A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

H

HALTĒRES (ἁλτῆρες) were certain masses of stone or metal, which were used in the gymnastic exercises of the Greeks and Romans. Persons who practised leaping frequently performed their exercises with halteres in both hands; but they were also frequently used merely to exercise the body in somewhat the same manner as our dumb-bells.

Halteres. (Tassie, ‘Catalogue,’ pl. 46.)

HARMĂMAXA (ἁρμάμαξα), a carriage for persons, covered overhead and inclosed with curtains. It was in general large, often drawn by four horses, and attired with splendid ornaments. It occupied among the Persians the same place which the carpentum did among the Romans, being used, especially upon state occasions, for the conveyance of women and children, of eunuchs, and of the sons of the king with their tutors.

HARMOSTAE (ἁρμοσταί, from ἁρμόζω, to fit or join together), the name of the governors whom the Lacedaemonians, after the Peloponnesian war, sent into their subject or conquered towns, partly to keep them in submission, and partly to abolish the democratical form of government, and establish in its stead one similar to their own. Although in many cases they were ostensibly sent for the purpose of abolishing the tyrannical government of a town, and to restore the people to freedom, yet they themselves acted like kings or tyrants.

Flesh-hook. (British Museum.)

HARPĂGO (ἁρπάγη: λύκος: κρεάγρα), a grappling-iron, a drag, a flesh-hook. In war the grappling-iron, thrown at an enemy’s ship, seized the rigging, and was then used to drag the ship within reach, so that it might be easily boarded or destroyed. These instruments appear to have been much the same as the manus ferreae. The flesh-hook (κρεάγρα) was an instrument used in cookery, resembling a hand with the fingers bent inwards, used to take boiled meat out of the caldron.

HARPASTUM. [[Pila].]

HĂRUSPĬCES, or ĂRUSPĬCES (ἱεροσκόποι), soothsayers or diviners, who interpreted the will of the gods. They originally came to Rome from Etruria, whence haruspices were often sent for by the Romans on important occasions. The art of the haruspices resembled in many respects that of the augurs; but they never acquired that political importance which the latter possessed, and were regarded rather as means for ascertaining the will of the gods than as possessing any religious authority. They did not in fact form any part of the ecclesiastical polity of the Roman state during the republic; they are never called sacerdotes, they did not form a collegium, and had no magister at their head. The art of the haruspices, which was called haruspicina, consisted in explaining and interpreting the will of the gods from the appearance of the entrails (exta) of animals offered in sacrifice, whence they are sometimes called extispices, and their art extispicium; and also from lightning, earthquakes, and all extraordinary phenomena in nature, to which the general name of portenta was given. Their art is said to have been invented by the Etruscan Tages, and was contained in certain books called libri haruspicini, fulgurales, and tonitruales. This art was considered by the Romans so important at one time, that the senate decreed that a certain number of young Etruscans, belonging to the principal families in the state, should always be instructed in it. In later times, however, their art fell into disrepute among well-educated Romans; and Cicero relates a saying of Cato, that he wondered that one haruspex did not laugh when he saw another. The name of haruspex is sometimes applied to any kind of soothsayer or prophet.

Hastae, spears.

HASTA (ἔγχος), a spear. The spear is defined by Homer, δόρυ χαλκήρες, “a pole fitted with bronze,” and δόρυ χαλκοβάρες, “a pole heavy with bronze.” The bronze, for which iron was afterwards substituted, was indispensable to form the point (αἰχμή, ἀκωκή, Homer; λόγχη, Xenophon; acies, cuspis, spiculum) of the spear. Each of these two essential parts is often put for the whole, so that a spear is called δόρυ and δοράτιον, αἰχμή, and λόγχη. Even the more especial term μελία, meaning an ash-tree, is used in the same manner, because the pole of the spear was often the stem of a young ash, stripped of its bark and polished. The bottom of the spear was often inclosed in a pointed cap of bronze, called by the Ionic writers σαυρωτῆρ and οὐρίαχος, and in Attic or common Greek στύραξ. By forcing this into the ground the spear was fixed erect. Many of the lancers who accompanied the king of Persia, had, instead of this spike at the bottom of their spears, an apple or a pomegranate, either gilt or silvered. Fig. 1. in the annexed woodcut shows the top and bottom of a spear, which is held by one of the king’s guards in the sculptures at Persepolis. The spear was used as a weapon of attack in three different ways:—1. It was thrown from catapults and other engines [[Tormentum]]. 2. It was thrust forward as a pike. 3. It was commonly thrown by the hand. The spear frequently had a leathern thong tied to the middle of the shaft, which was called ἀγκύλη by the Greeks, and amentum by the Romans, and which was of assistance in throwing the spear. The annexed figure represents the amentum attached to the spear at the centre of gravity, a little above the middle.

Hasta with Amentum. (From a Painting on a Vase.)

