Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Loculus

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. 

LOC'ULUS. A coffin, in which the body was deposited entire, when not reduced to ashes on the funeral pile. (Justin. xxxix. 1. Plin. H. N. vii. 16. Id. vii. 2.) The illustration (Loculus/1.1) represents a coffin of baked clay, with the plan of the interior underneath, in which the shaded part is a raised sill for the head of the corpse to rest upon; and the round hole, a receptacle for aromatic balsams, which were poured into it through a corresponding orifice on the outside of the shell. A marble coffin of more elaborate design is introduced at p. 196.

2. A common wooden box, in which the dead bodies of poor people and criminals were carried out. Fulgent. Planc. s. Sandapila.

3. A crib or compartment in a manger, whether of stone, marble, or wood, in which the allowance of each animal was separately deposited, in order that a greedy brute might not poach upon its neighbour, as shown by the annexed example (Loculus/3.1), which represents the interior of an ancient stable in the bay Centorbi, in Sicily. Veg. Vet. ii. 28. 4.

4. A small cabinet, box, or case, divided into separate compartments; such as we should call a desk; in which money, keys, valuables, and things of small size were deposited for safe custody. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 175. Juv. i. 89. Plin. H. N. xiv. 14.

5. A case divided into separate compartments, in which the Roman boys carried their books, writing materials, and other necessaries to school. Hor. Sat. i. 6. 74.

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