Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Calathus

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

CAL'ATHUS (κάλαθος). A woman's work-basket (Virg. Aen. vii. 805.), made of wicker-work, and gradually expanding upwards towards the top (Plin. H. N. xxi. 11.); especially employed for containing the wool and materials for spinning (Juv. Sat. ii. 54.), as in the example (Calathus/1.1), which represents Leda's work-basket, from a Pompeian painting, with the balls of wool and bobbins in it.

2. A basket of precisely the same form and material, employed out of doors for holding fruit, flowers, cheese, &c., which is of very common occurrence in ancient works of art. Virg. Ecl. ii. 46. Id. Georg. iii. 400. Ov. A. Am. ii. 264.

3. A drinking-cup, which we may naturally infer to have been so termed, because it resembled a woman's work-basket in shape; as shown by the figure in the illustration (Calathus/3.1), held by a cupbearer in one of the miniatures of the Vatican Virgil. Virg. Ecl. v. 71. Mart. Ep. ix. 60. 15. Id. xiv. 107.

4. The modius, or bushel, which was placed as an ornament upon the top of the head of Jupiter Serapis, (Macrob. Sat. i. 20.), and which, as seen in the example (Calathus/4.1), from an engraved gem, representing the head of Serapis, possessed the same form as a woman's work-basket.

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  Calathus/1.1
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  Calathus/3.1
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  Calathus/4.1