Greek and Roman Antiquities

• Babylonicum a Babylonian coverlet, placed upon couches (Lucr. 4.1029; Fest. p. 298, Müller) and horses
• Bacchanalia the name under which the festivals of Dionysus or Bacchus were known at Rome. The circumst
• Baculum . Carrying a stick was as common a practice in Greece as it is with us (Lysias, pro Inval.
• Bajulus a porter, anyone employed to carry burdens, whether a freeman or a slave. (Gel. 5.3.1; Fes
• Balatro a professional jester, buffoon, or parasite (Hor. Sat. 1.2, 2); in Sat. 2.8, 21 the word i
• Balneae Balineae, Balneum, Balineum, Thermae (ἀσάμινθος, βαλανεῖον, λοετρόν, λουτρόν). GREEK BATHS
• Balteus in the plural baltea (πελαμών, ἀορτήρ), a belt, is sometimes used in poetry to denote a wo
• Baptae a society founded by Alcibiades in honour of Cotytto, the Thracian Cybele, so called from
• Barathron was a deep pit at Athens into which criminals, and the dead bodies of executed criminals,
• Barba Greek (πώγων, γένειον, ὑπήνη). Of these, γένειον properly chin, is the earliest word, for
• Baris a boat used on the Nile to transport merchandise, and also at funerals to convey the corps
• Bascauda a word borrowed, like our English basket, from the ancient British language (Welsh basged,
• Basileia a festival with games open to all Greeks, held at Lebadea in Boeotia, in honour of Zeus Ba
• Basilica a building which served as a court of law and an exchange, or…
• Basilica the Greek code of Roman law. About A.D. 876, the Emperor Basil, the Macedonian, commenced
• Basilinda a children's game, wherein one is appointed by lot king, and has his playmates as soldiers
• Basilium a tall headdress peculiar to kings of Egypt and to the Egyptian goddess Isis. (Diod. 1.47;
• Bassara BASSARIS (βασσάρα, κασσάρα), meant originally a fox (Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 771; cf. βασσάριον
• Bastagarii The word bastaga (connected with βαστάζειν) in Low Latin was applied to the duty of transp
• Basterna a kind of litter (lectica) in which women were carried in the time of the Roman emperors.
• Batiaca a drinking vessel of silver (Ath. 11.480 a, cf. 484 c; Isid. Gloss. p. 5), brass or gold (
• Batillum a shovel with a short handle, made of iron (Plin. Nat. 33.127, 34.112), used for various p
• Baucalis a large vessel for cooling wine in (Anth. Pal. 11.244, 4), made at Alexandria (Ath. 11.784
• Baucides a kind of costly shoe of a saffron colour (Poll. 7.99), worn exclusively by women. It was
• Baxeae or BAXAE, sandals made of vegetable leaves, twigs, or fibres. According to Isidore (Orig.
• Bebaioseos dike dike (βεβαιώσεως δίκη), an action to compel the vendor to make a good title, was had recou
• Bendideia a festival celebrated in the port town of Peiraeeus in honour of Bendis, a Thracian divini
• Beneficium BENEFICIARIUS. The word beneficium is of frequent occurrence in the Roman law, in the sens
• Benna a carriage (Festus, s.v. Benna lingua Gallica genus vehiculi appellatur, unde vocantur com
• Besa or BESSA (βήσα, Eustath. on Od. 1.1405 b, 16; βήσσα, Ath. 11.784 b; βησίον, an Alexandrine
• Bestiarii persons who fought with wild beasts in the games of the circus. They were either persons w
• Biaion dike dike (βιαίων δίκη). This action might be brought in any case of brutal violence (Harpocrat
• Bibliotheca . Greek The large libraries of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs were unknown to the Gree
• Bicos an earthen vessel in common use among the Greeks. (Pollux, 6.14, 7.162, 10.73.) Hesychius
• Bidental an erection on a spot where lightning had fallen. The name is derived from the sacrifice o
• Bidiaei called in inscriptions βίδεοι or βίδυοι, were magistrates in Sparta whose business was to
• Bigati sc. nummi, the Roman denarii which had a two-horsed chariot (biga) as type. (Plin. Nat. 33
• Birrus or BURRUS, a cloak or cape furnished with a hood; a heavy, coarse garment for use in bad w
• Blabes dike dike (βλάβης δίκη).; This action was available in all cases in which one person had sustai
• Boagos . The boys (seven to eighteen years) at Sparta after their seventh year were taken by the
• Boedromia a festival celebrated at Athens on the seventh day of the month of Boëdromion, in honour o
• Boeotarches . It is proposed under this head to give a brief account of the Boeotian constitution as w
• Boiae a collar of wood or iron put on the neck of slaves or criminals as a punishment (Plaut. As
• Bombylios or BOMBYLE (βομβυλιός or βομβυλή, Hesych. s. v.; Schol. ad Apollon. 2.569), a narrow-necke
• Bomonikes . The Spartan youths, in remembrance of an old religious ceremony, used to be scourged at
• Bona The word bona is sometimes used to express the whole of a man's property (Paulus, Recept.
• Bona caduca caduca Caducum literally signifies that which falls; thus glans caduca, according to Gaius
• Bona fides fides This term frequently occurs in the Latin writers, and particularly in the Roman juri
• Bona vacantia vacantia were the property which a person left at his death without having disposed of it
• Bonam copiam jurare copiam jurare to take an oath to one's competence or solvency, is a phrase which occurs in
• Bonorum cessio cessio, CESSIO BONO--RUM. As will be seen by reference to the article BONAM COPIAM JURARE
• Bonorum collatio collatio, COLLATIO BONORUM. By the rules of the civil law, emancipated children had no rig
• Bonorum emptio et emptor emptio et emptor The early form of execution for debt, termed manus injectio, was personal
• Bonorum possessio possessio is the technical term for the succession which the praetor gave to the inheritan
• Boonae persons in Athens who purchased oxen for the public sacrifices and feast. They are spoken
• Boreasmi or BOREASMUS (βορεασμοί or βορεασμός), a festival celebrated by the Athenians in honour of
• Boukoloi members of a religious college at Pergamum during the Roman empire, engaged in celebrating
• Bouleuseos GRAPHÉ (βουλεύσεως γραφή), an impeachment for conspiracy. Βουλεύσεως, being in this case t
• Bracae trowsers, pantaloons. These, as well as various other articles of armour and of dress [ACI
• Bracchiale . The βραχίων was the upper arm from the elbow to the shoulder (Poll. 2.138; Curtius, Gr.
• Brasideia a festival celebrated at Sparta in honour of their great general Brasidas, who, after his
• Brattea a finely beaten-out plate of metal, especially gold (Lucr. l.c.; Verg. Acn. 6.209). Thicke
• Brauronia a festival celebrated in honour of Artemis Brauronia, in the Attic town of Brauron (Hdt. 6
• Breviarium alaricianum alaricianum or BREVIARIUM. Alaric, the second king of the Visigoths (A.D. 484-507), who re
• Bruttiani slaves whose duty it was to wait on the Roman magistrates. They are said to have been orig
• Bucina a kind of horn-trumpet, originally made out of a shell, in which case it is often, especia
• Bulga a leathern bag or pouch, carried on the arm, and used as a purse (Lucil. and Varro ap. Non
• Bulla a water bubble, and, from the resemblance in form, a boss, sometimes of ivory, but usually
• Butyrum butter, was only used by the Greeks and Romans as an unguent (Plin. Nat. 11.239) and a med
• Buxum properly means the wood of the box tree, but was given as a name to many things made of th
• Byssus . It has been a subject of some dispute whether the byssus of the ancients was cotton or l