Under the general terms hasta and ἔγχος were included various kinds of missiles, of which the principal were as follow:—Lancea (λόγχη), the lance, a comparatively slender spear commonly used by the Greek horsemen. The appendage shown in woodcut, Fig. 2, enabled them to mount their horses with greater facility.—Pilum (ὑσσός), the javelin, much thicker and stronger than the Grecian lance. Its shaft, often made of cornel, was 4½ feet (three cubits) long, and the barbed iron head was of the same length, but this extended half way down the shaft, to which it was attached with extreme care, so that the whole length of the weapon was about 6 feet 9 inches. It was used either to throw or to thrust with; it was peculiar to the Romans, and gave the name of pilani to the division of the army by which it was adopted.—Whilst the heavy-armed Roman soldiers bore the long lance and the thick and ponderous javelin, the light-armed used smaller missiles, which, though of different kinds, were included under the general term hastae velitares (γρόσφοι). The γρόσφος was a dart, with a shaft about three feet long and an inch in thickness: the iron head was a span long, and so thin and acuminated as to be bent by striking against anything, and thus rendered unfit to be sent back against the enemy. Fig. 3, in the preceding woodcut, shows one which was found in a Roman entrenchment in Gloucestershire.—The light infantry of the Roman army used a similar weapon, called a spit (veru, verutum; σαύνιον). It was adopted by them from the Samnites and the Volsci. Its shaft was 3½ feet long, its point 5 inches. Fig. 4, in the preceding woodcut, represents the head of a dart in the Royal Collection at Naples; it may be taken as a specimen of the verutum, and may be contrasted with fig. 5, which is the head of a lance in the same collection.—The Romans adopted in like manner the gaesum, which was properly a Celtic weapon; it was given as a reward to any soldier who wounded an enemy. [[Gaesum].]—Sparus is evidently the same word with the English spar and spear. It was the rudest missile of the whole class.—Besides the terms jaculum and spiculum (ἄκων, ἀκόντιον), which probably denoted darts, resembling in form the lance and javelin, but much smaller, adapted consequently to the light-armed (jaculatores), and used in hunting as well as in battle, we find in classical authors the names of various other spears, which were characteristic of particular nations.—Thus, the sarissa was the spear peculiar to the Macedonians. This was used both to throw and as a pike. It exceeded in length all other missiles.—The Thracian romphea, which had a very long point, like the blade of a sword, was probably not unlike the sarissa.—With these weapons we may also class the Illyrian sibina, which resembled a hunting-pole.—The iron head of the German spear, called framea, was short and narrow, but very sharp. The Germans used it with great effect either as a lance or a pike: they gave to each youth a framea and a shield on coming of age.—The Falarica or Phalarica was the spear of the Saguntines, and was impelled by the aid of twisted ropes; it was large and ponderous, having a head of iron a cubit in length, and a ball of lead at its other end; it sometimes carried flaming pitch and tow.—The matura and tragula were chiefly used in Gaul and Spain: the tragula was probably barbed, as it required to be cut out of the wound.—The Aclis and Cateia were much smaller missiles.—Among the decorations which the Roman generals bestowed on their soldiers, more especially for saving the life of a fellow-citizen, was a spear without a head, called hasta pura. The celibaris hasta, having been fixed into the body of a gladiator lying dead on the arena, was used at marriages to part the hair of the bride. A spear was erected at auctions [[Auctio]], and when tenders were received for public offices (locationes). It served both to announce, by a conventional sign conspicuous at a distance, that a sale was going on, and to show that it was conducted under the authority of the public functionaries. Hence an auction was called hasta, and an auction-room hastarium. It was also the practice to set up a spear in the court of the [Centumviri].

HASTĀTI. [[Exercitus], [p. 168], b.]

HĔCĂTOMBĒ. [[Sacrificium].]

HECTĒ or HECTEUS (ἕκτη, ἑκτεύς), and its half, Hemiecton or Hemiecteon (ἡμίεκτον, ἡμιεκτέον). In dry measures, the hecteus was the sixth part of the medimnus, and the hemiecteon, of course, the twelfth part. The hecteus was equal to the Roman modius, as each contained 16 ξέσται or sextarii. The Hecte or Hecteus and Hemiecton were also the names of coins, but the accounts we have of their value are very various. The only consistent explanation is, that there were different hectae, derived from different units; in fact, that these coins were not properly denominations of money, but subdivisions of the recognised denominations.

HĔLĔPŎLIS (ἑλέπολις), “the taker of cities,” a machine constructed by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he besieged the city of Salamis in Cyprus. Its form was that of a square tower, each side being 90 cubits high and 45 wide. It rested on four wheels, each eight cubits high. It was divided into nine stories, the lower of which contained machines for throwing great stones, the middle large catapults for throwing spears, and the highest other machines for throwing smaller stones, together with smaller catapults. It was manned with 200 soldiers, besides those who moved it by pushing the parallel beams at the bottom. At the siege of Rhodes, B.C. 306, Demetrius employed an helepolis of still greater dimensions and more complicated construction. In subsequent ages we find the name of “helepolis” applied to moving towers which carried battering rams, as well as machines for throwing spears and stones.

HELLĀNŎDĬCAE (ἑλλανοδίκαι), the judges in the Olympic games, of whom an account is given under [Olympia]. The same name was also given to the judges or court-martial in the Lacedaemonian army, and they were probably first called by this name when Sparta was at the head of the Greek confederacy.

HELLĒNOTĂMĬAE (ἑλληνοταμίαι), or treasurers of the Greeks, were magistrates appointed by the Athenians to receive the contributions of the allied states. They were first appointed B.C. 477, when Athens, in consequence of the conduct of Pausanias, had obtained the command of the allied states. The money paid by the different states, which was originally fixed at 460 talents, was deposited in Delos, which was the place of meeting for the discussion of all common interests; and there can be no doubt that the hellenotamiae not only received, but were also the guardians of, these monies. The office was retained after the treasury was transferred to Athens on the proposal of the Samians, but was of course abolished on the conquest of Athens by the Lacedaemonians.

