Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's notes: (1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an underscore, like C_n. (2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript. (3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective paragraphs. (4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not inserted. (5) [oo] stands for the infinity symbol. (6) The following typographical errors have been corrected: Article CATALONIA: "There is much woodland, but meadows and pastures are rare." 'There' amended from 'These'. Article CATALYSIS: "It seems in this, as in other cases, that additional compounds are first formed which subsequently react with the re-formation of the catalyst." 'additional' amended from 'addition'. Article CAVALRY: "... and as this particular branch of the army was almost exclusively commanded by the aristocracy it suffered most in the early days of the Revolution." 'army' amended from 'arm'. Article CECILIA, SAINT: "It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome 594 who, with her husband and other friends whom she had converted, suffered martyrdom, c. 230, under the emperor Alexander Severus." 'martyrdom' amended from 'martydom'. Article CELT: "Two poets of this period, whom an English writer describes as 'the two filthy Welshmen who first smoked publicly in the streets,' ..." 'as' amended from 'a'. ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION ELEVENTH EDITION VOLUME V, SLICE V Cat to Celt ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE: CAT CAUTERETS CATABOLISM CAUTIN CATACLYSM CAUTLEY, SIR PROBY THOMAS CATACOMB CAUVERY CATAFALQUE CAVA DEI TIRRENI CATALANI, ANGELICA CAVAEDIUM CATALEPSY CAVAGNARI, SIR PIERRE NAPOLEON CATALOGUE CAVAIGNAC, JEAN BAPTISTE CATALONIA CAVAIGNAC, LOUIS EUGÈNE CATALPA CAVAILLON CATALYSIS CAVALCANTI, GUIDO CATAMARAN CAVALIER, JEAN CATAMARCA (province of Argentine) CAVALIER CATAMARCA (city of Argentine) CAVALIERE, EMILIO DEL CATANIA CAVALLI, FRANCESCO CATANZARO CAVALLINI, PIETRO CATAPHYLL CAVALLO, TIBERIUS CATAPULT CAVALLOTTI, FELICE CATARACT CAVALRY CATARGIU, LASCAR CAVAN (county of Ireland) CATARRH CAVAN (town of Ireland) CATARRHINE APE CAVANILLES, ANTONIO JOSÉ CATASTROPHE CAVATINA CATAUXI CAVE, EDWARD CATAWBAS CAVE, WILLIAM CATCH THE TEN CAVE CATECHISM CAVEA CATECHU CAVEAT CATECHUMEN CAVEDONE, JACOPO CATEGORY CAVENDISH, GEORGE CATENARY CAVENDISH, HENRY CATERAN CAVENDISH, THOMAS CATERHAM CAVENDISH, SIR WILLIAM CATERPILLAR CAVETTO CATESBY, ROBERT CAVIARE CAT-FISH CAVITE CATGUT CAVOUR, CAMILLO BENSO CATHA CAVOUR CATHARS CAVY CATHAY CAWDOR CATHCART, SIR GEORGE CAWNPORE CATHCART, WILLIAM SCHAW CATHCART CAXTON, WILLIAM CATHCART CAYENNE CATHEDRAL CAYENNE PEPPER CATHELINEAU, JACQUES CAYEY CATHERINE, SAINT CAYLEY, ARTHUR CATHERINE I CAYLUS, ANNE CLAUDE DE LÉVIS CATHERINE II CAYMAN ISLANDS CATHERINE DE' MEDICI CAZALÈS, JACQUES ANTOINE DE CATHERINE OF ARAGON CAZALIS, HENRI CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA CAZEMBE CATHERINE OF VALOIS CAZIN, JEAN CHARLES CATHETUS CAZOTTE, JACQUES CATHOLIC CEANOTHUS CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH, THE CEARÁ CATILINE CEAWLIN CATINAT, NICOLAS CEBES CATLIN, GEORGE CEBÚ CATO, DIONYSIUS CECCO D'ASCOLI CATO, MARCUS PORCIUS (statesman) CECIL CATO, MARCUS PORCIUS (philosopher) CECILIA, SAINT CATO, PUBLIUS VALERIUS CECROPIA CATS, JACOB CECROPS CAT'S-EYE CEDAR CATSKILL CEDAR CREEK CATSKILL MOUNTAINS CEDAR FALLS CATTANEO, CARLO CEDAR RAPIDS CATTARO CEFALU CATTEGAT CEHEGÍN CATTERMOLE, GEORGE CEILING CATTLE CEILLIER, REMY CATULLUS, GAIUS VALERIUS CELAENAE CATULUS CELANDINE CAUB CELANO CAUCA CELEBES CAUCASIA CELERY CAUCASUS CÉLESTE, MADAME CAUCHOIS-LEMAIRE, LOUIS AUGUSTE CELESTINA, LA CAUCHON, PIERRE CELESTINE (popes) CAUCHY, AUGUSTIN LOUIS CELESTINE (sulphate) CAUCUS CELESTINES CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX CELIBACY CAUDINE FORKS CELL CAUDLE CELLA CAUL CELLARET CAULAINCOURT, ARMAND LOUIS CELLE CAULICULUS CELLIER, ALFRED CAULON CELLINI, BENVENUTO CAUSATION CELLULOSE CAUSEWAY CELSIUS, ANDERS CAUSSES CELSUS CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL, ARMAND-PIERRE CELT (ancient people) CAUSTIC CELT (ancient stone tools) CAT,[1] properly the name of the well-known domesticated feline animal usually termed by naturalists _Felis domestica_, but in a wider sense employed to denote all the more typical members of the family _Felidae_. According to the _New English Dictionary_, although the origin of the word "cat" is unknown, yet the name is found in various languages as far back as they can be traced. In old Western Germanic it occurs, for instance, so early as from A.D. 400 to 450; in old High German it is _chazza_ or _catero_, and in Middle German _kattaro_. Both in Gaelic and in old French it is _cat_, although sometimes taking the form of _chater_ in the latter; the Gaelic designation of the European wild cat being _cat fiadhaich_. In Welsh and Cornish the name is _cath_. If Martial's _cattae_ refer to this animal, the earliest Latin use of the name dates from the 1st century of our era. In