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

PYTIIII. 316 QUAESTOR.

this purpose contained a hippodromus or sents a very plain jewel-box, out of which a
race-course, a stadium of 1000 feet in length, ; dove is extracting a riband or fillet.

and a theatre, in which the musical contests j
took place. The Pythian games were, ac- |
cording to most legends, instituted by Apollo

himself. They were originally perhaps no- /\TTADRAGESIMA, the fortieth part of the

\J imported goods, was the ordinary rate

tiling more than a religious panegyris, occa
sioned by the oracle of Delphi, and the
sacred games are said to have been at first
only a musical contest, which consisted in
singing a hymn to the honour of the Pythian
god, with the accompaniment of the cithara.
They must, oh account of the celebrity of the
Delphic oracle, have become a national festi-
val for all the Greeks at a very early period,
and gradually all the various contests were
introduced which occur in the Olympic games.
[Oi.ympia.] Down to 01. 48. the Delphians
had been the agonothetae at the Pythian
games ; but in the third year of this Olym-
piad, after the Crissaean war, the Amphic-
tyons took the management under their care,
and appointed certain persons, called Epime-
letae (eTrineAijrai'), to conduct them. Some of
the ancients date the institution of the
Pythian games from this time. Previous to
01. 48. the Pythian games had been an ewae-
njpt's, that is, they had been celebrated at the
end of every eighth year; but in Ol. 48. 3.
they became, like the Olympia, a Hwrwenjpis,
i. e. they were held at the end of every fourth
year ; and a Pythiad, therefore, from the
time that it was used as an aera, compre-
hended a space of four years, commencing
with the third year of every Olympiad.
They were in all probability held in the
spring, and took place in the month of Euca-
tius, which corresponded to the Attic Muny-
chion.

PYTIIII (7rO0ioi), four persons appointed
by the Spartan kings, two by each, as mes-
sengers to the temple of Delphi. Their office
was highly honourable and important ; they
were always the messmates of the Spartan
kings.

PYXIS, dim. PYXIDUXA (mifw, dim. >nȣi-
Slov), a casket; a jewel-box. The caskets in
which the ladies of ancient times kept their
jewels and other ornaments, were made of
gold, silver, ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoise-
shell, &c. They were also much enriched
with sculpture. The annexed woodcut repre-

Pvjis, jewel-box. (From a Painting at Heiculanenm-)

of the Portorium under the empire.
[Portorium.]

QUADRANS. [As.]

QUADRANTAL, or AMPHORA QUAIJ-
RAXTAL, or AMPHORA only, was the prin-
cipal Roman measure of capacity for fluids.
A standard model of the Amphora was kept
with great care in the temple of Jupiter in
the Capitol, and was called amphora Capito-
lina. It contained 5-77 imperial gallons, or
a little more than 5| gallons, or than 5 gal-
lons and 6 pints.

QUADRIGA. [Currus.]
QUADRIGATUS. [Denarius.]
QUADRUPLATORES : public informers or
accusers were so called, either because they
received a fourth part of the criminal's pro-
perty, or because those who were convicted
were condemned to pay fourfold [quadruple
damnari), as in cases of violation of the laws
respecting gambling, usury, &c.

QUAESTIOXES, QUAESTIOXES PER-
PETUAE. [Judex : Praetor.]

QUAESTOR (Tafias), a name given to two
distinct classes of Roman officers. It is
derived from quaero, and Varro gives a
definition which embraces the principal func-
tions of both classes of officers : Quaestores a
quaerendo, qui conqtiirerent publicas peeunias
et maleficia. The one class, therefore, had
to do with the collecting and keeping of the
public revenues, and the others were a kind
of public accusers. The former bore the
name of Quaestores Classici, the latter of
QuaestoresParricidii.—The Quaestores Parri-
cidii were public accusers, two in number,
who conducted the accusation of persons
guilty of murder or any other capital offence,
and carried the sentence into execution. In
the early period of the republic the quaes-
tores parricidii appear to have become a
standing office, which, like others, was held
only for one year. They were appointed by
the populus or the curies on the presentation
of the consuls. When these quaestores
discovered that a capital offence had been
committed, they had to bring the charge
before the comitia for trial. "When the
sentence had been pronounced by the people,
the quaestores parricidii executed it ; thus
they threw Spurius Cassius from the Tarpeian
rock. They were mentioned in the laws of
the Twelve Tables, and after the time of the
decernvirate they still continued to be ap-