FOCUS
FOCUS dim. FO´CULUS
(
ἑστία:
ἐσχάρα, ἐσχάρις, dim.
ἐσχάριον), a fire-place; a hearth; a brasier. The fire-place,
while serving all the requirements of ordinary life, possessed a sacred
character both among the Greeks and Romans. In the primitive Greek house the
ἐσχάρα stood against, or near, the
back wall of the
μέγαρον, the kitchen and
living-room of the family: in the more spacious dwellings of a later age it
was transferred, with other objects of domestic worship, to a small private
chapel, vaulted so as to resemble the Tholos (
θόλος), the dome-shaped
ἑστία
of the state (Hermann-Blümner,
Privatalt. p. 151,
where the identity of
ἑστία and
ἐσχάρα is maintained; Guhl and Koner, ed. 5, p.
97). The well-known use of the hearth as a sanctuary for suppliants occurs
as early as Homer (
Hom. Od. 7.153-
169: cf.
Apollon.
4.693; Thu<*>yd. 1.136).
Among the Romans the fire-place was dedicated to the Lares of each family
(Plut.
Aul. 2.8, 16; Cato,
de R. R. 15;
Ov. Fast. 1.135, 6.302); a consecration which
did not interfere with its homely uses (Hor.
Epod. 2, 43;
Epist. 1.5, 7;
Ov. Met.
8.673; Senec.
Cons. ad Helv. 10.7). On festivals the
housewife decorated the hearth with garlands (Cato,
de R. R.
143;
Ov. Tr. 5.5,
10); a woollen fillet was sometimes added, nor were animal
sacrifices unknown (Propert. 5.6, 1-6). The phrase “pro aris et
focis” expressed attachment to all that was most dear and venerable
(
Cic. N. D. 3.4. 0,
§ 94;
Flor. 3.13). At Rome, likewise,
the progress of wealth and refinement led to the removal of the focus and
penates to an inner apartment (Marquardt,
Privatl. 234): the
change from the single
atrium or
“house-place” to the more elaborate arrangement of a
separate dining-room, culina, and Lararium is described under
DOMUS p. 670
a, 672
b. In the Pompeian houses we
see the
atrium, now become a reception room,
adorned with a fountain and a marble table [
CARTIBULUM], but no longer with a hearth.
The focus was usually a fixture, constructed of stone or brick, and elevated
a few inches
|
Focus. (From British Museum.)
|
above the ground; see the first figure on p. 672
a. It was also frequently made of bronze, variously
ornamented, and could then be carried from room to room. One is shown under
BALNEAE p. 276
b: another, found at Caere in Etruria, and preserved
in the British Museum, is represented in the annexed woodcut.
The small portable brasier or chafing-dish, called
foculus or
ἐσχάριον, was
especially used in sacrifices; and the same name was applied to the hollow
or fire-pan at the top of an altar (
Liv. 2.12;
Cic.
pro Domo, 47.123;
ARA). The movable focus or foculus was also employed
in the kitchen (Plaut.
Capt. 4.2, 68;
Juv. 3.262), and for keeping things hot was brought into the
dining-room (Senec.
Ep. 78.23). The treasures of Herculaneum
and Pompeii are rich in illustrations of this kind of focus, whether
pictorial or in bronze vessels actually preserved. See
CALDARIUM and the second cut
under
AUTHEPSA
[
J.Y] [
W.W]