Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Translator's Preface
- Author's Preface
- Contents
- ERRATUM
- SCENE THE FIRST THE NOCTURNAL RETURN HOME
- SCENE THE SECOND THE MORNING
- SCENE THE THIRD STUDIES AND LETTERS
- SCENE THE FOURTH THE JOURNEY
- SCENE THE FIFTH THE VILLA
- SCENE THE SIXTH LYCORIS
- SCENE THE SEVENTH A DAY AT BAIÆ
- SCENE THE EIGHTH THE DISPLEASURE OF AUGUSTUS
- SCENE THE NINTH THE BANQUET
- SCENE THE TENTH THE DRINKERS
- SCENE THE ELEVENTH THE CATASTROPHE
- SCENE THE TWELFTH THE GRAVE
- APPENDIX
- Excursus I Roman Marriage
- Excursus II Education
- Excursus I The Roman House
- Excursus II The Slave Family
- Excursus I The Library
- Excursus II The Books
- Excursus III The Booksellers
- Excursus IV The Letter
- Excursus V The Clocks and Divisions of Time
- Excursus I The Lectica and the Carriages
- Excursus II The Inns
- Excursus I The Game of Ball, and other Gymnastic Exercises
- Excursus II The Gardens
- Excursus: The Dress of the Women
- Excursus: The Baths
- Excursus: The Male Attire
- Excursus I The Meals
- Excursus II The Triclinium
- Excursus III The Table Utensils
- Excursus IV The Drinks
- Excursus I The Manner of Lighting
- Excursus II The Garlands
- Excursus III The Social Games
- Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
- Excursus: The Interment of the Dead
- Index
Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- Translator's Preface
- Author's Preface
- Contents
- ERRATUM
- SCENE THE FIRST THE NOCTURNAL RETURN HOME
- SCENE THE SECOND THE MORNING
- SCENE THE THIRD STUDIES AND LETTERS
- SCENE THE FOURTH THE JOURNEY
- SCENE THE FIFTH THE VILLA
- SCENE THE SIXTH LYCORIS
- SCENE THE SEVENTH A DAY AT BAIÆ
- SCENE THE EIGHTH THE DISPLEASURE OF AUGUSTUS
- SCENE THE NINTH THE BANQUET
- SCENE THE TENTH THE DRINKERS
- SCENE THE ELEVENTH THE CATASTROPHE
- SCENE THE TWELFTH THE GRAVE
- APPENDIX
- Excursus I Roman Marriage
- Excursus II Education
- Excursus I The Roman House
- Excursus II The Slave Family
- Excursus I The Library
- Excursus II The Books
- Excursus III The Booksellers
- Excursus IV The Letter
- Excursus V The Clocks and Divisions of Time
- Excursus I The Lectica and the Carriages
- Excursus II The Inns
- Excursus I The Game of Ball, and other Gymnastic Exercises
- Excursus II The Gardens
- Excursus: The Dress of the Women
- Excursus: The Baths
- Excursus: The Male Attire
- Excursus I The Meals
- Excursus II The Triclinium
- Excursus III The Table Utensils
- Excursus IV The Drinks
- Excursus I The Manner of Lighting
- Excursus II The Garlands
- Excursus III The Social Games
- Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
- Excursus: The Interment of the Dead
- Index
Summary
AMONG the least intelligible passages in ancient authors, are those which relate to some mechanism unknown to the moderns. If express descriptions, such as those of Vitruvius and Hero, and of the hydraulic machines of Ctesibius, are difficult to be understood, we are still more at a loss to give a satisfactory explanation, when casual mention merely is made of something well known at the time, let its mechanism have been ever so simple. This is especially the case when the locks or fastenings of the door are mentioned. Boettiger (Kunstmyth. i. p. 271) says with some truth, that ‘the art of the locksmith is one which still requires much elucidation; and a perfect system of the ancient technology, chiefly after the Onomasticon of Pollux, remains to be written,’ yet the system of nomenclature in Pollux will least contribute to clear up our difficulties.
Our examination must not only begin with the most ancient Greek period, concerning which Homer gives very important hints, but must also comprehend the East, as the origin of keys is probably to be sought for in Phœnicia. This point has partly been discussed in the more important writings on this subject, especially Salmas. Exercitt. p. 649; Sagittarius, De jan. vett. 9—15; Molin, De clacibus veterum, in Sallengre, Thes. antt. Rom. iii. 795: Montfauc. Antiq. expl. iii. I. t. 54, 55. The oldest method of fastening cannot be referred to that in use at Rome; and we shall here chiefly explain such terms as obex, sera, repagula, pessuli, claustra.
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- GallusOr, Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus, pp. 397 - 399Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1844