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CHTHONIA.
themselves. M. Terentius Varro placed it on the 21st of April in the third year of the 6th Olympiad, that is, b.c. 753. (Pint. Rom. 12 ; Dionys. i. 88 ; Cic. De Div. ii. 47 ; Veil. Pat. i. 8 ; Cen-sorin. De Die Nat. 17.) This era was adopted by Velleius Paterculus, Pliny, Tacitus, A. Gellius, Dion Cassius, Eutropius, and others. Next to the Varronian era, the most celebrated was that of M. Porcius Cato, who placed the foundation of Rome in the first year of the 7th Olympiad, or in the spring of b. c. 752. (Dionys. i. 74 ; Syncell. •Chronog., p. 194, a.) The date fixed upon in the aera Capitolina (so called from the Fasti Capi-tolini), by Polybius (Dionys. L c. ; Cic. De Rep. ii. 10) and Cornelius Nepos, was one year later ; Q. Fabius Pictor placed the foundation in the first year of the 8th Olympiad, i. e. 747 b. c. (Dionys. /. c.), and Cincius Alimentus even placed it in the fourth year of the 12th Olympiad, i. e. b.c. 729. Ennius, on the other hand, placed the building of Rome about 100 or 110 years earlier than most other writers (Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 1) ; and Timaeus went so far as to regard the foundation of Rome contemporaneous with that of Carthage, placing it 38 years before the first Olympiad. But no reliance can be placed on any of these statements ; as however it is necessary to have one point to start from, the Varronian era has been most commonly adopted by modern writers. (Comp. Fischer, Romische Zeittafeln, p. 4, &c.) [L. S.]
CHRYSENDETA, costly chased dishes used by the Romans at their entertainments. They are mentioned several times by Martial (ii. 43, 11, vi. 94, xiv. 97), and from the epithetflava which he applies to them, as well as from the etymology of the name, they appear to have been of silver, with golden ornaments. Cicero (Verr. iv. 21—23) mentions vessels of this kind. He calls their golden ornaments in general sigilla, but again dis tinguishes them as crustae and emllemata (c. 23) ; the former were probably embossed figures or chasings fixed on to the silver, so that they could be removed and transferred to other vessels, and the latter inlaid or wrought into it (comp. c. 24 : Illa^ eoc patdlis et turibulis quae vetterat, ita scite in aureis poculis illigabat, ita apte in scijpliis aureis includebat, &c.). The embossed work appears to be referred to by Paullus (cymbia argenteis crustis illigata., Dig. 34. tit. 2. s. 33), and the inlaid orna ments by Seneca (ctrgentum, in quod solidi auri caelatura descenderit, Ep. v.). [Comp. CAELA TURA.] [P. S.]
CRYSOASPIDES. [argyraspides.] CHRYSOUS (xpva-ovs). [aurum.] CHTHO’NIA (X^a), a festival celebrated at Hermione in honour of Demeter, surnamed Chthonia. The following is the description of it given by Pausanias (ii. 35. § 4, &c.): — " The inhabitants of Hermione celebrate the Chthonia every year, in summer, in this manner : — They form a procession, headed by the priests and magistrates of the year, who are followed by men and women. Even for children it is customary to pay homage to the goddess by joining the procession. They wear white garments, and on their heads they have chaplets of flowers, which they call ico(r/j,o(rdv8aXoi, which, however, from their size and colour, as well as from the letters inscribed on them recording the premature death of Hyacinthus, seem to me to be hyacinths. Behind the procession there follow persons leading by
CIPPUS.
strings an untamed heifer just taken from the herd, and drag it into the temple, where four old women perform the sacrifice, one of them cutting the animal’s throat with a scythe. The doors of the temple, which during this sacrifice had been shut, are thrown open, and persons especially appointed for the purpose, lead in a second heifer, then a third and a fourth, all of which are sacrificed by the matrons in the manner described. A curious circumstance in this solemnity is, that all the heifers must fall on the same side on which the first fell." The splendour and rich offerings of this festival are also mentioned by Aelian (Hist. Animal, xi. 4), who, however, makes no mention of the matrons of whom Pausanias speaks, but says that the sacrifice of the heifers was performed by the priestess of Demeter.
The Lacedaemonians adopted the worship of Demeter Chthonia from the Hermioneans, some of whose kinsmen had settled in Messenia (Paus. iii. 14. § 5) ; hence we may infer that they celebrated either the same festival as that of the Plermioneans, or one similar to it. [L. S.]
CHYTRA (xut/jo). [olla.]
CFDARIS. [tiara.]
CILFCIUM (Seppis), a hair-cloth. The mate rial of which the Greeks and Romans almost universally made this kind of cloth, was the hair of goats. The Asiatics made it of camel’s-hair. Goats were bred for this purpose in the greatest abundance, and with the longest hair, in Cilicia ; and from this country the Latin l. me of such cloth was derived. Lycia, Phrygia, Spain, and Libya also produced the same article. The cloth obtained by spinning and weaving goat’s-hair was nearly black, and was used for the coarse habits which sailors and fishermen wore, as it was the least subject to be destroyed by being wet; also for horse-cloths, tents, sacks, and bags to hold workmen’s tools (fabrilia vasa], and for the pur pose of covering military engines and the walls and towns of besieged cities, so as to deaden the force of the ram, and to preserve the woodwork from being set on fire. (Aristot. Hist. Anim. viii. 28 ; Aelian, xvi. 30 ; Varr. De Re Rust. ii. 11 ; Virg. Georg. iii. 312; Avien. Ora Mar. 218— 221 ; Veget. Ars Vet. i. 42.) [J. Y.]
CINCTUS GABFNUS. [ToGA.]
CFNGULUM. [zona.]
CINERARIUS. [calamistrum.]
CFNERES. [funus.]
CFNIFLO. [calamistrum.]
CIPPUS. 1. A low column, sometimes round, but more frequently rectangular, used as a sepulchral monument. (Pers. Sat. i. 36.) Several of such cippi are in the Townly collection in the British Museum, one of which is given in the woodcut annexed. The inscription is to the memory of Viria Primitiva, the wife of Lucius Virius Helius, who died at the age of eighteen years, one month, and twenty-four clays. Below the tablet, a festoon of fruits and flowers is suspended from two rams’ heads at the corners ; and at the lower corners are two sphinxes, with a head of Pan in the area between them. On several cippi we find the letters S. T. T. L., that is, Sit titi terra levis, whence Persius, in the passage already referred to, says, Non levior cippus nunc imprimit ossa. Tt was also usual to place on the cippus the extent of the burying-ground both along the road (in fronte), and backwards to the field (in
