DŎLĀBRA, _dim._ DŎLĀBELLA (σμίλη, _dim_. σμιλίον), a chisel, a celt,
was used for a variety of purposes in ancient as in modern times.
_Celtes_ is an old Latin word for a chisel, probably derived from
_coelo_, to engrave. Celts, or chisels, were frequently employed in
making entrenchments and in destroying fortifications; and hence they
are often found in ancient earth-works and encampments. They are for
the most part of bronze, more rarely of hard stone. The sizes and
forms which they present, are as various as the uses to which they
were applied. The annexed woodcut is designed to show a few of the
most remarkable varieties.
[Illustration: Dolabrae, Celts. (From different Collections in Great
Britain.)]
DŌLĬUM, a cylindrical vessel, somewhat resembling our tubs or casks,
into which new wine was put to let it ferment.
DŎLO (δόλων). (1) A secret poniard or dagger contained in a case,
used by the Italians. It was inserted in the handles of whips, and
also in walking sticks, thus corresponding to our sword-stick.--(2) A
small top-sail.
DŎMĬNĬUM signifies quiritarian ownership, or property in a thing; and
_dominus_, or _dominus legitimus_, is the owner. The dominus has the
power of dealing with a thing as he pleases, and differs from the
bare _possessor_, who has only the right of possession, and has not
the absolute ownership of the thing.
DŎMUS (οἶκος), a house.--(1) GREEK. A Greek house was always divided
into two distinct portions, the _Andronitis_, or men’s apartments
(ἀνδρωνῖτις), and the _Gynaeconitis_, or women’s apartments
(γυναικωνῖτις). In the earliest times, as in the houses referred
to by Homer, and in some houses at a later period, the women’s
apartments were in the upper story (ὑπερῷον), but usually at a later
time the gynaeconitis was on the same story with the andronitis,
and behind it. The front of the house towards the street was not
large, as the apartments extended rather in the direction of its
depth than of its width. In towns the houses were often built side
by side, with party-walls between. The exterior wall was plain,
being composed generally of stone, brick, and timber, and often
covered with stucco. There was no open space between the street and
the house-door, like the Roman _vestibulum_. The πρόθυρα, which is
sometimes mentioned, seems to be merely the space in front of the
house, where there was generally an altar of Apollo Agyieus, or a
rude obelisk emblematical of the god. Sometimes there was a laurel
tree in the same position, and sometimes a head of the god Hermes.
A few steps (ἀναβαθμοί) led up to the house-door, which generally
bore some inscription, for the sake of a good omen, or as a charm.
The door sometimes opened outwards; but this seems to have been
an exception to the general rule, as is proved by the expressions
used for opening, ἐνδοῦναι, and shutting it, ἐπισπάσασθαι and
ἐφελκύσασθαι. The handles were called ἐπισπαστῆρες. The house-door
was called αὔλειος or αὔλεια θύρα, because it led to the αὐλή. It
gave admittance to a narrow passage (θυρωρεῖον, πυλών, θυρών), on
one side of which, in a large house, were the stables, on the other
the porter’s lodge. The duty of the porter (θυρωρός) was to admit
visitors and to prevent anything improper from being carried into or
out of the house. The porter was attended by a dog. Hence the phrase
εὐλαβεῖσθαι τὴν κύνα, corresponding to the Latin _Cave canem_. From
the θυρωρεῖον we pass into the peristyle or court (περιστύλιον, αὐλή)
of the andronitis, which was a space open to the sky in the centre
(ὕπαιθρον), and surrounded on all four sides by porticoes (στοαί), of
which one, probably that nearest the entrance, was called προστόον.
These porticoes were used for exercise, and sometimes for dining in.
Here was commonly the altar on which sacrifices were offered to the
household gods. In building the porticoes the object sought was to
obtain as much sun in winter, and as much shade and air in summer as
possible. Round the peristyle were arranged the chambers used by the
men, such as banqueting rooms (οἶκοι, ἀνδρῶνες), which were large
enough to contain several sets of couches (τρίκλινοι, ἑπτάκλινοι,
τριακοντάκλινοι, and at the same time to allow abundant room for
attendants, musicians, and performers of games; parlours or sitting
rooms (ἐξέδραι), and smaller chambers and sleeping rooms (δωμάτια,
κοιτῶνες, οἰκήματα); picture-galleries and libraries, and sometimes
store-rooms; and in the arrangement of these apartments attention was
paid to their aspect. The peristyle of the andronitis was connected
with that of the gynaeconitis by a door called μέταυλος, μέσαυλος, or
μεσαύλιος, which was in the middle of the portico of the peristyle
opposite to the entrance. By means of this door all communication
between the andronitis and gynaeconitis could be shut off.
