BESTIARII. another by a parapet-wall or balustrade (pluteus), which served as a defence against the danger of falling over, and screened the crowd of loiterers above (sub-basilicani) from the people of business in the area below. Many of these edifices were afterwards used as Christian churches, and many churches were built after the model above described. Such churches were called basilicae, which name they retain to the present day, being still called at Rome basiliche. BATH. [BALNEUM.] BED or COUCH. [LECTUS.] BELL. [TINTINNABULUM.] BELLOWS. [FOLLIS.] BELT. [BALTEUS; ZONA.] BEMA (Вñua). [ECCLESIA.] BENDIDÉIA (Bevdidɛia), a Thracian festival in honour of the goddess Bendis, who is said to be identical with the Grecian Artemis and with the Roman Diana. The festival was of a bacchanalian character. From Thrace it was brought to Athens, where it was celebrated in the Peiraeeus, on the 19th or 20th of the month Thargelion, before the Panathenaea Minora. The temple of Bendis was called Bendideion. BENEFICIUM, BENEFICIA RIUS. The term beneficium is of frequent occurrence in the Roman law, in the sense of some special privilege or favour granted to a person in respect of age, sex, or condition. But the word was also used in other senses. In the time of Cicero it was usual for a general, or a governor of a province, to report to the treasury the names of those under his command who had done good service to the state; those who were included in such report were said in beneficiis ad aerarium deferri. In beneficiis in these passages may mean that the persons so reported were considered as persons who had deserved well of the state; and so the word beneficium may have reference to the services of the individuals; but as the object for which their services were reported was the benefit of the individuals, it seems that the term had reference also to the reward, immediate or remote, obtained for their services. The honours and offices of the Roman state, in the republican period, were called the beneficia of the Populus Romanus. Beneficium also signified any promotion conferred on or grant made to soldiers, who were thence called beneficiarii. BESTIA RII (Onpioμáxoi), persons who fought with wild beasts in the games of the circus. They were either persons who fought for the sake of pay (auctoramentum), and who were allowed arms, or they were criminals, who were usually permitted to have no means of defence against the wild beasts. BIBLIOPOLA (βιβλιοπώλης), also called librarius, a bookseller. The shop was called apotheca or taberna libraria, or merely libraria. The Romans had their Paternoster-row; for the bibliopolae or librarii lived mostly in one street, called Argiletum. Another favourite quarter of the booksellers was the Vicus Sandalarius. There seems also to have been a sort of bookstalls by the temples of Vertumnus and Janus. BIBLIOTHECA (βιβλιοθήκη, οι αποθή kη ẞɩẞhíwv), primarily, the place where a collection of books was kept; secondarily, the collection itself. Public collections of books appear to have been very ancient. That of Peisistratus (B. c. 550) was intended for public use; it was subsequently removed to Persia by Xerxes. About the same time Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, is said to have founded a library. In the best days of Athens, even private persons had large collections of books; but the most important and splendid public library of antiquity was that founded by the Ptolemies at Alexandrea, begun under Ptolemy Soter, but increased and re-arranged in an orderly and systematic manner by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who also appointed a fixed librarian, and otherwise provided for the usefulness of the institution. A great part of this splendid library was consumed by fire in the siege of Alexandrea by Julius Caesar; but it was soon restored, and continued in a flourishing condition till it was destroyed by the Arabs, A. D. 640. The Ptolemies were not long without a rival in zeal. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, became a patron of literature and the sciences, and established a library, which, in spite of the prohibition against exporting papyrus issued by Ptolemy, jealous of his success, became very extensive and perhaps next in importance to the library of Alexandrea. The first public library in Rome was that founded by Asinius Pollio, and was in the Atrium Libertatis on Mount Aventine. The library of Pollio was followed by that of Augustus in the temple of Apollo on Mount Palatine and another, bibliothecae Octavianae, in the theatre of Marcellus. There were also libraries on the Capitol, in the temple of Peace, in the palace of Tiberius, besides the Ulpian library, which was the most famous, founded by Trajan. Libraries were also usually attached to the Thermae. [BALNEUM.] Private collections of books were made a 52 BOEOTARCHES. BOULE. of a military character. Each state of the confederacy elected one boeotarch, the Thebans two. The total number from the whole confederacy varied with the number of the independent states, but at the time of the Peloponnesian war they appear to have been ten or twelve. Rome soon after the second Punic war. The zeal of Cicero, Atticus, and others, in increasing their libraries is well known. It became, in fact, the fashion to have a room elegantly furnished as a library, and reserved for that purpose. The charge of the libraries in Rome was given to persons called librarii. BIDENTAL, the name given to a place The boeotarchs, when engaged in military where any one had been struck by lightning, service, formed a council of war, the decior where any one had been killed by light- sions of which were determined by a majority ning and buried. Such a place was consid- of votes, the president being one of the two ered sacred. Priests, who were called biden- Theban boeotarchs, who commanded altertales, collected the earth which had been torn nately. Their period of service was a year, | up by lightning, and every thing that had beginning about the winter solstice; and been scorched, and burnt it in the ground whoever continued in office longer than his with a sorrowful murmur. The officiating time was punishable with death, both at priest was said condere fulgur; he farther Thebes and in other cities. consecrated the spot by sacrificing a twoyear-old sheep (bidens), whence the name of the place and of the priest, and he also erected an altar, and surrounded it with a wall or fence. To move the bounds of a bidental, or in any way to violate its sacred precincts, was considered as sacrilege. BIGA or BIGAE. [CURRUS.] BIKOS (ẞikos), the name of an earthen vessel in common use among the Greeks. Hesychius defines it as a σrúuvos with handles. It was used for holding wine, and salted meat and fish. Herodotus speaks of ẞíκους φοινικηΐους κατάγουσι οἴνου πλέους, which some commentators interpret by "vessels made of the wood of the palm-tree full of wine." But as Eustathius speaks of oivov poivikniov Bikos, we ought probably to read in Herodotus Bikovs poivikηiov, K. T. 2., βίκους φοινικηίου, κ. τ. λ., "vessels full of palm wine." BIPENNIS. [SECURIS.] BIRE MIS. 1. A ship with two banks of oars. [NAVIS.] Such ships were called dicrota by the Greeks, which term is also used by Cicero. 2. A boat rowed by two oars. BISSEXTUS ANNUS. [CALENDARIUM, p. 60.] BONA, property. The phrase in bonis is frequently used as opposed to dominium or Quiritarian ownership (ex jure Quiritium). The ownership of certain kinds of things among the Romans could only be transferred from one person to another with certain formali. ties, or acquired by usucapion (that is, the uninterrupted possession of a thing for a certain time). But if it was clearly the intention of the owner to transfer the ownership, and the necessary forms only were wanting, the purchaser had the thing in bonis, and he had the enjoyment of it, though the original owner was still legally the owner, and was said to have the thing ex jure Quiritium, notwithstanding he had parted with the thing. The person who possessed a thing in bonis was protected in the enjoyment of it by the praetor, and consequently after a time would obtain the Quiritarian ownership of it by usucapion. [USUCAPIO.] BOOK: [LIBER.] BOOKSELLER. [BIBLIOPOLA.] BOREASMUS (Βορεασμός oι Βορεασμοί), a festival celebrated by the Athenians in honour of Boreas, which, as Herodotus seems to think, was instituted during the Persian BOEDRO'MIA (Bondpóμia), a festival cel- war, when the Athenians, being commanded ebrated at Athens on the seventh day of the by an oracle to invoke their yaμßρòs έπíкoνmonth Boëdromion, in honour of Apollo Be-poç, prayed to Boreas. But considering that dromius. The name Boëdromius, by which Boreas was intimately connected with the Apollo was called in Boeotia and many other early history of Attica, we have reason to supparts of Greece, seems to indicate that by pose that even previous to the Persian wars this festival he was honoured as a martial certain honours were paid to him, which were god, who either by his actual presence or by perhaps only revived and increased after the his oracles afforded assistance in the dangers event recorded by Herodotus. The festival, of war. however, does not seem ever to have had any great celebrity. BITS of horses. [FRENUM.] BOEOTARCHES (βοιωτάρχης, οι βοιwrapxos), the name of the chief magistrates of the Boeotian confederacy, chosen by the different states. Their duties were chiefly BOTTOMRY. [FENUS.] BOULE' (Βουλή-ἡ τῶν πεντακοσίων). In the heroic ages, represented to us by Homer, the boulé is simply an aristocratical council of BOULE. the elders amongst the nobles, sitting under their king as president, which decided on public business and judicial matters, frequently in connexion with, but apparently not subject to an agora, or meeting of the freemen of the state. [AGORA.] This form of government, though it existed for some time in the Ionian, Aeolian, and Achaean states, was at last wholly abolished in