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

- LANX. LARARIUM. 667
(the Prometheia, Panathenaea, and Hephaesteia) bossed, used at splendid entertainments to hold
three or four chains of competitors. meat or fruit (Cic. ad Ati. vi. 1; Hor. Sat. ii. 2.
The place of running was, in these great celebra- 4, ii. 4. 41; Ovid. de Ponto, iii. 5. 20; Petron.
tions, from the altar of the Three Gods (Prome- 31); and consequently at sacrifices (Virg. Georg.
theus, Athena, and Hephaestos) in the outer ii. 194, 394, Aen. viii. 284, xii. 215; Ovid. de
Cerameicus to the Acropolis, a distance of near half Ponto, iv. 8. 40) and funeral banquets (Propert.
a mile. (Pausan. i. 30. ~ 2; Schol. adRan. 1085.) ii. 13. 23). The silver dishes, used by the RoThat in honour of Bendis was run in the Peiraeeus. mans at their grand dinners, were of a vast size,
(Plat. 1. c.) so that a boar, for example, might be brought whole
The origin of these games must be sought, we to table. (Hor. 1. c.) They often weighed from
think, in the worship of the Titan Prometheus. 100 to 500 pounds. (Piin. Iii. N. xxxiii. 52.)
The action of carrying an unextinguished light The balance (LIBRA bilanx, Mart. Cap. ii. 180)
from the Cerameicus to the Acropolis is a lively was so called, because it had two metallic dishes.
symbol of the benefit conferred by the Titan upon (Cic. Acad. iv. 12, Tusc. v. 17; Virg. Aen. xii.
man, when he bore fire from the habitations of 725; Pers. iv. 10.) [J. Y.]
the gods, and bestowed it upon man. LA'PHRIA (Adptia), an annual festival, celegcxita~s,asce/AroLO ar/pmbOs Keo7r~nov a/y hibrated at Patrae in Achaia, in honour of Artemis,
(Hesiod Teo 566 Gaisf) surnamed Laphria. The peculiar manner in which
iC Koifx VcipO4KI. (Hesiod. Tlieog. 566. Gaisf.) su
it was solemnised during the time of the Roman
But the gratitude to the giver of fire soon passed empire (for the worship of Artemis Laphria was
to the Olympian gods who presided over its use, not introduced at Patrae till the time of Augustus),
- Hephaestos, who taught men to apply it to the is described by Pausanias (viii. 18. ~ 7). On the
melting and moulding of metal, and Athena, who approach of the festival the Patraeans placed in a
carried it through the whole circle of useful and circle, around the altar of the goddess, large pieces
ornamental arts. To these three gods, then, were of green wood, each being sixteen yards in length;
these games at first devoted, as the patrons of fire. within the altar they placed dry wood. They then
And looking to the place it was run in —the formed an approach to the altar in the shape of
Cerameicus or Potters' quarter- we are much in- steps, which were slightly covered with earth.
dined to adopt Welcker's suggestion (Aesclylisc7ze On the first day of the festival a most magnifi%Tilogie, p. 121), viz. that it was the Iepaltters or cent procession went to the temple of Artemis, and
potters who instituted the Xapl7raplmopia. Athena at the end of it there followed a maiden who had
(as we learn from the Kepablts) was their patron to perform the functions of priestess on the occagoddess; and who more than they would have sion, and who rode in a chariot drawn by stags.
reason to be thankful for the gift and use of fire? On the second day the goddess was honoured with
Pottery would be one of the first modes in which numerous sacrifices, offered by the state as well as
it would be made serviceable in promoting the arts by private individuals. These sacrifices consisted
of life. In later times the same honour was paid to of eatable birds, boars, stags, goats, sometimes of
all gods who were in any way connected with fire, the cubs of wolves and bears, and sometimes of the
as to Pan, to whom a perpetual fire was kept up in old animals themselves. All these animals were
his grotto under the Acropolis, and who was in thrown upon the altar alive at the moment when
this capacity called by the Greeks Phanetes, by the dry wood was set on fire. Pausanias says that
the Romans Lucidus; so also to Artemis, called he often saw a bear, or some other of the animals,
by Sophocles'Afupl)rvpos, and worshipped as the when seized by the flames, leap from the altar and
moon. (Creuzer, Synzbolique, vol. ii. pp. 752, 764, escape across the barricade of green wood. Those
French transl.) At first, however, it seems to persons who had thrown them upon the altar,
have been a symbolic representation in honour of caught the devoted victims again, and threw them
the gods who gave and taught men the use of back into the flames. The Patraeans did not rematerial moulding fire (ardvtreXvov' up, aSdoaclxoS member that a person had ever been injured by
TEXv,7s, as Aeschylus calls it, Prom. 7. 110), any of the animals on this occasion. (Comp. Pans.
though this special signification was lost sight of iv. 31. ~ 6; Schol. ad Esrip. Orest. 1087.) [L. S.]
in later times. Other writers, in their anxiety to LAPICIDINAE. [LaUTUMIA..]
get a common signification for all the times and LAPIS MILLIA'RIUS. [MILLIARIUM.]
modes of the Xaxuaravlapopia, have endeavoured to LAPIS SPECULA'RIS. [DoMus, p; 432a.]
prove that all who were honoured by it were con- LA'QUEAR. [DoMus, p. 432, a.]
nected with the heavenly bodies, Xan7rpol avva'oaL, LA'QUEUS, a rope, was used to signify the
(so Creuzer, 1. c.; MUller, Minerva Polias, p. 5); punishment of death by strangling. This mode of
others that it always had an inner signification, execution was never performed in public, but only
alluding to the inward fire by which Prometheus in prison and generally in the Tullianum. IHence
put life into man (so Brinsted, Voyages, vol. ii. we find the words career and laqueus frequently
p. 286, note 2). But this. legend of Prometheus joined together (see e.g. Tac. Ann. iii. 50). Perwas a later interpretation of the earlier one, as may sons convicted of treason were most frequently put to
be seen by comparing Plat. Protag. p. 321, d, with death by strangling, as for instance the Catilinarian
Hesiod. Tlheog. 561, &c. [H. G. L.] conspirators (laqueo gulam fregere, Sall. Cat. 55).
LAMPAS. [LAMPADEPHORIA.] This punishment was frequently inflicted in the
LANA'RIUS. [PILEaUS.] reign of Tiberius (Tac. Ann. v. 9, vi. 39, 40;
LA'NCEA. [HAsTA, p. 588 a.] Suet. Tib. 61), but was abolished soon afterwards
LANIFI'CIUM. [TELA.] (Tac. Ann. xiv. 48).
LANISTA. [GLADIATORES.] LAQUEATO'RES. [GLADIATCRES, P. 575,
LANTERNA. [LATERNA.] b.]
LANX, dim. LANCULA, a large dish, made LARA'RIUM was a place in the inner part of
of silver or some other metal, and sometimes em- a Roman house, which was dedicated to the Larea,