Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

ADOXIA.

ADTJLTERIUM.

in the Latin writers in referring to a person
much older than the above-mentioned age.

ADOXIA (_a.Swvia), a festival celebrated in
honour of Aphrodite and Adonis in most of
the Grecian cities. It lasted two days, and
was celebrated by women exclusively. On
the first day they brought into the streets
statues of Adonis, which were laid out as
corpses ; and they observed all the rites cus-
tomary at funerals, beating themselves and
uttering lamentations. The second day was
spent in merriment and feasting; because
Adonis was allowed to return to life, and
spend half the year with Aphrodite.

ADOPTIO, adoption. (1) Greek.—Adop-
tion was called by the Athenians elaTroirjcrcs,
or sometimes simply iroi'ijo-is, or (te'o-is. The
adoptive father was said 7roieicr0a<., eioTroiet-
oDai, or sometimes 7roteii': and the father or
mother (for a mother after the death of her
husband could consent to her son being
adopted) was said eKiroieiv: the son was said
eKTToteZo-Scu with reference to the family which
he left; and eioTroieicrflai with reference to
the family into which he was received. The
son, when adopted, was called 7roi7)Tds, eicnroi-
ttos, or fleros, in opposition to the legitimate
son born of the body of the father, who was
called ynjcrio?. A man might adopt a son
either in his lifetime or by his testament,
provided he had no male offspring, and was
of sound mind. He might aiso, by testa-
ment, name a person to take his property, in
case his son or sons should die under age.
Only Athenian citizens could be adopted;
but females could be adopted (by testament
at least) as well as males. The adopted child
was transferred from his own family and
demus into those of the adoptive father; he
inherited his property, and maintained the
sacra of his adoptive father. It was not ne-
cessary for him to take his new father's name,
but he was registered as his son in the regis-
ter of his phratria ((pparpiKov ypap-fj-aTelov).
Subsequently to this, it was necessary to enter
him in the register of the adoptive father's
demus (ArjfiapxiKoi' ypap.p.a.Teiov), without
which registration it appears that he did not
possess the full rights of citizenship as a
member of his new demus.—(2) Roman.—
The Roman relation of parent and child arose
either from a lawful marriage or from adop-
tion. Adoptio was the general name which
comprehended the two species, adoptio and
adrogatio; and as the adopted person passed
from his own familia into that of the person
adopting, adoptio caused a capitis diminutio,
and the lowest of the three kinds. [Caput.]
Adoption, in its specific sense, was the cere-
mony by which a person who was in the
power of his parent (in potestate parentum),

whether child or grandchild, male or female,
was transferred to the power of the person
adopting him. It was effected under the
authority of a magistrate (magistratus), the
praetor, for instance, at Home, or a governor
(praeses) in the provinces. The person to
be adopted was emancipated [Mancipatio]
by his natural father before the competent
authority, and surrendered to the adoptive
father by the legal form called in jure cessio.
"When a person was not in the power of his
parent (sui iuris), the ceremony of adoption
was called adrogatio. Originally, it could
only be effected at Rome, and only by a vote
of the populus (populi auctoritate) in the
comitia curiata (lege curiata); the reason 01
this being that the caput or status of a Ro-
man citizen could not, according to the laws
of the Twelve Tables, be effected except by a
vote of the populus in the comitia curiata.
Clodius, the enemy of Cicero, was adrogated
into a plebeian family, in order to qualify
himself to be elected a tribune of the plebs.
Females could not be adopted by adrogatio.
Under the emperors it became the practice to
effect the adrogatio by an imperial rescript.
The effect of adoption was to create the legal
relation of father and son, just as if the
adopted son were born of the blood of the
adoptive father in lawful marriage. The
adopted child was intitled to the name and
sacra privata of the adopting parent. A per-
son, on passing from one gens into another,
and taking the name of his new familia, gene-
rally retained the name of his old gens also,
with the addition to it of the termination
anus. Thus Aemilius, the son of L. Aemilius
Paullus, upon being adopted by P. Cornelius
Scipio, assumed the name of P. Cornelius
Scipio Aemilianus, and C. Octavius, after-
wards the emperor Augustus, upon being
adopted by the testament of his great-uncle
the dictator, assumed the name of C. Julius
Caesar Octavianus.

ADORATIO {TTpoaKvvrjo-is), adoration, was
paid to the gods in the following manner :—
The individual stretched out his right hand
to the statue of the god whom he wished to
honour, then kissed his hand, and waved it
to the statue. The adoratio differed from the
oratio or prayers, which were offered with
the hands folded together and stretched out to
the gods. The adoration paid to the Roman
emperors was borrowed from the Eastern mode,
and consisted in prostration on the ground,
and kissing the feet and knees of the emperor.
ADROGATIO. [Adoptio, (Roman).]
ADTJLTERIUM, adultery. (1) Greek.—
Among the Athenians, if a man caught ano-
ther man in the act of criminal intercourse
(p-oixeia with his wife, he might kill him