Colum
（ἠθμός, ἠθάνιον). A strainer or colander, used for straining wine, milk, olive-oil, drugs, perfumes, and other liquids. Such cola were made of hair, broom, or rushes (Verg. Georg. ii. 242, Ecl. x. 71; Colum. R. R. ix. 15, xii. 17, 19, 38). The cola employed for such domestic purposes, as straining wine, were sometimes made of linen, but frequently of some metal, such as bronze or silver. Such strainers are often represented in Greek vase-paintings; and several examples of elegant silver strainers of Greek workmanship have been found in the Crimea. |
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Colum, strainer. ( Museo Borbon. ）
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The Romans filled the strainer with ice or snow (colum nivarium) in order to cool and dilute the wine at the same time that it was cleared. Several Etruscan vases have been discovered, in which the spout consists of a strainer, so that the liquid is clarified as it is poured out.
Ausonius ( Ep. iv. 57) uses the word colum to denote the nassa, or weel for suaring fish. See Nassa.