DIPTYCH

(Gr. iinrvxov, two-fold.) Among the Romans,a tablet of wood, metal, or other substance, used for the purposftof writing, and folded like a book of two leaves: when the blok consisted of several leaves, it was termed TroXiirrvx0", or manifold. The diptychs of antiquity were employed especially for public registers. The sacred diptych a of the Greek church were double catalogues, containing on one siile names of the living, on the other those of the dead, which were rehearsed during the office. [s. 365]