SPĪRA (σπεῖρα), _dim._ SPĪRŬLA, the base of a column. This member did
not exist in the Doric order of Greek architecture, but was always
present in the Ionic and Corinthian, and, besides the bases properly
belonging to those orders, there was one called the Attic, which may
be regarded as a variety of the Ionic [ATTICURGES]. In the Ionic
and Attic the base commonly consisted of two tori (_torus superior_
and _torus inferior_) divided by a _scotia_ (τρόχιλος), and in the
Corinthian of two tori divided by two scotiae. The upper torus was
often fluted (ῥαβδωτός), and surmounted by an astragal [ASTRAGALUS],
as in the left-hand figure of the annexed woodcut, which shows the
form of the base in the Ionic temple of Panops on the Ilissus. The
right-hand figure in the same woodcut shows the corresponding part
in the temple of Minerva Polias at Athens. In this the upper torus
is wrought with a plaited ornament, perhaps designed to represent a
rope or cable. In these two temples the spira rests not upon a plinth
(_plinthus_, πλίνθος), but on a podium.
[Illustration: Spirae (bases) of Columns. (From ancient Columns.)]
SPŎLĬA. Four words are commonly employed to denote booty taken in
war, _Praeda, anubiae_, _Exuviae_, _Spolia_. Of these _Praeda_ bears
the most comprehensive meaning, being used for plunder of every
description. _Manubiae_ would seem strictly to signify that portion
of the spoil which fell to the share of the commander-in-chief,
the proceeds of which were frequently applied to the erection of
some public building. _Exuviae_ indicates anything stripped from
the person of a foe, while _Spolia_, properly speaking, ought to
be confined to armour and weapons, although both words are applied
loosely to trophies, such as chariots, standards, beaks of ships
and the like, which might be preserved and displayed. Spoils
collected on the battlefield after an engagement, or found in a
captured town, were employed to decorate the temples of the gods,
triumphal arches, porticoes, and other places of public resort, and
sometimes in the hour of extreme need served to arm the people; but
those which were gained by individual prowess were considered the
undoubted property of the successful combatant, and were exhibited
in the most conspicuous part of his dwelling, being hung up in the
atrium, suspended from the door-posts, or arranged in the vestibulum,
with appropriate inscriptions. They were regarded as peculiarly
sacred, so that even if the house was sold the new possessor was not
permitted to remove them. But while on the one hand it was unlawful
to remove spoils, so it was forbidden to _replace_ or _repair_ them
when they had fallen down or become decayed through age; the object
of this regulation being doubtless to guard against the frauds of
false pretenders. Of all spoils the most important were the _spolia
opima_, a term applied to those only which the commander-in-chief of
a Roman army stripped in a field of battle from the leader of the
foe. Plutarch expressly asserts that Roman history up to his own time
afforded but three examples of the _spolia opima_. The first were
said to have been won by Romulus from Acro, king of the Caeninenses,
the second by Aulus Cornelius Cossus from Lar Tolumnius, king of the
Veientes, the third by M. Claudius Marcellus from Viridomarus, king
of the Gaesatae. In all these cases, in accordance with the original
institution, the spoils were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius.