Agriculture is represented by vases in Berlin and the Louvre with scenes of men ploughing with oxen (Fig. 136) or hoeing, sowers, and mules carrying sacks of grain[1743]; and certain vase-paintings have been interpreted as referring to the digging of a well.[1744] A man is seen cutting down a tree,[1745] and another birds’-nesting.[1746] Shepherds with flocks of sheep and goats are seen on two early Boeotian vases,[1747] and also fishermen,[1748] and men crushing grapes in a wine-press.[1749] The various stages of oil-making include the gathering of the olives from a tree,[1750] the pressing in an oil-press,[1751] and lastly the merchant measuring out and selling his oil.[1752] A butcher is represented cutting up meat,[1753] and also the preparing and cutting up of a tunny-fish,[1754] and the baking of bread[1755]; on a B.F. vase two men weigh goods in a balance[1756]; and the export of the silphium (?) on the Arkesilas vase may also be mentioned here.[1757] Lastly, we have a shoemaker in his shop,[1758] a carpenter working with an adze,[1759] and a boy going to market with two baskets carried on a pole.[1760]
Scenes from the daily life of women form our next heading, and we include therewith those relating to marriage or preparations for nuptials, which play so important a part in woman’s life. The “type” of a marriage procession on B.F. vases is, as we have seen (p. 16, and Vol. I. p. 378), liable to be confused with the subject of the marriage of Zeus and Hera; the bride and bridegroom appear in a four-horse chariot, accompanied by persons who, if not deities, at any rate bear similar attributes, such as the caduceus of Hermes or the torches of Artemis (as _pronuba_).[1761] In scenes of simpler character the wedding party walk in procession or drive in a cart.[1762] On later vases the bride is generally led by the hand by her husband, accompanied as before in appropriate fashion.[1763] We also find scenes representing the bridal pair on their marital couch (_lectus genialis_),[1764] and the return of the bride after the ceremonies.[1765] Other scenes may possibly represent a betrothal,[1766] a bridal toilet,[1767] or a nuptial sacrifice,[1768] and, finally, the arrival of the bridal pair at their house, with a servant preparing the marriage-bed.[1769]