Trulla
Trulla
1. A ladle for stirring and skimming (=τορύνη), in which sense trua also is used.
2. Trulla vinaria, a sort of ladle used like a cyathus for taking wine from the crater (Varro, L. L. 5.118; Cic. Ver. 4.27, 62; Hor. Sat. 2.3, 144). It probably differed from the cyathus in having a shallower and flatter bowl at the end of its long handle (manubrium). The material was various, wooden or copper (Cat. Agr. 13), silver (Cic. l.c. or murrhina (Plin. Nat. 37.20). The passage in Mart. 9.37 is altogether incompatible with the notion (for which there is no authority) that the trulla had holes like a strainer.
3. A mason's trowel for plastering walls, whence trullisare (Pallad. R. R. 1.13; Isid. Orig. 19.18). This meaning also negatives the idea of its being perforated.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.