tholus

• a dome, cupola, a rotunda (syn.: fornix, testudo), Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 12; id. ap. Non. 448, 22; Vitr. 4, 7; 7, 5 med.; Ov. F. 6, 282; 6, 296; Mart. 2, 59, 2. — In the tholi of the temple the votive gifts were suspended, Verg. A. 9, 408; Stat. S. 1, 4, 32; id. Th. 2, 734; Val. Fl. 1, 56.

• , θόλος, a dome, cupola, rotunda: (dona) Suspendi tholo, i. e. in the temple, V.: in pluvio vindicat imbre tholus, O.

THOLUS(θόλος), a round building, probably the most primitive form of hut, and so preserved traditionally in a house or city. In the Homeric house it stood in a corner of the αὔλη, and a rope stretched round it from a column was high enough to hang the unfaithful servants from (Od. 22.466). It is stated to have served as a storehouse (Schol. ibid.); and if so, its resemblance to the θησαυρὸς and also to beehive tombs, like those at Mycenae, is to be noticed. For an account of the Tholus at Athens, see PRYTANEUMThe Tholus at Epidaurus, which was built by Polveleitus, was of remarkable beauty in its execution; its groundplan and portions of its architecture have been recovered. It was round, and had an external colonnade of the Doric order, and Corinthian internal columns. It contained pictures by Pausias, but there is no record of the purpose for which it was used. The name tholus is used later for any circular building. (Tsountás, in Ἐφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, 1885, pp. 30 sqq.; ιπρακτικὰ τῆς Ἀρχαιολογικῆς Ἑταιριάς, 1883, Πιν. Γ.)

(θόλος). A round structure, probably the earliest form of human habitation, and preserved by the Greeks in their houses and cities. Later this word is used of any circular building.