GALE´RUS
GALE´RUS or
GALE´RUM, dim.
GALERICULUM is probably
connected with
galea, and so with
γαλέη (cf. the
κτιδέην
κυνέην of
Hom. Il. 10.335).
It was originally a cap of skin or fur, fitting close to the head, worn by
rustics (Verg.
Moret. 122), hunters (Grat.
Cyneg. 340, where it is of badger-skin), gymnasts in the
palaestra to keep the hair clean (
Mart. 14.50),
and by the old inhabitants of Latium instead of a helmet (
Verg. A. 7.688; cf.
CUDO). For the galerus worn by various priests, e.
g. the Pontifices Salii and Flamines, and the
albogalerus or
albus galerus of the
Dialis, see APEX, and compare
Juv. 8.208; Apul.
Apol. 22, p. 441; GelL 10.15
extr. The word is also applied to a wig, the
empti
capilli of Ovid (
A. Am. 3.165; cf..
CALIENDRUM); worn not only
from vanity or to conceal baldness (Suet.
Oth. 12), but for
the sake of disguise by profligates of both sexes in their nocturnal rambles
(
Suet. Nero 26=
capillamentum, Id.
Calig. 11;
Juv. 6.120 with the. Schol.); and on the stage as
part of the makeup (Guhl and Koner, ed. 5, p. 762). (Rich, s.v.
Becker-Göll,
Gallus, 3.240.)
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