by thongs, which passed through small loops on ei- therside, and were principally used, as in Greece and Etruria, by wom- en (Wilkinson, iii, 374-367). The Assyrian monuments represent shoes of a similar character, but worn by natives, especially princes.
The use of shoes was by no means universal among the Greeks and Romans. The Homeric heroes are rep- resented without shoes when armed for battle. Socra- tes, Phocion, and Cato frequently went barefoot. The Koman slaves had no shoes. Tlie covering of the feet was removed before reclining at meals. People in grief (as, for instance, at funerals) frequently went barefooted. The Koman shoes may be divided into those in which the mere sole of a shoe was attached to the sole of the foot by ties or bands, or by a covering for the toes or the instep {solea, crepida, socciis), and those which ascended higher and higher, according as they covered the ankles, the calf, or the whole of the leg. To cakca- metita of the latter kind, i. e. to shoes and boots as dis- tinguished from sandals and slippers, the term calrciis was applied in its proper and restricted sense. There were also other varieties of the calcfiis, according to its adaptation to particular professions or modes of life. Thus the ralirja was principally worn by soldiers, the pero by laborers and rustics, and the cothurnus by tra- gedians, hunters, and horsemen. The culcei probably
Ancient Assyrian Shoe.
Roman Shoes for Women.
did not much differ from our shoes, and are exemplified in a painting at Herculaneum, which represents a female wearing bracelets, a wreath of ivy, and a panther's skin, while she is in the attitude of dancing and playing on the cymbals. On the other hand, a marble foot in the British Museum exhibits the form of a man's shoe.
Roman Shoe for a Man.
Both the sole and the upper leather are thick and strong. The toes are uncovered, and a thong passes between the great and the second toe as a sandal. The form and color of the calceus indicated rank and oflice. Koman senators wore high shoes, like buskins, fastened in front willi four black thongs, and adorn- ed with a small crescent. Among the calcei -wum by senators, those called midlci, from their resemblance to the scales of the red mullet, were particidarly admired, as well as others calleil (duttr, because the leather was softened by the use of alum. See Smith, /Met. of Greek and Roman A ntiq. s. vv.
Certain scriptural usages connected with shoes de- serve especial notice. In transferring a possession or domain it was customary to deliver a sandal (Kuth iv, 7), as in our Middle Ages a glove. Hence the action of throwing down a shoe upon a region or torritorv was a symbol of occupancy. So Psa. Ix, 10, "Upon the land of Edom do I cast mj' sandal," i. e. I possess, occupy it, claim it as my own. In Kuth, as above, the delivering of a sandal signified that the next of kin transferred to another a sacred obligation, and he was hence called " sandal-loosed." A sandal thong (Gen. xiv, 23), or even sandals themselves (Amos ii, 6 ; viii, 6), are put for any-
Roman Half-boot.
SHOE-LATCHET
TOO
SHOSHANNIM-EDUTH"
thing worthless or of little value ; which is perfectly in- telligible to tiiose who have witnessed the extempora- neous manner in which a man will shape two pieces of hide and fasten them with thongs to the soles of his feet, thus fabricating in a few minutes a pair of sandals which would be dear at a penny. It was undoubtedlj' the custom to take off the sandals on holy ground, in the act of worship, and in the presence of a superior. Hence the command to take the sandals from the feet under such circumstances (Exod. iii, 5; Josh, v, 15). This is still the well-known custom of the East — an Oriental taking off his shoe in cases in which a Euro- ]iean would remove his hat (see Hackett, IlluMrutions of iScript. p. 66). The shoes of the modern Orientals are, however, made to slip off easily, which was not the case with sandals, that required to be unbound with some trouble. This operation was usually performed by ser- vants; and hence the act of unloosing the sandals of an- other became a familiar symbol of servitude (Mark i, 7; Luke iii, 16 ; John i, 27 ; Acts xiii, 25). So, also, when a man's sandals had been removed, they were usually left ill charge of a servant. In some of the Egyptian paint- ings servants are represented with their master's san- dals on their arm : it tlius became another conventional mark of a servile condition to bear the sandals of an- other (Matt, iii, 11). The terms ordinarily applied to the removal of the shoe (^fl^' ^eut. xxv, 10; Isa. xx, 2; and wjVi^ Ruth iv, 7) imply that the thongs were either so numerous or so broad as almost to cover the top of the foot. It is worthj' of observation, however, that the terra used for " putting off" the shoes on sacred occasions is peculiar (5 wO), and conveys the notion of violence and haste. See Bynxus, De Calceis Hehrm- orum (Dord. 1715) ; Kitto, Pict. Bible, note at Ruth iv, 8. See Sandal,