the work of Palladius on agriculture, dating from about the year A.D. 350, reference is made to an animal called _catus_ or _cattus_, as being useful in granaries for catching mice. This usage, coupled with the existence of a distinct term in Gaelic for the wild species, leaves little doubt that the word "cat" properly denotes only the domesticated species. This is confirmed by the employment in Byzantine Greek of the term [Greek: k'attos] or [Greek: k'atta] to designate domesticated cats brought from Egypt. It should be added that the [Greek: a'ilouros] of the Greeks, frequently translated by the older writers as "cat," really refers to the marten-cat, which appears to have been partially domesticated by the ancients and employed for mousing. As regards the origin of the domesticated cats of western Europe, it is well known that the ancient Egyptians were in the habit of domesticating (at least in some degree) the Egyptian race of the African wild cat (_Felis ocreata maniculata_), and also of embalming its remains, of which vast numbers have been found in tombs at Beni Hasan and elsewhere in Egypt. These Egyptian cats are generally believed by naturalists to have had a large share in the parentage of the European breeds, which have, however, in many cases been crossed to a greater or less extent with the European wild cat (_F. catus_). One of the features by which the Egyptian differs from the European wild cat is the longer and less bushy tail; and it has been very generally considered that the same feature is characteristic of European domesticated cats. According, however, to Dr E. Hamilton, "the measurement of a number of tails of the [European] wild cat and of the domestic cat gives a range between 11 in. and 14½ in., the longer length being quite as often found in the wild cats as in the domestic. The bushy appearance depends entirely on the length of the fur, and accords with the thick fur of the rest of the body of the wild cat, while in the domestic race the fur both on the body and tail is thinner and softer." Possibly those domesticated cats with unusually short and bushy tails may have a larger share of European wild-cat blood; while, conversely, such wild cats as show long tails may have a cross of domesticated blood. More importance was attached by Dr A. Nehring of Berlin (_SB. Ges. Naturfor._, Berlin, 1887) to the colour of the soles of the hind-feet as a means of determining the relationship of the domesticated cat of Europe. According to his observations, in the Egyptian wild cat the pads of the toes are wholly black, while the black extends back either continuously or in long stripes as far as the calcaneum or heel-bone. In the European wild cat, on the other hand, the black is limited to a small round spot on the pads, while the colour of the hair as far back as the heel-bone is yellowish or yellowish-grey. Since in all domesticated cats retaining the colouring of the wild species the soles of the hind-feet correspond in this particular with the Egyptian rather than with the European wild cat, the presumption is in favour of their descent from the former rather than from the latter. Later, Dr Nehring (_op. cit._ 1889) came to the conclusion that the domesticated cat has a dual parentage, one stock coming from south-eastern Asia and the other from north-eastern Africa; in other words, from a domesticated Chinese cat (itself derived from a wild Chinese species) on the one hand, and from the Egyptian cat on the other. The ordinary domesticated cats of Europe are, however, mainly of African origin, although they have largely crossed, especially in Germany (and probably also in Great Britain), with the wild cat. The same author was likewise of opinion that the domestication or taming of various species of wild cats took place chiefly among nationalities of stationary or non-nomadic habits who occupied themselves with agricultural pursuits, since it would be of vital importance that their stores of grain should be adequately protected from the depredations of rats and mice. The foregoing opinion as to the dual parentage of our domesticated cats receives support from observations made many years ago by E. Blyth, which have recently been endorsed and amplified by R.I. Pocock (_Proc. Zool. Soc. London_, 1907). According to these observations, two distinct types of so-called tabby cats are recognizable. In the one the pattern consists of narrow vertical stripes, and in the other of longitudinal or obliquely longitudinal stripes, which, on the sides of the body, tend to assume a spiral or sub-circular arrangement characteristic of the blotched tabby. This latter type appears to be the true "tabby"; since that word denotes a pattern like that of watered silk. One or other of these types is to be found in cats of almost all breeds, whether Persian, short-haired or Manx; and there appear to be no intermediate stages between them. Cats of the striped type are no doubt descended from the European and North African wild cats; but the origin of cats exhibiting the blotched pattern