UMBRĀCŬLUM, UMBELLA (σκιάδειον, σκιάδιον, σκιαδίσκη), a parasol, was
used by Greek and Roman ladies as a protection against the sun. They
seem not to have been carried generally by the ladies themselves,
but by female slaves, who held them over their mistresses. The
daughters of the aliens (μέτοικοι) at Athens had to carry parasols
after the Athenian maidens at the Panathenaea, as is mentioned under
HYDRIAPHORIA. The parasols of the ancients seem to have been exactly
like our own parasols or umbrellas in form, and could be shut up and
opened like ours. It was considered a mark of effeminacy for men to
make use of parasols. The Roman ladies used them in the amphitheatre
to defend themselves from the sun or some passing shower, when
the wind or other circumstances did not allow the velarium to be
extended. [AMPHITHEATRUM.] To hold a parasol over a lady was one
of the common attentions of lovers, and it seems to have been very
common to give parasols as presents. Instead of parasols, the Greek
women in later times wore a kind of straw hat or bonnet, called
_tholia_ (θολία). The Romans also wore a hat with a broad brim
(_petasus_) as a protection against the sun.
[Illustration: Umbraculum, Parasol. (From an ancient Vase.)]
UNCIA (ὀγκία, οὐγκία, οὐγγία), the twelfth part of the AS or LIBRA,
is derived by Varro from _unus_, as being the unit of the divisions
of the as. Its value as a weight was 433·666 grains, or ¾ of an
ounce and 105·36 grains avoirdupois. [LIBRA.] In connecting the
Roman system of weights and money with the Greek another division of
the uncia was used. When the drachma was introduced into the Roman
system as equivalent to the denarius of 96 to the pound [DENARIUS;
DRACHMA], the uncia contained 8 drachmae, the drachma 3 scrupula, the
scrupulum 2 oboli (since 6 oboli made up the drachma), and the obolos
3 siliquae (κερατία). In this division we have the origin of the
modern Italian system, in which the pound is divided into 12 ounces,
the ounce into 3 drams, the dram into 3 scruples, and the scruple
into 6 carats. In each of these systems 1728 κερατία, siliquae, or
carats, make up the pound. The Romans applied the uncial division to
all kinds of magnitude. [AS.] In length the uncia was the twelfth
of a foot, whence the word _inch_ [PES], in area the twelfth of a
jugerum [JUGERUM], in content the twelfth of a sextarius [SEXTARIUS;
CYATHUS], in time the twelfth of an hour.