these states. Among the Dorians, however, especially among the Spartans, this was not the case, for they retained the kingly power of the Heracleidae, in conjunction with the Gerousia or assembly of elders, of which the kings were members. [GEROUSIA.] At Athens, on the contrary, the boulé was a representative, and in most respects a popular body (dnuoтiKÓV). The first institution of the Athenian boulé, is generally attributed to Solon; but there are strong reasons for supposing that, as in the case of the Areiopagus, he merely modified the constitution of a body which he found already existing. But be this as it may, it is admitted that Solon made the number of his boulé 400, 100 from each of the four tribes. When the number of the tribes was raised to ten by Cleisthenes (B. C. 510), the council also was increased to 500, fifty being taken from each of the ten tribes. The bouleutae (Bovλevraí) or councillors, were appointed by lot, and hence they are called councillors made by the bean (οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ κυάμου βουλευταί), from the use of beans in drawing lots. They were required to submit to a scrutiny or docimasia, in which they gave evidence of being genuine citizens, of never having lost their civic rights by atimia, and also of being above 30 years of age. They remained in office for a year, receiving a drachma (uotos BovhevTikós) for each day (μισθὸς on which they sat: and independent of the general account (ɛvluvai), which the whole body had to give at the end of the year, any single member was liable to expulsion for misconduct, by his colleagues. 53 vided into five bodies of ten each; its prytany also being portioned out into five periods of seven days each; so that only ten senators presided for a week over the rest, and were. thence called proedri (πρóɛdρoɩ). Again out of these proedri an epistates (¿TIOTάTηç) was chosen for one day to preside as a chairman in the senate and the assembly of the people : during his day of office he kept the public records and seal. The prytanes had the right of convening the council and the assembly (ěkkληoía). The duty of the proedri and their president was to propose subjects for discussion, and to take the votes both of the councillors and the people; for neglect of their duty they were liable to a fine. Moreover, whenever a meeting, either of the council or of the assembly, was convened, the chairman of the proedri selected by lot nine others, one from each of the nonpresiding tribes; these also were called proedri, and possessed a chairman of their own, likewise appointed by lot from among themselves. But the proedri who proposed the subject for discussion to the assembly belonged to the presiding tribe. It is observed, under AREIOPAGUS, that the chief object of Solon, in forming the senate and the areiopagus, was to control the democratical powers of the state: for this purpose he ordained that the senate should discuss and vote upon all matters before they were submitted to the assembly, so that nothing could be laid before the people on which the senate had not come to a previous decision. This decision, or bill, was called probouleuma (ñроßоúλεvμα); but then not only might this probouleuma be rejected or modified by the assembly, but the latter also possessed and exercised the power of coming to a decision completely different from the will of the senate. In addition to the bills which it was the duty of the senate to propose of their own accord, there were others of a different chaThe senate of 500 was divided into ten sec-racter,viz. such as any private individual might tions of fifty each, the members of which were called prytanes (πрʊrávɛiç), and were all of the same tribe; they acted as presidents both of the council and the assemblies during thirtyfive or thirty-six days, as the case might be, so as to complete the lunar year of 354 days (12 × 291). Each tribe exercised these functions in turn; the period of office was called a prуtany (πρντaveia), and the tribe that presided the presiding tribe; the order in which the tribes presided was determined by lot, and the four supernumerary days were given to the tribes which came last in order. Moreover, to obviate the difficulty of having too many in office at once, every fifty was subdi wish to have submitted to the people. To accomplish this, it was first necessary for the party to obtain, by petition, the privilege of access to the senate, and leave to propose his motion; and if the measure met with their approbation, he could then submit it to the assembly. A proposal of this kind, which had the sanction of the senate,was also called bouleuma, and frequently related to the conferring of some particular honour or privilege upon an individual. Thus the proposal of Ctesiphon for crowning Demosthenes is so styled. In the assembly the bill of the senate was first read, perhaps by the crier, after the introductory ceremonies were over; and then pro 54 BRASS. BUCCINA. the proedri put the question