ARMAMENTA´RIUM
ARMAMENTA´RIUM (
σκευοθήκη,
δπλοθήκη), a place where
armamenta were kept; an armoury or, more
frequently, a naval arsenal
[p. 1.191]where tackling,
&c., as well as munitions of war, were housed. In primitive times
the acropolis of a city was the usual place for the storage of arms; but the
fortifying of larger areas, and especially of ports like the Piraeus, gave
rise to a special class of buildings designed for their safe custody. In
Aeschylus (
fragm. 273) and Aeschines (
c.
Ctes. § 25)
σκευοθῆκαι
are mentioned in connexion with naval matters. They must, however, be
distinguished from
νεώρια, dockyards, and
νεώσοικοι, slips or docks. There was a
celebrated
armamentarium in the Piraeus, built
by the architect Philo under the financial administration of the orator
Lycurgus, about B.C. 342-330 (
Cic. de
Or. 1.1. 4, § 62;
Plin. Nat. 7.125;
Strab. ix. p.395;
Plut. Sull.
14). The expression of Pliny,
armamentarium CD
(another reading is
mille)
navium, has been wrongly explained as a basin in which 1000
ships could lie. The corrected number comes from the passage in Strabo,
where
ναύσταθμον ταῖς τετρακοσίαις
ναυσὶν is distinguished from
ὁπλοθήκη
Φίλωνος ἔργον. This was destroyed at the capture of Athens
by Sulla (Plut.
l.c.). A
ὁπλοθήκη of the elder Dionysius at Syracuse is described by
Aelian (
Ael. VH 6.12) as well filled with
arms, armour, and engines; the
ναύσταθμον
at Rhodes included
θησαυροὶ ὅπλων, as did
those of Massalia and Cyzicus; and, as in modern times, strangers were
wholly or partially excluded (
Strab. xiv.
p.653).
Among the Romans the
armamentaria were places
for the manufacture as well as the storage of arms (
Liv. 26.51;
29.22 and 35); and arms
might be served out from them in times of public danger (
Cic. Rab. Perd. 7, § 20). We also
find them under the empire, organised with the usual thoroughness of the
Romans in military matters (
Tac. Hist.
1.80; Sen.
de Tranq. An. 3.5; Orelli-Henzen,
Inscrr. 975, 3586; cf. Juv.
Sat. 13.83).
[
W.W]
