Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

INTERREX. ISTHMIA. 645
when the senate wished to share the sovereign I comitian, in which Pomnpey and Crassus were
power among themselves instead of electing a king. elected consuls (Dion Cass. xxxix. 27, 31); and
For this purpose, according to Livy (i. 17), the we also read of insterreges in B. C. 53 and 52, in the
senate, which then consisted of one hundred mem- latter of which years an interrex held the comitia,
bers, was divided into ten decuries; and from each in which Pompey was appointed sole consul.
of these decuries one senator was nominated. These (Dion Cass. xl. 45; Ascon. ad Cic. Mil. init. p. 32,
together formed a board of ten, with the title of Orelli; Plut. Polmp. 54; comp. Becker, Handbuclb
I1terregCs, each of whom enjoyed in succession the der R67nisclen Altesrthinzer, vol. ii. part i. p. 295,
regal power and its badges for five days; and if no &c.)
king was appointed at the expiration of fifty days, INTE'RULA. [TUNICA.]
the rotation began anew. The period during INTESTA'BILIS. In the Twelve Tables it
which they exercised their power was called an was declared " qui se sierit testarier libripensve
Interregnumz. Dionysius (ii. 57) and Plutarch fuerit, ini testimonium fariatur, improbus intesta(NAisma, 2) give a different account of the matter; bilisque esto." (DiSrksen, Uebersicht, &c. p. 607;.
but that of Livy appears the most probable. compare Gellius, vi. 7, xv. 13.) According to
Niebuhr (Hist. of' Rom7e, vol. i. p. 334, vol. ii. p. these passages, a person who had been a witness
111) supposes that the first interreges were ex- on any solemn occasion, such as the making of a
elusively Ramnes, and that they were the Decem will, and afterwards refused to give his testimony,
Primi, or ten leading senators, of whom the first was " intestabilis," that is, disqualified from ever
was chief of the whole senate. (Compare Walter, being a witness on any other occasion. The word
Gesch. des MRbms. Reclhts, ~ 21, 2nd ed.) afterwards seems to have had its meaning extended,
The interreges agreed among themselves who and to have been used. to express one who could
should be proposed as king (Dionys. iv. 40, 80), not make a will, and who laboured under a general
and if the senate approved of their choice, they civil incapacity. (Ior. Sat. ii. 3. 181; Dig. 28.
summoned the assembly of the curiae, and pro- tit. i. s. 18. 26; Inst. ii. tit. 10.] [G. L.]
posed the person whom they had previously agreed INTESTA'TO, HEREDITATES AB.
upon; the power of the curiae was confined to ac- [HERES, p. 598, a.]
cepting or rejecting him. The decree of the curiae, IN'lESTA'TUS. [HERES, p. 598, a.]
by which they accepted the king, was called jcssus INTESTI'NUM OPUS, joiner's work, is repopuli (Liv. i. 22; Cic. de Rep. ii. 13, 21.) After ferred to in some passages of Vitruvius as used in
the king had been elected, the curiae conferred the interior of buildings; but there is nothing in
the imperium upon him by a special law, lex curieta his allusions to it that requires explanation (Vitruv.
de icmperio. (Cic. de Rep. ii. 13, 17, 18, 20, 21.) ii. 9, v. 2, v. 3). [P. S.]
Interreges were appointed under the republic for INTU'SIUM.. [TUNICA.]
holding the comitia for the election of the consuls, INVENTA'RIUM. t[HERES, p. 601, b.]
when the consuls, through civil commotions or INVESTIS. [IrvPuBE.s.]
other causes, had been lmable to do so in their IREN (~Yp-'). [ElREN.]
year of office. (Dionys. viii. 90; Liv. iv. 43, &c.) IRPEX, HIRPEX, or URPEX (Cato, de Be
Each held the office for only five days, as under Rust. 10), a harrow, used to clear the fields of
the kings. The comitia were, as a general rule, weeds and to level and break down the soil.
not held by the first interrex; more usually by the (Festus, s. v.; Servius, in Vispg. Georg. i. 95.) The
second or third (Liv. ix. 7, x. 1, v. 31); but in harrow of the ancients, like ours, had iron teeth,
one instance we read of an eleventh, and in another and was drawn by oxen. (Var. de Ling. Lat. v.
of a fourteenth interrex. (Liv. vii. 22, viii. 23,) 341, ed& Spengel..) [J. Y.1
The comitia for electing the first consuls were held ISELAISTICI: LUDI [ATHLETAE.]
by Sp. Lucretius as interrex (Dionys. iv. 84), ISO'DOMUM OPUS. [MaRus.]
whom Livy (i. 60) calls also praefictzus elrbis. The ISOPOLITEIA (Ls'ooroXtela). [CIVITAS, p.
interreges under the republic, at least from 289, b.]
B. c. 482, were elected by the senate fromn the ISOTELEIS; (iroreAEs). [CeIVTAs, p.289, b.]
whole body, and were not confined to the decem ISTHMIA ("l1Otma), one of the four great
primi or ten chief senators as under the kings. national festivals of the Greeks. This festival de(Dionys. viii. 90.) Plebeians, however, were not. rived its name from the Corinthian isthmus, where
admissible to this office; and consequently when it was held in honour of Poseidon. Where the
plebeians were admitted into the senate, the patri- isthmus is narrowest, between the coast of the
cian senators met together (coiere) without the Saronic gulf and the western foot of the Oenean
plebeian members to elect an interrex. (Liv. iii. hills, was the temple of Poseidon, and near it was a
40, iv. 7, 43, vi. 41; Cic. pro Doczo, 14; Niebuhr, theatre and a stadium of white marble, the scene of
vol. ii. p. 429; Walter, ~~ 55, 131.) For this the Isthmian games. (Paus. ii. 1. ~7; Strab.viii. 6.
reason, as well as on account of the influence which p. 380.) The entrance to the temple was adorned
the interrex exerted in the election of the magis- with an avenue of statues of the victors in the
trates, we find that the tribunes of the plebs were Isthmian games, and with groves of pine-trees.
strongly opposed to the appointment of an interrex. These games were said originally to have been
(Liv. iv. 43, xxii. 34.) The interrex had jur'is- instituted by Sisyphus in honour of Melicertesr
dictio. (Liv. x. 41; Niebuhr, vol. iii. p. 24.) who was also called Palaemon. (Apollod. iii. 4
Interreges continued to be appointed occasionally ~ 3; Paus. ii. 1. ~ 3.) Their original mode o
till the tilne of the second Punic war (Liv. xxii. 33, celebration partook, as Plutarch (Tlzes. 25) remarks,
34); but after that time we read of no interrex, more of the character of mysteries, than of a great
till the senate, by command of Sulla, created an and national assembly witti its various amusements,
interrex to hold the coumitia for his election as Dic- and vwas performed at night. Subsequent to the
tator, B. c. 82. (Appialn, Bell. Civ. i. 98.) In I.c. age of Theseus the Isthmia were celebrated in
55 another interrex was appointed to hold the I,iemour of Poseidon; and this innovation isascribed
TT 3