BULLÆ, in antiquity, a kind of ornament much in use among the ancient Romans. Mr Whittaker (History of Manchester, vol. i. p. 79) is of opinion that they were originally formed of leather among all ranks of people; and it is certain that they continued so to the last among the commonalty. He also imagines that at first the bulla was intended as an amulet rather than an ornament; and in proof of this he mentions that the bullæ were frequently impressed with the figure of the sexual parts. It is universally asserted by the critics that the bullæ were made hollow for the reception of an amulet; but this Mr Whittaker contradicts, from the figure of a golden one found at Manchester, which had no aperture by which an amulet could have been introduced. Pliny refers the origin of the bulla to the elder Tarquin, who gave one along with the pretexta to his son, because at the age of fourteen he had with his own hand killed an enemy; and, in imitation of him, it was afterwards assumed by other patricians. Some, however, affirm that the bulla was given by that king to the sons of all the patricians who had borne civil offices; whilst others allege that Romulus first introduced the bulla, and gave it to Tullus Hostilius, the first child born after the rape of the Sabines. As to the form of the bullæ, they seem to be originally made in the shape of a heart; but they did not always retain this form, any more than they were always made of leather. As the wealth of the state and the riches of individuals increased, the young patrician distinguished himself by a bulla of gold, whilst the common people wore the amulet of their ancestors. When the youth arrived at fifteen years of age, they hung their bullæ round the necks of their gods lares. The bullæ were not only hung round the necks of young men, but also round those of horses, and were sometimes allowed even to statues; whence the phrase statua bullata.
BULLÆ was also the denomination given to divers other metallic ornaments made after the same form; and in this sense bullæ seems to include all gold and silver orna-
ments of a roundish form, whether worn on the habits of men, the trappings of horses, or the like. Such were the decorations used by the ancients on their doors and belts. The bullæ of doors were a kind of large-headed nails fastened on the doors of the rich, and carefully brightened or polished. The doors of temples were sometimes adorned with golden bullæ.
BULLÆ also denotes a table hung up in the public courts, to distinguish which days were fasti and which nefasti, and therefore answering in some measure to our calendar.