Laphria, Gr. An annual festival, celebrated at Patræ in Achaia, in honour of Artemis, surnamed Laphria.
Lapidary. An artist who cuts, grinds, and polishes gems and stones. In the lapidary’s scale of hardness of minerals there are 10 standard degrees, represented as follows:—No. 1, talc, which is very easily cut; No. 2, compact gypsum; No. 3, calc-spar; No. 4, fluor-spar; No. 5, apatite; No. 6, felspar; No. 7, quartz; No. 8, topaz; No. 9, sapphire; No. 10, diamond. Diamonds are for the most part cut at Amsterdam.
Lapis Lazuli. A beautiful blue mineral stone of various shades of colour. (See Ultramarine.)
Laquear, Laqueare. Synonym of Lacunar (q.v.).
Laqueatores, R. An order of gladiators who used a noose to catch their adversaries.
Laqueatus, R. A ceiling decorated with panels (lacunar).
Lararium, R. A small shrine consecrated to the gods called Lares; a room in which the images of the Lares or tutelary genii of the house were placed. It is said to have been customary for religious Romans, immediately after they rose in the morning, to pray in the Lararium.
Larentalia, Larentinalia, or Laurentalia, R. A Roman festival in honour of Acca Larentia, the nurse of Romulus and Remus; or, according to another tradition, a festival instituted by Ancus in honour of a wealthy courtezan named Larentia, who had bequeathed all her property to the Roman people. It was celebrated on the 10th of December.
Lares, R. The Lares Privati, Domestici, or Familiares, were the guardian deities of the house. The spot peculiarly sacred to them was the focus, or hearth, in the Atrium, where the altar for domestic sacrifice stood, and near it was a niche, containing little images of these gods, to whom offerings of flowers, frankincense, and wine were made from time to time, and regularly on the kalends of each month. There were many classes of Lares Publici: (1) The Lares rurales, who presided over the flocks, herds, &c. (2) The Lares compitales, worshipped where two cross-roads met, &c. [Cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 129.]
Larghetto, It. In Music, less slow than largo.