HĒLŌTES (εἴλωτες), a class of bondsmen peculiar to Sparta. They were Achaeans, who had resisted the Dorian invaders to the last, and had been reduced to slavery as the punishment of their obstinacy. The Helots were regarded as the property of the state, which, while it gave their services to individuals, reserved to itself the power of emancipating them. They were attached to the land, and could not be sold away from it. They cultivated the land, and paid to their masters as rent a certain measure of corn, the exact amount of which had been fixed at a very early period, the raising of that amount being forbidden under heavy imprecations. Besides being engaged in the cultivation of the land, the Helots attended on their masters at the public meal, and many of them were no doubt employed by the state in public works. In war the Helots served as light-armed troops (ψίλοι), a certain number of them attending every heavy-armed Spartan to the field; at the battle of Plataeae there were seven Helots to each Spartan. These attendants were probably called ἀμπίτταρες (i.e. ἀμφίσταντες), and one of them in particular, the θεράπων, or servant. The Helots only served as hoplites in particular emergencies; and on such occasions they were generally emancipated. The first instance of this kind was in the expedition of Brasidas, B.C. 424. The treatment to which the Helots were subjected was marked by the most wanton cruelty; and they were regarded by the Spartans with the greatest suspicion. Occasionally the ephors selected young Spartans for the secret service (κρυπτεία) of wandering over the country, in order to kill the Helots. The Helots might be emancipated, but there were several steps between them and the free citizens, and it is doubtful whether they were ever admitted to all the privileges of citizenship. The following classes of emancipated Helots are enumerated:—ἀφεταί, ἀδεσπότοι, ἐρυκτῆρες, δεσποσιοναύται, and νεοδαμώδεις. Of these the ἀφεταί were probably released from all service; the ἐρυκτῆρες were those employed in war; the δεσποσιοναύται served on board the fleet; and the νεοδαμώδεις were those who had been possessed of freedom for some time. Besides these, there were the μόθωνες or μόθακες, who were domestic slaves, brought up with the young Spartans, and then emancipated. Upon being emancipated they received permission to dwell where they wished.

HĒMĔRŎDRŎMI (ἡμεροδρόμοι), couriers in the Greek states, who could keep on running all day, and were often employed to carry news of important events. They were trained for the purpose, and could perform the longest journeys in an almost incredibly short space of time. Such couriers were in times of danger stationed on some eminence in order to observe anything of importance that might happen, and carry the intelligence with speed to the proper quarter. Hence we frequently find them called Hemeroscopi (ἡμεροσκόποι).

HĒMĬCYCLĬUM (ἡμικύκλιον), a semicircular seat, for the accommodation of persons engaged in conversation; also the semicircular seat round the tribunal in a basilica.

HĒMĬNA (ἡμίνα), the name of a Greek and Roman measure, seems to be nothing more than the dialectic form used by the Sicilian and Italian Greeks for ἡμίσυ. It was therefore applied to the half of the standard fluid measure, the ξέστης, which the other Greeks called κοτύλη, and the word passed into the Roman metrical system, where it is used with exactly the same force, namely for a measure which is half of the sextarius, and equal to the Greek cotylé.

HENDĔCA (οἱ ἕνδεκα), the Eleven, were magistrates at Athens of considerable importance. They were annually chosen by lot, one from each of the ten tribes, and a secretary (γραμματεύς), who must properly be regarded as their servant (ὑπηρέτης), though he formed one of their number. The principal duty of the Eleven was the care and management of the public prison (δεσμωτήριον), which was entirely under their jurisdiction. The prison, however, was seldom used by the Athenians as a mere place of confinement, serving generally for punishments and executions. When a person was condemned to death he was immediately given into the custody of the Eleven, who were then bound to carry the sentence into execution according to the laws. The most common mode of execution was by hemlock juice (κώνειον), which was drunk after sunset. The Eleven had under them gaolers, executioners, and torturers. When torture was inflicted in causes affecting the state, it was either done in the immediate presence of the Eleven, or by their servant (ὁ δήμιος). The Eleven usually had only to carry into execution the sentence passed in the courts of law and the public assemblies; but in some cases they possessed jurisdiction. This was the case in those summary proceedings called apagoge, ephegesis and endeixis, in which the penalty was fixed by law, and might be inflicted by the court on the confession or conviction of the accused, without appealing to any of the jury courts.

HĒPHAESTEIA. [[Lampadephoria].]

HĒRAEA (ἡραῖα), the name of festivals celebrated in honour of Hera in all the towns of Greece where the worship of this divinity was introduced. The original seat of her worship was Argos; whence her festivals in other places were, more or less, imitations of those which were celebrated at Argos. Her service was performed by the most distinguished priestesses of the place; one of them was the high-priestess, and the Argives counted their years by the date of her office. The Heraea of Argos were celebrated every fifth year. One of the great solemnities which took place on the occasion, was a magnificent procession to the great temple of Hera, between Argos and Mycenae. A vast number of young men assembled at Argos, and marched in armour to the temple of the goddess. They were preceded by one hundred oxen (ἑκατόμβη, whence the festival is also called ἑκατόμβαια). The high-priestess accompanied this procession, riding in a chariot drawn by two white oxen. The 100 oxen were sacrificed, and their flesh distributed among all the citizens; after which games and contests took place. Of the Heraea celebrated in other countries, those of Samos, which island derived the worship of Hera from Argos, were perhaps the most brilliant of all the festivals of this divinity. The Heraea of Elis, which were celebrated in the fourth year of every Olympiad, were also conducted with considerable splendour.

