Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cryptoporticus

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

CRYPTOPOR'TICUS. The term always employed by the younger Pliny when speaking of a structure similar to what is described under the last word. It appears to have been only another name, more fully descriptive, for CRYPTA; or, if there was any real distinction between the two, it may be, that when the gallery had windows on both sides, as was the case with those in Pliny's villas, it possessed a considerable resemblance to the colonnade (porticus), and was consequently distinguished by the name crypto-porticus; when there were windows only on one side, and a blank wall on the other, such as those represented in the two preceding illustrations, it would be more appropriately designated by the name of crypta simply. Plin. Ep. ii. 17. 16. seqq. Id. v. 6. 27 — 28. Id. vii. 21. 2. Id. ix. 36. 3.