Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Fenestra

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. 

FENES'TRA (θυρίς). A window; inclusive of the aperture (lumen) in the wall, through which the light is admitted, and the casement or shutters, whether glazed, or otherwise by which it is closed. The illustration (Fenestra/1.1) represents three ancient windows of different designs; the one on the left hand, from a Greek bas-relief in the British Museum; that on the right from the Vatican Virgil; and the centre one from a marble sarcophagus of a later period, found in the Vatican cemetery.

2. Fenestra biforis (θυρίς δικλίς). A window opening in two leaves from top to bottom, such as well call a French window. Ovid. Pont. iii. 3. 5.

3. A loop hole in the walls of a fortress, from which missiles were discharged. (Caes. B. C. ii. 9.) The illustration (Fenestra/3.1), which presents a view of the Porta asinaria at Rome, constructed by Honorius, shows several of these apertures. The low-roofed building in front is a modern structure.

4. A hole pierced in the lobe of the ear for the purpose of receiving the ring of a pendant or ear-ring. (Juv. i. 104.) Many statues have been discovered with holes bored in the marble, into which real ear-rings were inserted; of which the annexed engraving (Fenestra/4.1), from a bust found at Herculaneum affords an example. The holes in the ears still remain, and the pupil of the eye is also hollowed to receive an artificial one.

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