Tools, Wood Carving, Other Questions

[Guest NOM]

We're doing a movie that takes place in 300ad in Asia Minor (Turkey, etc). We need to know what tools people would have used to make woodcarvings. We realize that it was not that common to do this, that many were made from terra cotta. But we have a character who is making wooden toys while in prison. What could they have used?

 

Also, what would early Christians have put on an altar? This would also be in a prison cell.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Pantagathus]

Does the prisoner do this on their own or is it something the jail keepers make them do?

 

If it was something to pass the time then I doubt they would have access to 'tools' no matter what the setting.

[Primus Pilus]

If it was something to pass the time then I doubt they would have access to 'tools' no matter what the setting.

 

Especially something sharp enough for carving. I'd think it's fairly safe to say that the ancient world was far less concerned with prisoner privileges in comparison to the modern day, but of course there are sure to be exceptions.

 

At any rate perhaps you might find something in the William Smith Dictionary. Vitruvius might provide some detail in his "On Architecture", though I can't be certain.

[caldrail]

We're doing a movie that takes place in 300ad in Asia Minor (Turkey, etc). We need to know what tools people would have used to make woodcarvings. We realize that it was not that common to do this, that many were made from terra cotta. But we have a character who is making wooden toys while in prison. What could they have used?

 

Also, what would early Christians have put on an altar? This would also be in a prison cell.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Like any other prisoner, he would have used anything that did the job. Perhaps he smuggled in a discarded blade? Or did he steal one from a jailer? Did he bribe someone with whatever scraps of food he had left-over? As long a the metal had a robust angled edge, he could begin to carve with it.

 

Or did he adapt an eating implement? Uncommon perhaps, but then prisoners get very creative when staving off boredom.

 

Keeping an altar in jail would be awkward I think. It requires effort to create the artifacts, to pursue the rituals, etc. The jailers may not have approved. However since this is part of your plot I would say almost any symbol appropriate to christianity, albeit of a small and humble kind, would have sufficed in those circumstances. No prisoner could afford to be fussy.

[Pertinax]

If I remember correctly an inmate in "Ivan Denesovich" has a tiny ultra lightweight bible wrapped in rags that he reads covertly, perhaps your celebrants might have some austere fragments of sacred text or battered relics (crude icons or lamps)?

[caldrail]

Or something made from straw? Perhaps a loose stone conceals a small altar with symbols carved into the stones behind? Christianity doesn't dictate that a full altar and ceremonial set is required for worship.

[Guest NOM]

He has a guard who gives him stuff, is taking care of him. Sympathetic to the Christian cause. So hiding is not so much the issue.

 

Lots of helpful thoughts so far.

[caldrail]

Ok, so he isn't in immediate risk of discovery and humiliation at the hands of nasty jailers. So.... How about getting metal from a bucket? There'd be one or two lying around a jail, and if its past its best, would the sympathiser feel moved to give him a bucket 'as a toilet'? Having done so, it would have been a ready source of materials to construct the items he desires. The metal would be tougher to work with, but iron fittings weren't exactly substantial. Its not impossible for a creative prisoner to make good use of it.

[Kosmo]

Metal bucket? That will rust instantly if it's from iron and will be expansive if it's bronze or lead. They probably used cheap clay and wood pots. Maybe he was doing forced labor with some tools in his cell and he could use them for his own purposes.

Not to romantic is it. But I'm not sure about roman jails. A man will usually stay in a "jail" for a short term during trial and then off to the punishment.

[caldrail]

No. Metal buckets were lead but I didn't mean them. I meant a wooden bucket with iron fittings. Suprisingly they do endure. Such fittings were found in the town where I live. They look a bit flimsy but thats probably because of a couple of millenia's worth of burial.

 

I agree about jail terms. A long term prisoner would either have been exiled or bumped off one way or another. The romans don't seem to have much patience for keeping people locked up unless they actually do something useful while incarcerated.