Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Fornix

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

FORNIX. An arch; a mechanical construction in the form of a segment of a circle, formed by intrados and voussoirs which hold themselves together by mutual gravitation. (Cic. Top. 4. Seneca, Ep. 90.) Same as ARCUS, 4. which see.

2. An archway, erected by some individual to commemorate himself, and ornament the city (Cic. Verr. i. 7. ii. 63. Liv. xxxiii. 27. Id. xxxvii. 3.); but not a triumphal arch (arcus triumphalis), as is proved by the above passages from Livy; one of which has reference to an archway erected by Scipio Africanus before the commencement of a campaign, the other L. Stertinius at the conclusion of his command, which ended without a triumph. Thus the archway which forms one of the entrances into the Forum at Pompeii would be properly termed a fornix; that of Titus, of Septimius Severus, or of Constantine at Rome, an arcus; though the external appearance, in respect of ornament and design, was the same in both. See ARCUS, 5. and the illustration there given.

3. A vault, or vaulted chamber; especially of a confined and common description, such as was inhabited by slaves and poor people; hence, the cell of a common prostitute (Hor. Sat. i. 2. 30. Juv. xi. 171.), for at Rome such persons pursued their vocation in vaults of this description; which practice has given rise to the modern term fornication. The illustration (Fornix/3.1) represents a set of small rooms constructed in this manner amongst the ruins of a Roman villa on the bay of Gaieta. The doors and wall which closed them in front have perished; but the remains are sufficient to give a clear notion of the construction termed fornix.

4. A vaulted sally-port in the towers and walls of fortified places, by which the defenders might make a sudden irruption against their assailants. (Liv. xxxvi. 23.) The illustration (Fornix/4.1) represents one of the towers belonging to the walls of Pompeii, in its present state, with a sally-port, on the left, at the bottom; the two dark arches, exposed above, contain the staircases, and were concealed by the external wall, when the tower was in its original state.

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  Fornix/3.1
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  Fornix/4.1