CUNAE
CUNAE,
CUNA´BULA (
λίκνου,
σκάφη), a cradle. It has
been thought that cradles were little used by the Greeks, at least in early
times; since Plato in a passage on the putting of infants to sleep mentions
only singing the lullaby and rocking in the arms (
ἐν
ταῖς ἀγκάλαις σείειν,
Legg. 7.790 D). But various substitutes are mentioned.
Hercules according to tradition was cradled in his father's shield (Theocr.
24.4); Dionysus in a winnowing-fan (
λίκνον,
vannus), which accordingly was borne in his
processions (see the illustration under
VANNUS); other deities in the same manner (Hom.
Hymn. Merc. 21, &c.; Callim.
in
Jov. 48, with the Scholia). The ark or cradle in which children were
exposed is
σκάφη,
Aristoph. Lys. 138, with the Scholia;
Soph.
fr. 574;
Aristot. Poet. 16.3;
Plut. Rom. 3
[=
alveus,
Liv. 1.4]: but it is only in quite late authors
that we find
σκάφην διασείειν,
“to rock a cradle,”
Ael. NA 11.14. In the Roman period cradles
were regularly used (Plaut.
Truc. 5.13 and elsewhere;
Cic. de Div. 1.3. 6,
§ 79) and were made to rock. We find a female slave called
cunaria, apparently distinct from the
nutrix (Grut.
Inscr. 311, 7); or a
male slave, who perhaps in time became
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Cradle. (From the Museum at Beaune.)
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the child's
paedagogus (
cunarum motor,
Mart. 11.39,
1; cf.
Tac. Dial. 29
init.). The illustration, from a sculptured
stone found in Burgundy, and figured by Daremberg and Saglio, shows a
boat-shaped cradle with the child curiously strapped in.
[
W.W]
