A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

NUNDĬNAE is derived by all the ancient writers from novem and dies, so that it literally signifies the ninth day. Every eighth day, according to our mode of speaking, was a nundinae, and there were thus always seven ordinary days between two nundinae. The Romans in their peculiar mode of reckoning added these two nundinae to the seven ordinary days, and consequently said that the nundinae recurred every ninth day, and called them nundinae, as it were novemdinae. The number of nundinae in the ancient year of ten months was 38. They were originally market-days for the country folk, on which they came to Rome to sell the produce of their labour, and on which the king settled the legal disputes among them. When, therefore, we read that the nundinae were feriae, or dies nefasti, and that no comitia were allowed to be held, we have to understand this of the populus or patricians, and not of the plebes; and while for the populus the nundinae were feriae, they were real days of business (dies fasti or comitiales) for the plebeians, who on these occasions pleaded their causes with members of their own order, and held their public meetings (the ancient comitia of the plebeians). Afterwards the nundinae became fasti for both orders, and this innovation facilitated the attendance of the plebeians at the comitia centuriata. The subjects to be laid before the comitia, whether they were proposals for new laws, or the appointment of officers, were announced to the people three nundinae beforehand (trinundino die proponere). Instead of nundinae the form nundinum is sometimes used, but only when it is preceded by a numeral, as in trinundinum, or trinum nundinum.

NUPTĬAE. [[Matrimonium].]

O

ŎBOLUS. [[Drachma].]

OCRĔA (κνημίς), a greave, a leggin. A pair of greaves (κνημῖδες) was one of the six articles of armour which formed the complete equipment of a Greek warrior [[Arma]], and likewise of a Roman soldier as fixed by Servius Tullius. They were made of various metals, with a lining probably of leather, felt, or cloth. Their form is shown in the accompanying cut. The figure is that of a fallen warrior, and in consequence of the bending of the knees, the greaves are seen to project a little above them. This statue also shows the ankle-rings (ἐπισφύρια), which were used to fasten the greaves immediately above the feet.

Ocreae, Greaves. (From the Aeginetan Marbles.)

ŌDĒUM (ᾠδεῖον), a species of public building for contests in vocal and instrumental music. In its general form and arrangements it was very similar to the theatre; and it is sometimes called θέατρον. There were, however, some characteristic differences: the Odeum was much smaller than the theatre; and it was roofed over, in order to retain the sound. The earliest building of this kind was that erected by Pericles at Athens, for the purpose of celebrating the musical contests at the Panathenaea. Its proximity to the theatre suggested some of the uses made of it, namely, as a refuge for the audience when driven out of the theatre by rain, and also as a place in which the chorus could be prepared. Another Odeum was built at Athens by Herodes Atticus, and was the most magnificent edifice of the sort in the whole empire. The length of its largest diameter was 248 feet, and it is calculated to have furnished accommodation for about 8000 persons. There were also Odea in other Greek towns. The first Odeum, properly so called, at Rome, was built by Domitian, and the second by Trajan. There are ruins of such buildings in the villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, at Pompeii, and at Catana.

ŎLĔA, ŎLĪVA (ἐλαία); ŎLĔUM, OLĪVUM (ἔλαιον). The importance of the olive was recognised from the most remote period of antiquity in all civilised countries where the temperature admitted of its cultivation: and it was widely adopted as an emblem of industry and peace. Hence the honour paid to it at Athens, and hence the title of “prima omnium arborum,” bestowed upon it by Columella. The fruit (bacca) of the olive was for the most part employed for one of two purposes. 1. It was eaten as a fruit, either fresh, pickled, or preserved in various ways. 2. It was pressed so as to yield the oil and other juices which it contained. And again, the oil was employed for a variety of purposes, but chiefly 1. As an article of food. 2. For anointing the body, and in this case was frequently made a vehicle for perfumes (unguenta). 3. For burning in lamps.

OLĬGARCHĬA (ὀλιγαρχια), the government of a few: a term applied to that perversion (παρέκβασις) of an Aristocratia into which the latter passed, when, owing to the rise of the demus [[Democratia]], and the vanishing of those substantial grounds of pre-eminence which rendered an Aristocratia not unjust, the rule of the dominant portion of the community became the ascendancy of a faction, whose efforts were directed chiefly towards their own aggrandisement. The preservation of power under such circumstances of course depended chiefly upon the possession of superior wealth and the other appliances of wealth which were its concomitants. Thus it came to be regarded as essentially characteristic of an oligarchy, that the main distinction between the dominant faction and the subject portion of the community was the possession of greater wealth on the part of the former. Hence the term Oligarchia would not have been applied, if a small section of the community, consisting of poor persons, by any means got the reins of government into their hands.