Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Aulaea

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

AULAE'A or AULAE'UM (αὐλαία). A piece of tapestry or arras hangings used to decorate the walls of a dining room (Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 54.), or as a screen against the sun between the pillars of a colonnade (Prop. ii. 32. 12.), or to close in the open galleries round an atrium or peristylium of private houses, as shown in the elevation of the Herculanean house (s. v. DOMUS), in which the rods and rings for suspending them were found in their places, when the excavation was made. In the illustration (Aulaea/1.1), from a bas-relief in the British Museum, the aulaeum forms the background to a tricliniary chamber; and similar ones are of very common occurrence both in sculpture and paintings, where they are introduced by the artist as a conventional sign to indicate that the scene in which they appear is not laid in the open air, but takes place in an interior.

2. A large coverlet of tapestry or embroidered work, which it was customary to spread over the mattress of a sofa or dining couch (Virg. Aen. i. 697.), and which hung down to the ground all round it; whence also termed Peristroma. It is seen in the preceding wood-cut, but more distinctly in the annexed one (Aulaea/2.1) from the Vatican Virgil.

3. A piece of tapestry, or curtain ornamented with figures embroidered on it (Virg. G. iii. 25.), employed in the Greek and Roman theatres, for the same purpose as our drop-scene, to conceal the stage before the commencement of the play, and between the acts. This curtain, however, was not suspended like ours, and let down from above; but, on the contrary, was rolled round a cylinder let into a recess in the brickwork fronting the stage, as is clearly seen on the left hand of the annexed engraving (Aulaea/3.1), which represents a perspective view of the small theatre at Pompeii looking across the stage, and the orchestra which lies on the right hand. When the play commenced, the curtain was let down, and consequently after an act it was drawn up (Ovid. Met. iii. 111 — 114.); whence the expression aulaea premuntur (Hor. Epist. ii. 1. 189. Compare Apul. Met. x. p. 232.), "the drop scene is let down," implies that the play is about to commence; and aulaea tolluntur (Ov. Met. l. c.), "the scene is raised up," that the act or play was ended.

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  Aulaea/1.1
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  Aulaea/2.1
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  Aulaea/3.1