HĒRES.—(1) Greek. To obtain the right of inheritance as well as citizenship at Athens (ἀγχιστεία and πολιτεία), legitimacy was a necessary qualification. When an Athenian died leaving legitimate sons, they shared the inheritance, like our heirs in gavelkind; the only advantage possessed by the eldest son being the first choice in the division. Every man of full age and sound mind, not under durance or improper influence, was competent to make a will; but if he had a son he could not disinherit him, although his will might take effect in case the son did not complete his seventeenth year. If there was but one son, he took the whole estate; but if he had sisters, it was incumbent on him to provide for them, and give them suitable marriage portions; they were then called ἐπίπροικοι. On failure of sons and their issue, daughters and daughters’ children succeeded, and there seems to have been no limit to the succession in the descending line. It will assist the student to be informed, that ἀνεψιός signifies a first cousin. Ἀνεψιαδοῦς is a first cousin’s son; formed in the same manner as ἀδελφιδοῦς from ἀδελφός, and θυγατριδοῦς from θυγατήρ. Κλῆρος is the subject-matter of inheritance, or (in one sense of the word) the inheritance; κληρόνομος the heir. Ἀγχιστεία, proximity of blood in reference to succession, and sometimes right of succession. Συγγένεια, natural consanguinity. Συγγενεῖς, collateral relations, are opposed to ἔκγονοι, lineal descendants.—(2) Roman. A person might become an heres by being named as such (institutus, scriptus, factus) in a will executed by a competent person, according to the forms required by law [[Testamentum]]. The testator might either name one person as heres, or he might name several heredes (coheredes), and he might divide the hereditas among them as he pleased. The shares of the heredes were generally expressed by reference to the divisions of the As: thus, “heres ex asse” is heres to the whole property; “heres ex dodrante,” heres to three-fourths; “heres ex semuncia,” heir to one twenty-fourth. If there were several heredes named, without any definite shares being given to them, the property belonged to them in equal shares. As a general rule, only Roman citizens could be named as heredes in the will of a Roman citizen; but a slave could also be named heres, though he had no power to make a will, and a filius-familias could also be named heres, though he was under the same incapacity. Persons, not Roman citizens, who had received the commercium, could take hereditates, legata and fideicommissa by testament.—Heredes were either Necessarii, Sui et Necessarii, or Extranei. The heres necessarius was a slave of the testator, who was made an heres and liber at the same time; and he was called necessarius, because of the necessity that he was under of accepting the hereditas. The heredes sui et necessarii were sons and daughters, and the sons and daughters of a son, who were in the power of a testator. These heredes sui were called necessarii, because of the necessity that they were under, according to the civil law, of taking the hereditas with its incumbrances. But the praetor permitted such persons to refuse the hereditas (abstinere se ab hereditate), and to allow the property to be sold to pay the testator’s debts; and he gave the same privilege to a mancipated son (qui in causa mancipii est). All other heredes are called extranei, and comprehend all persons who are not in the power of a testator, such as emancipated children. A certain time was allowed to extranei for the cretio hereditatis, that is, for them to determine whether they would take the hereditas or not: hence the phrase, “cernere hereditatem.”—If a man died intestate, the hereditas came to the heredes sui, and was then called legitima hereditas. If an intestate had no sui heredes, the Twelve Tables gave the hereditas to the agnati [[Cognati]], and if there were no agnati, to the gentiles. If a man had a son in his power, he was bound either to make him heres, or to exheredate (exheredare) him expressly (nominatim). If he passed him over in silence (silentio praetericrit), the will was altogether void (inutile, non jure factum). Other liberi could be passed over, and the will would still be a valid will; but the liberi so passed over took a certain portion of the hereditas adcrescendo, as it was termed, or jure adcrescendi. It was necessary either to institute as heredes, or to exheredate posthumous children nominatim, otherwise the will, which was originally valid, became invalid (ruptum); and the will became invalid by the birth either of a posthumous son or daughter, or, as the phrase was, adgnascendo rumpitur testamentum. The heres represented the testator and intestate, and had not only a claim to all his property and all that was due to him, but was bound by all his obligations. He succeeded to the sacra privata, and was bound to maintain them, but only in respect of the property, for the obligation of the sacra privata was attached to property and to the heres only as the owner of it. Hence the expression “sine sacris hereditas” meant an hereditas unencumbered with sacra.

HERMAE (ἑρμαῖ), and the diminutive Hermuli (ἑρμίδια), statues composed of a head, usually that of the god Hermes, placed on a quadrangular pillar, the height of which corresponds to the stature of the human body. Such statues were very numerous at Athens. So great was the demand for these works that the words ἑρμογλύφος, ἑρμογλυφικὴ τέχνη, and ἑρμογλυφεῖον, were used as the generic terms for a sculptor, his art, and his studio. Houses in Athens had one of these statues placed at the door, called ἑρμῆς στροφαῖος or στροφεύς; and sometimes also in the peristyle. The great reverence attached to them is shown by the alarm and indignation which were felt at Athens in consequence of the mutilation of the whole number in a single night, just before the sailing of the Sicilian expedition. They were likewise placed in front of temples, near to tombs, in the gymnasia, palaestrae, libraries, porticoes, and public places, at the corners of streets, on high roads as sign-posts, with distances inscribed upon them, and on the boundaries of lands and states, and at the gates of cities. Small Hermae were also used as pilasters, and as supports for furniture and utensils. Many statues existed of other deities, of the same form as the Hermae; which no doubt originated in the same manner; and which were still called by the generic name of Hermae; even though the bust upon them was that of another deity. Some statues of this kind are described by a name compounded of that of Hermes and another divinity: thus we have Hermanubis, Hermares, Hermathena, Hermeracles, Hermeros, Hermopan. There is another class of these works, in which the bust represented no deity at all, but was simply the portrait of a man. Even these statues, however, retained the names of Hermae and Termini. The Hermae were used by the wealthy Romans for the decoration of their houses. The following engraving exhibits a Hermes decorated with garlands and surrounded with the implements of his worship.

Hermes. (From a Bas-relief.)

HERMAEA (ἕρμαια), festivals of Hermes, celebrated in various parts of Greece. As Hermes was the tutelary deity of the gymnasia and palaestrae, the boys at Athens celebrated the Hermaea in the gymnasia.

HESTIĀSIS (ἑστίασις), was a species of liturgy, and consisted in giving a feast to one of the tribes at Athens (τὴν φυλὴν ἑστιᾶν). It was provided for each tribe at the expense of a person belonging to that tribe, who was called ἑστιάτωρ.

