CARPENTUM
CARPENTUM (
κάρπεντον, Dio
Cassius) was a two-wheeled carriage with an arched covering [
CAMARA]. The use of it is
mentioned in very early times at Rome, but only by privileged persons, at
least within the walls. The
currus arcuatus
assigned by Numa to the Flamines (
Liv. 1.21) is
no doubt the same as the carpentum which was the travelling carriage of the
elder Tarquin while still a private person (id. 34), and in which Tullia
drove through the streets (id. 48). In its original form it must have been
simply a covered cart, thus distinguished from the
plaustrum or open cart.
The use of carriages in the city was entirely forbidden during the whole of
the republic and for the first two centuries of the empire (Marquardt,
7.706; Friedländer,
Sitteng. i.5
60 ff). The permission granted to L. Metellus, the Pontifex Maximus, who
lost his sight B.C. 241, while rescuing the Palladium from the conflagration
of the temple of Vesta, is mentioned by Pliny as absolutely unique (
“tribuit ei populus Romanus, quod nulli alii ab condito aevo, ut,
quotiens in senatum iret, curru veheretur ad curiam. Magnum et sublime,
sed pro oculis datum,”
H. N. 7.141). It was, therefore, a considerable privilege
when Roman ladies (
matronae), as a reward for
their patriotic generosity at the time of the fall of Veil, were allowed to
drive in the pilentum (or four-wheeled carriage) at the games and public
festivals, and in the carpentum on all occasions (
festo
profestoque,
Liv. 5.25; cf. Isid.
Orig. 20.12).
This privilege seems to have been abridged by the Lex Oppia of B.C. 215
[
SUMPTUARIAE
LEGES]; and though that law was repealed twenty years afterwards, the
prohibition remained in full force. It applied to all Italian towns, and was
no doubt occasioned by the narrowness of ancient streets; but it was often
disregarded and had to be re-enacted from time to time. The Lex Julia
Municipalis, B.C. 45, forbad the use even of carts and waggons within the
walls and for a mile beyond them, except at night (
C. L. L.
1.206). The privileges of the Vestals,
rex
sacrorum, and
flamines are specially
reserved under this law: and those employed in the construction or
demolition of buildings by public contract are excepted under certain
restrictions (
certeis hominibus, certeis de causeis,
ib.). In other towns the law was found less easy to enforce, as we see by
repeated imperial edicts (
Suet. Cl. 25; Spart.
Adr. 22; Capitolin.
M. Ant. Phil. 23).
Even empresses like Messalina and Agrippina the mother of Nero only used the
carpentum in the city by special vote of the senate (
D. C. 60.22,
23;
Tac. Ann. 12.42). In the reign of Septimius
Severus the use of state carriages was conceded to high officials, such as
the
praefectus praetorio, provincial governors
and their legati. Alexander Severus extended the privilege to all senators.
It was only in the fourth century that all restrictions on driving within
the city were removed. In the country it had always been free.
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Carpentum. (From a medal of Caligula.)
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The carpentum of later times was a luxurious and richly ornamented carriage,
used for travelling purposes and also for state occasions (
Juv. 8.147 ; 9.132). We read of silken curtains
(or cushions?),
serica carpenta
[p. 1.367](Propert. 5.8, 23). It was commonly drawn by a
pair of mules (
carpentum mulare, Lamprid.
Heliog. 4); more rarely by oxen or horses, and sometimes
by four horses as a quadriga. The form of this carriage is seen on the
preceding medal. When Caligula instituted games and other solemnities in
honour of his deceased mother the elder Agrippina, her carpentum went in the
procession (
Suet. Cal. 15); and medals, still
extant, commemorated the event. Agrippina's carriage, as represented above,
shows painting or carving on the panels, and the head is supported by
Caryatides at the four corners.
The carriage represented in the following cut is probably also a carpentum.
It is from an alto-rilievo which once adorned a sarcophagus, and is now in
the British Museum. Instead of the arched
camara of the last example, it has a sloping roof of low pitch,
and is drawn by
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Carpentum. (From a relief in the British Museum.)
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four horses. Like the former, it is undoubtedly a funeral car.
Mercury, in his character of
ψυχοπομπὸς or
conductor of souls, appears in the front, and Castor and Pollux with their
horses on the side panel.
Carpenta, or covered carts, were much used by the Britons, the Gauls, the
Cimbri, the Allobroges, and other northern nations (Florus,
1.18;
3.2,
3, and 10). These, together with the carts of the
more common form, including baggage-waggons, appear to have been
comprehended under the term
carrus or
carrum, which is the Celtic name with a Latin
termination. The Gauls and Helvetii took a great multitude of them on their
military expeditions; and, when they were encamped, arranged them in close
order, so as to form lines of circumvallation (
Caes. Gal. 1.24,
26).
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J.Y] [
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