Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cartibulum

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

CARTIB'ULUM. A particular kind of table, made of stone or marble, with an oblong square slab for the top, and supported by a single central pedestal, or after the manner of those now called console tables by our upholsterers. It was not used as a dining-table, but as an ornamental slab or sideboard for holding the plate and vases belonging to the household, and used to stand on one side of the atrium with the vessels arranged upon it. (Varro, L. L. v. 125.) This account from Varro is accurately illustrated by the engraving (Cartibulum/1.1), which represents a marble table of the kind, as it was discovered on the margin of the impluvium in the house of the Nereids at Pompeii. Behind it is a fountain, and underneath it there is a sort of sink, divided into two compartments, into which the drainings or residue from the vessels were emptied before they were put upon the table.

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  Cartibulum/1.1