ĂPORRHĒTA (ἀπόῤῥητα), literally “things forbidden,” has two peculiar, but widely different, acceptations in the Attic dialect. In one of these it implies contraband goods; in the other, it denotes certain contumelious epithets, from the application of which both the living and the dead were protected by special laws.
ĂPŎSTŎLEUS (ἀποστολεύς), the name of a public officer at Athens. There were ten magistrates of this name, and their duty was to see that the ships were properly equipped and provided by those who were bound to discharge the trierarchy. They had the power, in certain cases, of imprisoning the trierarchs who neglected to furnish the ships properly.
ĂPŎTHĒCA (ἀποθήκη), a place in the upper part of the house, in which the Romans frequently placed the earthen amphorae in which their wines were deposited. This place, which was quite different from the cella vinaria, was above the fumarium; since it was thought that the passage of the smoke through the room tended greatly to increase the flavour of the wine. The position of the apotheca explains the expression in Horace (Carm. ii. 21, 7), Descende, testa.
ĂPŎTHĔŌSIS (ἀποθέωσις), the enrolment of a mortal among the gods. The mythology of Greece contains numerous instances of the deification of mortals; but in the republican times of Greece we find few examples of such deification. The inhabitants of Amphipolis, however, offered sacrifices to Brasidas after his death. In the Greek kingdoms, which arose in the East on the dismemberment of the empire of Alexander, it appears to have been not uncommon for the successor to the throne to offer divine honours to the former sovereign. Such an apotheosis of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, is described by Theocritus in his 17th Idyl. The term apotheosis, among the Romans, properly signified the elevation of a deceased emperor to divine honours. This practice, which was common upon the death of almost all the emperors, appears to have arisen from the opinion which was generally entertained among the Romans, that the souls or manes of their ancestors became deities; and as it was common for children to worship the manes of their fathers, so it was natural for divine honours to be publicly paid to a deceased emperor, who was regarded as the parent of his country. This apotheosis of an emperor was usually called consecratio; and the emperor who received the honour of an apotheosis was usually said in deorum numerum referri, or consecrari, and whenever he is spoken of after his death, the title of divus is prefixed to his name. The funeral pile on which the body of the deceased emperor was burnt, was constructed of several stories in the form of chambers rising one above another, and in the highest an eagle was placed, which was let loose as the fire began to burn, and which was supposed to carry the soul of the emperor from earth to heaven.
APPĀRĬTOR, the general name for a public servant of the magistrates at Rome, namely, the [Accensus], [Carnifex], [Coactor], [Interpres], [Lictor], [Praeco], [Scriba], [Stator], [Viator], of whom an account is given in separate articles. They were called apparitores because they were at hand to execute the commands of the magistrates (quod iis apparebant). Their service or attendance was called apparitio.
APPELLĀTĬO, appeal.—(1) Greek (ἔφεσις or ἀναδικία.) Owing to the constitution of the Athenian tribunals, each of which was generally appropriated to its peculiar subjects of cognisance, and therefore could not be considered as homogeneous with or subordinate to any other, there was little opportunity for bringing appeals properly so called. It is to be observed also, that in general a cause was finally and irrevocably decided by the verdict of the dicasts (δίκη αὐτοτελής). There were only a few exceptions in which appeals and new trials might be resorted to.—(2) Roman. The word appellatio, and the corresponding verb appellare, are used in the early Roman writers to express the application of an individual to a magistrate, and particularly to a tribune, in order to protect himself from some wrong inflicted, or threatened to be inflicted. It is distinguished from provocatio, which in the early writers is used to signify an appeal to the populus in a matter affecting life. It would seem that the provocatio was an ancient right of the Roman citizens. The surviving Horatius, who murdered his sister, appealed from the duumviri to the populus. The decemviri took away the provocatio; but it was restored by the Lex Valeria et Horatia, B.C. 449, in the year after the decemvirate, and it was at the same time enacted, that in future no magistrate should be made from whom there should be no appeal. On this Livy remarks, that the plebs were now protected by the provocatio and the tribunicium auxilium; this latter term has reference to the appellatio properly so called. The complete phrase to express the provocatio is provocare ad populum; and the phrase which expresses the appellatio is appellare ad, &c.
APSIS or ABSIS (ἁψίς), in architecture, signified first, any building or portion of a building of a circular form or vaulted, and more especially the circular and vaulted end of a Basilica.
