mail:
Bill Thayer |
Italiano |
Help |
Up |
Home |
LANX, dim. LANCULA, a large dish, made of silver or some other metal, and sometimes embossed, used at splendid entertainments to hold meat or fruit (Cic. ad Att. VI.1; Hor. Sat. II.2.4, II.4.41; Ovid, de Ponto, III.5.20; Petron. 31); and consequently at sacrifices (Virg. Georg. II.194, 394, Aen. VIII.284, XII.215; Ovid. de Ponto, IV.8.40) and funeral banquets (Propert. II.13.23). The silver dishes, used by the Romans at their grand dinners, were of a vast size, so that a boar, for example, might be brought whole to table (Hor. l.c.). They often weighed from •100 to 500 pounds (Plin. H. N. XXXIII.52).a
The balance (Libra bilanx, Mart. Cap. II.180) was so called, because it had two metallic dishes (Cic. Acad. IV.12, Tusc. V.17; Virg. Aen. XII.725; Pers. IV.10).
a The most famous lanx today is a fairly small one, not 50 cm long, the size of a small tea-tray: while not the biggest nor the most elaborate, owing its fame to having been found more or less by itself rather than as part of a large hoard, the Corbridge Lanx (q.v.) is an excellent example of Late Antique silver work, "embossed", as our article says, with mythological scenes that took two hundred years to unravel.
Images with borders lead to more information.
The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.) |
||||||
UP TO: |
Smith's Dictionary: Daily Life |
Smith's Dictionary |
LacusCurtius |
Home |
||
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information. |
Page updated: 29 Aug 12