CUCULLUS
CUCULLUS a cowl, was intended to be used in the open air, and
to be drawn over the head to protect it from the injuries of the weather,
instead of a hat or cap. It was worn by travellers, shepherds, husbandmen,
and hunters (
Col. 1.8; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 2;
Juv. 3.170; Hor.
Sat. 2.5, 94), and even by legionaries on
service in cold climates, as is seen on Trajan's Column, and also in city
life even by persons of distinction who wished to go abroad without being
recognised (
Juv. 6.330,
8.145;
Cic. Phil. 2.31;
Mart. 11.98,
10;
Lamprid.
Elagab. 32,
cucullio
mulionicus). The cowl was sometimes a separate garment (
Mart. 14.132), as is seen in the figures under
CAUPONA p. 388,
representing a tavern scene. Sometimes it formed part of the
lacerna or
paenula or
other cloak, which was then said to be
cucullatus (Isid.
Orig. 19.24, 17). This is shown
in the figure annexed from a relief representing a traveller leaving his inn
(
Bullet. Napol. 1848, 1; cf. Pallad. 1.43, 4). In either
case the hood might be worn over the head, or thrown back on the shoulder.
The monastic use of the cowl is enjoined in the Rule of S. Benedict, lv.,
and may have arisen from a desire to escape observation, or according to S.
Jerome (
Ep. xxii.) because the
cucullus was much worn by children, to whose level the monks
wished to humble themselves. The use of the cowl, and also of the cape [
BIRRUS], which served
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Cucullus. (Figure from Aesernia.)
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the same purpose, was allowed to slaves by a law in the Codex
Theodosianus. (Vossius,
Etym. Ling. Lat. s. v.
Birrus.) Cowls were imported into Italy from
Saintonge in France (
Santonico cucullo,
Juv. 8.145; Schol.
in
loc.), and from the country of the Bardaei in Illyria. (Jul. Cap.
Pertinax, 8.) Those from the latter
locality were probably of a peculiar fashion, which gave origin to the term
Bardocucullus. Liburnici cuculli are mentioned by.
Martial (
14.139). The
cucullio is either simply another form of the word
cucullus or denotes a very similar garment (cf.
Dict. of Christ. Antiq., art. Cuculla).
[
J.Y] [
J.H.F]
