Cartibŭlum
A particular kind of table described by Varro (
L. L. v. 125) as frequently
seen in the
atria of Roman houses during his boyhood
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Cartibulum. (From Pompeii.)
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(about B.C. 100). Both the name and the thing were apparently becoming
obsolete in his time. It was an oblong slab of marble supported on a single bracket or console
(
una columella); it stood near the impluvium, and bronze vessels were
placed upon it. Such a table has been discovered in more than one house at Pompeii, with a
fountain behind it shaped like a cippus or square pillar, and flowing into the impluvium.