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

DONARIA.

145

DRACHMA.

stoves like ours. The cubicula, triclinia, and
other rooms, which were intended for winter
use, were built in that part of the house upon
which the sun shone most; and in the mild
climate of Italy this frequently enabled them
to dispense with any artificial mode of warm-
ing the rooms. Rooms exposed to the sun
in this way were sometimes called hcliocamini.
The rooms were sometimes heated by hot air,
which was introduced by means of pipes from
a furnace below, but more frequently by
portable furnaces or braziers (foculi), in
which coal or charcoal was burnt. The'ca-
minus was also a kind of stove, in which
wood appears to have been usually burnt, and
probably only differed from the fuculus in be-
ing larger and fixed to one place. The rooms
usually had no chimneys for carrying off the
smoke, which escaped through the windows,
doors, and openings in the roof; still chim-
neys do not appear to have been entirely un-
known to the ancients, as some are said to
have been found in the ruins of ancient
buildings.

DONARIA (araflij/xaTa or aca/ceifieca), pre-
sents made to the gods, either by individuals
or communities. Sometimes they are also
called dona or SCipa. The belief that the gods
were pleased with costly presents was as
natural to the ancients as the belief that they
could be influenced in their conduct towards
3ien by the offering of sacrifices ; and, in-
deed, both sprang from the same feeling.
Presents were mostly given as tokens of grati-
tude for some favour which a god had be-
stowed on man; as, for instance, by persons
who had recovered from illness or escaped
from shipwreck; but some are also men-
tioned, which were intended to induce the
deity to grant some especial favour. Almost
all presents were dedicated in temples, to
which in some places an especial building was
added, in which these treasures were pre-
served. Such buildings were called Brio-avpoC
(treasuries) ; and in the most frequented
temples of Greece many states had their
separate treasuries. The act of dedication
was called afariffeVai, donare, dedicarc, or
sacrarc.

DONATIVUM. [Congiarium.J

DORMITORIA. [Domus.]

DOS (tpepvri, irpoif), dowry. (1) Greek.
In the Homeric times it was customary for
the husband to purchase his wife from her
relations, by gifts called 'i&va or eeSra. But
at Athens, during the historical period, the
contrary was the case ; for every woman had
to bring her husband some dowry, and so
universal was the practice, that one of the
ohief distinctions between a wife and a toA-
Aouoj, or concubine, consisted in the former

having a portion, whereas the latter had not;
hence, persons who married wives without
portions appear to have given them or their
guardians an acknowledgment in writing
by which the receipt of a portion was admit-
ted. Moreover, poor heiresses were either
married or portioned by their next of kin,
according to a law, which fixed the amount
of portion to be given at five minae by a Pen-
taeosiomedimnus, three by a Horseman, and
one and a half by a Zeugites. The husband
had to give to the relatives or guardians of
the wife security (airoTiwixa) for the dowry,
which was not considered the property of the
husband himself, but rather of his wife and
children. The portion was returned to the
wife in case of a divorce.—(2) Roman-. The
dos among the Romans was every thing
which on the occasion of a woman's marriage
was transferred by her, or by another person,
to the husband. All the property of the wife
which was not made dos continued to be her
own, and was comprised under the name of
parapherna. The dos upon its delivery be-
came the husband's property, and continued
to be his so long as the marriage relation
existed. In the case of divorce, the woman,
or her relations, could bring an action for
the restitution of the dos; and, accordingly,
a woman whose dos was large (dotata uxor)
had some influence over her husband, inas-
much as she had the power of divorcing her-
self, and thus of depriving him of the enjoy-
ment of her property.

DRACHMA (SpaxM), the principal silver
coin among the Greeks. The two chief
standards in the currencies of the Greek
states were the Attic and Aeginetan. The
average value of the Attic drachma was 9|rf.
of our money. It contained six obols (bfiokoi) ;
and the Athenians had separate silver coins,
from four drachmae to a quarter of an obol.
There were also silver pieces of two drachmae
and four drachmae. (See tables.) The tetra-
drachm in later times was called stater. The
latter word also signifies a gold coin, equal
in value to twenty drachmae [Stater]. The
obolos, in later times, was of bronze : but in
the best times of Athens we only read of
silver obols. The xaak0«5 was a copper coin,
and the eighth part of an obol. The Attic

Attic Drachma. ^Britiah Museum,)