[Illustration: Ground-plan of a Greek House.
α, House-door, αὔλειος θύρα: θυρ’, passage, θυρωρεῖον or θυρών: Α,
peristyle, or αὐλή of the andronitis; ο, the halls and chambers
of the andronitis; μ, μέταυλος or μέσαυλος θύρα: Γ, peristyle of
the gynaeconitis; γ, chambers of the gynaeconitis; π, προστάς or
παραστάς: θ, θάλαμος and ἀμφιθάλαμος: Ι, rooms for working in wool
(ἱστῶνες); Κ, garden-door, κηταία θύρα.]
Accordingly Xenophon calls it θύρα βαλανωτός. Its name μέσαυλος is
evidently derived from μέσος, and means the door _between_ the two
αὐλαί or peristyles. This door gave admittance to the peristyle
of the gynaeconitis, which differed from that of the andronitis
in having porticoes round only three of its sides. On the fourth
side were placed two antae [ANTAE], at a considerable distance
from each other. A third of the distance between these antae was
set off inwards, thus forming a chamber or vestibule, which was
called προστάς, παραστάς, and πρόδρομος. On the right and left of
this προστάς were two bed-chambers, the θάλαμος and ἀμφιθάλαμος,
of which the former was the principal bed-chamber of the house,
and here also seem to have been kept the vases, and other valuable
articles of ornament. Beyond these rooms were large apartments
(ἱστῶνες) used for working in wool. Round the peristyle were the
eating-rooms, bed-chambers, store-rooms, and other apartments in
common use. Besides the αὔλειος θύρα and the μέσαυλος θύρα, there
was a third door (κηπαία θύρα) leading to the garden. The preceding
is a conjectural plan of the ground-floor of a Greek house of the
larger size. There was usually, though not always, an upper story
(ὑπερῷον διῆρες), which seldom extended over the whole space occupied
by the lower story. The principal use of the upper story was for the
lodging of the slaves. The access to the upper floor seems to have
been sometimes by stairs on the outside of the house, leading up from
the street. Guests were also lodged in the upper story. But in some
large houses there were rooms set apart for their reception (ξενῶνες)
on the ground-floor. The roofs were generally flat, and it was
customary to walk about upon them. In the interior of the house the
place of doors was sometimes supplied by curtains (παραπετάσματα),
which were either plain, or dyed, or embroidered. The principal
openings for the admission of light and air were in the roofs of
the peristyles; but it is incorrect to suppose that the houses had
no windows (θυρίδες), or at least none overlooking the street. They
were not at all uncommon. Artificial warmth was procured partly by
means of fire-places. It is supposed that chimneys were altogether
unknown, and that the smoke escaped through an opening in the roof
(καπνοδόκη), but it is not easy to understand how this could be the
case when there was an upper story. Little portable stoves (ἐσχάραι,
ἐσχαρίδες) or chafing-dishes (ἀνθράκια) were frequently used. The
houses of the wealthy in the country, at least in Attica, were much
larger and more magnificent than those in the towns. The latter seem
to have been generally small and plain, especially in earlier times,
when the Greeks preferred expending the resources of art and wealth
on their temples and public buildings; but the private houses became
more magnificent as the public buildings began to be neglected. The
decorations of the interior were very plain at the period to which
our description refers. The floors were of stone. At a late period
coloured stones were used. Mosaics are first mentioned under the
kings of Pergamus. The walls, up to the 4th century B.C., seem to
have been only whited. The first instance of painting them is that
of Alcibiades. This innovation met with considerable opposition.
