Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

CARACALLA.

2

CARPENTUM.

CARACALLA, an outer garment used in
Gaul, and not unlike the Roman lacerna. It
wa9 first introduced at Rome by the emperor
Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, who compelled
all the people that came to court to wear it,
whence he obtained the surname of Caracalla.
This garment, as worn in Gaul, does not
appear to have reached lower than the knee,
but Caracalla lengthened it so as to reach the
ankle.

CARCER (kcrJccr, German ; yopyvpa,
Greek), a prison, is connected with ep/co;
and eip"yw, the guttural being interchanged
with the aspirate. (1) Greek. Imprisonment
was seldom used amongst the Greeks as a
legal punishment for offences ; they preferred
banishment to the expense of keeping prison-
ers in confinement. The prisons in different
countries were called by different names ;
thus there was the Ceadas (Kta^as), at Sparta;
and, among the Ionians, the Gorgi/ra (yop-
yvpa), as at Samos. The prison at Athens
was in former times called Dcsmoterion (Secr-
HioTTjpior), and afterwards, by a sort of eu-
phemism, oiKT)p.a. It was chiefly used as a guard-
house or place of execution, and was under the
charge of the public officers called the Eleven.
—(2) Roman. A prison was first built at Rome
by Ancus Martius, overhanging the forum.
This was enlarged by Servius Tullius, who
added to it a souterrain, or dungeon, called
from him the TuUianum. Ballast describes
this as being twelve feet under ground,
walled on each side, and arched over with
stone work. For a long time this was the
only prison at Rome, being, in fact, the
" Tower," or state prison of the city, which
was sometimes doubly guarded in times of
alarm, and was the chief object of attack in
many conspiracies. There were, however,
other prisons besides this, though, as we
might expect, the words of Roman historians
generally refer to this alone. In the Tul-
lianum prisoners were generally executed,
and this part of the prison was also called
robur.

CARCERES. [Circus.]

CARCHESIUM (Kapxva-tov). (1) Abeakeror
drinking-cup, which was used by the Greeks
in very early times. It was slightly con-
tracted 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.]

CARMENTALIA, a festival celebrated in
honour of Carmcnta or Carmentis, who is
fabled to have been the mother of Evander,
who came from Palluntium 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 distin-
guished from the Etruscan. This festival
was celebrated annually on the 11th of Janu-
ary. 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 sa;d to
have been given to her from her prophetic
character, carmens or carmentis being sy-
nonymous with vates. The word is, of course,
connected with carmen, as prophecies were
generally delivered in verse.

CARNEIA (Vapveta), a great national festi-
val, celebrated by the Spartans in honour of
Apollo Carneios. The festival began on the
seventh day of the month of Carneios = Me-
tageitnion of the Athenians, and lasted for
nine days. It was of a warlike character,
similar to the Attic Boedromia. 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, obey-
ing in everything the commands of a herald.
The priest conducting the sacrifices at the
Carneia was called Agetei ("AyTjnjs), whence
the festival was sometimes designated by the
name Agetoria or Agetoreion ('Ayrj-ropia or
'AyrjT-opeioi'), and from each of the Spartan
tribes five men (KapyeaTcu) 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 pecu-
liar to the Carneia, but common to all the
great festivals of the Greeks : traces of it are
found even in Homer.

CARNIFEX, 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 aUowed to reside within the city,
but lived without the Porta Metia or Esqui-
lina, near the place destined for the punish-
ment 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 impe-
rial family. This carriage contained seats for