HĬĔRODŪLI (ἱερόδουλοι), persons of both sexes, who were devoted like slaves to the worship of the gods. They were of Eastern origin, and are most frequently met with in connection with the worship of the deities of Syria, Phoenicia, and Asia Minor. They consisted of two classes; one composed of slaves, properly so called, who attended to all the lower duties connected with the worship of the gods, cultivated the sacred lands, &c., and whose descendants continued in the same servile condition; and the other comprising persons who were personally free, but had dedicated themselves as slaves to the gods, and who were either attached to the temples, or were dispersed throughout the country and brought to the gods the money they had gained. To the latter class belonged the women, who prostituted their persons, and presented to the gods the money they had obtained by this means. This class was only found in Greece, in connection with the worship of those divinities who were of Eastern origin, or whose religious rites were borrowed from the East. This was the case with Aphrodite (Venus), who was originally an Oriental goddess.

HĬĔRŎMNĒMŎNES (ἱερομνήμονες), the more honourable of the two classes of representatives who composed the Amphictyonic council. An account of them is given under [Amphictyones].—We also read of hieromnemones in Grecian states, distinct from the Amphictyonic representatives of this name. Thus the priests of Poseidon, at Megara, were called hieromnemones, and at Byzantium, which was a colony of Megara, the chief magistrate in the state appears to have been called by this name.

HĬĔRŎNĪCAE. [[Athletae].]

HĬĔRŎPOII (ἱεροποιοί), sacrificers at Athens, of whom ten were appointed every year, and conducted all the usual sacrifices, as well as those belonging to the quinquennial festivals, with the exception of those of the Panathenaea.

HĬLĂRĬA (ἱλάρια), a Roman festival, celebrated on the 25th of March, in honour of Cybelé, the mother of the gods.

HIPPŎBŎTAE (ἱπποβόται), the feeders of horses, the name of the nobility of Chalcis in Euboea, corresponding to the ἱππεῖς in other Greek states.

HIPPŎDRŎMUS (ἱππόδρομος), the name by which the Greeks designated the place appropriated to the horse-races, both of chariots and of single horses, which formed a part of their games. The word was also applied to the races themselves. In Homer’s vivid description (Il. xxiii., 262-650) the nature of the contest and the arrangements for it are very clearly indicated. There is no artificially constructed hippodrome; but an existing land-mark or monument (σῆμα) is chosen as the goal (τέρμα), round which the chariots had to pass, leaving it on the left hand, and so returning to the Greek ships on the sea-shore, from which they had started. The chariots were five in number, each with two horses and a single driver, who stood upright in his chariot. The critical point of the race was to turn the goal as sharp as possible, with the nave of the near wheel almost grazing it, and to do this safely: very often the driver was here thrown out, and the chariot broken in pieces. The account in Homer will give us an equally good idea of a chariot-race at Olympia, or in any other of the Greek games of later times. The general form of the hippodrome was an oblong, with a semicircular end. For an account of the chariot races at Rome see [Circus].

HISTRĬO (ὑποκριτής), an actor.—(1) Greek. It is shown in the articles [Chorus] and [Dionysia] that the Greek drama originated in the chorus which at the festivals of Dionysus danced around his altar, and that at first one person detached himself from the chorus, and, with mimic gesticulation, related his story either to the chorus or in conversation with it. If the story thus acted required more than one person, they were all represented in succession by the same actor, and there was never more than one person on the stage at a time. This custom was retained by Thespis and Phrynichus. Aeschylus introduced a second and a third actor; and the number of three actors was but seldom exceeded in any Greek drama. The three regular actors were distinguished by the technical names of πρωταγωνιστής, δευτεραγωνιστής, and τριταγωνιστής, which indicated the more or less prominent part which an actor had to perform in the drama. The female characters of a play were always performed by young men. A distinct class of persons, who made acting on the stage their profession, was unknown to the Greeks during the period of their great dramatists. The earliest and greatest dramatic poets, Thespis, Sophocles, and probably Aeschylus also, acted in their own plays, and in all probability as protagonistae. It was not thought degrading in Greece to perform on the stage. At a later period persons began to devote themselves exclusively to the profession of actors, and distinguished individuals received even as early as the time of Demosthenes exorbitant sums for their performances.—(2) Roman. The word histrio, by which the Roman actor was called, is said to have been formed from the Etruscan hister, which signified a ludio or dancer. In the year 364 B.C. Rome was visited by a plague, and as no human means could stop it, the Romans are said to have tried to avert the anger of the gods by scenic plays (ludi scenici), which, until then, had been unknown to them; and as there were no persons at Rome prepared for such performances, the Romans sent to Etruria for them. The first histriones, who were thus introduced from Etruria, were dancers, and performed their movements to the accompaniment of a flute. Roman youths afterwards not only imitated these dancers, but also recited rude and jocose verses, adapted to the movements of the dance and the melody of the flute. This kind of amusement, which was the basis of the Roman drama, remained unaltered until the time of Livius Andronicus, who introduced a slave upon the stage for the purpose of singing or reciting the recitative, while he himself performed the appropriate dance and gesticulation. A further step in the development of the drama, which is likewise ascribed to Livius, was, that the dancer and reciter carried on a dialogue, and acted a story with the accompaniment of the flute. The name histrio, which originally signified a dancer, was now applied to the actors in the drama. The atellanae were played by freeborn Romans, while the regular drama was left to the histriones, who formed a distinct class of persons. The histriones were not citizens; they were not contained in the tribes, nor allowed to be enlisted as soldiers in the Roman legions; and if any citizen entered the profession of an histrio, he, on this account, was excluded from his tribe. The histriones were therefore always either freedmen, strangers, or slaves, and many passages of Roman writers show that they were generally held in great contempt. Towards the close of the republic it was only such men as Cicero, who, by their Greek education, raised themselves above the prejudices of their countrymen, and valued the person no less than the talents of an Aesopus and a Roscius. But notwithstanding this low estimation in which actors were generally held, distinguished individuals among them attracted immense crowds to the theatres, and were exorbitantly paid. Roscius alone received every day that he performed one thousand denarii, and Aesopus left his son a fortune of 200,000 sesterces, which he had acquired solely by his profession. The pay of the actors was called lucar, which word was perhaps confined originally to the payment made to those who took part in the religious services celebrated in groves.

