LAUTŬMĬAE, LAUTŎMIAE, LĀTOMIAE, Or LĀTUMIAE (λιθοτομίαι,
λατομίαι,Lat. _Lapicidinae_), literally places where stones are cut,
or quarries, and more particularly the public prison of Syracuse. It
lay in the steep and almost inaccessible part of the town which was
called Epipolae, and had been built by Dionysius the tyrant. It was
cut to an immense depth into the solid rock, so that nothing could be
imagined to be a safer or stronger prison, though it had no roof, and
thus left the prisoners exposed to the heat of the sun, the rain, and
the coldness of the nights. The Tullianum at Rome was also sometimes
called lautumiae. [CARCER.]
LECTICA (κλίνη, κλινίδιον, or φορεῖον), was a kind of couch or
litter, in which persons, in a lying position, were carried from one
place to another. Lecticae were used for carrying the dead [FUNUS] as
well as the living. The Greek lectica consisted of a bed or mattress,
and a pillow to support the head, placed upon a kind of bedstead or
couch. It had a roof, consisting of the skin of an ox, extending over
the couch and resting on four posts. The sides of this lectica were
covered with curtains. In the republican period it appears to have
been chiefly used by women, and by men only when they were in ill
health. When this kind of lectica was introduced among the Romans,
it was chiefly used in travelling, and very seldom in Rome itself.
But towards the end of the republic, and under the empire, it was
commonly used in the city, and was fitted up in the most splendid
manner. Instead of curtains, it was frequently closed on the sides
with windows made of transparent stone (_lapis specularis_), and was
provided with a pillow and bed. When standing, it rested on four
feet, generally made of wood. Persons were carried in a lectica by
slaves (_lecticarii_), by means of poles (_asseres_) attached to it,
but not fixed, so that they might easily be taken off when necessary.
The number of lecticarii employed in carrying one lectica varied
according to its size, and the display of wealth which a person
might wish to make. The ordinary number was probably two; but it
varied from two to eight, and the lectica is called _hexaphoron_ or
_octophoron_, accordingly as it was carried by six or eight persons.
LECTISTERNIUM. Sacrifices being of the nature of feasts, the Greeks
and Romans, on occasion of extraordinary solemnities, placed images
of the gods reclining on couches, with tables and viands before them,
as if they were really partaking of the things offered in sacrifice.
This ceremony was called a _lectisternium_. The woodcut here
introduced exhibits one of these couches, which is represented with
a cushion covered by a cloth hanging in ample folds down each side.
This beautiful _pulvinar_ is wrought altogether in white marble, and
is somewhat more than two feet in height.
[Illustration: Pulvinar used at Lectisternium. (From the Glyptothek
at Munich.)]
LECTUS (λέχος, κλίνη, εὐνή), a bed. The complete bed (εὐνή) of a
wealthy Greek in later times generally consisted of the following
parts:--κλίνη, ἐπίτονοι, τυλεῖον or κνέφαλον, προσκεφάλειον, and
στρώματα. The κλίνη is, properly speaking, merely the bedstead, and
seems to have consisted only of posts fitted into one another and
resting upon four feet. At the head part alone there was a board
(ἀνάκλιντρον or ἐπίκλιντρον) to support the pillow and prevent its
falling out. Sometimes, however, the bottom part of a bedstead
was likewise protected by a board, so that in this case a Greek
bedstead resembled what we call a French bedstead. The bedstead was
provided with girths (τόνοι, ἐπίτονοι, κειρία) on which the bed or
mattress (κνέφαλον, τυλεῖον, or τύλη) rested. The cover or ticking
of a mattress was made of linen or woollen cloth, or of leather,
and the usual material with which it was filled was either wool
or dried weeds. At the head part of the bed, and supported by the
ἐπίκλιντρον, lay a round pillow (προσκεφάλειον) to support the head.
The bed-covers (στρώματα) were generally made of cloth, which was
very thick and woolly, either on one or on both sides. The beds
of the Romans (_lecti cubiculares_) in the earlier periods of the
republic were probably of the same description as those used in
Greece; but towards the end of the republic and during the empire,
the richness and magnificence of the beds of the wealthy Romans far
surpassed every thing we find described in Greece. The bedstead was
generally rather high, so that persons entered the bed (_scandere_,
_ascendere_) by means of steps placed beside it (_scamnum_). It was
sometimes made of metal, and sometimes of costly kinds of wood,
or veneered with tortoise-shell or ivory; its feet (_fulcra_)
were frequently of silver or gold. The bed or mattress (_culcita_
and _torus_) rested upon girths or strings (_restes_, _fasciae_,
_institae_, or _funes_), which connected the two horizontal
side-posts of the bed. In beds destined for two persons the two sides
are distinguished by different names; the side at which persons
entered was open, and bore the name _sponda_; the other side, which
was protected by a board, was called _pluteus_. The two sides of such
a bed are also distinguished by the names _torus exterior_ and _torus
interior_, or _sponda exterior_ and _sponda interior_; and from these
expressions it is not improbable that such lecti had two beds or
mattresses, one for each person. Mattresses were in the earlier times
filled with dry herbs or straw, and such beds continued to be used
by the poor. But in subsequent times wool, and, at a still later
period, feathers, were used by the wealthy for the beds as well as
the pillows. The cloth or ticking (_operimentum_ or _involucrum_)
with which the beds or mattresses were covered, was called _toral_,
_torale_, _linteum_, or _segestre_. The blankets or counterpanes
(_vestes stragulae_, _stragula_, _peristromata_, _peripetasmata_)
were in the houses of wealthy Romans of the most costly description,
and generally of a purple colour, and embroidered with beautiful
figures in gold. Covers of this sort were called _peripetasmata
Attalica_, because they were said to have been first used at the
court of Attalus. The pillows were likewise covered with magnificent
casings. The _lectus genialis_ or _adversus_ was the bridal bed,
which stood in the atrium, opposite the janua, whence it derived
the epithet _adversus_. It was generally high, with steps by its
side, and in later times beautifully adorned. Respecting the lectus
funebris see FUNUS. An account of the disposition of the couches used
at entertainments is given under TRICLINIUM.