CARCHĒSĬUM (καρχήσιον). (1) A beaker or drinking-cup, which was used
by the Greeks in very early times. It was slightly contracted in the
middle, and its two handles extended from the top to the bottom. It
was much employed in libations of wine, milk, and honey.--(2) The
upper part of the mast of a ship. [NAVIS.]
CARMENTĀLĬA, a festival celebrated in honour of Carmenta or
Carmentis, who is fabled to have been the mother of Evander, who
came from Pallantium in Arcadia, and settled in Latium: he was said
to have brought with him a knowledge of the arts, and the Latin
alphabetical characters as distinguished from the Etruscan. This
festival was celebrated annually on the 11th of January. A temple
was erected to the same goddess, at the foot of the Capitoline
hill, near the Porta Carmentalis, afterwards called Scelerata. The
name Carmenta is said to have been given to her from her prophetic
character, carmens or carmentis being synonymous with vates. The word
is, of course, connected with _carmen_, as prophecies were generally
delivered in verse.
CARNEIA (καρνεῖα), a great national festival, celebrated by the
Spartans in honour of Apollo Carneios. The festival began on the
seventh day of the month of Carneios = Metageitnion of the Athenians,
and lasted for nine days. It was of a warlike character, similar to
the Attic Boëdromia. During the time of its celebration nine tents
were pitched near the city, in each of which nine men lived in
the manner of a military camp, obeying in everything the commands
of a herald. The priest conducting the sacrifices at the Carneia
was called _Agetes_ (Ἀγητής), whence the festival was sometimes
designated by the name _Agetoria_ or _Agetoreion_ (Ἀγητόρια or
Ἀγητόρειον), and from each of the Spartan tribes five men (Καρνεᾶται)
were chosen as his ministers, whose office lasted four years,
during which period they were not allowed to marry. When we read in
Herodotus and Thucydides that the Spartans during the celebration of
this festival were not allowed to take the field against an enemy, we
must remember that this restriction was not peculiar to the Carneia,
but common to all the great festivals of the Greeks: traces of it are
found even in Homer.
CARNĬFEX, the public executioner at Rome, who executed slaves and
foreigners, but not citizens, who were punished in a manner different
from slaves. It was also his business to administer the torture.
This office was considered so disgraceful, that he was not allowed
to reside within the city, but lived without the Porta Metia or
Esquilina, near the place destined for the punishment of slaves,
called Sestertium under the emperors.
CARPENTUM, a cart; also a two-wheeled carriage, enclosed, and with
an arched or sloping cover overhead. The carpentum was used to
convey the Roman matrons in the public festal processions; and this
was a high distinction, since the use of carriages in the city was
entirely forbidden during the whole of the republican period. Hence
the privilege of riding in a carpentum in the public festivals was
sometimes granted to females of the imperial family. This carriage
contained seats for two, and sometimes for three persons, besides
the coachman. It was commonly drawn by a pair of mules, but more
rarely by oxen or horses, and sometimes by four horses like a
quadriga.--Carpenta, or covered carts, were much used by the Britons,
the Gauls, and other northern nations. These, together with the
carts of the more common form, including baggage-waggons, appear to
have been comprehended under the term _carri_, or _carra_, which is
the Celtic name with a Latin termination. The Gauls took a great
multitude of them on their military expeditions, and when they were
encamped, arranged them in close order, so as to form extensive lines
of circumvallation.
CARRĀGO, a kind of fortification, consisting of a great number of
waggons placed round an army. It was employed by barbarous nations,
as, for instance, the Scythians, Gauls, and Goths. Carrago also
signifies sometimes the baggage of an army.
CARRŪCA, a carriage, the name of which only occurs under the
emperors. It appears to have been a species of rheda [RHEDA], had
four wheels, and was used in travelling. These carriages were
sometimes used in Rome by persons of distinction, like the carpenta;
in which case they appear to have been covered with plates of bronze,
silver, and even gold, which were sometimes ornamented with embossed
work.