MORTĀRIUM, also called PĪLA and PILUM (ὄλμος, ἴγδη, ἴγδις), a mortar.
Before the invention of mills [MOLA] corn was pounded and rubbed in
mortars (_pistum_), and hence the place for making bread, or the
bake-house, was called _pistrinum_. Also long after the introduction
of mills this was an indispensable article of domestic furniture.
Those used in pharmacy were sometimes made of Egyptian alabaster.
The mortar was also employed in pounding charcoal, rubbing it with
glue, in order to make black paint (_atramentum_), in making plaster
for the walls of apartments, in mixing spices and fragrant herbs
and flowers for the use of the kitchen, and in metallurgy, as in
triturating cinnabar to obtain mercury from it by sublimation.