PYXIS
PYXIS (
πυξίς), a casket, a
jewel-box (
Mart. 9.38); also a small box for
holding drugs or poisons (
Cic. pro
Cael, 25, 61;
Quint. Inst.
6.3,
25). Quintilian (8.6.35)
produces this term as an example of catachresis, because it properly denoted
that which was made of box (
πύξος), but was
applied to things of similar form and use made of any other material. In
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Pyxis.
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fact, the caskets in which the ladies of ancient times kept their
jewels and other ornaments were made of gold, silver, ivory,
mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, &c. The pyxis, in which Nero
dedicated the cuttings from his beard to Jupiter, was of gold, studded with
pearls (
Suet. Nero 12). They were also much
enriched with sculpture. A silver coffer, 2 feet long, 1 1/2 wide, and I
deep, most elaborately adorned
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Terra-cotta Pyxis. (Dennis.)
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with figures in bas-relief, is described by Böttiger
(
Sabina, vol. i. pp. 64-80, plate iii.).
The first woodcut (from
Ant. d'Ercolano, vol. ii. tav. 7)
represents a very plain jewel-box, out of which a dove is extracting a
riband or fillet: the second is of terra-cotta, from Etruria. The word is
also used for the iron cap at the end of a pestle (
Plin. Nat. 18.112).
[
J.Y] [
G.E.M]
