Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Arculum

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

AR'CULUM. A chaplet made from the branch of the pomegranate tree bent into a circle, and fastened at the ends by a fillet of white wool, which was worn by the Flaminica Dialis at all sacrifices, and on certain occasions likewise by the wife of the Rex sacrificulus. Serv. ad Virg. Aen. iv. 137.

2. Or Arculus. A porter's knot; especially the linen cloth rolled up and twisted into a circle which the young women placed on the top of their heads in the same way as is still practised by the Italian peasantry, as a support for the baskets (canestrae, cistae) which they carried in the Panathenaic and other festivals. (Festus, s. v.) This contrivance is frequently represented in sculpture upon figures carrying any sort of burden on their heads, such as the Canephorae, Cayatides, Telamones, of which latter the figure in the cut presents an example (Arculum/2.1) from the baths of Pompeii; and is frequently mistaken for the modius, which it resembles indeed in appearance, but would be a most inappropriate ornament for such a position.

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  Arculum/2.1