We have also mention of painted ceilings at the same period. At a
later period this mode of decoration became general.--(2) ROMAN. The
houses of the Romans were poor and mean for many centuries after the
foundation of the city. Till the war with Pyrrhus the houses were
covered only with thatch or shingles, and were usually built of wood
or unbaked bricks. It was not till the latter times of the republic,
when wealth had been acquired by conquests in the East, that houses
of any splendour began to be built; but it then became the fashion
not only to build houses of an immense size, but also to adorn them
with columns, paintings, statues, and costly works of art. Some idea
may be formed of the size and magnificence of the houses of the Roman
nobles during the later times of the republic by the price which
they fetched. The consul Messalla bought the house of Autronius for
3700 sestertia (nearly 33,000_l._), and Cicero the house of Crassus,
on the Palatine, for 3500 sestertia (nearly 31,000_l._). The house
of Publius Clodius, whom Milo killed, cost 14,800 sestertia (about
131,000_l._); and the Tusculan villa of Scaurus was fitted up with
such magnificence, that when it was burnt by his slaves, he lost
100,000 sestertia, upwards of 885,000_l._--Houses were originally
only one story high; but as the value of ground increased in the
city they were built several stories in height, and the highest
floors were usually inhabited by the poor. Till the time of Nero,
the streets in Rome were narrow and irregular, and bore traces of
the haste and confusion with which the city was built after it had
been burnt by the Gauls; but after the great fire in the time of
that emperor, by which two-thirds of Rome was burnt to the ground,
the city was built with great regularity. The streets were made
straight and broad; the height of the houses was restricted, and a
certain part of each was required to be built of Gabian or Alban
stone, which was proof against fire. The principal parts of a Roman
house were the, 1. _Vestibulum_, 2. _Ostium_, 3. _Atrium_ or _Cavum
Aedium_, 4. _Alae_, 5. _Tablinum_, 6. _Fauces_, 7. _Peristylium_.
The parts of a house which were considered of less importance,
and of which the arrangement differed in different houses, were
the, 1. _Cubicula_, 2. _Triclinia_, 3. _Oeci_, 4. _Exedrae_, 5.
_Pinacotheca_, 6. _Bibliotheca_, 7. _Balineum_, 8. _Culina_, 9.
_Coenacula_, 10. _Diaeta_, 11. _Solaria_. We shall speak of each
in order.--1. VESTIBULUM did not properly form part of the house,
but was a vacant space before the door, forming a court, which was
surrounded on three sides by the house, and was open on the fourth
to the street.--2. OSTIUM, which is also called _janua_ and _fores_,
was the entrance to the house. The street-door admitted into a hall,
to which the name of ostium was also given, and in which there was
frequently a small room (_cella_) for the porter (_janitor_ or
_ostiarius_), and also for a dog, which was usually kept in the hall
to guard the house. Another door (_janua interior_) opposite the
street-door led into the atrium.--3. ATRIUM or CAVUM AEDIUM, also
written _Cavaedium_, are probably only different names of the same
room.
[Illustration: Atrium of the House of Ceres at Pompeii.]
The Atrium or Cavum Aedium was a large apartment roofed over with
the exception of an opening in the centre, called _compluvium_,
towards which the roof sloped so as to throw the rain-water into
a cistern in the floor, termed _impluvium_, which was frequently
ornamented with statues, columns, and other works of art. The word
_impluvium_, however, is also employed to denote the aperture in
the roof. The atrium was the most important room in the house,
and among the wealthy was usually fitted up with much splendour
and magnificence. Originally it was the only sitting-room in the
house; but in the houses of the wealthy it was distinct from the
private apartments, and was used as a reception-room, where the
patron received his clients, and the great and noble the numerous
visitors who were accustomed to call every morning to pay their
respects or solicit favours. But though the atrium was not used by
the wealthy as a sitting-room for the family, it still continued to
be employed for many purposes which it had originally served. Thus
the nuptial couch was placed in the atrium opposite the door, and
also the instruments and materials for spinning and weaving, which
were formerly carried on by the women of the family in this room.
