Ancient Wall at Mycenae.
The materials employed in walls about the time of Pericles were various sorts of stone, and, in some of the most magnificent temples, marble. The practice of putting a facing of marble over a wall of a commoner material was introduced in the next period of architectural history. For buildings of a common sort, the materials employed were smaller stones, rough or squared, or flints, as well as bricks. These were bound together with various kinds of mortar or cement, composed of lime mixed with different sands and volcanic earths. The history of Roman masonry is not very different from that of the Greek.—The most ancient works at Rome, such as the Carcer Mamertinus, the Cloaca Maxima, and the Servian Walls, were constructed of massive quadrangular hewn stones, placed together without cement. [[Cloaca].] Five species of Roman masonry may be distinguished; namely, 1. when the blocks of stone are laid in alternate courses, lengthwise in one course, and crosswise in the next; this is the most common; 2. when the stones in each course are laid alternately along and across; this construction was usual when the walls were to be faced with slabs of marble; 3. when they are laid entirely lengthwise; 4. entirely crosswise; and 5. when the courses are alternately higher and lower than each other. As by the Greeks, so by the Romans, walls of a commoner sort were built of smaller quarried stones (caementa) or of bricks. The excellence of the cement which the Romans used enabled them to construct walls of very small rough stones, not laid in courses, but held together by the mortar; this structure was called opus incertum. Another structure of which the Romans made great use, and which was one of the most durable of all, was that composed of courses of flat tiles. Such courses were also introduced in the other kinds of stone and brick walls, in which they both served as bond-courses, and, in the lower part of the wall, kept the damp from rising from the ground. Brick walls covered with stucco were exceedingly common with the Romans: even columns were made of brick covered with stucco.
MUSCŬLUS was a kind of vinea, one of the smaller military machines, by which the besiegers of a town were protected.
MŪSĒUM (μουσεῖον), the name of an institution founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, about B.C. 280, for the promotion of learning and the support of learned men. The museum formed part of the palace, and contained cloisters or porticoes (περίπατος), a public theatre or lecture-room (ἐξέδρα), and a large hall (οἶκος μέγας), where the learned men dined together. The museum was supported by a common fund, supplied apparently from the public treasury; and the whole institution was under the superintendence of a priest, who was appointed by the king, and after Egypt became a province of the Roman empire, by the Caesar. Botanical and zoological gardens appear to have been attached to the museum.
MȲRĬI (μυρίοι), the name given to the popular assembly of the Arcadians, which was established after the overthrow of the Spartan supremacy by the battle of Leuctra, and which used to meet at Megalopolis in order to determine upon matters affecting the whole people.
MYSĬA (μύσια), a festival celebrated by the inhabitants of Pellene in Achaia in honour of Demeter Mysia, which lasted for 7 days.
MYSTĒRĬA. The names by which mysteries or mystic festivals were designated in Greece, are μυστήρια, τελεταί, and ὄργια. The name ὄργια (from ἔοργα) originally signified only sacrifices accompanied by certain ceremonies, but it was afterwards applied especially to the ceremonies observed in the worship of Dionysus, and at a still later period to mysteries in general. Τελετή signifies, in general, a religious festival, but more particularly a lustration or ceremony performed in order to avert some calamity, either public or private. Μυστήριον signifies, properly speaking, the secret part of the worship, but was also used in the same sense as τελετή, and for mystic worship in general. Mysteries in general may be defined as sacrifices and ceremonies which took place at night or in secret within some sanctuary, which the uninitiated were not allowed to enter. What was essential to them, were objects of worship, sacred utensils, and traditions with their interpretation, which were withheld from all persons not initiated. The most celebrated mysteries in Greece were those of Samothrace and Eleusis, which are described in separate articles. [[Cabeiria]; [Eleusinia].]
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NAENĬA. [[Funus].]