HŎMOEI (ὅμοιοι), the Equals, were those Spartans who possessed the full rights of citizenship, and are opposed to the ὑπομείονες, or those who had undergone some kind of civil degradation. This distinction between the citizens was no part of the ancient Spartan constitution. In the institution ascribed to Lycurgus, every citizen had a certain portion of land; but as in course of time many citizens lost their lands through various causes, they were unable to contribute to the expenses of the syssitia, and therefore ceased to possess the full rights of Spartan citizens. Hence the distinction appears to have arisen between the ὅμοιοι and ὑπομείονες, the former being those who were in the possession of their land, and consequently able to contribute to the syssitia, the latter those who through having no land were unable to do so. The Homoei were the ruling class in the state. They filled all the public offices with the exception of the Ephoralty, and they probably met together to determine upon public affairs under the name of ἔκκλητοι in an assembly of their own, which is called ἡ μικρὰ ἐκκλησία, to distinguish it from the assembly of the whole body of Spartan citizens.

HŎNŌRES, the high offices of the state to which qualified individuals were called by the votes of the Roman citizens. The words “magistratus” and “honores” are sometimes coupled together. The capacity of enjoying the honores was one of the distinguishing marks of citizenship. [[Civitas].] Honor was distinguished from munus. The latter was an office connected with the administration of the state, and was attended with cost (sumptus) but not with rank (dignitas). Honor was properly said deferri, dari; munus was said imponi. A person who held a magistrates might be said to discharge munera, but only as incident to the office, for the office itself was the honor. Such munera as these were public games and other things of the kind.

HOPLĪTAE. [[Exercitus].]

HŌRA. [[Dies].]

HŌRŎLŎGĬUM (ὡρολόγιον), the name of the various instruments by means of which the ancients measured the time of the day and night. The earliest and simplest horologia of which mention is made, were called polos (πόλος) and gnomon (γνώμων). Both divided the day into twelve equal parts, and were a kind of sun-dial. The gnomon, which was also called stoicheion (στοιχεῖον), was the more simple of the two, and probably the more ancient. It consisted of a staff or pillar standing perpendicular, in a place exposed to the sun (σκιάθηρον), so that the length of its shadow might be easily ascertained. The shadow of the gnomon was measured by feet, which were probably marked on the place where the shadow fell. In later times the name gnomon was applied to any kind of sun-dial, especially to its finger which threw the shadow, and thus pointed to the hour. The polos or heliotropion (ἡλιοτρόπιον), on the other hand, seems to have been a more perfect kind of sun-dial; but it appears, nevertheless, not to have been much used. It consisted of a basin (λεκανίς), in the middle of which the perpendicular staff or finger (γνώμων) was erected, and in it the twelve parts of the day were marked by lines.—Another kind of horologium, was the clepsydra (κλεψύδρα). It derived its name from κλέπτειν and ὕδωρ, as in its original and simple form it consisted of a vessel with several little openings (τρυπήματα) at the bottom, through which the water contained in it escaped, as it were by stealth. This instrument seems at first to have been used only for the purpose of measuring the time during which persons were allowed to speak in the courts of justice at Athens. It was a hollow globe, probably somewhat flat at the top-part, where it had a short neck (αὐλός), like that of a bottle, through which the water was poured into it. This opening might be closed by a lid or stopper (πῶμα), to prevent the water running out at the bottom. As the time for speaking in the Athenian courts was thus measured by water, the orators frequently use the term ὕδωρ instead of the time allowed to them. An especial officer (ὁ ἐφ’ ὕδωρ) was appointed in the courts for the purpose of watching the clepsydra, and stopping it when any documents were read, whereby the speaker was interrupted. The time, and consequently the quantity of water allowed to a speaker, depended upon the importance of the case. The clepsydra used, in the courts of justice was, properly speaking, no horologium; but smaller ones, made of glass, and of the same simple structure, were undoubtedly used very early in families for the purposes of ordinary life, and for dividing the day into twelve equal parts. In these glass-clepsydrae the division into twelve parts must have been visible, either on the glass globe itself, or in the basin into which the water flowed.—The first horologium with which the Romans became acquainted was a sun-dial (solarium or horologium sciothericum), and was said to have been brought to Rome by Papirius Cursor twelve years before the war with Pyrrhus. But as sun-dials were useless when the sky was cloudy, P. Scipio Nasica, in his censorship, 159 B.C., established a public clepsydra, which indicated the hours both of day and night. This clepsydra was in after times generally called solarium. After the time of Scipio Nasica several horologia, chiefly solaria, seem to have been erected in various public places at Rome. Clepsydrae were used by the Romans in their camps, chiefly for the purpose of measuring accurately the four vigiliae into which the night was divided. The custom of using clepsydrae as a check upon the speakers in the courts of justice at Rome, was introduced by a law of Cn. Pompeius, in his third consulship. Before that time the speakers had been under no restrictions, but spoke as long as they deemed proper. At Rome, as at Athens, the time allowed to the speakers depended upon the importance of the case.

