COLUM (ἠθμός, ἠθάνιον), a strainer or colander, was used for straining wine, milk, olive-oil, drugs, perfumes, and other liquids. Thus we find it employed in the making of olive-oil to receive the juice of the berry when pressed out by the prelum. Such cola were made of hair, broom, or rushes (Verg. G. 2.242, 10.71; Colum. 1 9.15, 12.17, 19,

38). The cola employed for such domestic purposes as straining wine were sometimes made of linen (Mart. 14.104), but frequently of some metal, such as bronze or silver. (Hellanicus ap. Athen. p. 470 d.) Such strainers are often represented in Greek vase-paintings; and several examples of elegant silver strainers of Greek workmanship, found in the Crimea, are figured in the pl. xxxi.

Various specimens of cola have been found at Pompeii. The preceding woodcut shows the plan and profile of one which is of silver ( vol. 8.14, figs. 4, 5).

The Romans filled the strainer with ice or snow (cola nivaria) in order to cool and dilute the wine at the same time that it was cleared (Mart. 14.103) [NIX]. Several Etruscan vases have been discovered, in which the spout consists of a strainer, so that the liquid is clarified as it is poured out. (Micali, pl. 30.2, 37.8.)

Ausonius ( 4.57) uses the word colum to denote the nassa or weel for snaring fish [NASSA].