appears to be unknown. As it was to a cat of the latter kind that Linnaeus gave the name of _Felis catus_, Pocock urges that this title is not available for the European wild cat, which he would call _Felis sylvestris_. Without accepting this proposed change in nomenclature, which is liable to lead to confusion without any compensating advantage, it may be suggested that the blotched tabby type represents Dr Nehring's presumed Chinese element in the cat's parentage, and that the missing wild stock may be one of the numerous phases of the leopard-cat (_F. bengalensis_), in some of which an incipient spiral arrangement of the markings may be noticed on the shoulder. As to the introduction of domesticated cats into Europe, the opinion is very generally held that tame cats from Egypt were imported at a relatively early date into Etruria by Phoenician traders; and there is decisive evidence that these animals were established in Italy long before the Christian era. The progeny of these cats, more or less crossed with the indigenous species, thence gradually spread over Europe, to become mingled at some period, according to Dr Nehring's hypothesis, with an Asiatic stock. The earliest written record of the introduction of domesticated cats into Great Britain dates from about A.D. 936, when Hywel Dda, prince of South Wales, enacted a law for their protection. "The Romans," writes Dr Hamilton, "were probably the original introducers of this cat, and as the final evacuation of Britain by that nation took place under the emperor Valentinian about A.D. 436, the period of its introduction may certainly be dated some 500 years previous to the Welsh chronicle and even much earlier." It is added that the remains of cats from Roman villas at Silchester and Dursley are probably referable to the domesticated breed. Before proceeding to notice some of the different types of domesticated cats, a few lines may be devoted to the wild European species, _F. catus_. Beyond stating that in colour it conforms very closely to the striped phase of domesticated tabby, it will be unnecessary to describe the species. Its geographical range was formerly very extensive, and included Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Transylvania, Galicia, the Caucasus as far as the Caspian, southern Russia, Italy, Spain, Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and portions of central and northern Asia. "At the present time," observes Dr Hamilton, "the wild cat has become almost extinct in many of the above districts. Examples may perhaps occasionally still be found in the uninhabited forests of Hungary and Transylvania, and occasionally in Spain and Greece, as well as in the Caucasus and in some of the Swiss cantons, but the original race has in most countries interbred with the domestic cat wherever the latter has penetrated." In Great Britain wild cats survive only in some of the Scottish forests, and even there it is difficult to decide whether pure-bred specimens are extant. Remains of the wild cat occur in English caverns; while from those of Ireland (where the wild species has apparently been unknown during the historic period) have been obtained jaws and teeth which it has been suggested are referable to the Egyptian rather than to the European wild cat. Such a determination is, however, extremely hazardous, even if it be admitted that the remains of cats from the rock-fissures of Gibraltar pertain to _Felis ocreata_. PLATE I. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--SKINS OF THE BLOTCHED DOMESTIC CAT, SHOWING SOME OF THE VARIATIONS TO WHICH THE PATTERN IS LIABLE. (Cf. Fig. 5 on Plate II.)] [Illustration: FIG. 2.--SKINS OF THE STRIPED DOMESTIC CAT, GIVING THE "TICKED" BREED AND A PARTIALLY ALBINO SPECIMEN. (Cf. Fig. 4 on Plate II.)] [Illustration: FIG. 3.--SKINS OF THE EUROPEAN WILD CAT, FROM ROSS-SHIRE, SCOTLAND. (Cf. Fig. 1 on Plate II.)] _Note_--Of the two types of colouration found in modern domestic cats, the striped type obviously corresponds to the original wild cat as seen in various parts of North Europe to-day. The origin of the blotched as a special type is wholly unknown. (Photos from Plates VIII., IX., and X., _P.Z.S._, 1907, by permission of the Zoological Society of London.) PLATE II. [Illustration: _Photo, W.G. Berridge_. FIG. 1.--EUROPEAN WILD CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, W.G. Berridge_. FIG. 2.--PALLAS'S CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, R.C. Ryan_. FIG. 3.--ROYAL SIAMESE CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, Topical Press Agency_. FIG. 4.--STRIPED DOMESTIC CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, Topical Press Agency_. FIG. 5.--BLOTCHED DOMESTIC CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, R.C. Ryan_ FIG. 6.--TAIL-LESS CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, Topical Press Agency_. FIG. 7.--WHITE PERSIAN KITTEN.] [Illustration: _Photo, Topical Press Agency_. FIG. 8.--BLUE PERSIAN CAT.] [Illustration: _Photo, Topical Press Agency_. FIG. 9.