SPHAERISTĒRIUM. [[Gymnasium].]
SPĪCŬLUM. [[Hasta].]
SPĪRA (σπεῖρα), dim. SPĪRŬLA, the base of a column. This member did not exist in the Doric order of Greek architecture, but was always present in the Ionic and Corinthian, and, besides the bases properly belonging to those orders, there was one called the Attic, which may be regarded as a variety of the Ionic [Atticurges]. In the Ionic and Attic the base commonly consisted of two tori (torus superior and torus inferior) divided by a scotia (τρόχιλος), and in the Corinthian of two tori divided by two scotiae. The upper torus was often fluted (ῥαβδωτός), and surmounted by an astragal [[Astragalus]], as in the left-hand figure of the annexed woodcut, which shows the form of the base in the Ionic temple of Panops on the Ilissus. The right-hand figure in the same woodcut shows the corresponding part in the temple of Minerva Polias at Athens. In this the upper torus is wrought with a plaited ornament, perhaps designed to represent a rope or cable. In these two temples the spira rests not upon a plinth (plinthus, πλίνθος), but on a podium.
Spirae (bases) of Columns. (From ancient Columns.)
SPŎLĬA. Four words are commonly employed to denote booty taken in war, Praeda, anubiae, Exuviae, Spolia. Of these Praeda bears the most comprehensive meaning, being used for plunder of every description. Manubiae would seem strictly to signify that portion of the spoil which fell to the share of the commander-in-chief, the proceeds of which were frequently applied to the erection of some public building. Exuviae indicates anything stripped from the person of a foe, while Spolia, properly speaking, ought to be confined to armour and weapons, although both words are applied loosely to trophies, such as chariots, standards, beaks of ships and the like, which might be preserved and displayed. Spoils collected on the battlefield after an engagement, or found in a captured town, were employed to decorate the temples of the gods, triumphal arches, porticoes, and other places of public resort, and sometimes in the hour of extreme need served to arm the people; but those which were gained by individual prowess were considered the undoubted property of the successful combatant, and were exhibited in the most conspicuous part of his dwelling, being hung up in the atrium, suspended from the door-posts, or arranged in the vestibulum, with appropriate inscriptions. They were regarded as peculiarly sacred, so that even if the house was sold the new possessor was not permitted to remove them. But while on the one hand it was unlawful to remove spoils, so it was forbidden to replace or repair them when they had fallen down or become decayed through age; the object of this regulation being doubtless to guard against the frauds of false pretenders. Of all spoils the most important were the spolia opima, a term applied to those only which the commander-in-chief of a Roman army stripped in a field of battle from the leader of the foe. Plutarch expressly asserts that Roman history up to his own time afforded but three examples of the spolia opima. The first were said to have been won by Romulus from Acro, king of the Caeninenses, the second by Aulus Cornelius Cossus from Lar Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, the third by M. Claudius Marcellus from Viridomarus, king of the Gaesatae. In all these cases, in accordance with the original institution, the spoils were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius.
SPONSA, SPONSUS, SPONSĀLĬA. [[Matrimonium].]
SPORTŬLA. In the days of Roman freedom, clients were in the habit of testifying respect for their patron by thronging his atrium at an early hour, and escorting him to places of public resort when he went abroad. As an acknowledgment of these courtesies, some of the number were usually invited to partake of the evening meal. After the extinction of liberty, the presence of such guests, who had now lost all political importance, was soon regarded as an irksome restraint, while at the same time many of the noble and wealthy were unwilling to sacrifice the pompous display of a numerous body of retainers. Hence the practice was introduced under the empire of bestowing on each client, when he presented himself for his morning visit, a certain portion of food as a substitute and compensation for the occasional invitation to a regular supper (coena recta), and this dole, being carried off in a little basket provided for the purpose, received the name of sportula. For the sake of convenience it soon became common to give an equivalent in money, the sum established by general usage being a hundred quadrantes. The donation in money, however, did not entirely supersede the sportula given in kind, for we find in Juvenal a lively description of a great man’s vestibule crowded with dependents, each attended by a slave bearing a portable kitchen to receive the viands and keep them hot while they were carried home. Under the empire great numbers of the lower orders derived their whole sustenance, and the funds for ordinary expenditure, exclusively from this source, while even the highborn did not scruple to increase their incomes by taking advantage of the ostentatious profusion of the rich and vain.
STĂDĬUM (ὁ στάδιος and τὸ στάδιον), a Greek measure of length, and the chief one used for itinerary distances. It was equal to 600 Greek or 625 Roman feet, or to 125 Roman paces; and the Roman mile contained 8 stadia. Hence the stadium contained 606 feet 9 inches English. This standard prevailed throughout Greece, under the name of the Olympic stadium, so called because it was the exact length of the stadium or foot-race course at Olympia, measured between the pillars at the two extremities of the course. The first use of the measure seems to be contemporaneous with the formation of the stadium at Olympia when the Olympic games were revived by Iphitus (B.C. 884 or 828). This distance doubled formed the δίαυλος, the ἱππικον was 4 stadia, and the δόλιχος is differently stated at 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, and 24 stadia. A day’s journey by land was reckoned at 200 or 180 stadia, or for an army 150 stadia. The stadium at Olympia was used not only for the foot-race, but also for the other contests which were added to the games from time to time [[Olympia]], except the horse-races, for which a place was set apart, of a similar form with the stadium, but larger; this was called the Hippodrome (ἱππόδρομος). The name stadium was also given to all other places throughout Greece wherever games were celebrated. The stadium was an oblong area terminated at one end by a straight line, at the other by a semicircle having the breadth of the stadium for its base. Round this area were ranges of seats rising above one another in steps.
STĀTĒR (στατῆρ), which means simply a standard (in this case both of weight and more particularly of money), was the name of the principal gold coin of Greece, which was also called Chrysus (χρυσοῦς). The stater is said to have been first coined in Lydia by Croesus, and probably did not differ materially from the stater which was afterwards current in Greece, and which was equal in weight to two drachmae, and in value to twenty. The Macedonian stater, which was the one most in use after the time of Philip and his son Alexander the Great, was of the value of about 1l. 3s. 6d. In calculating the value of the stater in our money the ratio of gold to silver must not be overlooked. Thus the stater of Alexander, which we have valued, according to the present worth of gold, at 1l. 3s. 6d., passed for twenty drachmae, which, according to the present value of silver, were worth only 16s. 3d. But the former is the true worth of the stater, the difference arising from the greater value of silver in ancient times than now.