Bulla. (From the Collection of Mr. Rogers; the gold chord added from a specimen in the Brit. Mus.)
Bulla. (From the Collection of Mr. Rogers; the gold chord added from a specimen in the Brit. Mus.)
BŪRIS. [Aratrum.]
BUSTUM. It was customary among the Romans to burn the bodies of the dead before burying them. When the spot appointed for that purpose adjoined the place of sepulture, it was termedbustum; when it was separate from it, it was calledustrina. From this word the gladiators, who were hired to fight round the burning pyre of the deceased, were calledbustuarii.
BUXUM or BUXUS, probably means the wood of the box-tree, but was given as a name to many things made of this wood. The tablets used for writing on, and covered with wax (tabulae ceratae), were usually made of box. In the same way the Greekπυξίον, formed fromπύξος, “box-wood,” came to be applied to any tablets, whether they were made of this wood or any other substance. Tops and combs were made of box-wood, and also all wind instruments, especially the flute.
BYSSUS (βύσσος), linen, and not cotton. The word byssus appears to come from the Hebrewbutz, and the Greeks probably got it through the Phoenicians.