--BLACK PERSIAN KITTEN.] The favourite haunts of the wild cat are mountain forests where masses or rocks or cliffs are interspersed with trees, the crevices in these rocks or the hollow trunks of trees affording sites for the wild cat's lair, where its young are produced and reared. In the Spanish plains, however, the young are often produced in nests built in trees, or among tall bamboos in cane-brakes. "To fight like a wild cat" is proverbial, and wild cats are described as some of the most ferocious and untamable of all animals. How far this untamable character lends support to the view of the origin of our domesticated breeds has not yet been determined. Hares, rabbits, field-mice, water-rats, rats, squirrels, moles, game-birds, pigeons, and small birds, form the chief food of the wild cat. Apart from the above-mentioned division of the striped members of both groups into two types according to the pattern of their markings, the domesticated cats of western Europe are divided into a short-haired and a long-haired group. Of these, the former is the one which bears the closest relationship to the wild cats of Africa and of Europe, the latter being an importation from the East. The striped (as distinct from the blotched) short-haired tabby is probably the one most nearly allied to the wild ancestors, the stripes being, however, to a great extent due to the European wild cat. In one direction the tabby shows a tendency to melanism which culminates in complete blackness, while in the other direction there is an equally marked tendency to albinism; grey cats, which may be regarded as tabbies whose stripes have disappeared, forming the connecting link between the tabby and the white cat. A mixture of the melanistic with the albinistic type will of course give rise to parti-coloured cats. A third colour-phase, the "erythristic" or red, is represented by the sandy cat, the female of which takes the form of the "tortoise-shell," characterized, curiously enough, by the colour being a blend of black, white, and sandy. The so-called orange tabby is one phase of the erythristic type. As to long-haired cats, there appear originally to have been two closely-allied strains, the Angora and the Persian, of which the former has been altogether replaced in western Europe by the latter. That these long-haired cats have an ancestry, to some extent at any rate distinct from the ordinary short-haired breeds, is practically certain, and it has been suggested that they are derived from the "manul" cat, or Pallas's cat (_Felis manul_), of the deserts of central Asia, which is a long-haired and bushy-tailed species with comparatively slight striping. The fact that in tabby Persians the body-markings are never so strong as in the short-haired breeds is in some degree confirmatory of this, as suggesting descent from a nearly whole-coloured type. At the present day, however, Persians exhibit nearly all the colour and pattern types of the short-haired breeds, the "orange Persian" representing the erythristic phase. Turning to the tailless or so-called Manx cats, in which the tail should be represented merely by a tuft of hair without any remnant of bone, it seems that the strain is to be met with in many parts of Russia, and there is a very general opinion that it originally came from Japan or some other far eastern country. Throughout Japan, China, Siam, and the Malay countries, normal long-tailed cats are indeed seldom seen. Instead of these are cats with more or less abbreviated tails, showing in greater or less degree a decided kink or bend near the tip. In other cases the tail is of the short curling type of that of a bulldog; sometimes it starts quite straight, but divides in a fork-like manner near the tip; and in yet other instances it is altogether wanting, as in the typical Manx cats. These kink-tailed or tailless cats are moreover smaller in size than the ordinary short-tailed breeds, with rather longer hair, whose texture approaches that of rabbit-fur, and a cry said to be like that of the jungle-cat (_F. chaus_) of India and Africa, and more dog-like habits. Unless the jungle-cat, which is a nearly whole-coloured species, can claim the position, the ancestry of these Manx-Malay cats is still unknown. Kink-tailed cats, it should be added, are also known from Madagascar. Among the domesticated cats of India a spotted type of colouring, with a more or less decided tendency for the spots to coalesce into stripes, is very noticeable; and it is probable that these cats are derived from the spotted Indian desert-cat (_F. ornata_), with a certain amount of crossing from other species. The so-called _F. torquata_ of India is probably based on cats of this type which have reverted to the wild state. Other Indian cats with a tawny or fulvous type of colouring are probably the more or less modified descendants of the jungle-cat. From the same stock may be derived the Abyssinian breed, in which the ears are relatively large and occasionally tipped with long hairs (thus recalling the tufted ears of the jungle-cat). The colour is typically