Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Anabolium

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

ANABOL'IUM (ἀναβόλαιον). Properly a Greek word, which has, therefore, a more especial reference to the customs of that people; though, being a general term, it might be equally well applied to the Romans, when descriptive of similar habits. (Inscript. ap. Don. cl. 1. n. 91.) It is derived from the Greek ἀναβάλλω, "to cast up," and used to designate a particular mode of wearing the pallium, or any similar object of the outward attire, both of males and females, when the end was thrown up so as to cover the shoulder (Isidor. Orig. xix. 25. 7.), in the manner represented by the female figure of the preceding engraving (Anabolium/1.1), which is taken from a statue of the Villa Pamfili at Rome. The male figure, from a fictile vase, shows the simplest mode of arrangement; and is introduced here only for the purpose of explaining more clearly how the other was produced; viz. by taking up the side which hangs down behind the right arm, passing it across the breast, and then throwing it over the top of the left shoulder, so that the end will hang down behind, instead of in front, both the arms be covered, and the whole person more completely protected from the weather. In such an arrangement, the brooch at the throat would be first unclasped, to make the drapery set closer, and the whole blanket drawn more on to the right side than in our figure, in order to afford a greater length for casting over the shoulder. It may be remarked that the people of Italy adjust their cloaks at the present day in both of these ways, accordingly as the external temperature is more or less inclement.

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  Anabolium/1.1