Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (370 page)

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Authors: Timothy Darvill

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kylix
[Ar].
A Greek, shallow pottery cup with pedestal base and two opposed handles, mounted horizontally.
L

 

labret
[Ar].
A kind of lip stud, usually decorated, and inserted into a ready-made incision in the lower lip. Made of almost any hard material such as stone, bone, metal, or ceramic, they were very popular in Mesoamerica. Examples have been found in almost all parts of the Americas.
labrum
[Ar].
A Latin term used to describe a large, shallow basin on a pedestal, usually carved from marble, granite, or a fine-grained stone, and found in the
CALDARIUM
(and sometimes the
FRIGIDARIUM
or
TEPIDARIUM
) of a Roman bath-house. It held hot water.
labyrinth
[Co].
A complicated and elaborate arrangement of passages or pathways in which it is easy to get lost and difficult to find the way out. The best-known labyrinth is the legendary example in Crete that was inhabited by the Minotaur who was eventually killed by Theseus with a little help and a ball of string from King Midas' daughter Ariadne . Egyptian labyrinths are also known and the tradition of creating mazes as open-topped labyrinths was widespread in the ancient world. They probably represent dancing grounds on which were performed intricate dances representing the passage of the soul from life to death and back again. There was a curious revival of the tradition of making mazes in the Middle Ages, sponsored by the church; several French and Italian cathedrals have them set into the floor. The hedge-mazes found in gardens are only indirectly related to these early forms; they derive from the Italian geometrical style of gardening which spread through Europe in the 16th century
ad
. See also
KNOSSOS
.
Laconian ware
[Ar].
A type of pottery manufactured at Sparta in Greece in the 6th century
bc
, including
BLACK-FIGURE WARE
and black glossed ware. Exported widely to other parts of Greece, the Greek colonies, and Etruria.
laconicum
[Co].
A Latin term for a room in a bath-house (usually circular in plan during the 1st century
ad
) with a hot dry atmosphere.

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