reddish-brown, each individual hair being "ticked" like that of a wild rabbit, whence the popular name of "bunny cat." Another African breed is the Mombasa cat, in which the hair is reported to be unusually short and stiff. By far the most remarkable of all the Old World domesticated breeds is, however, the royal Siamese cat, which almost certainly has an origin quite distinct from that of the ordinary European breeds; this being rendered evident not only by the peculiar type of colouring, but likewise by the cry, which is quite unmistakable. Siamese cats may have the tail either straight or kinked, but whether the latter feature belongs of right to the breed, or has been acquired by crossing with the ordinary black and tabby kink-tailed cats of the country, is not known. In the royal Siamese breed the head is rather long and pointed, the body also elongated with relatively slender limbs, the coat glossy and close, the eyes blue, and the general colour some shade of cream or pink, with the face, ears, feet, under-parts, and tail chocolate or seal-brown. There is however a wholly chocolate-coloured strain in which the eyes are yellow. The most remarkable feature about the breed is that the young are white. "The kittens," observes a lady writer, "are born absolutely white, and in about a week a faint pencilling comes round the ears, and gradually all the points come. At four or five months they are lovely, as generally they retain their baby whiteness, which contrasts well with their almost black ears, deep-brown markings, and blue eyes." In constitution these cats are extremely delicate. The blue eyes and the white coat of the kitten indicate that the Siamese breed is a semi-albino, which when adult tends towards melanism, such a combination of characters being apparently unknown in any other animal. If the frequent presence of a kink in the tail be an inherent feature, the breed is evidently related to the other kink-tailed Malay cats which, as already stated, have a cry differing from that of European cats. Should this be so, then if the ordinary Malay cats are the descendants of the jungle-cat, we shall have to assign the same ancestry to the Siamese breed. Although definite information on this point is required, it seems probable that the southern part of North America and South America possessed certain native domesticated breeds of cats previous to the European conquest of the country; and if this be so, it will be obvious that these breeds must be derived from indigenous wild species. One of these breeds is the Paraguay cat, which when adult weighs only about three pounds, and is not more than a quarter the size of an ordinary cat. The body is elongated, and the hair, especially on the tail, short, shiny and close. This small size and elongated form suggest origin from the jaguarondi (_F. jaguarondi_), a chestnut-coloured wild species; but information appears to be lacking with regard to the colouring of the domesticated breed. Another South American breed is said to be free from the hideous "caterwauling" of the ordinary cat. In old days New Mexico was the home of a breed of hairless cats, said to have been kept by the ancient Aztecs, but now well-nigh if not completely extinct. Although entirely naked in summer, these cats developed in winter a slight growth of hair on the back and the ridge of the tail. LITERATURE.--St George Mivart, _The Cat_ (London, 1881); R. Lydekker, "Cats," in _Allen's Naturalists' Library_ (1888); F. Hamilton, _The Wild Cat of Europe_ (London. 1896); Frances Simpson, _The Book of the Cat_ (London, 1903). (R. L.*) FOOTNOTE: [1] The word "cat" is applied to various objects, in all cases an application of the name of the animal. In medieval siegecraft the "cat" (Med. Lat. _chattus_ or _gattus_, _chatta_ or _gatta_, in Fr. _chat_ or _chat-chasteil_) was a movable pent-house used to protect besiegers when approaching a wall or gateway, for the purpose of sapping, mining or direct attack, or to cover a ram or other battering-engine. The word is also sometimes applied to a heavy timber fitted with iron spikes or projections to be thrown down upon besiegers, and to the large work known as a "cavalier." "Cat" or "cat-head," in nautical usage, is the projecting beam on the bows of a ship used to clear the anchor from the sides of the vessel when weighed. The stock of the anchor rests on the cat-head when hung outside the ship. The name is also used of a type of a vessel, now obsolete, and formerly used in the coal and timber trade on the north-east coast of England; it had a deep waist and narrow stem; it is still applied to a small rig of sailing boats, with a single mast stepped far forward, with a fore and aft sail. Among other objects also known by the name of "cat" is the small piece of wood pointed at either end used in the game of tip-cat, and the instrument of punishment, generally known as the "cat o' nine tails." This consists of a handle of wood or rope, about 18 in. long, with nine knotted cords or thongs. The multiplication of thongs for purposes of flogging