HORRĔUM (ὡρεῖον, σιτοφυλακεῖον, ἀποθήκη) was, according to its etymological signification, a place in which ripe fruits, and especially corn, were kept, and thus answered to our granary. During the empire the name horreum was given to any place destined for the safe preservation of things of any kind. Thus we find it applied to a place in which beautiful works of art were kept, to cellars (horrea subterranea, horrea vinaria), to depôts for merchandise, and all sorts of provisions (horreum penarium). Seneca even calls his library a horreum. But the more general application of the word horreum was to places for keeping fruit and corn; and as some kinds of fruit required to be kept more dry than others, the ancients had besides the horrea subterranea, or cellars, two other kinds, one of which was built like every other house upon the ground; but others (horrea pensilia or sublimia) were erected above the ground, and rested upon posts or stone pillars, that the fruits kept in them might remain dry.—From about the year 140 after Christ, Rome possessed two kinds of public horrea. The one class consisted of buildings in which the Romans might deposit their goods, and even their money, securities, and other valuables. The second and more important class of horrea, which may be termed public granaries, were buildings in which a plentiful supply of corn was constantly kept at the expense of the state, and from which, in seasons of scarcity, the corn was distributed among the poor, or sold at a moderate price.

HORTUS (κῆπος), garden. Our knowledge of the horticulture of the Greeks is very limited. In fact the Greeks seem to have had no great taste for landscape beauties, and the small number of flowers with which they were acquainted afforded but little inducement to ornamental horticulture. At Athens the flowers most cultivated were probably those used for making garlands, such as violets and roses. In the time of the Ptolemies the art of gardening seems to have advanced in the favourable climate of Egypt so far, that a succession of flowers was obtained all the year round. The Romans, like the Greeks, laboured under the disadvantage of a very limited flora. This disadvantage they endeavoured to overcome, by arranging the materials they did possess in such a way as to produce a striking effect. We have a very full description of a Roman garden in a letter of the younger Pliny, in which he describes his Tuscan villa. In front of the porticus there was generally a xystus, or flat piece of ground, divided into flower-beds of different shapes by borders of box. There were also such flower-beds in other parts of the garden. Sometimes they were raised so as to form terraces, and their sloping sides planted with evergreens or creepers. The most striking features of a Roman garden were lines of large trees, among which the plane appears to have been a great favourite, planted in regular order; alleys or walks (ambulationes) formed by closely clipped hedges of box, yew, cypress, and other evergreens; beds of acanthus, rows of fruit-trees, especially of vines, with statues, pyramids, fountains, and summer-houses (diaetae). The trunks of the trees and the parts of the house or any other buildings which were visible from the garden, were often covered with ivy. In one respect the Roman taste differed most materially from that of the present day, namely, in their fondness for the ars topiaria, which consisted in tying, twisting, or cutting trees and shrubs (especially the box) into the figures of animals, ships, letters, &c. Their principal garden-flowers seem to have been violets and roses, and they also had the crocus, narcissus, lily, gladiolus, iris, poppy, amaranth, and others. Conservatories and hot-houses are frequently mentioned by Martial. Flowers and plants were also kept in the central place of the peristyle [[Domus]], on the roofs and in the windows of houses. An ornamental garden was also called viridarium, and the gardener topiarius or viridarius. The common name for a gardener is villicus or cultor hortorum.

Hortus, Garden. (From a Painting at Herculaneum.)

HOSPĬTĬUM (ξενία, προξενία), hospitality, was in Greece, as well as at Rome, of a two-fold nature, either private or public, in so far as it was either established between individuals, or between two states. (Hospitium privatum and hospitium publicum, ξενία and προξενία.) In ancient Greece the stranger, as such (ξένος and hostis), was looked upon as an enemy; but whenever he appeared among another tribe or nation without any sign of hostile intentions, he was considered not only as one who required aid, but as a suppliant, and Zeus was the protecting deity of strangers and suppliants (Ζεὺς ξένιος). On his arrival, therefore, the stranger was kindly received, and provided with every thing necessary to make him comfortable. It seems to have been customary for the host, on the departure of the stranger, to break a die (ἀστράγαλος) in two, one half of which he himself retained, while the other half was given to the stranger; and when at any future time they or their descendants met, they had a means of recognising each other, and the hospitable connection was renewed. Hospitality thus not only existed between the persons who had originally formed it, but was transferred as an inheritance from father to son. What has been said hitherto, only refers to hospitium privatum; but of far greater importance was the hospitium publicum (προξενία, sometimes simply ξενία) or public hospitality, which existed between two states, or between an individual or a family on the one hand, and a whole state on the other. Of the latter kind of public hospitality many instances are recorded, such as that between the Peisistratids and Sparta, in which the people of Athens had no share. The hospitium publicum among the Greeks arose undoubtedly from the hospitium privatum, and it may have originated in two ways. When the Greek tribes were governed by chieftains or kings, the private hospitality existing between the ruling families of two tribes may have produced similar relations between their subjects, which, after the abolition of the kingly power, continued to exist between the new republics as a kind of political inheritance of former times. Or a person belonging to one state might have either extensive connections with the citizens of another state, or entertain great partiality for the other state itself, and thus offer to receive all those who came from that state either on private or public business, and to act as their patron in his own city. This he at first did merely as a private individual, but the state to which he offered this kind service would naturally soon recognise and reward him for it. When two states established public hospitality, and no individuals came forward to act as the representatives of their state, it was necessary that in each state persons should be appointed to show hospitality to, and watch over the interests of, all persons who came from the state connected by hospitality. The persons who were appointed to this office as the recognised agents of the state for which they acted were called proxeni (πρόξενοι), but those who undertook it voluntarily etheloproxeni (ἐθελοπρόξενοι). The office of proxenus, which bears great resemblance to that of a modern consul or minister-resident, was in some cases hereditary in a particular family. When a state appointed a proxenus, it either sent out one of its own citizens to reside in the other state, or it selected one of the citizens of this state, and conferred upon him the honour of proxenus. The former was, in early times, the custom of Sparta, where the kings had the right of selecting from among the Spartan citizens those whom they wished to send out as proxeni to other states. But in subsequent times this custom seems to have been given up, for we find that at Athens the family of Callias were the proxeni of Sparta, and at Argos, the Argive Alciphron. The principal duties of a proxenus were to receive those persons, especially ambassadors, who came from the state which he represented; to procure for them admission to the assembly, and seats in the theatre; to act as the patron of the strangers, and to mediate between the two states if any disputes arose. If a stranger died in the state, the proxenus of his country had to take care of the property of the deceased.—The hospitality of the Romans was, as in Greece, either hospitium privatum or publicum. Private hospitality with the Romans, however, seems to have been more accurately and legally defined than in Greece. The character of a hospes, i.e. a person connected with a Roman by ties of hospitality, was deemed even more sacred, and to have greater claims upon the host, than that of a person connected by blood or affinity. The relation of a hospes to his Roman friend was next in importance to that of a cliens. The obligations which the connection of hospitality with a foreigner imposed upon a Roman, were to receive in his house his hospes when travelling; and to protect, and, in case of need, to represent him as his patron in the courts of justice. Private hospitality thus gave to the hospes the claims upon his host which the client had on his patron, but without any degree of the dependence implied in the clientele. Private hospitality was established between individuals by mutual presents, or by the mediation of a third person, and hallowed by religion; for Jupiter hospitalis was thought to watch over the jus hospitii, as Zeus xenios did with the Greeks, and the violation of it was as great a crime and impiety at Rome as in Greece. When hospitality was formed, the two friends used to divide between themselves a tessera hospitalis, by which, afterwards, they themselves or their descendants—for the connection was hereditary as in Greece—might recognise one another. Hospitality, when thus once established, could not be dissolved except by a formal declaration (renuntiatio), and in this case the tessera hospitalis was broken to pieces. Public hospitality seems likewise to have existed at a very early period among the nations of Italy; but the first direct mention of public hospitality being established between Rome and another city, is after the Gauls had departed from Rome, when it was decreed that Caere should be rewarded for its good services by the establishment of public hospitality between the two cities. The public hospitality after the war with the Gauls gave to the Caerites the right of isopolity with Rome, that is, the civitas without the suffragium and the honores. [[Colonia].] In the later times of the republic we no longer find public hospitality established between Rome and a foreign state; but a relation which amounted to the same thing was introduced in its stead, that is, towns were raised to the rank of municipia, and thus obtained the civitas without the suffragium and the honores; and when a town was desirous of forming a similar relation with Rome, it entered into clientela to some distinguished Roman, who then acted as patron of the client-town. But the custom of granting the honour of hospes publicus to a distinguished foreigner by a decree of the senate, seems to have existed down to the end of the republic. His privileges were the same as those of a municeps, that is, he had the civitas, but not the suffragium or the honores. Public hospitality was, like the hospitium privatum, hereditary in the family of the person to whom it had been granted.

