PATERA, a broad flat dish, or libation-saucer, among the Romans, deriving its name, according to Macrobius (Sat. v. 21), from its open, shallow form ("planum ac patens est"). The ordinary patera were made of common red earthenware, slightly ornamented; but the more valuable vessels of this class were composed for the most part of bronze, and every family of easy circumstances possessed one of silver. The original use of the patera seems to have been domestic, which gave origin, in all likelihood, to its employment at sacrifices. Numerous specimens of patera are to be seen in almost all collections of ancient fictile vases, and especially in the British Museum.