is found in the old Roman _flagellum_, a scourge, which had sometimes three thongs with bone or bronze knots fastened to them. The "cat" was the regular instrument with which floggings were performed in the British army and navy. Since the abolition of flogging in the services, the use of the cat is now restricted to certain classes of offenders in military prisons (Army Act 1881, § 133). In the English criminal law, where corporal punishment is ordered by the court for certain criminal offences, the "cat" is used only where the prisoner is over sixteen years of age. It may not be used except when actually ordered in the sentence, and must be of a pattern approved by a secretary of state. Further floggings are inflicted with the "cat" upon convicted prisoners for breaches of discipline in prison. They must be ordered by the visitors of the prison and confirmed by the home secretary. CATABOLISM, or KATABOLISM (Gr. [Greek: kata], down, [Greek: Bolê], a throw), the biological term for the reverse of anabolism, namely the breaking down of complex into simpler substances, destructive metabolism (see PHYSIOLOGY). CATACLYSM (Gr. [Greek: kataklusmos], a deluge), a great flood or deluge (q.v.). The term is used in geology to denote an overwhelming catastrophe which has produced sudden changes in the earth's surface; and also, figuratively, of any great and violent change which sweeps away the existing social or political order. CATACOMB, a subterranean excavation for the interment of the dead or burial-vault. In this sense the word "catacomb" has gained universal acceptance, and has found a place in most modern languages. The original term, _catacumbae_, however, had no connexion with sepulture, but was simply the name of a particular locality in the environs of Rome. It was derived from the Greek [Greek: kata] and [Greek: kumbê], "a hollow," and had reference to the natural configuration of the ground. In the district that bore this designation, lying close to the Appian Way, the basilica of San Sebastiano was erected, and the extensive burial-vaults beneath that church--in which, according to tradition, the bodies of the apostles St Peter and St Paul rested for a year and seven months previous to their removal to the basilicas which bear their names--were, in very early times, called from it _coemeterium ad catacumbas_, or _catacumbas_ alone. From the celebrity of this cemetery as an object of pilgrimage its name became extensively known, and in entire forgetfulness of the origin of the word, _catacumbae_ came to be regarded as a generic appellation for all burial-places of the same kind. This extension of the term to Christian burial-vaults generally dates from the 9th century, and obtained gradual currency through the Christian world. The original designation of these places of sepulture is _crypta_ or _coemeterium_. The largest number of Christian catacombs belong to the 3rd and the early part of the 4th centuries. The custom of subterranean interment gradually died out, and entirely ceased with the sack of Rome by Alaric, A.D. 410. "The end of the catacomb graves," writes Mommsen (_Cont. Rev._, May 1871), "is intimately connected with the end of the powerful city itself.... Poverty took the place of wealth, ... the traditions of the Christian tomb-architects sank into utter insignificance, and the expanse of the wasted Campagna now offered room enough to bury the few bodies, without having to descend as once far down below the surface of the earth." The earliest account of the catacombs, that of St Jerome narrating his visits to them when a schoolboy at Rome, about A.D. 354, shows that interment in them was even then rare if it had not been altogether discontinued; and the poet Prudentius's description of the tomb of the Christian martyr Hippolytus, and the cemetery in which it stood, leads us to the same conclusion. With the latter part of the 4th century a new epoch in the history of the catacombs arose--that of religious reverence. In the time of Pope Damasus, A.D. 366-384, the catacombs had begun to be regarded with special devotion, and had become the resort of large bands of pilgrims, for whose guidance catalogues of the chief burial-places and the holy men buried in them were drawn up. Some of these lists are still extant.[1] Pope Damasus himself displayed great zeal in adapting the catacombs to their new purpose, restoring the works of art on the walls, and renewing the epitaphs over the graves of the martyrs. In this latter work he employed an engraver named Furius Philocalus, the exquisite beauty of whose characters enables the smallest fragment of his work to be recognized at a glance. This gave rise to extensive alterations in their construction and decoration, which has much lessened their value as authentic memorials of the religious art of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Subsequent popes manifested equal ardour, with the same damaging results, in the repair and adornment of the catacombs, and many of the paintings covering their walls, which have been assigned