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A legal column, among the Lacedaemonians , was raised ina public place, inscribed with the fundamental laws of thestate.
A manubiary column is built in imitation of a tree, andadorned with trophies taken from an enemy.
Menian columns support a balcony or meniana. This kindof column takes its name from one Menias, who having soldhis house to Cato and Flaccus, when consuls, to be convertedinto a public edifice, reserved to himself the right of raisinga column on the outside, to bear a balcony, whence he mightsee the public shows. We are informed of this circumstanceby Suetonius and Ascanius .
Miliary columns were raised equidistantly on the high-ways from Rome to the several cities of the empire, anddescribed their distance from the middle of the RomanForum , as a centre, where the first miliary column wasraised by order of Augustus . This column was of whitemarble, of a cylindrical form, and massive proportions, sup-porting a globe, the same as is now seen on the balustrade ofthe staircase of the Capitol at Rome . This column was calledmiliarium aureum , as having been gilt, or at least the ball, byorder of Augustus . It was restored by the Emperors Ves-pasian and Adrian, as appears from the inscriptions.
A military column, among the Romans, was engraven witha list of the forces in the Roman army, ranged in order bylegions, and intended to preserve the memory of the numberof soldiers, and of the order observed, in any military expe-dition. Another kind of military column, used by theRomans, stood before the temple of Janus, at the footwhereof the consul declared war, by throwing a javelintowards the enemy’s country. This column was calledcolumna bellica.
A phosphorical column is a hollow column, built on a rock,or the tip of a mole, or other eminence, to serve as a light-house, or lantern, to a port.
A rostral column was a triumphal column, adorned withthe beaks and prows of galleys, in memory of a naval victory.The first rostral column was erected in the Capitol, onoccasion of the defeat of the Carthaginians by C. Duilius.Augustus constructed four columns with the prows of theships taken from Cleopatra .
A statuary column supports a statue.
Symbolical columns represent some particular country, byappropriate attributes.
A zoophoric column is a kind of statuary column, bearingthe figure of some animal.
There are also other columns, denominated hydraulic, orwater-columns, used as fountains.
COLUMNIATED WINDING-STAIRS. See Stairs .
COMA (from the Greek KS>ya, sleep) in antiquity, a moundof earth over a grave.
COMITIUM (Latin, an assembly ) in Roman antiquity,a large hall in the forum, in which comitia were ordinarilyheld. Prior to the period of the second Punic war, it wasopen at the top ; but on account of the assemblies being ofteninterrupted by bad weather, it was then covered over.
COMMANDERY; a religious house belonging to theKnights Hospitallers , the same as a preceptory with theKnights ’ Templars. Previous to their dissolution in the timeof Henry VIII. , there were no less than fifty such buildingssubject to the priory of St.John of Jerusalem .
COMMISSURE (from the Latin , commissura) the jointbetween two stones, or the application of the surface of onestone to that of the other.
COMMON, (from the Latin , communis) in geometry, aline, angle, surface, or solid, which belongs equally to two ormore objects.
Common Centering, a centering without trusses, **"a tie-beam at the bottom; or otherwise, that which is empin. straight vaults. . „ to
Common Joists, those beams in single naked “°. orl c .°Uedwhich the joists are fixed; they might be properly 0 fboarding-joists, and should never exceed one foot ceach other. . the
Common Pitch, a term applied to a roof which ulength of the sides about three-fourths of the span. ,Common Rafters, those timbers in a roof to vp w ^jjngboarding or lathing for slating is attached. Common g 9 t-consists entirely of common rafters, which, in the strframed roofs, bridge over the purlins. tilCi 11 '
COMMUNICATING-DOORS, or Doors ofcation, those which open or throw two apartments int 0 ,: v jde)COMPARTED, (from the French , compartir, t0 a jjol'a line, surface, or solid, divided into several parts ; ° rlow space partitioned into several smaller spaces. , ot ofCOMPARTITION, the distribution of the ground'Pan edifice into apartments and passages. t'uieid) 9
division of a picture, design, &c.
Compartment Ceiling, a name given todivided into panels, surrounded with mouldings.