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Headword: *protomh/
Adler number: pi,2891
Translated headword: protome, figurehead
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
In the case of un-reasoning animals this is the term used,[1] as is 'portrait' in the case of a human.[2]
And in the case of a mechanical ram the front part is called a protome. The manufacturing of the ram is something like this:[3] "a very large beam, similar to the mast of a ship, is sheathed at its tip with thick iron shaped into the protome of a ram, from which it gets its name. It is suspended in the middle by ropes on either side of the beam as from a balance, supported with stationary cross-pieces on either side, pushed back by a mass of men toward the rear, with these same men in turn putting their weight into it all together toward the front, it strikes the walls with the projecting iron. And there is no tower so stout, nor circuit-wall so wide, that would be strong enough to withstand even the the first blows; for as long as persistence reigns, it topples the walls."[4]
Greek Original:
*protomh/: e)pi\ zw/|wn a)lo/gwn ou(/tw le/getai, w(s e)pi\ a)nqrw/pou pro/swpon. kai\ e)pi\ kriou= mhxanikou= protomh\ le/getai to\ pro/sqen me/ros. e)/sti de\ tou= kriou= h( kataskeuh\ toia/de. doko\s u(permege/qhs, i(stw=| nho\s paraplhsi/a, e)sto/mwtai de\ paxei= sidh/rw| kat' a)/kron e)s kriou= protomh/n, a)f' ou(= kai\ kalei=tai, tetupwme/nos. kataiwrei=tai de\ ka/lois me/sos w(/sper a)po\ pla/stiggos e(kate/ras dokou=, stauroi=s e(kate/rwqen e(drai/ois u(pesthrigme/nos, a)nwqou/menos u(po\ plh/qous a)ndrw=n e)s to\ kato/pin, tw=n au)tw=n pa/lin a)qro/ws e)s tou)/mprosqen e)pibrisa/ntwn, tu/ptei ta\ tei/xh tw=| prosane/xonti sidh/rw|: kai\ ou)dei\s ou(/tw kartero\s pu/rgos h)\ peri/bolos platu/s, o(\s ka)\n ta\s prw/tas plhga\s e)negkei=n katisxu/seie: th=s ga\r e)pimonh=s kratou/shs, kaqairei= ta\ tei/xh.
Notes:
The headword is a feminine noun in the nominative singular. The same noun figures in the headword phrase of the previous entry, pi 2890, where more basic glossing is on offer.
[1] The same statement is made in pi 2890.
[2] We find the same distinction being made in Pollux 2.47.2, and observed implicitly in kappa 2627.
[3] cf. for this phrase the interpolated caption (to an illustration) in Athenaeus Mechanicus, On Machines 11.3 (with Whitehead & Blyth 32); and see also kappa 2434, epsilon 1066, kappa 2432, and alpha 3340.
[4] A close approximation of Josephus, Jewish War 3.214-217 (via the Excerpta of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in Adler's estimation); already quoted at kappa 2434.
Reference:
David Whitehead & P.H. Blyth, Athenaeus Mechanicus, On Machines: translated with introduction and commentary (Stuttgart 2004)
Keywords: architecture; art history; definition; dialects, grammar, and etymology; historiography; history; military affairs; science and technology; trade and manufacture; zoology
Translated by: William Hutton on 11 October 2013@18:52:43.
Vetted by:
Catharine Roth (set status) on 11 October 2013@20:35:53.
David Whitehead (augmented notes; tweaks and cosmstics) on 13 October 2013@04:23:55.
David Whitehead on 21 October 2013@05:11:54.
David Whitehead (coding) on 25 May 2016@03:15:20.

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