Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Anulus

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

A'NULUS or AN'NULUS (δακτύλιος, σφραγίς). A ring for the finger; originally made of iron, and used as a signet for sealing. Subsequently, however, golden rings were adopted instead of iron, but the use of that metal at Rome was restricted to the senators, chief magistrates, and equites. (Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 4.) The example (Anulus/1.1) represents an original from the Dactyliotheca of Gorlaeus. The signet ring was worn on the fourth finger of the left hand both by the Greeks and Romans (Aul. Gell. x. 10.); see the right-hand figure in the cut (Anulus/1.2), which represents the hand of Jupiter, from a Pompeian painting; and thence the expression, sedere ad anulos alicui (Eum. Paneg. ad. Const. 15.), means to sit on the right hand of any one. But under the empire the fashion of wearing rings of various kinds, and degrees of value, as mere ornaments, became prevalent amongst all classes, and were worn on different fingers of both hands, as well as several at a time (Mart. Ep. v. 61. Id. xi. 59.); see the left-hand figure from a Pompeian painting, which shows a female hand with three rings, two on the fourth, and one on the little finger.

2. Anulus bigemmis. A ring which has two precious stones set in it. (Valerian. in Epist. ap. Trebell. Claud. 14.) The illustration (Anulus/2.1) exhibits an original from the Dactyliotheca of Gorlaeus (Part i. No. 68) with two engraved gems set in it; one, a large signet, with the figure of Mars, and the other a small one, with a dove and myrtle branch.

3. Anulus velaris. A curtain ring, made like our own, to run pon a rod for the purpose of drawing or withdrawing the curtain. Amongst the Romans these rings were usually made of hard wood (Plin. H. N. xiii. 18.) In a house excavated at Heculaneum in 1828 (an elevation of which is given as an illustration to the article DOMUS), the iron rods upon which they ran between the columns of the Atrium were found entire, and similarly placed to the example (Anulus/3.1) annexed, which is from a miniature of the Vatican Virgil, and exemplifies their object and use, though from the minuteness of the design not discernible upon the rod.

4. A ring set round the circle of a boy's hoop, for the purpose of creating a jingling noise as the hoop performed its revolutions (Mart. Epigr. xiv. 169.) Several of these were placed on the same hoop, as shown by the example (Anulus/4.1), which is copied from a sepulchral bas-relief on a tomb still remaining near Tivoli.

5. A plait of long hair, arranged in circles, like rings, round the back part of the head (Mart. Epigr. ii. 66.), as seen in the illustration annexed (Anulus/5.1), which represents Plotina, the wife of the emperor Trajan, from an engraved gem. The female peasantry in many parts of the Roman and Neapolitan states still continue to arrange their hair in a similar manner.

6. In architecture, annulets; which consist of a series of rings (Anulus/6.1) or circular fillets, varying in ancient examples from three to four in number, which are placed immediately below the echinus of a Doric capital, and fall off perpendicularly under one another like an inverted flight of steps. Vitruv. iv. 3. 4.

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  Anulus/1.1
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  Anulus/1.2
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  Anulus/2.1
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  Anulus/3.1
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  Anulus/4.1
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  Anulus/5.1
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  Anulus/6.1