E´NDROMIS
E´NDROMIS (ἐνδρομίς).1. A kind of topboot worn by Cretan huntsmen and by Artemis (Nonn. Dionys. 5.237: cf. Schol. on Callimach. Del. 238, Dian. 16; Poll. 7.93; Anthol. Planud. 253); “they would also,” says Pollux (3.155), “suit athletes, and this is the name they give the boots of runners.” From people “running in” them (cf. οὐδὲ ταχείας ἐνδρομίδας, Call. Del. 238), they got their name, and similarly we find the adjective ἐνδρομίδες applied to shields in a Delphic Inscription ap. Curtius, 40. Rich says they left the toes exposed, on the basis of the illustrations in Mus. Borb. viii, pl. 23 and 25, and he considers this exposure of the toes the chief difference between the ἐνδρομὶς and the κόθορνος. But this does not appear at all certain: for the boot of the Cretan huntsmen described by Galen (18.1, 682, ed. Kuhn), which is doubtless the ἐνδρομίς, is constructed, he says, for the rough and uneven nature of that country; and surely exposure of the toes can be no advantage under such circumstances; and further the boot fits, Galen says, all the articulations of the foot (τῆς κατὰ φύσιν διαρθρώσεως ὅλης). The ἐνδρομίδες reached a considerable way above the ankle, and the top of the leg of the boot turned over and hung down in a flap, as may be seen from the annexed cut of an ἐνδρομὶς taken from Museo Borbonico, x. pl. 20. They were generally open down the front, with eyes on each side leather, for running the fastenings through, like our laced boots. However, there is a vase-painting given by Millin (Peint. des Vases, ii. pl. 69) which shows, from the way the man on the right is drawing on his boot, that the apparent lacing was sometimes mere ornament. (See cut in next column.) The Romans translated the ἐνδρομὶς of Artemis by cothurnus (Verg. Ecl. 7.32; Aen. 1.337). (For further information, see Spanheim on Call. Dian. 16.)
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| Endromis. (From a Pompeian painting.) |
2. In Roman times endromis was used for a thick woollen rug (Tert. Pall. 4, “endromidis solocem aliqua multicia synthesi extrusit” ), sometimes in the palaestra thrown over the body after violent exercise (Juv. 6.246), but also used by the humbler classes as a protection against cold and rain (Mart. 4.19, 14.126; cf. Juv. 3.102). We hear that such rugs came from the woollen manufactories of the
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| Endromis. (From a vase-painting.) |
Sequani in Gaul (Mart. 4.19, 1) and from Tyre (Juv. 6.246).
[L.C.P]