AXŎNES (ἄξονες), also called _kurbeis_ (κύρβεις), wooden tablets of a square or pyramidal form, made to turn on an axis, on which were written the laws of Solon. According to some writers the _Axones_ contained the civil, and the _Kurbeis_ the religious laws; according to others the _Kurbeis_ had four sides and the _Axones_ three. But at Athens, at all events, they seem to have been identical. They were at first preserved in the Acropolis, but were afterwards placed in the agora, in order that all persons might be able to read them. BĀLISTA, BALLISTA. [TORMENTUM.] BALNĔUM or BĂLĬNĔUM (λοετρόν or λουτρόν, βαλανεῖον, also _balneae_ or _balineae_), a bath. _Balneum_ or _balineum_ signifies, in its primary sense, a bath or bathing vessel, such as most Romans possessed in their own houses; and from that it came to mean the chamber which contained the bath. When the baths of private individuals became more sumptuous, and comprised many rooms, the plural _balnea_ or _balinea_ was adopted, which still, in correct language, had reference only to the baths of private persons. _Balneae_ and _balineae_, which have no singular number, were the public baths. But this accuracy of diction is neglected by many of the later writers. _Thermae_ (from θέρμη, warmth) means properly warm springs, or baths of warm water, but was afterwards applied to the structures in which the baths were placed, and which were both hot and cold. There was, however, a material distinction between the _balneae_ and _thermae_, inasmuch as the former was the term used under the republic, and referred to the public establishments of that age, which contained no appliances for luxury beyond the mere convenience of hot and cold baths, whereas the latter name was given to those magnificent edifices which grew up under the empire, and which comprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances belonging to the Greek gymnasia, as well as a regular establishment appropriated for bathing.--Bathing was a practice familiar to the Greeks of both sexes from the earliest times. The artificial warm bath was taken in a vessel called _asaminthus_ (ἀσάμινθος) by Homer, and _puelus_ (πύελος) by the later Greeks. It did not contain water itself, but was only used for the bather to sit in, while the warm water was poured over him. On Greek vases, however, we never find anything corresponding to a modern bath in which persons can stand or sit; but there is always a round or oval basin (λουτήρ or λουτήριον), resting on a stand, by the side of which those who are bathing are standing undressed and washing themselves. In the Homeric times it was customary to take first a cold and afterwards a warm bath; but in later times it was the usual practice of the Greeks to take first a warm or vapour, and afterwards a cold bath. At Athens the frequent use of the public baths, most of which were warm baths (βαλανεῖα, called by Homer θερμὰ λοετρά), was regarded in the time