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

LUCAR.

241

LUCERXA.

among the Greeks and Romans. The sol-
diers commonly wore cuirasses made of flex-

Lorica. Lorica,
KeTTiSuiTos. f£>oA(.<5uj-r6s.
(Bartoh, ' Arcus Triumph.')

ible bands of steel, or cuirasses of chain
mail; but those of generals and officers
usually consisted of two yiiaAa, the breast-
piece and back-piece, made of bronze, iron,
&c, which were joined by means of buckles
(jreporcu). The epithets AetuoWos and <poAi-
iuiros are applied to a cuirass; the former
on account of its resemblance to the scales
Of fish (keiria-iv), the latter to the scales of
serpents (spoAiVii'). Among the Asiatic na-
tions the cuirass was frequently made of
cotton, and among the Sarmatians and other
northern nations of horn.

LUCAR. [Histrio.]

LtjCERES. [Tribus.]

LUCERNA (AuXvos), an oil lamp. The
Greeks and Romans originally used candles ;
but in later times candles were chiefly con-
fined to the houses of the lower classes.
[Caxdela.] A great number of ancient lamps
has come down to us ; the greater part of
which are made of terra cotta, but also a
considerable number of bronze. Most of the
lamps are of an oval form, and flat upon the
top, on which there are frequently figures in
relief. In the lamps there are one or more
round holes, according to the number of
wicks {elhjchnia) burnt in them; and as these
holes were called from an obvious analogy,
(xu/crf)pes or f^vf ai, literally nostrils or nozzles,
the lamp was also called Monomyxos, Di~
myxos, Trimyxos, or Polymyxos, according as
it contained one, two, three, or a greater
number of nozzles or holes for the wicks.
The following is an example of a dimyxos
lucerna, upon which there is a winged boy

Lucema, lamp. (MuBeo Borbonico, vol. iv. pi. 10.)

with a goose. The next woodcut represents
one of the most beautiful bronze lamps which
has yet been found. I'pon it is the figure of
a standing Silenus. The lamps sometimes

Euceriia lamp. (.Mu=to Borbonico, vol. i. pi. i0.)