JĀNŬA

( θύρα ), a door. Besides being applicable to the doors of apartments in the interior of a house, which were properly called ostia , this term more especially denoted the first entrance into the house, i.e. the front or street door, which was also called anticum , and in Greek θύρα αὔλειος , αὐλεία , αὔλιος , or αὐλία . The houses of the Romans commonly had a back door, called post i cum , postica , or posticula , and in Greek παράθυρα , dim. παραθύριον . The door-way, when complete, consisted of four indispensable parts; the threshold, or sill ( limen , βηλός , οὖδας ); the lintel ( jugumentum, limen superum ); and the two jambs ( postes , σταθμοί ). The door itself was called for is or valva , and in Greek σανίς , κλισιάς , or θύρετρον . These words are commonly found in the plural, because the door-way of every building of the least importance contained two doors folding together. When for is is used in the singular, it denotes one of the folding doors only. The fastenings of the door ( claustra , obices ) commonly consisted of a bolt ( pe ulus ; μάνδαλος , κατοχεύς , κλεῖθρον ) placed at the base of each for is , so as to admit of being pushed into a socket made in the sill to receive it. By night, the front-door of the house was further secured by means of a wooden and sometimes an iron bar ( sera , repagula , μοχλός ) placed acro it, and inserted into sockets on each side of the door-way. Hence it was nece ary to remove the bar ( τὸν μοχλὸν παράφερειν ) in order to open the door ( reserare ). It was considered improper to enter a house without giving notice to its inmates. This notice the Spartans gave by shouting; the A then i ans and all other nations by using the knocker, or more commonly by rapping with the knuckles or with a stick ( κρούειν , κόπτειν ). In the houses of the rich a porter ( janitor , custos , θυρωρός ) was always in attendance to open the door. He was commonly an eunuch or a slave, and was chained to his post. To a ist him in guarding the entrance, a dog was universally kept near it, being also attached by a chain to the wall; and in reference to this practice, the warning cave canem , εὐλαβοῦ τὴν κύνα , was sometimes written near the door. The appropriate name for the portion of the house immediately behind the door ( θυρών ) denotes that it was a kind of apartment; it corresponded to the hall or lobby of our houses. Immediately adjoining it, and close to the front door, there was in many houses a small room for the porter.