PULVI´NUS
PULVI´NUS (also
pulvinar,
culcita,
προσκεφάλαιον), a
cushion, used for beds, couches, and litters, whether a
cervical, to support the head in beds, or a
cubital, to support the arm on couches. The stuffing
was usually of feathers [
LECTUS
p. 18
b]; the covering often of bright coloured
silk (Hor.
Epod. 8, 15;
Mart.
3.82). The pillow was supported on a raised framework (which is shown
in the woodcut on p. 15), sometimes being merely the end of the torus, or
mattress, passed over this framework. Mr. Anderson (
Class.
Review, 3.323) has shown good reason for thinking that
fulcrum, fulcra, usually taken to mean
legs of the bedstead, really meant this support of
the pillow, often richly carved (
Juv. 11.95: cf.
Prop. 3.5,
5;
Ov. Pont. 3.3,
14). For the sacred pulvinar, see
LECTISTERNIUM
[
J.Y] [
G.E.M]
