Pilae

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Wall painting from Stabiae showing harbour with pilae, 1st century Wall painting from Stabiae, 1st century.jpg
Wall painting from Stabiae showing harbour with pilae, 1st century
Pilae from Portus Julius, Baiae Parco archeologico di Baia - portus Julius 2.jpg
Pilae from Portus Julius, Baiae

Pilae (singular pila) is the Latin word the ancient Romans used for "piers", "piles" or "pylons", vertical pillars often used to support structures such as hypocausts.

Pilae were also used in concrete piers in the Gulf of Pozzuoli at Baiae, Misenum, and Nisida. These are illustrated in a 1st-century fresco from Stabiae.

Ancient glass flasks have been found that illustrate the Puteoli breakwaters with the inscription "pilae". [1] [2] [3] [4]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laboratory glassware</span> Variety of equipment usually made of glass used for scientific experiments

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence flask</span> Glass laboratory container

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vacuum flask</span> Insulated storage vessel

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baiae</span> Human settlement in Bacoli, Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, Italy

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Pila may refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Round-bottom flask</span> Laboratory equipment

Round-bottom flasks are types of flasks having spherical bottoms used as laboratory glassware, mostly for chemical or biochemical work. They are typically made of glass for chemical inertness; and in modern days, they are usually made of heat-resistant borosilicate glass. There is at least one tubular section known as the neck with an opening at the tip. Two- or three-necked flasks are common as well. Round bottom flasks come in many sizes, from 5 mL to 20 L, with the sizes usually inscribed on the glass. In pilot plants even larger flasks are encountered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattiaci</span>

The Mattiaci were by Tacitus recorded as an ancient Germanic tribe and related to the Chatti, their Germanic neighbors to the east. There is no clear definition of what the tribe's name meant. The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography suggests that the name is derived from a combination of 'matte', meaning 'a meadow', and 'ach', signifying water or a bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schlenk flask</span> Reaction vessel used in air-sensitive chemistry

A Schlenk flask, or Schlenk tube, is a reaction vessel typically used in air-sensitive chemistry, invented by Wilhelm Schlenk. It has a side arm fitted with a PTFE or ground glass stopcock, which allows the vessel to be evacuated or filled with gases. These flasks are often connected to Schlenk lines, which allow both operations to be done easily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piscina Mirabilis</span> Ancient Roman cistern in Campania, Italy

The Piscina Mirabilis is an Ancient Roman cistern on the Bacoli hill at the western end of the Gulf of Naples, southern Italy. It ranks as one of the largest ancient cisterns built by the ancient Romans, compared to the largest Roman reservoir, the Yerebatan Sarayi in Istanbul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pilae stacks</span> Tiles used to support a floor over a hypocaust

Pilae stacks are stacks of pilae tiles, square or round tiles, that were used in Roman times as an element of the underfloor heating system, common in Roman bathhouses, called the hypocaust. The concept of the pilae stacks is that the floor is constructed at an elevated position, allowing air to freely circulate underneath and up, through the hollow bricks, into the structure walls. Examples of such baths are found not only in Rome, but also in distant parts of the Roman Empire such as Roman Britain, or Chellah, in modern-day Morocco.

Miseno is one of the frazioni of the municipality of Bacoli in the Italian Province of Naples. Known in ancient Roman times as Misenum, it is the site of a great Roman port.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ampulla</span>

An ampulla was, in Ancient Rome, a small round vessel, usually made of glass and with two handles, used for sacred purposes. The word is used of these in archaeology, and of later flasks, often handle-less and much flatter, for holy water or holy oil in the Middle Ages, often bought as souvenirs of pilgrimages, such as the metal Monza ampullae of the 6th century. Materials include glass, ceramics and metal. Unguentarium is a term for a bottle believed to have been used to store perfume, and there is considerable overlap between the two terms, one defined by shape and the other by purpose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Campania</span>

Ancient Campania originally indicated the territory of the ancient city of Capua in the Roman period, and later also the plains of the various neighbouring municipalities. It was a very large territory when compared with the other Italic cities of the Roman and pre-Roman period.

References

  1. S.E.Oscrow "The topography of Puteoli and Baiae on the eight glass flasks" Puteoli, 1979, p 77-140
  2. CIL X 1640, 1641, opus pilarum of the harbour at Puteoli
  3. Seneca, Letters 77.1: in pilis Puteolorum
  4. Livy, History 40.51.4: pilas pontis in Tiberi