NOTE: the topic can be used simply to make a list of vocabulary and the basic translations. However, to illustrate the vocabulary a large number of excerpts from original literature are used.
[1] vehiculum, -ī [2/n] a general term for any form of vehicle
/ conveyance / means of transport i.e. with no direct indication as to its
physical appearance or function.
Vehiculum ascendō. Ibi quoque īdem quod ambulāns aut iacēns (Pliny the
Younger)
- I get into my vehicle. There too I do the same as when walking or lying down...
i.e. his focus is on what he does in the means of transport
rather than giving any detail as to its type.
Similarly, the following two quotations do not attach any
relevance to the type:
Cum paucissimīs servīs, quōs ūnum capere vehiculum
potuit (Seneca the Younger)
- With the very few slaves whom a single vehicle could hold...
...mulīs ē proximō pistrīnō ad vehiculum
iūnctīs... (Suentonius)
- after mules from a nearby mill had been yoked to the vehicle.
We can regard vehiculum as a generic term since, in the
Roman world, the specific terms for wheeled vehicles were most often distinguished
by purpose (e.g. freight vs. passengers), distance, and the number of wheels.
[2] cisium, -ī [2/n]: a light, open, two-wheeled
carriage constructed for speed. Available for hire and driven by a cisiārius,
-ī [2/m], they were used by travellers between towns and by couriers with
urgent mail.
(1) decem hōrīs nocturnīs sex et quīnquāgintā
mīlia passuum cisiīs pervolāvit (Cicero)
- Within 10 hours of darkness, he flew 56 miles in light carriages.
The first quotation from Cicero emphasises both the speed of
the vehicles and the distance they managed to cover, i.e. over five miles per
hour which, during the night on Roman roads, was exceptional. The noun is
plural which would indicate that not one, but a series of carriages in relay
were used, hired at different posting-houses (statiōnēs) along the route
since such a long distance would have exhausted a single team of horses.
(2) inde cisiō celeriter ad urbem advectus domum
vēnit capite involūtō (Cicero)
- From there, carried quickly to the city in a light carriage, he came home with his head wrapped.
Image #1: Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary and
Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)
Image #2: two-wheeled cisium from the floor mosaic at the
Baths of the Cisiarii (Terme dei Cisiarii) in Ostia Antica
[3] essedum, -ī [2/n]: a two-wheeled war chariot of
Celtic origin, particularly associated with the Britons [image #3]
essedārius, -ī [2/m]: a fighter in a
(British / Gallic) war-chariot
The first attested references to this type of chariot are by
Caesar:
(1) Genus hoc est ex essedīs pugnae.
Primō per omnēs partēs perequitant et tēla coniciunt atque ipsō terrōre equōrum
et strepitū rotārum ordinēs plerumque perturbant (Caesar)
- This is the nature of fighting from chariots. First, they drive around through all areas and hurl spears, and generally disturb the ranks by the very fear of the horses and the noise of the wheels.
(2) The Celtic war chariots became a symbol of prestige in
Rome. In the following quotation, Cicero mocks Mark Antony as he flamboyantly
parades through the streets:
Vehebātur in essedō tribūnus plēbis;
lictōres laureātī antecēdēbant, inter quōs apertā lectīcā mīma
portābātur...
- The tribune of the people was being carried along in a war-chariot; lictors crowned with laurel preceded him, among whom an actress was being carried in an open litter...
(3) These lines from Martial would suggest that the essedum,
like the cisium, was also available for hire. Here he personifies his
work, describing it undertaking a lengthy journey to reach his reader, first by
sea and then overland.
Ī nostrō comes, ī, libelle, Flāvō | Go as a
companion to our friend Flavus, go, little book,
longum per mare, sed faventis undae, | across
the long sea, but with a favouring wave,
et cursū facilī tuīsque ventīs | and with an
easy course and your own winds,
Hispānae pete Tarracōnis arcēs: | seek the
citadels of Spanish Tarraco [i]:
Illinc tē rota tollet et citātus | from there a
wheel [ii] will lift you up and swiftly sped
altam Bilbilin [iii] et tuum Salōnem [iv] / quīntō forsitan essedō vidēbis.
| you will see high Bilbilis and your
Salo, perhaps on a fifth chariot.
[i] Tarragona
[ii] tē rota tollet | a ‘wheel’ will lift you up: an
example of metonymy, i.e. part of an object being used to refer to
something larger, in this case a carriage or overland travel
[iii] high Bilbilis: Martial’s home town, located in the
mountains
[iv] the Salo – now the Jalón: the river flowing at the base
of the mountain where Bilbilis was located
Note that Martial refers to a fifth vehicle; again, the journey would have comprised – like by cisium – a relay of carriages.
