APOTHE´CA
APOTHE´CA (
ἀποθήκη), a
storehouse or magazine (
Thuc. 6.97;
Cic. Phil. 2.27,
Vatin. 5;
Dig. 33,
7,
12;
Vulg. Par. 1, 27, 28, &c.)
for books (Luc.
Indoct. 5); a burial-place (id.
Contempl. 22); especially a place in the upper part of
the house in which the Romans kept their wine in
amphorae. It was usually above the
fumarium, since it was thought that the passage of the smoke
through the room tended greatly to increase the flavour of the wine. (
Col. 1.6.20;
Hor.
Carm. 3.8.11,
Sat. 2.5, 7). Hence
Horace's expression (
Carm. 3.21, 7)
Descende, testa. The
apotheca
was thus quite distinct from the
cella vinaria,
in which wine was kept in
dolia and
cupae until it was fit to be bottled (
diffundere), as we should say, into the
amphorae, or, if it was not considered good enough
to mature (
aetatem ferre), was drunk straight
from the larger vessels. (Becker-Göll,
Gallus, iii. pp. 50, 427.)
[
W.S] [
J.H.F]
