Fig. 61. Baptistery of St. Constance, Rome.
Baptisterium, R. (from βάπτω, to dip). A kind of cold plunging-bath, constructed in the Frigidarium (q.v.), or the room itself. In Christian archæology, baptistery was the name given to a building adjoining a basilica, or situated near it, in which baptism was administered. Such is the baptistery of St. John Lateran at Rome. One of the most ancient baptisteries in France is that of St. Jean, at Poitiers, represented in Fig. [60]. It dates from the fourth century; that of St. Constance, at Rome (Figs. 61, 62), belongs to the same period.
Fig. 62. Interior of the Baptistery of St. Constance.
Bar, Her. A horizontal line across a shield.
Barathron or Orugma, Gr. (βάραθρον). A deep cleft behind the Acropolis at Athens, into which criminals were thrown, either under sentence of death by this means, or after they had been put to death by hemlock or other poisons. It was situated near the temple of Diana Aristobulê.
Barba, Gen. The beard, whence the attributive barbatus, frequently employed to denote one who wears a beard. Thus bene barbatus, a man with a well-trimmed beard; barbatulus, a young man whose youthful beard had never been touched with the razor. Among many nations of antiquity the custom prevailed of curling the beard artificially, so as to obtain long curls or ringlets, cincinni. (See Cincinnus.) The Assyrians, Egyptians, Jews, Persians, Greeks, and Romans may be particularly enumerated. Shaving the beard was introduced into Rome about B.C. 300, and became the regular practice. In the later times of the republic many persons began to wear it trimmed, and the terms bene barbati and barbatuli were applied to them. Under Hadrian the practice of wearing beards was revived, and the emperors until Constantine wore them. The Romans let the beard grow as a sign of mourning; the Greeks shaved. The beard is an attribute of the prophets, apostles, and evangelists (excepting St. John); and, in ancient art, of Jupiter, Serapis, Neptune, &c. Neptune has a straight beard; Jupiter a curly silky one. The early Britons shaved generally, but always had long moustachios. The Anglo-Saxon beard was neatly trimmed or parted into double locks. The Normans originally shaved clean, but when settled in England let all their beard grow. Close shaving prevailed among the young men in England in the 14th century; older men wore a forked beard. After sundry changes, clean shaving obtained in the reign of Henry VI., and the beard was rarely cultivated from then until the middle of the 16th century. The most extravagant fashions arose in Elizabeth’s reign, and were succeeded by variations too numerous to detail.
Barbatina, It. A preparation of clay mixed with the shavings of woollen cloth, used in the manufacture of pottery to attach the handles and other moulded ornaments. (Fortnum.)
Barbed, Her. Pointed, as an arrow.