CRYPTA
CRYPTA (
κρύπτη parox., Ath. v. p.
205 a;
διῶρυξ κρυπτή, Strab.; Ital.
grotta), any long narrow vault, either dark or dimly
lighted. It might be on the level of the ground, or sunk wholly or partially
below it: the word did not necessarily imply, like “crypt” or
“grotto,” anything subterranean.
It is used in the following specific senses:--
1. A tunnel, in the excavation of which, especially for draining purposes,
the ancients had attained no mean skill [
EMISSARIUM]. They were also used to shorten
communications; and the neighbourhood of Naples contains no less than three
well-preserved antique tunnels of this description, all probably dating from
the time of Augustus. The best known of these is the grotto of Posilipo,
called by the Romans
Crypta Neapolitana,
forming the direct communication between Naples and Pozzuoli. This is not
quite half a mile in length, at present from twenty-five to thirty feet
wide, and nowhere less than twenty feet high, in some places much higher. It
has, however, been more than once enlarged in modern times: it was not made
practicable for carriages until the fifteenth century, and only attained its
present dimensions in the middle of the 18th century. It is not mentioned by
Strabo, and may perhaps not have existed in his time; but in the next
generation Seneca (
Ep. 57) describes its darkness and dust
[p. 1.569]in terms suitable to a coal mine. It was then
doubtless a mere narrow passage. A second tunnel is pierced through the same
ridge, but much nearer the sea, and close to the promontory now called
Punta di Coroglio. It is about 500 feet longer than the
Posilipo tunnel, and, though it has been cleared out in recent times,
probably retains its original dimensions in width and height. This is easily
identified as the tunnel described by Strabo (
v.
p.246), passable for carriages in opposite directions and with
lateral openings for ventilation (
θυρίδες）
in the side of the mountain, and its present name of
Grotta di
Sejano is evidently a mistake. The third tunnel is that known as the
Grotta della Pace, between Cumae and the Lake Avernus,
nearly of the same length as the last mentioned, i. e. a little over half a
mile, traversed by carriages, and lighted at intervals by vertical shafts.
According to Strabo (
v. p.245) it was
excavated by Cocceius (probably M. Cocceius Nerva, Cos. B.C. 36), in
connexion with Agrippa's artificial harbour on the Lucrine Lake.
2. A dark, vaulted passage in any building, e. g. under the
cavea of an amphitheatre for the use of the
spectators (see section of the Coliseum, p. 112); at the back of the
scene of a theatre for the convenience of the
performers, like the Crypta Balbi mentioned in the Regionary Catalogue
(
Reg. ix.) in connexion with the theatre of Balbus (
Suet. Aug. 29;
D. C.
54.25: cf. Burn, p. 313; Middleton, p. 299) ; or below the stage
(
proscenium), as in the theatre of
Tauromenium (Taormina). A similar
crypta, in
the larger theatre at Pompeii, is recorded in several inscriptions (Saglio,
1.1576 a). Several such passages exist in the Palace of the Caesars on the
Palatine; two of them are marked 19 and 31 on the latest plan (Middleton,
Anc. Rome, p. 82); others are not yet cleared out (ib. p.
104). It was in one of these passages (probably the long straight one marked
31 on the plan) that Caligula was murdered ( “in crypta, per quam
transeundum erat,”
Suet. Cal. 58;
ἐν
στενωπῶ} τινί,
D. C. 59.29; cf.
J. AJ
19.1.14). This passage is almost wholly underground, and lighted
by openings in the vaulted roof (Middleton, p. 114). Such places readily
lent themselves to any secret worship, especially of a licentious character
(Petron.
Sat. 16.3 ; 17.8 ; ct. id.
fragm. xiii.). By a slight extension of meaning, the
branch of the Cloaca Maxima which drains the Subura is called
crypta Suburae (
Juv.
5.106).
3. A covered corridor above ground, dimly lighted for the sake of coolness in
summer, such as was very commonly attached to the side of an open colonnade
(
portions) both in public and private buildings.
Thus Hadrian among his military reforms demolished
porticus and
cryptas with other
appliances of luxury in the Castra Praetoria (Spart.
Hadr.
10). The more definite term
cryptoporticus was,
it is probable, correctly applied only to this species of
crypta, not to those above described. Thus in Pliny's
charming account of his Laurentine villa (
Ep. 2.17) the
xystus or open portico and the
cryptoporticus are repeatedly contrasted (cf.
9.36.3). The latter has windows on both sides, but high up, and not too many
of them, and is sheltered both from wind and sun. In the description of his
Tuscan villa (
Ep. 5.6) the significant expression occurs,
“cryptoporticus subterraneae similis,” i. e. it is not
really underground, but can be
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Cryptoporticus.
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darkened as though it were. One of these
cryptoporticus has two tiers of windows; when recovering from
an attack of
lippitudo, he shuts the lower ones
to spare his eyes (ib. 7.21). Sometimes they were lighted on one side only,
as in the suburban villa of L. Arrius Diomedes at Pompeii, where there is a
well-preserved
cryptoporticus on one side of
the court, and, on the other, the foundations both of the open and closed
portico can be traced. In the interior of farm buildings such
cryptae were used for the storing of grain and other
produce (
Vitr. 6.5.2; cf. Varro,
R.
R. 1.57).
The above ground-plan of the public building presented by the priestess
Eumachia to the town of Pompeii will serve to illustrate both
cryptoporticus and chalcidicum; for the inscription
upon it, see
CHALCIDICUM
The
crypta or covered passage AAA is lighted by
numerous small windows opening into the
porticus B B B, which in its turn surrounds the courtyard C.
4.
Crypta seems to have been used in Christian
times for a catacomb or subterranean cemetery:
see Dict. of Chr.
Ant. s. v. (Rich, s.v. Burn,
Rome and the Campagna,
p. 313; Middleton,
Anc. Rome in 1885, pp. 104, 114, 299.)
[
A.R] [
W.W]
