Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Birrus

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

BIR'RUS. A capote, or cape, with a hood to it (Schol. Vet. ad Juv. Sat. viii. 145.), which was in very common use amongst all classes under the later emperors, as an outdoor covering for the head and shoulders. It had a long nap, like beaver (Claud. Epigr. 42.), and from the thickness of its texture is designated as stiff (rigens, Sulp. Sev. Dial. 14.), both of which qualities are clearly recognizable in the illustration (Birrus/1.1), from a statue found at Pompeii, which represents a young fisherman asleep in his capote.

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  Birrus/1.1