to the people, BRAUROʻNIA (ẞpavpúvia), a festival celwhether they approved of it. The people de- ebrated in honour of Diana Brauronia, in clared their will by 'a show of hands (πpoxε- the Attic town of Brauron, where Orestes porovía). If it was confirmed it became a pse- and Iphigeneia, on their return from Tauria, phisma (npioμa), or decree of the people, were supposed by the Athenians to have landbinding upon all classes. The form for draw-ed, and left the statue of the Taurian goddess. ing up such decrees varied in different ages. In the time of Demosthenes the decrees commence with the name of the archon; then come the day of the month, the tribe in office, and lastly, the name of the proposer. The motive for passing the decree is next stated and then follows the decree itself, prefaced with the formula δεδόχθαι τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ. The senate house was called Bouleuterion (βουλευτήριον). The prytanes also had a building to hold their meetings in, where they were entertained at the public expense during their prytany. This was called the Prytaneion, and was used for a variety of purposes. [PRYTANEION.] BOW. [ARCUS.] BOXING. [PUGILATUS.] BRACAE, or BRACCÃE (åvašvpídɛç), trowsers, pantaloons, were common to all the It was held every fifth year, and the chief so- BREAKFAST. [COENA; DEIPNON.] BU'CCINA (Bukávŋ), a kind of horn trumpet, anciently made out of a shell (buccinum), the form of which is exhibited in the two specimens annexed. In the former it is curved for the convenience of the performer with a very wide mouth, to diffuse and increase the sound. In the next, it still retains the original form of the shell. The buccina was distinct from the cornu; but it is often confounded with it. The buccina seems to have been Bracae, Trowsers. nations which encircled the Greek and Ro- Buccinae, Trumpets. chiefly distinguished by the twisted form of the shell, from which it was originally made. BUXUM. In later times it was carved from horn, and perhaps from wood or metal, so as to imitate the shell. The buccina was chiefly used to proclaim the watches of the day and of the night, hence It was called buccina prima, secunda, &c. also blown at funerals, and at festive entertaiments both before sitting down to table and after. BULLA, a circular plate or boss of metal, so called from its resemblance in form to a CADUCEUS. 55 | tablets used for writing on, and covered with wax (tabulae ceratae), were usually made of this wood. In the same way the Greek TVíov, formed from rúžoç, "box-wood," came to be applied to any tablets, whether they were made of this wood or any other substance. Tops were made of box-wood, and also all wind instruments, especially the flute. Combs likewise were made of the same wood. BYSSUS (Bioσoç), linen, and not cotton. The word byssus appears to come from the Hebrew butz, and the Greeks probably got it through the Phoenicians. BUSTUM. It was customary among the Romans to burn the bodies of the dead before burying them. When the spot appointed for that purpose adjoined the place of sepulture, it was termed bustum; when it was separate from it, it was called ustrina. From this word the gladiators, who were hired to fight round the burning pyre of the deceased, were called bustuarii. BURIAL. [FUNUS.] BURNING the dead. [FUNUS.] BUXUM or BUXUS, probably means the wood of the box-tree, but was given as a pame to many things made of this wood. The C. CABEIRIA (кaßɛípia), mysteries, festivals, and orgies, solemnized in all places in which the Pelasgian Cabeiri were worshipped, but especially in Samothrace. Imbros, Lemnos, Thebes, Anthedon, Pergamus, and Berytos. Little is known respecting the rites observed in these mysteries, as no one was allowed to divulge them. The most celebrated were those of the island of Samothrace, which, if we may judge from those of Lemnos, were solemnized every year, and lasted for nine days. Persons on their admission seem to have undergone a sort of examination respecting the life they had led hitherto, and were then purified of all their crimes, even if they had committed murder. CADISCI or CADI (καδίσκοι oι κάδοι), were small vessels or urns, in which the counters or pebbles of the dicasts were put, when they gave their votes on a trial. There were in fact usually two cadisci: one made of copper, in which the voting pebble was put; the other made of wood, in which the other pebble, which had not been used, was put. After all had voted, the presiding officer emptied the counters or pebbles from the metal urn, and counted them on the table. Judgment was then given accordingly. CADU'CEUS (κηρύκειον, κηρύκιον), the staff or mace carried by heralds and ambasThis name is also sadors in time of war. given to the staff with which Hermes or Mercury is usually represented, as is shown in the following figure of that god. From caduceus was formed the word caduceator, which signified a person sent to treat of peace. The persons of the caduceatores were considered sacred. |