CELLA

in its primary sense, means a store-room of any kind. Of these there were various descriptions, which took their distinguishing denominations from the articles they contained, as, for instance, the cella penuaria or penaria , the cella olearia and cella vinaria . The slave to whom the charge of these stores was intrusted, was called cellar i us , or prom us , or cond us , “ qui a prom it quod conditum est ,” and sometimes prom us cond us and procurator peni . This answers to our butler and housekeeper. Any number of small rooms clustered together like the cells of a honeycomb were also termed cellae ; hence the dormitories of slaves and menials are called cellae , and cellae familiaricae , in distinction to a bed-chamber, which was cubiculum . Thus a sleeping-room at a public-house is also termed cella . Cella ostiarii , or janitor is , is the porter’s lodge. In the baths the cella caldaria , tepidaria , and frigidaria , were those which contained respectively the warm, tepid, and cold bath. [ Balneae . ] The interior of a temple, that is the part included within the outside shell ( σηκός ), was also called cella . There was sometimes more than one cella within the same peristyle or under the same roof, in which case each cell took the name of the deity whose statue it contained, as cella Jovis, cella Jun on is, cella Minervae, as in the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline.