Saw (n~J"3, mef/erdk, 2 Sam. xiii, 31 ; 1 Kings vii, 9; 1 Chron. xx, 3; IV^iJ'C, massor, Isa. x, 15; elsewhere "i"i3,^f(mr, in the Pual; n-pidiv and Trpi^w). The He- brews knew and used not only wood-saws, but stone- saws also (1 Kings vii, 9 ; comp. Pliny, xxxvi, 29 ; xliv, 48), both being of great antiquity (Kosellini, Monum, ii, 35). Prisoners of war, especially leaders and princes, were sometimes executed with inm saws (2 Sam. xii, 31 ; 1 Chron. XX, 3 ; comp. Heb. xi, 37 ; and Sept. in Amos i, 3), and according to a tradition in the Anabuticun Jes. (ed. Lawrence, v, 11-14), and in tlie Church fathers (Justin ]\Iartyr, Origen, Epiphanius, Lactantius), this fate befell the prophet Isaiah also, under King Manasseh (comp. Gesen. Jesa. i, 12 sq.). This terrible punishment was also known in other ancient nations, e.g. the Egyp- tians (Herod, ii, 139), the Persians (Ctesias, Peiv. 54; Kosenmiiller, Morf/eiil. v, 96), the Thracians (Val. Max, ix, 2, extr. 4). There were even some instances of it under the Roman emperors (Sueton. Calig. 27), inflicted on Jews (Dio Cass. Ixviii, 32).— Winer. See Cakpkn-
TER.
Aucieiii Ki,opliim Saw. (From a bas-relief iu the Great Temple al Thebes.)
Ancient Egyptian saws, so far as has yet been dis- covered, were single-handed, though Jerome has been thought to allude to circular saws. As is the case in modern Oriental saws, the teeth usually incline towards the handle instead of away from it, like ours. They have, in most cases, bronze blades apparently attached to the handles by leathern thongs, but some of those in the British Museum have their blades let into them like our knives. A double-handed iron saw has been found at Nimrud; and double saws strained with a cord, such as modern carpenters use, were in use among the Romans. In sawing wood, the Egyptians placed the wood perpen- dicularly in a sort of frame and cut it downwards. No evidence exists of the use of the saw applied to stone in Egypt, nor without the double-handed saw does it seem likely that this should be the case; but we read of sawn stones used in the Temple (1 Kings vii, 9; Geseu.Thesatn: p. 305; Wilkinson, .Inc. Ef/yp. ii, 114, 119; Brit. Mus. Eyyp. Room, No. 6046; Layard, Nin. and Bah. p. 195; Jerome, Comm. in h. xxviii, 27). The saws " under" or " in'' which David is said to have placed his cap- tives were of iron. The expression in 2 Sam. xii, 31 does not necessarily imply torture, but the word "cut" in I Chron. xx, 3 can hardly be understood otherwise (Gesen. Thcsaur. p. 1320 ; Thenius on 2 Sam. xii and 1 Chron. xx). A case of sawing asunder, by placing the criminal between boards and then beginning at the head, is mentioned by Shaw, Tnu\ p. 254. — Smith. See Hanijickakt.
However simple the idea of such an instrument, it was not among the most ancient of inventions, doubt- less because it was one of the few which required from the very first to be constructed with iron. For this reason it is not known among savages; nor were even the comparatively cidtivated nations of South America, being without iron, atupiaintetl with its use. Beckmann states that, " In early periods, the triniks of trees were
Ancient Egyptian Saw in Use.
split with wedges into as many and as thin pieces as possible; and if it was found necessary to have them still thimier, they were hewn on both sides to the proper size." This simple but wasteful process has continued in use down to a rather recent period, even where the saw has been known, in countries (Norway and Northern Russia, for instance) where wood is abundant, under the correct impression that boards thus hewn are much more durable, from having greater cohesion and solidity, than those which have had their fibres separated by the saw. Probably the jawbone of a fish suggested the first idea of a saw. So the Grecian fable states, in which the
llalf of a Duublc-haiuUed Ancient Assyriau Saw.
Ancient Greek and Roman Saws.
process of this invention is described. This fable, in its various versions, assigns the invention to the famous artist Dredalus, or rather to his nephew (called Tains by some, by others Perdix, while others leave him un- named), who, having found the jawbone of a fish (or of a serpent according to others), was led to imitate it bj' filing teeth in iron, and thus forming a saw. Tlie proc- ess is very probable; but there is nothing to say for the claim which the Greeks make to the honor of this in- vention. It does not appear to have been known to them in the time of Homer; for in the mimite account of the proceedings of Ulysses in building his boat, there is not the least mention of a saw, although, if such an instrument had been then known. Calypso could as easily have supplied it as she did the axe. the adze, the augers, and whatever else he required. The (jreeks, probably, in common witli other neighboring nations, borrowed the saw from the Egyptians, to whom it was known at a very early period, as is proved by its appearance on their ancient sculpt- ures. The ultimate improvement which
SAWA