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On this page: Ann Us – Anquisitio – Ansatae Hastae – Antae – Anteambulones – Antecessores – Antecoena – Antefixa

ANTAE.

classes, and then not made of costly material, as may be inferred from the price (one drachma) in the two instances above referred to. There are several celebrated rings with magic powers, mentioned by the ancient writers, as that of Gyges which he found in a grave (Plat, de R&pubL ii. p. 359, &c.; Plin. H, N. xxxiii. 4), that of Chari- cleia (Ileliod. Aeth. iv. 8), and the iron ring of Eucrates (Lucian, PMlops. 17). Compare Becker, Charikles, vol. ii. p. 398, &c. ; Kirchinann, de An- nulis, Slcsvig. 1657 ; P. Burmann, de Jure Anuu- lorum, Ultraject. 1734. [L. S.]

ANN US. [calendarium.]

ANQUISITIO. [judkx.]

ANSATAE HASTAE. [hasta.]

ANTAE (Trapac-raSes), were originally posts or pillars flanking a doorway. (Festus, s. v. Antes.) They were of a square form, and are, in fact, to be regarded rather as strengthened terminations of the walls than as pillars affixed to them. There is no clear case of the application of the word to detached square pillars, although Nonius explains it by quadrae columnae (1. § 124).

The chief use of antae was in that form of temple, which was called, from them, in antis (yobs Iv TrapaoTacn), which Vitruvius (iii. 1. s. 2 § 2, Schn.) describes as having, in front, antae attached to the walls Avhieh enclosed the cella ; and in the middle, between the antae, two columns supporting the architrave. The ruins of temples, corresponding to the description of Vitruvius, are found in Greece and Asia Minor ; and we here exhibit as a speci­men a restoration of the front of the temple of Artemis Propylaea, at Eleusis, together with a plan of the pronaos :

A, A, t/te antae ; B, b. the ceUa9 or vaos.

Vitruvius gives the following rules for a temple in antis of the Doric order : — The breadth should be half the length ; five-eighths of the length should be occupied by the ‘cetta, including its front walls, the remaining three-eighths by the pronaos or portico ; the antae should be of the same thickness

ANTEFIXA. 97

as the columns ; in the intercolumniations there should be a marble balustrade, or some other kind of railing, with gates in it ; if the breadth of the portico exceeds forty feet, there should be another pair of columns behind those between the antae, and a little thinner than they ; besides other and minor details. (Vitruv. iv. 4.)

In the pure Greek architecture, the antae have no other capitals than a succession of simple mould­ings, sometimes ornamented with leaves and ara­besques, and no bases, or very simple ones ; it is only in the later (Roman) style, that they have capitals and bases resembling those of the columns between them. The antae were generally of the same thickness throughout ; the only instance of their tapering- is in one of the temples of Paestum.

In a Greek private house the entrance was flanked by a pair of antae with no columns be­tween them ; and the space thus enclosed was itself called Trapaa-rds. (Vitruv. vi. 10. s. 7. § 1. Schn.) So also Euripides uses the term to denote either the pronaos of a temple (Iph. in Taw. 1126), or the vestibule of a palace. (Plioen. 415.)

The following are the chief of the other passages in which antae or TrapcwrraSes are mentioned: — Eurip. Androm. 1121, where irapao’rdb’os Kpeuaarrci, signifies the arms suspended from one of the antae of the temple ; Cratin. Dionys. ft. 9, ap. Polluc. vii. ] 22, x. 25, Meineke, Fr. Com. Graec. vol. ii. p. 42 ; Xen. Hier. xi. 2 : Hero, Autom. p. 269 ; Inscript. ap. Gruter. p. 207. See. also Stieglitz, ArcJi’dologie der Baukunst, vol. i. pp. 236—242. [templum.] [P. S.]

ANTEAMBULONES, were slaves who were accustomed to go before their masters, in order to make way for them through the crowd. (Suet. Vesp. 2.) They usually called out date locum domino meo; and if this were not sufficient to clear the way, they used their hands and elbows for that purpose. Pliny relates an amusing tale of an individual who was roughly handled by a Roman knight, because his slave had presumed to touch the latter, in order to make way for his master. (Ep. iii. 14.) The term anteambulones was also given to the clients, who were accustomed to walk before their patroni when the latter ap­peared in public. (Martial, ii. 18, iii. 7, x. 74.)

ANTECESSORES, called also ANTECUR-SO’RES, were horse-soldiers, who were accustomed to precede an army on the march, in order to choose a suitable place for the camp, and to make the necessary provisions for the army. They were not merely scouts, like the speculatores. (Hirt. Bell. Afr. 12, who speaks of speculatores et antecessores equites; Suet. Vitell. 17; Caes. B. G. v. 47.) This name was also given to the teachers of the Roman law. (Cod. 1. tit. 17. s. 2. § 9. 11.)

ANTECOENA. [coena.]

ANTEFIXA, terra-cottas, which exhibited va­rious ornamental designs, and were used in archi­tecture, to cover the frieze (zophorus) or cornice of the entablature. (Festus, s. v.) These terra­cottas do not appear to have been used among the Greeks, but were probably Etrurian in their origin, and were thence taken for the decoration of Roman buildings.

The name antefixa is evidently derived from the circumstance that they were fixed ^ before the buildings which they adorned ; and in many in­stances they have been found fastened to the frieze with leaden nails. They were’formed in

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