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On this page: Armilustrium – Arra – Arrhephoria – Arrogat – Artaba

ARRA.

a gold bracelet found in Britain, and preserved in the British Museum. It appears to be made of two

gold wires twisted together, and the mode of fas­tening it upon the arm, by a clasp, is worthy of ob­servation. It has evidently been a lady's ornament. The third figure represents an armilla, which must have been intended as a reward for soldiers, for it would be ridiculous to suppose such a massive or­nament to have been designed for women. The original, of pure gold, is more than twice the length of the figure, and was found in Cheshire. (Archaeologia, xxvii. 400.)

ARMILUSTRIUM, a Roman festival for the purification of arms. It was celebrated every year on the 14th before the calends of November (Oct. 19), when the citizens assembled in arms and offered sacrifices in the place called Armilustrum, or Vicus Armilustri, in the 13th region of the city. (Festus, s. v.i Varro, De Ling. Lat. iv. 32, v. 3; Liv. xxvii. 37 ; P. Vict. De Regionibus U. R.; Inscrip. in Grtiter, p. 250.) [P. S.]

ARRA^RRABO^rARRHA^'RRHABO, Gains (iii. 139.) says: " What is given as ami, is a proof of a contract of buying and selling;" but it also has a more general signification. That thing was called arrha which one contracting party gave to another, whether it was a sum of money or any thing else, as an evidence of the contract of sale being made: it was no essential part of the con­tract of buying and selling, but only evidence of agreement as to price. (Gains, Dig. 18. tit. 1. s. 35). An arrha might be given before the completion of a contract, when the agreement was that some formal instrument in writing should be made, before the contract should be considered perfect. If he who gave the arrha refused to perfect the contract, he forfeited it: if he who had received the arrha, refused to perfect the contract, he was obliged-to return double the amount of the arrha. If the arrha was given as evidence of a contract abso­lutely made, it was evidence of the unalterable obligation of the contract, which neither party alone could rescind; unless the arrha was ex­pressly given to provide for the case of either party changing his mind, on the condition that if the giver receded from his bargain, he should for­feit the arrha, and if the receiver receded from his bargain, he should forfeit double its value. When the contract was completely performed, in all cases where the arrha was money, it was re­stored, or taken as part of the price, unless special customs determined otherwise; when the arrha was a ring or any other thing, not money, it was restored. The recovery of the arrha was by a personal action.

The arrha in some respects resembles the deposit

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ARTABA.

of money which a purchaser of land in England generally pays, according to the conditions of sale, on contracting for his purchase ; and the earnest money sometimes paid on a sale of moveable things.

The term arrha, in its general sense of an evi­ dence of agreement, was also used on other oc­ casions, as in the case of betrothment (sponsalia). [matr.imonium.] Sometimes the word arrha is used as synonymous with pignus (Terent. Pleautont. iii. 3. 42), but this is not the legal meaning of the term. (Thibaut, System des Pandekten-Reclits, § 144 ; Inst. iii. tit. 23 ; Dig. 18. tit. 1. s. 35 ; tit. 3. s. 6 ; 14. tit. 3. s. 5. § 15 ; 19. tit. 1. s. 11. § 6; Cod. 4. tit. 21. s. 17 ; Gellius, xvii. 2 ; compare Bracton, ii. c. 27, D& acquirendo Rerum Domi- nio in causa Emptionis., and what he says on the arrha, with the passage in Gains already referred to.) [G. L.j

ARRHEPHORIA (afty^pia)^ a festival which, according to the various ways in which the name is written (for we find epa-rjtyopia or eppr](p6pici) is attributed to different deities. The first forn. is derived from &ppr}ra, and thus would indicate a festival at which mysterious things were carried about. The other name would point to Erse or Plerse, a daughter of Cecrops, and whose worship was intimately connected with «that of Athena. And there is, indeed, sufficient ground for believ­ing that the festival was solemnized, in a higher sense, in honour of Athena. (Etymol. Mag. s. v. JAj3/>7j(/><$poi.) It was held at Athens, in the month of Skirophorion. Four girls, of between seven and eleven years (appTjc^pot, eptrytydpot, epprityopoi : Aristoph. Lysist. 642), were selected every year by the king archon from the most distinguished families, two of whom superintended the weaving of the sacred peplus of Athena, which was \r gun on the last day of Pyanepsion (Suicl. s. v. XaA-KeTa) ; the two others had to carry the mysterious and sacred vessels of the goddess. These latter remained a whole year on the Acropolis, either in the Parthenon or some adjoining building (Har-pocrat. s. v. Aenrvotyopos: Pans. i. 27. § 4) ; and when the festival commenced, the priestess of the goddess placed vessels upon their heads, the con­tents of which were neither known to them nor to the priestess. With these they descended to a natural grotto within the district of Aphrodite in the gardens. Here they deposited the sacred ves­sels, and carried back something else, which was covered and likewise unknown to them. After this the girls were dismissed, and others were chosen to supply their place in the acropolis. The girls wore white robes adorned with gold, which were left for the goddess ; and a peculiar kind of cakes was baked for them. To cover the expenses of the festival, a peculiar liturgy was established, called o,pp7](popia. All other details concerning this fes­tival are unknown. (Comp. C. F. Hermann, Lehrb. der gottesdienstl. Alterth. § 61. n. 9.) [L. S.]

ARROGATtO. [adoptio.]

ARTABA (dprag??), a Persian measure of capacity, principally used as a corn-measure, which contained, according to Herodotus (i. 192), 1 me-dimnus and 3 choenices (Attic), i.e. 51 choenices =102 Roman sextarii=12f gallons nearly; but, according to Suidas, Hesychius, Polyaenus (StraL iv. 3, 3*2), and Epiphanius (Pond. 24) only 1 Attic medimnus =96 sextarii = 12 gallons nearly i the latter is, however., only an approximate value*