HỸĂCINTHĬA (ὑακίνθια), a great national festival, celebrated every year at Amyclae by the Amyclaeans and Spartans, probably in honour of the Amyclaean Apollo and Hyacinthus together. This Amyclaean Apollo, however, with whom Hyacinthus was assimilated in later times, must not be confounded with Apollo, the national divinity of the Dorians. The festival was called after the youthful hero Hyacinthus, who evidently derived his name from the flower hyacinth (the emblem of death among the ancient Greeks), and whom Apollo accidentally struck dead with a quoit. The Hyacinthia lasted for three days, and began on the longest day of the Spartan month Hecatombeus, at the time when the tender flowers, oppressed by the heat of the sun, drooped their languid heads. On the first and last day of the Hyacinthia sacrifices were offered to the dead, and the death of Hyacinthus was lamented. During these two days, nobody wore any garlands at the repasts, nor took bread, but only cakes and similar things, and when the solemn repasts were over, everybody went home in the greatest quiet and order. The second day, however, was wholly spent in public rejoicings and amusements, such as horse-races, dances, processions, &c. The great importance attached to this festival by the Amyclaeans and Lacedaemonians is seen from the fact, that the Amyclaeans, even when they had taken the field against an enemy, always returned home on the approach of the season of the Hyacinthia, that they might not be obliged to neglect its celebration; and that in a treaty with Sparta, B.C. 421, the Athenians, in order to show their good-will towards Sparta, promised every year to attend the celebration of this festival.

HYBRĔŌS GRĂPHĒ (ὕβρεως γραφή), an action prescribed by the Attic law for wanton and contumelious injury to the person, whether in the nature of indecent (δι’ αἰσχρουργίας) or other assaults (διὰ πληγῶν). The severity of the sentence extended to confiscation or death.

HYDRAULIS (ὕδραυλις), an hydraulic organ, invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria, who lived about B.C. 200. Its pipes were partly of bronze, and partly of reed. The number of its stops, and consequently of its rows of pipes, varied from one to eight. It continued in use so late as the ninth century of our era. The organ was well adapted to gratify the Roman people in the splendid entertainments provided for them by the emperors and other opulent persons. Nero was very curious about organs, both in regard to their musical effect and their mechanism. A contorniate coin of this emperor, in the British Museum, shows an organ with a sprig of laurel on one side, and a man standing on the other.

Hydraulis, water-organ. (Coin of Nero in British Museum.)

HYDRĬAPHŎRĬA (ὑδριαφορία), was the carrying of a vessel with water (ὑδρία), which service the married alien (μέτοικοι) women had to perform to the married part of the female citizens of Athens, when they walked to the temple of Athena in the great procession at the Panathenaea.

HỸPORCHĒMA (ὑπόρχημα), a lively kind of mimic dance which accompanied the songs used in the worship of Apollo, especially among the Dorians. A chorus of singers at the festivals of Apollo usually danced around the altar, while several other persons were appointed to accompany the action of the song with an appropriate mimic performance (ὑπορχεῖσθαι). The hyporchema was thus a lyric dance, and often passed into the playful and comic.