BALNĔUM or BĂLĬNĔUM (λοετρόν or λουτρόν, βαλανεῖον, also _balneae_
or _balineae_), a bath. _Balneum_ or _balineum_ signifies, in
its primary sense, a bath or bathing vessel, such as most Romans
possessed in their own houses; and from that it came to mean
the chamber which contained the bath. When the baths of private
individuals became more sumptuous, and comprised many rooms, the
plural _balnea_ or _balinea_ was adopted, which still, in correct
language, had reference only to the baths of private persons.
_Balneae_ and _balineae_, which have no singular number, were the
public baths. But this accuracy of diction is neglected by many of
the later writers. _Thermae_ (from θέρμη, warmth) means properly
warm springs, or baths of warm water, but was afterwards applied to
the structures in which the baths were placed, and which were both
hot and cold. There was, however, a material distinction between the
_balneae_ and _thermae_, inasmuch as the former was the term used
under the republic, and referred to the public establishments of
that age, which contained no appliances for luxury beyond the mere
convenience of hot and cold baths, whereas the latter name was given
to those magnificent edifices which grew up under the empire, and
which comprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances
belonging to the Greek gymnasia, as well as a regular establishment
appropriated for bathing.--Bathing was a practice familiar to the
Greeks of both sexes from the earliest times. The artificial warm
bath was taken in a vessel called _asaminthus_ (ἀσάμινθος) by Homer,
and _puelus_ (πύελος) by the later Greeks. It did not contain water
itself, but was only used for the bather to sit in, while the
warm water was poured over him. On Greek vases, however, we never
find anything corresponding to a modern bath in which persons can
stand or sit; but there is always a round or oval basin (λουτήρ or
λουτήριον), resting on a stand, by the side of which those who are
bathing are standing undressed and washing themselves. In the Homeric
times it was customary to take first a cold and afterwards a warm
bath; but in later times it was the usual practice of the Greeks to
take first a warm or vapour, and afterwards a cold bath. At Athens
the frequent use of the public baths, most of which were warm baths
(βαλανεῖα, called by Homer θερμὰ λοετρά), was regarded in the time
of Socrates and Demosthenes as a mark of luxury and effeminacy.
Accordingly, Phocion was said to have never bathed in a public bath,
and Socrates to have used it very seldom. After bathing both sexes
anointed themselves, in order that the skin might not be left harsh
and rough, especially after warm water. Oil (ἔλαιον) is the only
ointment mentioned by Homer, but in later times precious unguents
(μῦρα) were used for this purpose. The bath was usually taken before
the principal meal of the day (δεῖπνον). The Lacedaemonians, who
considered warm water as enervating, used two kinds of baths; namely,
the cold daily bath in the Eurotas, and a dry sudorific bath in a
chamber heated with warm air by means of a stove, and from them
the chamber used by the Romans for a similar purpose was termed
_Laconicum_. A sudorific or vapour bath (πυρία or πυριατήριον) is
mentioned as early as the time of Herodotus. At what period the use
of the warm bath was introduced among the Romans is not recorded; but
we know that Scipio had a warm bath in his villa at Liternum, and
the practice of heating an apartment with warm air by flues placed
immediately under it, so as to produce a vapour bath, is stated to
have been invented by Sergius Orata, who lived in the age of Crassus,
before the Marsic war. By the time of Cicero the use of baths of
warm water and hot air had become common, and in his time there were
baths at Rome which were open to the public upon payment of a small
fee. In the public baths at Rome the men and women used originally to
bathe in separate sets of chambers; but under the empire it became
the common custom for both sexes to bathe indiscriminately in the
same bath. This practice was forbidden by Hadrian and M. Aurelius;
and Alexander Severus prohibited any baths, common to both sexes,
from being opened in Rome. The price of a bath was a quadrant, the
smallest piece of coined money, from the age of Cicero downwards,
which was paid to the keeper of the bath (_balneator_). Children
below a certain age were admitted free. It was usual with the Romans
to take the bath after exercise, and before the principal meal
(_coena_) of the day; but the debauchees of the empire bathed also
after eating as well as before, in order to promote digestion, and to
acquire a new appetite for fresh delicacies.
[Illustration: Roman Bath. (Fresco from the Thermae of Titus.)]
