BENDĬDEIA (βενδίδεια), 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.
BĔNĔFĬCĬUM, BĔNĔFĬCĬĀRĬUS. 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_.
BESTIĀRĬI (θηριομάχοι), 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.
BIBLĬŎPŌLA (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.
BIBLĬŎTHĒCA (βιβλιοθήκη, or ἀποθήκη βιβλίων), 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 Alexandria, 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 Alexandria 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, who was jealous of his success, became very extensive, and
perhaps next in importance to the library of Alexandria. 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 by 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 at 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_.
BĪCOS (βῖκος), the name of an earthen vessel in common use among the
Greeks, for holding wine, and salted meat and fish.
BĬDENTAL, the name given to a place where any one had been struck
by lightning, or where any one had been killed by lightning and
buried. Such a place was considered sacred. Priests, who were
called _bidentales_, collected the earth which had been torn up by
lightning, and every thing that had been scorched, and burnt it in
the ground with a sorrowful murmur. The officiating priest was said
_condere fulgur_; he further consecrated the spot by sacrificing a
two-year-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.
BIDIAEI (βιδιαῖοι), magistrates in Sparta, whose business was to
inspect the gymnastic exercises. They were either five or six in
number.