the kind which we call the frame
saw, because it is fixed in a rectangular frame. It
was held by a workman (serrarius. Sen. Epist.
57) at each end. The line was used to mark the
timber in order to guide the saw (Sen. Epist.
90) ; and its movement was facilitated by driving
wedges with a hammer between the planks (tenues
tabulae) or rafters (Indies). (Corippus, de I^aud.
Just. iv. 45—48.) A similar representation of the
use of the frame-saw is given in a painting found
at Herculancum, the operators being winged genii,
as in this woodcut (Ant. d'Ercol. i. tav. 34) ; but
in a bas-relief published by Micali (Ital. av. il
Dom. dei Bom. tav.49) the two sawyers wear tunics
girt round the waist like that of the ship-builder in
the woodcut at p. 141. The woodcut here intro
duced also shows the blade of the saw detached
from its frame, with a ring at each end for fixing
it in the frame, and exhibited on a funereal monu
ment published by Gruter. On each side of the
last-mentioned figure is represented a hand-saw
adapted to be used by a single person. That on
the left is from the Bame funereal monument as the
blade of the frame-saw : that on the right is the
figure of an ancient Egyptian saw preserved in the
British Museum. These saws (serrulae manubriatae)
were used to divide the smaller objects.
Some of them, called lupi, had a particular shape,
by which they were adapted for amputating the
branches of trees. (Pallad. de Be Bust. i. 43.)
St. Jerome (in Is. xxviii. 27) seems clearly to
allude to the circular saw, which was probably used,
as at present, in cutting veneers (laminae praetenues,
Plin. HA', xvi. 43. s. 84). We have also inti
mations of the use of the centre-bit, and we find
that even in the time of Cieero (pro Cluent. 64) it
was employed by thieves.
Pliny (//. N. xxxvi. 22. s. 44) mentions the use
of the saw in the ancient Belgium for cutting
white building-stone : some of the oolitic and cre
taceous rocks are still treated in the same manner
both in that part of the continent and in the south
of England. In this case Pliny must be understood
to speak of a proper or toothed saw. The saw
without teeth was then used, just as it is now, by
the workers in marble, and the place of teeth was
supplied, according to the hardness of the stone,
either by emery or by various kinds of sand of in
ferior hardness. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 6. s. 9.) In
this manner the ancient artificers were able to cut
slabs of the hardest rocks, which consequently
were adapted to receive the highest polish, such
as granite, porphyry, lapis-lazuli, and amethyst.
[Mola ; Pariks.]
The saw is an instrument of high antiquity, its
invention being attributed either to Daedalus
(Plin. H. N. vii. 56 ; Sen. Epist. 90), or to his
nephew Perdix (Hygin. Fab. 274 j Ovid. Met. viii.
246) [Circinus], also called Talos, who, having
found the jaw of a serpent and divided a piece of
wood with it, was led to imitate the teeth in iron.
(Diod. Sic. iv. 76 ; Apollodor. iii. 15.) In a basrelief
published by Winckelmann (Afon. Ined. ii.
fig. 94), Daedalus is represented holding a saw
approaching very closely in form to the Egyptian
saw above delineated.
[J. Y.]
SERRATI NUMMI. [Denarius, p. 394,a.]
SERTA, used only in the plural (ort^o,
orc^oW^a), a festoon or garland. The art of
weaving wreaths [Corona], garlands, and fes
toons, employed a distinct class of persons (eoronarii
and coronariae ; arttpavr]ir\6Kot, Theophrast.
H. P. Ti. 8. § l ; Plin. //. Ar. xxi. 2. s. 3, or
o-Ti