PA'T ERA , an open reseed, approaching to the form of a cup but flatter, used by the Romans in their sacrifices, in which they received the blood of the victims, and with which they made libations. Some !steno have • single handle. The word contains the same root as poke " Patera lit et ipsum nomen Indicio est, poeulum plenum so patens est." (Macrobius 'Saturn,' v. 21.) Flat open 'easels used by the Romans at their meal. were called !steely, whence perhaps "steno name to be employed in offerings to the gods. Virgil, in several passages of the Anaid,' alludes to the uses of the paters (Lib., vi. 248, iv. 60, vii. 133.) On medal. the paters Is represented In the hands of several of the deities (Ruche, ' Lexicon Univerealis Itei Numariss; tom. ill., part. ii., pp. 626, 627), and frequently in the hands of princes, to mark the aseenlotal authority as joined with regal power. The patens was of
gold, silver, bronze marble, gime, or earthenware. Such as had served for libations of wine or any other liquor at a funeral were usually deposited with the ashes of the deceased. Pater e were often ornamented with engraved or embossed designs, and sometimes with gems. They appear to have been called by their prevalent mode of ornamentation, fern and ivy being the most usual, as paters filicata, patent hederata. The British Museum contains many fine specimens of &tile as well as bronze paters; also several sculptured marble votive paterre, with figures of Pan, Silenus, Cupid, &c. Patella (that is, paterula) is the diminutive of paters.
The term petrel is applied to a circular flat or concave ornament in chemical architecture. It is also used for ornaments of a similar form in Italian and Gothic architecture.