Upon quitting the bath the Romans as well as the Greeks were
anointed with oil. The Romans did not content themselves with a
single bath of hot or cold water; but they went through a course of
baths in succession, in which the agency of air as well as water was
applied. It is difficult to ascertain the precise order in which
the course was usually taken; but it appears to have been a general
practice to close the pores, and brace the body after the excessive
perspiration of the vapour bath, either by pouring cold water over
the head, or by plunging at once into the _piscina_. To render the
subjoined remarks more easily intelligible, the preceding woodcut is
inserted, which is taken from a fresco painting upon the walls of
the thermae of Titus at Rome. The chief parts of a Roman bath were
as follow:--1. _Apodyterium._ Here the bathers were expected to take
off their garments, which were then delivered to a class of slaves,
called _capsarii_, whose duty it was to take charge of them. These
men were notorious for dishonesty, and were leagued with all the
thieves of the city, so that they connived at the robberies which
they were placed to prevent. There was probably an _Elaeothesium_
or _Unctorium_, as appears from the preceding cut, in connection
with the apodyterium, where the bathers might be anointed with
oil.--2. _Frigidarium_ or _Cella Frigidaria_, where the cold bath
was taken. The cold bath itself was called _Natatio_, _Natatorium_,
_Piscina_, _Baptisterium_, or _Puteus_.--3. _Tepidarium_ would seem
from the preceding cut to have been a bathing room, for a person
is there apparently represented pouring water over a bather. But
there is good reason for thinking that this was not the case. In
most cases the tepidarium contained no water at all, but was a
room merely heated with warm air of an agreeable temperature, in
order to prepare the body for the great heat of the vapour and warm
baths, and upon returning from the latter, to obviate the danger
of a too sudden transition to the open air.--4. The _Caldarium_ or
_Concamerata Sudatio_ contained at one extremity the vapour bath
(_Laconicum_), and at the other the warm bath (_balneum_ or _calda
lavatio_), while the centre space between the two ends was termed
_sudatio_ or _sudatorium_. In larger establishments the vapour bath
and warm bath were in two separate cells, as we see in the preceding
cut: in such cases the former part _alone_ was called _concamerata
sudatio_. The whole rested on a suspended pavement (_suspensura_),
under which was a fire (_hypocaustum_), so that the flames might heat
the whole apartment. (See cut.) The warm water bath (_balneum_ or
_calda lavatio_), which is also called _piscina_ or _calida piscina_,
_labrum_ and _solium_, appears to have been a capacious marble vase,
sometimes standing upon the floor, like that in the preceding cut,
and sometimes either partly elevated above the floor, as it was at
Pompeii, or entirely sunk into it. After having gone, through the
regular course of perspiration, the Romans made use of instruments
called _strigiles_ or _strigles_, to scrape off the perspiration.
[Illustration: Strigil. (From a Relief at Athens.)]
The strigil was also used by the Greeks, who called it _stlengis_
(στλεγγίς) or _xystra_ (ξύστρα). The figure in the cut on p. 24 is
represented with a strigil in his hand. As the strigil was not a
blunt instrument, its edge was softened by the application of oil,
which was dropped upon it from a small vessel called _guttus_ or
_ampulla_, which had a narrow neck, so as to discharge its contents
drop by drop, from whence the name is taken.
[Illustration: Strigil and Guttus. (From a Statue in the Vatican.)]
In the _Thermae_, spoken of above, the baths were of secondary
importance. They were a Roman adaptation of the Greek gymnasium,
contained exedrae for the philosophers and rhetoricians to lecture
in, porticoes for the idle, and libraries for the learned, and were
adorned with marbles, fountains, and shaded walks and plantations.
M. Agrippa, in the reign of Augustus, was the first who afforded
these luxuries to his countrymen, by bequeathing to them the thermae
and gardens which he had erected in the Campus Martius. The example
set by Agrippa was followed by Nero, and afterwards by Titus, the
ruins of whose thermae are still visible, covering a vast extent,
partly under ground and partly above the Esquiline hill. Thermae were
also erected by Trajan, Caracalla, and Diocletian, of the two last
of which ample remains still exist. Previously to the erection of
these establishments for the use of the population, it was customary
for those who sought the favour of the people to give them a day’s
bathing free of expense. From thence it is fair to infer that the
quadrant paid for admission into the _balneae_ was not exacted at the
_thermae_, which, as being the works of the emperors, would naturally
be opened with imperial generosity to all, and without any charge.
BALTĔUS (τελαμών), a belt, a shoulder belt, was used to suspend the
sword. See the figs. on p. 41. In the Homeric times the Greeks used
a belt to support the shield. The balteus was likewise employed
to suspend the quiver, and sometimes together with it the bow.
More commonly the belt, whether employed to support the sword, the
shield, or the quiver, was made of leather, and was frequently
ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones. In a general
sense _balteus_ was applied not only to the belt which passed over
the shoulder, but also to the girdle (_cingulum_), which encompassed
the waist. In architecture, Vitruvius applies the term _Baltei_ to
the bands surrounding the volute on each side of an Ionic capital.
