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

AQUAE ET IGNIS INTERD1CTI0. 31

ARATRUM.

and the water either ran directly through this
trough, or it was carried through pipes laid
along the trough. These pipes were of lead,
or terra-cotta (fictiles), and sometimes, for the
sake of economy, of leather. At convenient
points on the course of the aqueduct, and
especially near the middle and end, there was
generally a reservoir [piscina, piscina limosa)
in which the water might deposit any sedi-
ment that it contained. The water was re-
ceived, when it reached the walls of the city,
in a vast reservoir called castellum, which
formed the head of water and also served the
purpose of a meter. From this principal
castellum the water flowed into other castella,
whence it was distributed for public and
private use. The term castellum is some-
times also applied to the intermediate reser-
voirs already mentioned. During the re-
public, the censors and aediles had the super-
intendence of the aqueducts. Augustus first
established curatores (or praefecti) arjuarum,
who were invested with considerable au-
thority. They were attended outside the city
by two lictors, three public slaves, a secretary,
and other attendants. In the time of Nerva
and Trajan, 460 slaves were constantly em-
ployed under the orders of the curatores
aquarum in attending to the aqueducts. They
consisted of:—1. The villici, whose duty it
was to attend to the pipes andcalices. 2. The
castellarii, who had the superintendence of
all the castella, both within and without the
city. 3. The circuitores, so called because
they had to go from post to post, to examine
into the state of the works, and also to keep
watch over the labourers employed upon
them. 4. The silicarii, or paviours. 5. The
tectores, or masons. These and other work-
men appear to have been included under the
general term of AauAiui.

AQUAE ET IGNIS INTERDICTIO. [Ex-

silium.]

AQUARII, slaves who carried water for
bathing, &c, into the female apartments.
The aquarii were also public officers who
attended to the aqueducts. [Aquae Ductus.]

AQUILA. [SlGNA MlLITARIA.]

ARA Oco/jos, 8vri)piov), an altar. Ara was
a general term denoting any structure ele-
vated above the ground, and used to receive
upon it offerings made to the gods. Altare,
probably contracted from alta ara, was pro-
perly restricted to the larger, higher, and
more expensive structures. Four specimens
of ancient altars are given below ; the two in
the former woodcut are square, and those in
the latter round, which is the less common
form. At the top of three of the above altars
we see the hole intended to receive the fire
(eo-xapi's, eo-^apa) : the fourth was probably

intended for the offering of fruits or other
gifts, which were presented to the gods with-
out fire. When the altars were prepared for

Anie, Allan.

sacrifice, they were commonly decorated with
garlands or festoons. These were composed
of certain kinds of leaves and flowers, which

Arae, Altars.

were considered consecrated to such uses,
and were called rerbenae. The altars con-
structed with most labour and skill belonged
to temples; and they were erected either
before the temple or within the cella of the
temple, and principally before the statue of
the divinity to whom it was dedicated. The
altars in the area before the temple were
altars of burnt-offerings, at which animal
sacrifices (victimae, afyayia, tepeia) were pre-
sented : only incense was burnt, or cakes and
bloodless sacrifices offered on the altars within
the building.

ARATRUM (aporpof), a plough. Among
the Greeks and Romans the three most es-
sential parts of the plough were,—the plough-
tail (yv>js, buris, bur a), the share-beam
(e\vfia, dens, dentate), that is, the piece of
wood to which the share is fixed, and the pole
(pup.ds, icn-ojSoeiJs, temo). In the time and
country of Virgil it was the custom to force a
tree into the crooked form of the buris, oi
plough-tail. The upper end of the Iriiris be-
ing held by the ploughman, the lower part.