lautumiae

lautŭmĭae (lātŏmĭae and lātŭ-mĭae), ārum, f., = λατομία, a stone-quarry.

• I In gen.: vel in lautumiis vel in pistrino mavelim Agere aetatem, quam, etc., Plaut. Poen. 4, 2, 5 (827): latomiae lapidariae, id. Capt. 3, 5, 65 (723).—
• II In partic., a prison cut out of the rock.
• • A At Syracuse: carcer Syracusis vocantur latomiae, Varr. L. L. 5, § 151 Müll.; v. in the foll.: lautumias Syracusanas omnes audistis, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 27, § 68; 2, 5, 57, § 148.—
  • B The state prison in Rome, on the north-eastern side of the capitol, usually called Tullianum, Varr. L. L. 5, § 151: principes Aetolorum Romam deducti et in Lautumias conjecti sunt, Liv. 37, 3, 8; 26, 27, 3; 32, 26, 17; 39, 44, 7.

lautumiae (lātomiae), ārum, f. (λατομίαι), die Steingruben, der Steinbruch, als Strafort für Sklaven, die dort Steine brechen mußten, in lautumiis agere aetatem, Plaut. Poen. 827: ire in latomias lapidarias, Plaut. capt. 723. – zum Gefängnis unter freiem Himmel umgeschaffen (vgl. Paul. ex Fest. 117, 11), in Syrakus, lautumiae Syracusanae, Cic. Verr. 5, 68; vgl. 5, 148: u. in Rom, Varro LL. 5, 151. Liv. 26, 27, 3: carcer lautumiarum, Liv. 32, 26, 17; s. Jordan Topographie der Stadt Rom I². S. 343.

lautumiae, latomiae [CL < λατομίαι], ~ia, ~ium 1 quarry; b (as site for stone-cutting or craft of masonry); c (as prison); d (as form of punishment). dicitur lautomium a ‘laos’, quod est lapis, et ‘tomos’, quod est divisio Beleth RDO 117. 121; latoma, ubi lapides ceduntur Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 329.  b 1439 hec indenture, facta inter Universitatem Oxoniensem ex parte una et Thomam Elkyn, lathomum, ex parte altera, testatur quod dictus Thomas manucepit edificacionem novarum scolarum sacre theologie in Universitate predicta in quantum pertinet ad lathomiam EpAcOx 192; a masonry, lathomia CathA.  c ille in latebrosum ~iae latibulum ‥ ferro constrictus mittitur Aldh. VirgP 35 p. 279; ~iae, carceres GlC L 6; 10‥ lautune, carcerne WW; lautomia ‥ i. e. gaole captivorum et omnia genera carcerum ‥ lautomium ‥ accipitur pro gaola captivorum Beleth RDO 117. 121.  d ~iae, verbera GlC L 25; lautomia ‥ omne genus patibuli Beleth RDO 117. 121; ~ium, genus supplicii ad verberandum Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 328. 2 chain, fetter. carpebant placida libratis aequora velis / figitur et notis vehemens lautomia harenis Frith. 1127; †lautumne [MS: lautumnie], cathene ‥ vinculum ‥ †laconia [? l. latoma], genus catene Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 329; pedem suum liberum sentiens, quem ~iis adjuta catena tenuerat W. Cant. Mir. Thom. III 19; ille cum ‥ vincula tenacia vexaret, nodos et ~ias agitaret Ib. III 47; spiritum immundum conceperat, qui singula membra tabernaculi sui pervertebat, donec in ~ias conjiceret se ad injuriam vasis sui Ib. III 48. 3 dove-cot. lautomium proprie est locus ubi aves nutriuntur ut pinguiores fiant Beleth RDO 117. 121; †lautumne [MS: lautumnie] ‥ columbaria Osb. Glouc. Deriv. 329. 4 dunghill , or ? f. l. a dungil [or ? misr. of dungin = ‘dungeon’] latomia Levins Manip. 128.

lautŭmĭæ, (12) v. latomiæ.

lautumiae or lātomiae ārum, f

• , λατομίαι, a quarry (in which condemned slaves were worked), prison, place for convict labor: Syracusanae.—Esp., the state prison, northeast of the capitol: in Lautumias coniecti, L.

LAUTUMIAE

LAUTU´MIAE, LAUTO´MIAE, LATO´MIAE, or LATU´MIAE (λιθοτομίαι or λατομίαι, Lat. Lapicidinae), are literally places where stones are cut, or quarries; and in this sense the word λατομίαι was used by the Sicilian Greeks (Pseudo-Ascon. ad Cic. in Verr. 2.1, p. 161, Orelli; cf. Diod. 11.25; Plaut. Capt. 3.5, 65; Poen. 4.2, 5; Festus, s. v. Latumiae). In particular, however, the name lautumiae was given to the quarries of Syracuse, frequently mentioned by ancient authors (Cic. Ver. 1.5, § 14; 5.27.68; ib. 55.143; Aelian, Ael. VH 12.44), and still called Latomie(with the Greek accent). They are situated on a part of the heights called Epipolae, to the north of the city, which at the time of the Athenian siege was outside the walls of Achradina; the elder Dionysius a few years later included the whole of the Epipolae within his fortifications. On account of their security they were used as prisons from an early period; the deepest and most inaccessible, now called the Latomia de' Cappuccini, is probably that in which the 7,000 Athenian prisoners were confined (Thucyd. 7.86, 87; Diod. 13.33). They continued to serve for the same purpose, and in the days of Cicero were used as a general prison for criminals from all parts of Sicily. The socalled Ear of Dionysius is in the Latomia del Paradiso; but the name is a mere fancy of a scholar of the Renaissance, and Cicero and Aelian are certainly mistaken in the notion that the lautumiae were excavated by that tyrant expressly for a prison, though he may have enlarged them (cf. Dict. Geogr. 2.1066 a). Several of them are now laid out as gardens, and being completely sheltered from all winds, though open to the sky, contain a rich sub-tropical vegetation, which renders them one of the most attractive sights of modern Syracuse.

For the prisons called Lautumiae at Rome, see CARCER

[L.S] [W.W]

Lautumiae

or latomiae. A name properly denoting a quarry, and derived from the Greek λᾶας, “a stone,” and τέμνω, “to cut” or “quarry.” This appellation was particularly applied to certain quarries near Syracuse, one of which still bears the name of “The Ear of Dionysius,” because it is said to have been used by that tyrant for a prison, and to have been so constructed that all the sounds uttered in it converged to and united in one particular point, termed, in consequence, the tympanum. This point communicated with an apartment (the famous “Ear of Dionysius”), where Dionysius placed himself, and thus overheard all that was said by his unsuspecting captives. There is no doubt that these quarries actually served as places of imprisonment, and Cicero reproaches Verres with having employed them for this purpose in the case of Roman citizens ( Verr. v. 27). Aelian informs us that some of the workmen in the quarries near Syracuse remained so long there as to marry and rear families in them, and that some of their children, having never before seen a city, were terrified on their coming to Syracuse, and beholding for the first time horses and oxen (Aelian, V. H. xii. 44). See carcer, p. 278.