Labrum

vol. XII p.285-286

Labrum

From lavabrum, it is in fact a container with edges all the way round that bend outwards, a basin, a bathtub. In agriculture, the labrum was used for multiple purposes, eg. as a basin with four handles to measure out wine for a buyer, labrum culleare (Cato r. r. 154), <40> containing the measure of one culleus = 400 litres (see above vol. IV p.1747, 1-9); as a vat for pressing grapes (Cato 11, 3. Verg. Georg. II 6), also called lintres (Cato 11, 5. Tibull. I 5, 23); as a container made of clay or stone for preparing olives to measure the pressed oil, Cato 13, 2 (labrum olearia). 14. Colum. XII 52, 10ff. Blümner Technol. I² 354f. 357, 5 Fig. 130f. The labrum was also used to rinse things out, labrum eluacrum (Cato 10, 4. 11, 3), <50> to collect water ibid., saltlakes ibid. 88, from fruits and vegetables, ibid. 11, 3. Col. XII 15. 44.

The labrum often comes up as a water basin made of rock or marble, Verg. Aen VIII 22. Liv. XXXVII 3, 7. Plin. ep. V 6, 20. According to Isid. XX 6, 8, it got its name because people would bathe their children in it. The pool at a fountain was also sometimes called a labrum, Bull. arch. du Comité des trav. hist. 1893, 205 Ad labrum lapideum aqua ut saliret, <60> though it comes up particularly often as the basin used for showering and washing down after a sweat-bath, which stood in a niche or a schola (see there) of the caldarium, Cic. ad fam. XIV 20. Dig. XIX 1, 15. Isid. X 6, 28. CIL X 817. Daremberg-Saglio III 2, 881, 7. Vitruv. V 10. 4 gives the following specification for the facility: labrum sum lumine faciundum videtur, ne stantes circum suis umbris obscurent lucem. <page break 285/286> The labrum in the smaller baths at Pompeii is well-preserved, a flat basin with a diameter of 2.34m, a depth of 0.21m, and a height of 1m above the floor. It has a raised middle, like a navel, which is fitted out with a pipe for the water to flow up through in a stream. The basin stands on a rather crude round basis of solidified lava. According to the inscription CIL X 824. 893, it was set up for 5250 sesterces in 3/4 AD by a decurial decree. <10> Overbeck-Mau Pomp.⁴ 209f. Abb. 121f. For the labrum in the caldarium of the larger baths, only one part of the base, which has been bored through, is extant, ibid. 227 Fig. 124, 8, though the labrum of the female baths is entirely preserved, ibid. Fig. 124, 4, although strangely the niche (schola) is missing, ibid. 229. In the female caldarium in the Stabian baths, the labrum stands next to the wall, Blümner Röm. Privatalt. 425, 3. Other basins of the same kind are also mentioned in CIL II 5181. IX 3677. XIV 2119. <20> Vase paintings in Panofka Bilder antiken Lebens 4 Taf. I 9. XVIII 11 depict the basins being used to wash down. In later depictions, the water flows into the labrum from above, similar to the bath of Etruscus (Stat. silv. I 5, 48f.). Marquardt-Mau Privatleb. 287, 3. 4. Unlike those in Pompeii, which were on a round and inelegant base, other labra were set on a richly decorated base like a pillar, <30> or on multiple figures, like lions, griffins, chimaera, Herm. 1872, 11. Daremberg-Saglio III 2, 881 Fig. 4311f. The beauty of the workmanship and the material suggest that many labra were only set up as decoration, just like large vases. cf. the water-basin in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Helbig Führer³ nr. 933. The fact that the containers used for ritual washing, in the Christian era, were also called labra, is shown by this comment from Isidoros: <40> Labium et labrum unum sunt, vas aeneum quadrangulum, in quo lavantur sacerdotes, Gloss. in s. script. VII 412. On a 6th century cameo, there is an amphora-like container depicting the water-basin in a holy Jewish tent, labelled with labrum. Garucci Storia d. arte crist. Taf. CXXVI 2. Two similar containers are found on a Vatican relief at the entrance to a pagan temple, Arch. Ztschr. 1847, 50 Taf. 4 = Daremberg-Saglio Fig. 4313. <50>

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This article is referenced by: Baths, Caldarium