AITHOUSA
AITHOUSA (
αἴθουσα), the open
portico, or verandah, of the Homeric house, so called
ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίψ αἴθεσθαι, the bright sun-lit verandah
being opposed to the semi-twilight of the interior. The Homeric house
contained two such verandahs--one, the
αἴθουσα
αὐλῆς, on each side of the courtyard gate (cf.
Il. 9.472,
Od.
21.389,
390); the other, which
may be called the
αἴθουσα δώματος, on the
opposite side of the courtyard, stretching along the front of the house. The
latter is often considered as forming part of the
πρόδομος, ὑπ᾽ αἰθούσῃ and
ἐν
προδόμῳ being used as identical expressions (cf.
Od. 4.279,
302;
Il. 24.644,
673). The
αἴθουσα
αὐλῆς seems to have served as a convenient place to put
things in, to be out of the way; goats are tied up there before they are
killed (
Od. 20.176,
189), and the corpses of the suitors and laid
ὑπ᾽ αἰθούσῃ εὐέρκεος αὐλῆς
(
Od. 22.449). The
αἴθουσα δώματος was used especially as a sleeping room for
strangers, sometimes too as a place of meeting, as in
Il. 20.10, where the gods gather in the palace
of Zeus, and take their seats
ξεστῇς
αἰθούσῃσιν. (See DOMUS; A. Winckler,
Die Wohnhäuser der Hellenen, Berlin, 1868;
Schliemann's
Tiryns, p. 208.)
[
J.H.O]