Here also the images of their ancestors were placed, and the focus or
fire-place, which possessed a sacred character, being dedicated to
the Lares of each family.--4. ALAE, wings, were small apartments or
recesses on the left and right sides of the atrium.--5. TABLINUM was
in all probability a recess or room at the further end of the atrium
opposite the door leading into the hall, and was regarded as part of
the atrium. It contained the family records and archives. With the
tablinum the Roman house appears to have originally ceased; and the
sleeping-rooms were probably arranged on each side of the atrium. But
when the atrium and its surrounding rooms were used for the reception
of clients and other public visitors, it became necessary to increase
the size of the house; and the following rooms were accordingly
added:--6. FAUCES appear to have been passages, which passed from the
atrium to the peristylium or interior of the house.--7. PERISTYLIUM
was in its general form like the atrium, but it was one-third greater
in breadth, measured transversely, than in length. It was a court
open to the sky in the middle; the open part, which was surrounded
by columns, was larger than the impluvium in the atrium, and was
frequently decorated with flowers and shrubs.--The arrangement of the
rooms, which are next to be noticed, varied according to the taste
and circumstances of the owner. It is therefore impossible to assign
to them any regular place in the house.--1. CUBICULA, bed-chambers,
appear to have been usually small. There were separate cubicula for
the day and night; the latter were also called _dormitoria_.--2.
TRICLINIA are treated of in a separate article. [TRICLINIUM.]--3.
OECI, from the Greek οἶκος, were spacious halls or saloons borrowed
from the Greeks, and were frequently used as triclinia. They were to
have the same proportions as triclinia, but were to be more spacious
on account of having columns, which triclinia had not.--4. EXEDRAE
were rooms for conversation and the other purposes of society.--5.
PINACOTHECA, a picture-gallery.--6, 7. BIBLIOTHECA and BALINEUM are
treated of in separate articles.--8. CULINA, the kitchen.
[Illustration: Kitchen of the House of Pansa at Pompeii.]
The food was originally cooked in the atrium: but the progress of
refinement afterwards led to the use of another part of the house for
this purpose. In the kitchen of Pansa’s house at Pompeii, a stove for
stews and similar preparations was found, very much like the charcoal
stoves used in the present day. Before it lie a knife, a strainer,
and a kind of frying-pan with four spherical cavities, as if it were
meant to cook eggs.--9. COENACULA, properly signified rooms to dine
in; but after it became the fashion to dine in the upper part of the
house, the whole of the rooms above the ground-floor were called
_coenacula_.--10. DIAETA, an apartment used for dining in, and for
the other purposes of life. It appears to have been smaller than
the triclinium. _Diaeta_ is also the name given by Pliny to rooms
containing three or four bed-chambers (_cubicula_). Pleasure-houses
or summer-houses are also called _diaetae_.--11. SOLARIA, properly
places for basking in the sun, were terraces on the tops of houses.
The preceding cut represents the atrium of a house at Pompeii. In
the centre is the impluvium, and the passage at the further end is
the ostium or entrance hall.--The preceding account of the different
rooms, and especially of the arrangement of the atrium, tablinum,
peristyle, &c., is best illustrated by the houses which have been
disinterred at Pompeii. The ground-plan of one is accordingly
subjoined.
[Illustration: Ground-plan of a House at Pompeii.]
Like most of the other houses at Pompeii, it had no vestibulum
according to the meaning given above. 1. The _ostium_ or
entrance-hall, which is six feet wide and nearly thirty long. Near
the street-door there is a figure of a large fierce dog worked in
mosaic on the pavement, and beneath it is written _Cave Canem_. The
two large rooms on each side of the vestibule appear from the large
openings in front of them to have been shops; they communicate with
the entrance-hall, and were therefore probably occupied by the master
of the house. 2. The _atrium_, which is about twenty-eight feet in
length and twenty in breadth; its _impluvium_ is near the centre
of the room, and its floor is paved with white tesserae, spotted
with black. 3. Chambers for the use of the family, or intended for
the reception of guests, who were entitled to claim hospitality.
4. A small room with a staircase leading up to the upper rooms.
5. _Alae._ 6. The _tablinum_. 7. The _fauces_. 8. Peristyle, with
Doric columns and garden in the centre. The large room on the right
of the peristyle is the triclinium; beside it is the kitchen; and
the smaller apartments are cubicula and other rooms for the use of
the family.--Having given a general description of the rooms of a
Roman house, it remains to speak of the (1) floors, (2) walls, (3)
ceilings, (4) windows, and (5) the mode of warming the rooms. For
the doors, see JANUA.--(1.) The floor (_solum_) of a room was seldom
boarded: it was generally covered with stone or marble, or mosaics.