ĂQUAE DUCTUS (ὑδραγωγία), literally, a water-conduit, but the word is used especially for the magnificent structures by means of which Rome and other cities of the Roman empire were supplied with water. A Roman aqueduct, often called simply aqua, may be described in general terms as a channel, constructed as nearly as possible with a regular declivity from the source whence the water was derived to the place where it was delivered, carried through hills by means of tunnels, and over valleys upon a substruction of solid masonry or arches. The aqueduct is mentioned by Strabo as among the structures which were neglected by the Greeks, and first brought into use by the Romans. Springs (κρῆναι, κρουνοί) were sufficiently abundant in Greece to supply the great cities with water; and they were frequently converted into public fountains by the formation of a head for their waters, and the erection of an ornamental superstructure. Of this we have an example in the Enneacrunos at Athens, which was constructed by Peisistratus and his sons. The Romans were in a very different position, with respect to the supply of water, from most of the Greek cities. They, at first, had recourse to the Tiber, and to wells sunk in the city; but the water obtained from those sources was very unwholesome, and must soon have proved insufficient, from the growth of the population. It was this necessity that led to the invention of aqueducts, in order to bring pure water from the hills which surround the Campagna. The number of aqueducts was gradually increased, partly at the public expense, and partly by the munificence of individuals, till, in the fourth century of the Christian era, they amounted to fourteen. Of these only four belong to the time of the republic, while five were built in the reigns of Augustus and Claudius.—1. The Aqua Appia, begun by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus in B.C. 313. Its sources were near the Via Praenestina, between the seventh and eighth mile-stones.—2. The Anio Vetus was commenced forty years later, B.C. 273, by the censor M. Curius Dentatus, and was finished by M. Fulvius Flaccus. The water was derived from the river Anio, above Tibur, at a distance of 20 Roman miles from the city; but, on account of its windings, its actual length was 43 miles.—3. The Aqua Marcia, one of the most important of the whole, was built by the praetor Q. Marcius Rex, by command of the senate, in B.C. 144. It commenced at the side of the Via Valeria, 36 miles from Rome.—4. The Aqua Tepula, built by the censors Cn. Servilius Caepio and L. Cassius Longinus in B.C. 127, began at a spot in the Lucullan or Tusculan land, two miles to the right of the tenth milestone on the Via Latina. It was afterwards connected with.—5. The Aqua Julia, built by Agrippa in his aedileship, B.C. 33. It was conducted from a source two miles to the right of the twelfth milestone on the Via Latina, first to the Aqua Tepula, in which it was merged as far as the reservoir (piscina) on the Via Latina, seven miles from Rome. From this reservoir the water was carried along two distinct channels, on the same substructions; the lower channel being called the Aqua Tepula, and the upper the Aqua Julia; and this double aqueduct again was united with the Aqua Marcia, over the watercourse of which the other two were carried.—6. The Aqua Virgo, built by Agrippa, to supply his baths. From a source in a marshy spot by the 8th milestone on the Via Collatina, it was conducted by a very circuitous route.—7. The Aqua Alsietina (sometimes called also Aqua Augusta), on the other side of the Tiber, was constructed by Augustus from the Lacus Alsietinus (Lago di Martignano), which lay 6500 passus to the right of the 14th milestone on the Via Claudia.—8, 9. The two most magnificent aqueducts were the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus (or Aqua Aniena Nova), both commenced by Caligula in A.D. 36, and finished by Claudius in A.D. 50. The water of the Aqua Claudia was derived from two copious and excellent springs, near the 38th milestone on the Via Sublacensis. Its length was nearly 46½ miles. The Anio Novus began at the 42nd milestone. It was the longest and the highest of all the aqueducts, its length being nearly 59 miles, and some of its arches 109 feet high. In the neighbourhood of the city these two aqueducts were united, forming two channels on the same arches, the Claudia below and the Anio Novus above. These nine aqueducts were all that existed in the time of Frontinus, who was the curator of the aqueducts in the reigns of Nerva and Trajan. There was also another aqueduct, not reckoned with the nine, because its waters were no longer brought all the way to Rome, viz.: 10. The Aqua Crabra.—The following were of later construction. 11. The Aqua Trajana, brought by Trajan from the Lacus Sabatinus (now Bracciano).—12. The Aqua Alexandrina, constructed by Alexander Severus; its source was in the lands of Tusculum, about 14 miles from Rome.—13. The Aqua Septimiana, built by Septimius Severus, was perhaps only a branch of the Aqua Julia.—14. The Aqua Algentia had its source at M. Algidus by the Via Tusculana. Its builder is unknown.—Great pains were taken by successive emperors to preserve and repair the aqueducts. From the Gothic wars downwards, they have for the most part shared the fate of the other great Roman works of architecture; their situation and purpose rendering them peculiarly exposed to injury in war; but still their remains form the most striking features of the Campagna, over which their lines of ruined arches, clothed with ivy and the wild fig-tree, radiate in various directions.
Triple Aqueduct.