Other writers apply it to the _praecinctiones_ of an amphitheatre.
[AMPHITHEATRUM.]
BĂRATHRON (βάραθρον), also called ORUGMA (ὄρυγμα), a deep cavern or
chasm, like the Ceadas at Sparta, behind the Acropolis at Athens,
into which criminals were thrown. [CEADAS.]
BARBA (πώγων, γένειον, ὑπήνη), the beard. The Greeks seem generally
to have worn the beard till the time of Alexander the Great; and
a thick beard was considered as a mark of manliness. The Greek
philosophers in particular were distinguished by their long beards
as a sort of badge. The Romans in early times wore the beard uncut,
and the Roman beards are said not to have been shaved till B.C. 300,
when P. Ticinius Maena brought over a barber from Sicily; and Pliny
adds, that the first Roman who is said to have been shaved every day
was Scipio Africanus. His custom, however, was soon followed, and
shaving became a regular thing. In the later times of the republic
there were many who shaved the beard only partially, and trimmed it,
so as to give it an ornamental form; to them the terms _bene barbati_
and _barbatuli_ are applied. In the general way at Rome, a long
beard (_barba promissa_) was considered a mark of slovenliness and
_squalor_. The first time of shaving was regarded as the beginning
of manhood, and the day on which this took place was celebrated as
a festival. There was no particular time fixed for this to be done.
Usually, however, it was done when the young Roman assumed the toga
virilis. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to
some god. Thus Nero put his up in a gold box, set with pearls, and
dedicated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. Under the emperor Hadrian the
beard began to revive. Plutarch says that the emperor wore it to hide
some scars on his face. The practice afterwards became common, and
till the time of Constantine the Great, the emperors appear in busts
and coins with beards. The Romans let their beards grow in time of
mourning; the Greeks, on the other hand, on such occasions shaved the
beard close.
BARBĬTUS (βάρβιτος), or BARBĬTON (βάρβιτον), a stringed instrument,
the original form of which is uncertain. Later writers use it as
synonymous with the lyra. [LYRA.]
BASCAUDA, a British basket. This term, which remains with very little
variation in the Welsh “basgawd” and the English “basket,” was
conveyed to Rome together with the articles denoted by it.
BĂSĬLĬCA (sc. _aedes_, _aula_, _porticus_--βασιλική, also _regia_),
a building which served as a court of law and an exchange, or place
of meeting for merchants and men of business. The word was adopted
from the Athenians, whose second archon was styled _archon basileus_
(ἄρχων βασιλεύς), and the tribunal where he adjudicated _stoa
basileius_ (ἡ βασίλειος στοά), the substantive _aula_ or _porticus_
in Latin being omitted for convenience, and the distinctive epithet
converted into a substantive. The first edifice of this description
at Rome was not erected until B.C. 182. It was situated in the
forum adjoining the curia, and was denominated Basilica Porcia, in
commemoration of its founder, M. Porcius Cato. Besides this there
were twenty others erected at different periods, within the city
of Rome. The forum, or, where there was more than one, the one
which was in the most frequented and central part of the city, was
always selected for the site of a basilica; and hence it is that the
classic writers not unfrequently use the terms _forum_ and _basilica_
synonymously. The ground plan of all these buildings is rectangular,
and their width not more than half, nor less than one-third of the
length. This area was divided into three naves, consisting of a
centre (_media porticus_), and two side aisles, separated from the
centre one, each by a single row of columns. At one end of the centre
aisle was the tribunal of the judge, in form either rectangular or
circular, as is seen in the annexed plan of the basilica at Pompeii.
In the centre of the tribunal was placed the curule chair of the
praetor, and seats for the judices and the advocates. The two side
aisles, as has been said, were separated from the centre one by a
row of columns, behind each of which was placed a square pier or
pilaster (_parastata_), which supported the flooring of an upper
portico, similar to the gallery of a modern church. The upper gallery
was in like manner decorated with columns, of lower dimensions than
those below; and these served to support the roof, and were connected
with one 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_.
[Illustration: Ground Plan of a Basilica.]
BASTERNA, a kind of litter (_lectica_) in which women were carried
in the time of the Roman emperors. It appears to have resembled the
Lectica [LECTICA] very closely; and the only difference apparently
was, that the lectica was carried by slaves, and the basterna by two
mules.
BAXA, or BAXĔA, a sandal made of vegetable leaves, twigs, or fibres,
worn on the stage by comic actors.