The common floors were paved with pieces of bricks, tiles, stones,
&c., forming a kind of composition called _ruderatic_. Sometimes
pieces of marble were imbedded in a composition ground, and these
probably gave the idea of mosaics. As these floors were beaten
down (_pavita_) with rammers (_fistucae_), the word _pavimentum_
became the general name for a floor. Mosaics, called by Pliny
_lithostrota_ (λιθόστρωτα), though this word has a more extensive
meaning, first came into use in Sulla’s time, who made one in the
temple of Fortune at Praeneste. Mosaic work was afterwards called
_Musivum opus_, and was most extensively employed.--(2.) The inner
walls (_parietes_) of private rooms were frequently lined with slabs
of marble, but were more usually covered by paintings, which in the
time of Augustus were made upon the walls themselves. This practice
was so common that we find even the small houses in Pompeii have
paintings upon their walls.--(3.) The ceilings seem originally to
have been left uncovered, the beams which supported the roof or the
upper story being visible. Afterwards planks were placed across
these beams at certain intervals, leaving hollow spaces, called
_lacunaria_ or _laquearia_, which were frequently covered with
gold and ivory, and sometimes with paintings. There was an arched
ceiling in common use, called CAMARA.--(4.) The Roman houses had
few windows (_fenestrae_). The principal apartments, the atrium,
peristyle, &c., were lighted from above, and the cubicula and other
small rooms generally derived their light from them, and not from
windows looking into the street. The rooms only on the upper story
seem to have been usually lighted by windows. The windows appear
originally to have been merely openings in the wall, closed by means
of shutters, which frequently had two leaves (_bifores fenestrae_).
Windows were also sometimes covered by a kind of lattice or trellis
work (_clathri_), and sometimes by net-work, to prevent serpents
and other noxious reptiles from getting in. Afterwards, however,
windows were made of a transparent stone, called _lapis specularis_
(mica); such windows were called _specularia_. Windows made of glass
(_vitrum_) are first mentioned by Lactantius, who lived in the fourth
century of the Christian era; but the discoveries at Pompeii prove
that glass was used for windows under the early emperors.--(5.) The
rooms were heated in winter in different ways; but the Romans had
no stoves like ours. The cubicula, triclinia, and other rooms,
which were intended for winter use, were built in that part of the
house upon which the sun shone most; and in the mild climate of
Italy this frequently enabled them to dispense with any artificial
mode of warming the rooms. Rooms exposed to the sun in this way were
sometimes called _heliocamini_. The rooms were sometimes heated by
hot air, which was introduced by means of pipes from a furnace below,
but more frequently by portable furnaces or braziers (_foculi_), in
which coal or charcoal was burnt. The _caminus_ was also a kind of
stove, in which wood appears to have been usually burnt, and probably
only differed from the _foculus_ in being larger and fixed to one
place. The rooms usually had no chimneys for carrying off the smoke,
which escaped through the windows, doors, and openings in the roof;
still chimneys do not appear to have been entirely unknown to the
ancients, as some are said to have been found in the ruins of ancient
buildings.
DŌNĀRĬA (ἀναθήματα or ἀνακείμενα), presents made to the gods, either
by individuals or communities. Sometimes they are also called
_dona_ or δῶρα. The belief that the gods were pleased with costly
presents was as natural to the ancients as the belief that they
could be influenced in their conduct towards men by the offering of
sacrifices; and, indeed, both sprang from the same feeling. Presents
were mostly given as tokens of gratitude for some favour which a god
had bestowed on man; as, for instance, by persons who had recovered
from illness or escaped from shipwreck; but some are also mentioned,
which were intended to induce the deity to grant some especial
favour. Almost all presents were dedicated in temples, to which in
some places an especial building was added, in which these treasures
were preserved. Such buildings were called θησαυροί(treasuries);
and in the most frequented temples of Greece many states had their
separate treasuries. The act of dedication was called ἀνατιθέναι,
_donare_, _dedicare_, or _sacrare_.