Greek and Roman Antiquities

• Macellum a provision market for butchers, fishmongers, poulterers, fruiterers, and confectioners: s
• Machinae and ORGANA (ὄργανα). The object of this article is to give a brief general account of thos
• Maenianum signified, originally, a projecting balcony, which was erected above the arcades of shops
• Magister which contains the same root as mag-is and mag-nus, was applied at Rome to persons possess
• Magistratus Magistratus is properly the abstract form of the concrete magister, but it comes to be use
• Majestas The only term for treason in early Roman law was perduellio, a word made up of per, para =
• Malacensis lex lex or MALACITANA LEX, a statute regulating the municipal constitution of Malaga in Spain,
• Malleus dim. MALLEOLUS, 1. A hammer, a mallet, was used much for the same purposes in ancient as i
• Manceps has the same relation to mancipium that auspex has to auspicium, and in its original sense
• Mancipii causa causa The three expressions by which the Romans distinguished the different species of pow
• Mancipium or according to an earlier form mancupium, is the formal legal proceeding per aes et libra
• Mandatum 1. Mandatum, a commission, is the name of a contract which arises from consent; i. e. it r
• Manica a sleeve, regarded as effeminate until the later Empire. Verg. A. 9.616, Et tunicae manica
• Mansio . When the kings of Persia, and afterwards the Romans, constructed the great roads through
• Mantele in the imperial times, was a table-cloth, but originally, as its etymology shows, was a to
• Mantica properly a hand-bag, a wallet or travelling bag, in which a few necessaries could be carri
• Manumissio was a legal act by which slaves and persons in mancipii causa were released from the manus
• Manus injectio injectio is a kind of legalised self-help, which consists in a claimant laying hands on an
• Mappa a linen napkin. Among Greeks and Romans alike, before the meal began and after it was over
• Maris a Greek measure of capacity, which, according to Pollux (10.184) and Aristotle (Hist. An.
• Marra was apparently a sort of single-headed pick-axe, perhaps heavier and with a broader head t
• Marsupium a purse. (Non. Marcellus, s. v.; Varro, de Re Rust. 3.17;--Plaut. Men. 2.1, 29; 2.3, 33, 3
• Martyria signifies strictly the deposition of a witness in a court of justice, though the word is a
• Mastigophori or MASTIGONOMI (μαστιγοφόροι or μαστιγονόμοι), the name of the lower police-officers in th
• Matralia a festival celebrated at Rome every year on the 11th of June, in honour of the goddess Mat
• Matrimonium NUPTIAE (γάμος), marriage. Greek The history of the marriage relation among the Greeks tak
• Matronalia also called MATRONALES FERIAE, a festival celebrated by the Roman matrons on the 1st of Ma
• Mausoleum The tomb of Mausolus or Maussolus, ruler of Caria under the Persian king, is usually known
• Mazonomus from μάζα, a loaf, or a cake; properly a dish for distributing bread: but the term is appl
• Meddix tuticus tuticus (= community manager) was the chief magistrate among Oscan or Sabellian communitie
• Mediastini the name given to slaves of all work either in town or country, who are said by the Scholi
• Medicina the name of that science which, as Celsus says (de Medic. lib. i. Praef.), promises health
• Medicus the name given by the ancients to every professor of the healing art, whether physician or
• Medimnus the principal dry measure of the Greeks. It was used especially for measuring coin. It con
• Meditrinalia a festival on October 11th in honour of Meditrina, the old Roman goddess of healing (cp. V
• Megalesia MEGALENSIA, or MEGALENSES LUDI. It is important to mark the distinction between the celebr
• Melitensis vestis vestis a specially fine and soft material for dresses and the covering of couches made at
• Menelaeia a festival celebrated at Therapnae in Laconia, in honour of Menelaus and Helen, who were b
• Mensa a table. The simplest kind of table was one with three legs, round, called cilliba (Festus
• Mensores measurers or surveyors. This name was applied to various classes of persons whose occupati
• Mensura . The simplest and probably most primitive measures are those derived from the various par
• Mercenarii mercenary troops. At an early period there was no such thing as a standing army, or mercen
• Metageitnia a festival celebrated by the Attic demos Melite, in honour of Apollo Metageitnios. The chi
• Metallum . The Greek word bears only the meaning of mine; the Latin means either a mine or its prod
• Metoecus a resident foreigner, a permanent settler in an alien state. Resident aliens were common i
• Metopa is the name given to the interval between the triglyphi in the frieze of the Doric order [
• Metretes or AMPHORA METRETES (ἀφμορευς μετρητής, the standard amphora; it appears also as ἀμφορεύς,
• Metronomi were officers in the Athenian police appointed by lot, whose special duty was to see that
• Micare digitis digitis a favourite game in ancient Italy, as the precisely similar morra is among Italian
• Milliare MILLIARIUM, or MILLE PASSUUM (in Greek writers μίλιον), the Roman mile, consisted of 1000
• Mimus properly signifies an imitation or imitator of a situation or person. Greek In Greek liter
• Misthoseos phasis phasis (μισθώσεως φάσις), also called μισθώσεως οἴκου φάσις, is the action brought against
• Mitra means in its first sense a band of any kind, and accordingly it was (1) the Homeric μίτρη,
• Modiolus the diminutive of MODIUS is used for various kinds of small vessels: for a drinking-cup, D
• Modius the principal dry measure of the Romans, was equal to one-third of the amphora (Volusius M
• Modulus the standard measure used in determining the parts of an architectural order. It was origi
• Mola a mill. Curtius (Gr. Etym. p. 339) remarks that all European languages have the same word
• Monarchia a general name for any form of government in which the supreme functions of political admi
• Moneta a mint. The mint of Rome was a building on the Capitoline hill, attached to the temple of
• Monile a necklace. In Homer the words ὅρμος and ἴσθμιον are both employed for ornaments worn roun
• Mora The mere fact of a legal duty not being discharged at the time when it is due can give ris
• Mortarium also called PILA, a mortar: the Greek words to express it are ὅλμος, θυεία, and in old Att
• Munychia a festival celebrated in April in honour of Artemis Munychia, as the goddess of the full m
• Murrhina or MURREA VASA were first brought to Rome in 61 B.C. by Pompey, who, after his triumph, de
• Murus MOENIA (τεῖχος), a wall surrounding an unroofed enclosure, in contradistinction to PARIES
• Musculus was a shelter for soldiers engaged in undermining the enemy's walls or towers (Caes. B.C.
• Musea a festival with contests celebrated in a grove on the lower slopes of Mount Helicon in Boe
• Museum signified in general a place dedicated to the Muses, but was specially the name given to a
• Musica The term μουσικὴ signified the art or circle of arts over which the Muses presided, viz. p
• Mustax moustaches. The different parts of the beard [BARBA] had different names, which also varie
• Mutuum A mutui datio exists when things quae pondere, numero, mensurave constant, --as coined mon
• Myinda was a game in which one was blindfold, or was obliged to keep his eyes shut (μύειν). As ma
• Myrii the name given to the popular assembly of the Arcadians, which was established after the o
• Mysia a festival celebrated by the inhabitants of Pellene in Achaia, in honour of Demeter Mysia.
• Mysteria . Though the term μυστήρια is that which has survived, still it was only one and that a la
• Mystrum a spoon (cf. μυστίλη), a Greek liquid measure, strictly a spoonful, of which there were tw