Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cavea

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

CA'VEA. An artificial cage or den for wild beasts, made with open bars of wood or iron (Hor. A. P. 473.), in which they were transported from place to place (Claud. Cons. Stilich. ii. 322 — 5.); exposed to public view, as in a menagerie (Plin. H. N. viii. 25.); and sometimes brought into the arena of an amphitheatre, to be let loose upon the victims condemned to fight with them, in order to render their attack more ferocious than would be the case if they were emitted from an underground den into the sudden glare of open day. Vopisc. Prob. 19.

2. A bird cage, made of wicker-work, or sometimes of gold wire (Pet. Sat. 28. 9.), in which singing birds were domesticated, and kept in private houses; or the call bird carried out by the fowler (auceps) for his sport. The passage from Petronius, quoted above, speaks of a magpie, suspended in his cage over a door, which was taught to utter salutations to all who entered. The example (Cavea/2.1) is from a fictile vase in Boldetti, Cimiterj, p. 154.

3. The coop or cage in which the sacred chickens were kept and carried to the places where the auspices were taken, by observing the manner in which they fed. (Cic. N. D. ii. 3. Id. Div. ii. 33.) The illustration (Cavea/3.1) represents one of these cages, with the cickens feeding, and the handle, by which it was carried, from a Roman bas-relief.

4. Poetically, a bee-hive. Virg. G. iv. 58. See ALVEARE.

5. A conical frame of laths or wicker-work, made use of by fullers and dyers for airing, drying, and bleaching cloth. (Apul. Met. ix. p. 193.) This frame was placed over a fire-pan, or a pot with sulphur kindled in it, the use of which is well known for bleaching, and the cloth was then spread over the frame, which confined the heat, and excluded the air. The example (Cavea/5.1) here given is from a painting in the fuller's establishment (fullonica) at Pompeii. In the original, a man carries it on his head, and the pot of sulphur in his hand; but it has been drawn here standing on the ground, with the vessel of sulphur placed underneath it, precisely in the same way as it is now commonly employed in Italy for airing clothes, in order to show more clearly the mode of use.

6. A circular fence constructed round the stems of young trees to preserve them from being damaged by cattle. Columell. v. 6. 21.

7. That portion of the interior of a theatre, or amphitheatre (Apul. Met. x. p. 227.), which contained the seats where the spectators sat, and which was formed by a number of concentric tiers of steps, either excavated out of the solid rock on the side of a hill, or supported upon stories of arches constructed in the shell of the building. According to the size of the edifice, these tiers of seats were divided into one, two, or three distinct flights, separated from one another by a wall (balteus) of sufficient height to intercept communication between them, and then the several divisions were distinguished by the names of ima, summa, media cavea, i. e. the lower, upper, or middle tier; the lowest one being the post of honour, where the equites sat. (Plaut. Amph. Prol. 66. Cic. Am. 7. Id. Senect. 14.) The illustration (Cavea/7.1) affords a view of the interior, or cavea, of the amphitheatre at Pompeii, as it now remains; and shows the general plan of arrangement. See also the articles and illustrations to THEATRUM and AMPHITHEATRUM.

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  Cavea/2.1
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  Cavea/3.1
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  Cavea/5.1
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  Cavea/7.1