Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Calceus

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

CAL'CEUS (ὑπόδημα κοῖλον). A shoe or boot, made upon a last, and right and left (Suet. Aug. 92.), so that it would completely cover the foot, as contradistinguished from the sandal, slipper, &c., which were only partial coverings. (Cic. Hor. Suet. Plin.) The illustration (Calceus/1.1) represents a lace-up or half boot, from a bronze vase in the Collegio Romano, and two men's shoes of the ordinary kind, from paintings at Pompeii.

2. Calceus patricius. The shoe worn by the Roman senators, which was of a different character from that worn by the rest of the citizens, whence the expression calceos mutare (Cic. Phil. xiii. 13.) means, "to become a senator." It was fastened by straps crossing each other over the instep (Isidor. Orig. xix. 34. 4.), and then carried round the leg as far as the bottom of the calf, as is frequently seen on statues draped in the toga, and in the manner represented by the annexed figures (Calceus/2.1), of which the front view is taken from a bronze, the side one from a marble statue. A lunated ornament, called LUNULA, was moreover attached to them, for an account of which see that word.

3. Calceus repandus. A shoe with a long pointed toe bent upwards or backwards. (Cic. Nat. Deor. i. 29., but the diminutive is used because applied to a female.) This form appears to have been of great antiquity, for it is frequently seen in Egyptian and Etruscan monuments, from which latter people it came, like many other of their fashions, to the Romans, and remained in common use in many parts of Europe until a late period of the middle ages. The illustration (Calceus/3.1) here given is Etruscan (Gori, Mus. Etrusc. tab. 3. and 47.), but it resembles exactly the shoes worn by a figure of Juno Lanuvina on a Roman denarius (Visconti, Mus. P. Clem. tom. 2. tav. A. vii. No. 12.), which is draped in every respect as Cicero (l. c.) describes her. In a passage of Cato, quoted by Festus (s. Mulleos), the epithet uncinatus is, according to Scaliger's emendation, applied to a shoe of this character; and the term uncipedes to the persons who wore them, by Tertullian, de Pall. 5.

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  Calceus/1.1
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  Calceus/2.1
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  Calceus/3.1