aedēs and aedis (the form aedes is found in Liv. 2, 21, 7; 2, 8, 14; 2, 9, 43 al., and now and then in other writers, but aedis is more common, as in Cic. Verr. 4, 55, § 121; id. Par. 4, 2, 31; Vitr. 4, 7, 1; Varr. 5, 32, 156 al.; Liv. 1, 33, 9 al.; Plin. 36, 6, 8, § 50), is, f., a building for habitation. [Aedis domicilium in edito positum simplex atque unius aditus. Sive ideo aedis dicitur, quod in ea aevum degatur, quod Graece αἰών vocatur, Fest. p. 13 Müll. Curtius refers this word to αἴθω, aestus, as meaning originally, fire-place, hearth; others, with probability, compare ἕδος, ἕδρα, and sēdes.]
- I. Sing., a dwelling of the gods, a sanctuary, a temple (prop., a simple edifice, without division into smaller apartments, while templum is a large and splendid structure, consecrated by the augurs, and belonging to one or more deities; cf. Manut. ad Cic. Fam. 4, 7; but after the Aug. period aedes was used for templum; cf. Suet. Caes. 78 with id. ib. 84): haec aedis, Varr. ap. Non. 494, 7: senatum in aedem Jovis Statoris vocavi, Cic. Cat. 2, 6: aedis Martis, Nep. Fragm. ap. Prisc. p. 792 P.: aedes Mercurii dedicata est, Liv. 2, 21: hic aedem ex marmore molitus est, Vell. 1, 11, 5: inter altare et aedem, Vulg. Luc. 11, 51: aedem Concordiae, Plin. 33, 1, 6, § 19: aedes Veneris genitricis, Suet. Caes. 78; v. above; id. ib. 10: aedem Baal, Vulg. 4 Reg. 10, 27; ib. Act. 19, 24 al.: haec ego ludo, quae nec in aede sonent, i. e. in the temple of the Muses, or of the Palatine Apollo, where poems were publicly recited, Hor. S. 1, 10, 38; cf.: quanto molimine circumspectemus vacuam Romanis vatibus aedem, id. Ep. 2, 2, 94.
Plur. in this sense generally in connection with sacrae, divinae, deorum, and only when several temples are spoken of: aedes sacrae, Cic. Dom. 49; cf. Suet. Aug. 30, 100: Capitolii fastigium et ceterarum aedium, Cic. de Or. 3, 46; cf. Liv. 38, 41: Deorum aedes, Suet. Cat. 21; cf. id. Ner. 38; id. Claud. 21 al.
- II. A dwelling for men, a house, habitation, obode (syn. domus; usu. only in the plur., as a collection of several apartments; but in the earliest period the sing. also may have had this signif., though but few certain examples of it have been preserved in the written language; cf. Plaut. As. 1, 3, 67: hic noster quaestus aucupii simillimust … aedis nobis areast, auceps sum ego): aedes probae et pulchre aedificatae, Plaut. Merc. 5, 2, 60; id. Most. 1, 2, 18: ultimae, Ter. Heaut. 5, 1, 29: apud istum in aedibus, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 19, § 50, and soon after: in mediis aedibus; cf. Verg. A. 2, 512: liberae, a house that is rent-free, Liv. 30, 17: privatae, Suet. Ner. 44 al.
Hence sometimes used for a part of the domus, a room, an apartment, chamber: insectatur omnes domi per aedīs, Plaut. Cas. 3, 5, 31; Verg. G. 2, 462; cf. id. A. 2, 487 (v. also Gell. 4, 14; Curt. 8, 6; Hor. C. 1, 30, 4).
In Plaut., by comic license, aedes for familia: credo hercle has sustollat aedīs totas atque hunc in crucem, Mil. 2, 3, 39: ut ego suffringam his talos totis aedibus, to break the legs of this whole house (i. e. family), Truc. 2, 8, 7: ab aedibus, denoting office (cf. ab), a castellan: CVM AB AEDIBVS ESSEM, Inscr. Grut. 697, 1.
- * B. Met., the cells (or hive) of bees: clausis cunctantur in aedibus, Verg. G. 4, 258.
- * C. Trop.: fac, sis, vacivas aedīs aurium, mea ut migrare dicta possint, the chambers of your ears, Plaut. Ps. 1, 5, 54.
- * D. Aedes aurata, a gilded funeral structure, on which the dead body of Cœsar was laid, a catafalque, Suet. Caes. 84.