Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Calcatorium

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

CALCATO'RIUM. A raised platform of masonry in the cellar attached to a vineyard (cella vinaria), which was ascended by two or three steps, and intended to form a gangway on a level with the tops of the large vessels (dolia, cupae), in which the wine was kept in bulk, for the convenience of the persons who superintended its manufacture and sale. (Pallad. i. 18. 1.) It was so called a calcando, or ab opere calcato; and is incorrectly explained in the dictionaries, where it is taken for a vat in which the grapes were trodden out (see the preceding wood-cut; for a contrivance of that description belongs clearly to the press-room (torcularium), in which the wine was made, and not the cellar (cella vinaria), in which it was stored. Cato designates the same thing by the term suggestum. R. R. 154.