Bible Lexicons

In P Oxy III. 475.22 (A.D. 182) βουληθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ δώματος τῆς αὐτῆς οἰκίας παρακύψαι καὶ θεάσασθαι τὰς [κρο ]ταλιστρίδας —of a young slave who was killed in trying to see a performance of castanet players in the street below—δῶμα is clearly to be understood as ";the top of the house,"; whether a top room or the flat roof as in Mark 13:15 etc. Cf. P Strass I. 14.12 (A.D. 211) ἐ ]ν ̣ ἀπρ [ά ]τ ̣ῳ δώμ ̣α ̣τ ̣ι ἐν τῇ λαύρᾳ τῶν Ποιμένων, where the editor renders ";auf einem unverkäuflichen flachen Dache in der Hirtenstrasse,"; and the late P Flor I. 13.6 (vi/vii A.D.) τῆ [ς ] αὐλῆς καὶ το (l. τοῦ) δώματο [ς, ";della terrazza sul tetto della casa"; (Vitelli). The note on this last passage quotes Babrius 5.5, of a cock which εἰς τὸ δῶμα πηδήσας ἐπικροτῶν τε τοῖς πτεροῖς ἐκεκράγει. Add P Tebt I. 123.12, .14 (early i/B.C.), 241 verso (B.C. 74) ἔχωι ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος. In P Petr I. 26.10 (B.C. 241) ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων, the context is fragmentary, but the editor understands it of difficulties attending the arrangements of new ";homesteads"; in the Fayûm. We have the word twice in a Petrograd ostracon, no. 34.6 f., published by Zereteli in Archiv v. p. 179, τὸ ξύλον το ̣, [μυρί ]κινον τὸ ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ, ἂν χρῄζῃς, [εἰς τὰ δ ]ώματα λαβὲ καὶ εν.υλια, ἂν χρῄζῃς, ἐκ τοῦ δώματο ̣[ς ]λαβέ : the editor prints χ ?]ώματα, but Wilcken emends. In P Ryl II. 233.3 (ii/A.D.) ὅταν δὲ ἐπ᾽ ἀγαθῷ ἐκβῶμεν καὶ τὸ δῶμα ἀσφαλισθήσεται is rendered by the edd. ";but when we reach a fortunate issue and the house is established."; A rather striking epitaph, Kaibel 720, reminding us distantly of the great passage in Lucretius (iii. 894 ff.) which Gray imitated in the Elegy, has the lines κοὐκέτι σοι φάος ἠελίοιο, οὐδὲ τὰ κλεινὰ δὲ δώματα Ῥώμης, οὔδ᾽ ἄλοχος (= husband), οὔτε φίλη κασιγνήτη Here again the meaning is house, which has only shrunk into room in MGr.