to the period of their original construction, are really the work of these later times. The catacombs shared in the devastation of Rome by the Goths under Vitiges in the 6th century and by the Lombards at a later period; and partly through the spoliation of these barbarian invaders, partly through the neglect of those who should have been their guardians, they sank into such a state of decay and pollution that, as the only means of preserving the holy remains they enshrined from further desecration, Pope Paul I., in the latter part of the 8th century, and Pope Paschal, at the beginning of the 9th, entered upon the work of the translation of the relics, which was vigorously carried on by successive pontiffs until the crypts were almost entirely despoiled of their dead. The relics having been removed, the visits of pilgrims naturally ceased, and by degrees the very existence of those wonderful subterranean cemeteries was forgotten. Six centuries elapsed before the accidental discovery of a sepulchral chamber by some labourers digging for _pozzolana_ earth (May 31, 1578) revealed to the amazed inhabitants of Rome "the existence," to quote a contemporary record, "of other cities concealed beneath their own suburbs." Baronius, the ecclesiastical historian, was one of the first to visit the new discovery, and his _Annals_ in more than one place evidence his just appreciation of its importance. The true "Columbus of this subterranean world," as he has been aptly designated, was the indefatigable Antonio Bosio (d. 1629), who devoted his life to the personal investigation of the catacombs, the results of which were given to the world in 1632 in a huge folio, entitled _Roma sotterranea_, profusely illustrated with rude but faithful plans and engravings. This was republished in a Latin translation with considerable alterations and omissions by Paolo Aringhi in 1651; and a century after its first appearance the plates were reproduced by Giovanni Bottari in 1737, and illustrated with great care and learning. Some additional discoveries were described by Marc Antonio Boldetti in his _Osservazioni_, published in 1720; but, writing in the interests of the Roman Church with an apologetic, not a scientific object, truth was made to bend to polemics, and little addition to our knowledge of the catacombs is to be gained from his otherwise important work. The French historian of art, Seroux d'Agincourt, 1825, by his copious illustrations, greatly facilitated the study of the architecture of the catacombs and the works of art contained in them. The works of Raoul Rochette display a comprehensive knowledge of the whole subject, extensive reading, and a thorough acquaintance with early Christian art so far as it could be gathered from books, but he was not an original investigator. The great pioneer in the path of independent research, which, with the intelligent use of documentary and historical evidence, has led to so vast an increase in our acquaintance with the Roman Catacombs, was Padre Marchi of the Society of Jesus. His work, _Monumenti delle arti christiane primitive_, is the first in which the strange misconception, received with unquestioning faith by earlier writers, that the catacombs were exhausted sand-pits adapted by the Christians to the purpose of interment, was dispelled, and the true history of their formation demonstrated. Marchi's line of investigation was followed by the Commendatore De Rossi, and his brother Michele, the former of whom was Marchi's fellow-labourer during the latter part of his explorations; and it is to them that we owe the most exhaustive scientific examination of the whole subject. The Catacombs of Rome are the most extensive with which we are acquainted, and, as might be expected in the centre of the Christian world, are in many respects the most remarkable. No others have been so thoroughly examined and illustrated. These may, therefore, be most appropriately selected for description as typical examples. Catacombs of Rome. Our description of the Roman Catacombs cannot be more appropriately introduced than by St Jerome's account of his visits to them in his youth, already referred to, which, after the lapse of above fifteen centuries, presents a most accurate picture of these wonderful subterranean labyrinths. "When I was a boy," he writes, "receiving my education in Rome, I and my schoolfellows used, on Sundays, to make the circuit of the sepulchres of the apostles and martyrs. Many a time did we go down into the catacombs. These are excavated deep in the earth, and contain, on either hand as you enter, the bodies of the dead buried in the wall. It is all so dark there that the language of the prophet (Ps. lv. 15) seems to be fulfilled, 'Let them go down quick into hell.' Only occasionally is light let in to mitigate the horror of the gloom, and then not so much through a window as through a hole. You take each step with caution, as, surrounded by deep night, you recall the words of Virgil-- "Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent."[2] [Illustration FIG. 1.--Plan of part of the Cemetery of Sant' Agnese. (From Martigny.) A. Entrance from the Basilica of St Agnes. 1, 2. Ancient staircases leading to the first storey. 3. Corridors from the staircases. 4. Two ruined staircases leading to the lower storey. 5. Steps of the rock. 6. Air-shafts, or luminaria. 7. Ruined vault. 8. Blind ways. 9. Passages built up or ruined. 10. Passages obstructed by landslips. 11. Unfinished passage. 12. Passages destitute of tombs. 13. Narrow apertures between adjoining galleries. 14-17. Arcosolia. 18-32. Cubicula. 33. Chapel with vestibule and apse, and two chairs. 34. Double chapel with three chairs. 35. Large chapel in five divisions.] In complete agreement with Jerome's vivid picture the visitor to the Roman Catacombs finds himself in a vast labyrinth of narrow galleries, usually from 3 to 4 ft. in width, interspersed with small chambers, all excavated at successive levels, in the strata of volcanic rock subjacent to the city and its environs, and constructed originally for the interment of the Christian dead. The galleries are not the way of access to the cemeteries, but are themselves the cemeteries, the dead being buried in long low horizontal recesses, excavated in the vertical walls of the passages, rising tier above tier like the berths in a ship, from a few inches above the floor to the springing of the arched ceiling, to the number of five, six or even sometimes twelve ranges. These galleries are not arranged on any definite plan, but, as will be seen from the plan (fig. 1), they intersect one another at different angles, producing an intricate network which it is almost impossible to reduce to any system. They generally run in straight lines, and as a rule preserve the same level. The different storeys of galleries lie one below the other (fig. 2) to the number of four or five (in one part of the cemetery of St Calixtus they reach seven storeys), and communicate with one another by stairs cut out of the living rock. Light and air are introduced by means of vertical shafts (_luminaria_) running up to the outer air, and often serving for several storeys. The drawing (fig. 3) from Northcote gives a very correct idea of these galleries, with the tiers of graves pierced in the walls. The doorways which are seen interrupting the lines of graves are those of the family sepulchral chambers, or _cubicula_, of which we shall speak more particularly hereafter. The graves, or _loculi_, as they are commonly designated, were, in the Christian cemeteries, with only a few exceptions (Padre Marchi produces some from the cemetery of St Ciriaca, _Monum. primitiv._ tav. xiv. xliii. xliv.), parallel with the length of the gallery. In the pagan cemeteries, on the other hand, the sepulchral recess as a rule entered the rock like an oven at right angles to the corridor, the body being introduced endways. The plan adopted by the Christians saved labour, economized space, and consulted reverence in the deposition of the corpse. These _loculi_ were usually constructed for a single body only. Some, however, were formed to contain two, three, or four, or even more corpses. Such recesses were known respectively as _bisomi, trisomi, quadrisomi_, &c., terms which often appear in the sepulchral inscriptions. After the introduction of the body the _loculi_ were closed with the greatest care, either with slabs of marble the whole length of the aperture, or with huge tiles, three being generally employed, cemented together with great exactness so as to prevent the escape of the products of decomposition (fig. 4). Where any epitaph was set up--an immense number are destitute of any inscription at all--it is always painted or engraved on these slabs or tiles. In the earlier interments the epitaph is usually daubed on the slab in red or black paint. In later examples it is incised in the marbles, the letters being rendered clearer by being coloured with vermilion. The enclosing slab very often bears one or more Christian symbols, such as the dove, the anchor, the olive-branch, or the monogram of Christ (figs. 5, 6). The palm branch, which is also of frequent occurrence, is not an indisputable mark of the last resting-place of a martyr, being found in connexion with epitaphs of persons dying natural deaths, or those prepared by persons in their lifetime, as well as in those of little children, and even of pagans. Another frequent concomitant of these catacomb interments, a small glass vessel containing traces of the sediment of a red fluid, embedded in the cement of the _loculus_ (fig. 7), has no better claim. The red matter proves to be the remains of wine, not of blood; and the conclusion of the ablest archaeologists is that the vessels were placed where they are found, after the eucharistic celebration or _agape_ on the day of the funeral or its anniversary, and contained remains of the consecrated elements as a kind of religious charm. Not a few of the slabs, it is discovered, have done double duty, bearing a pagan inscription on one side and a Christian one on the other. These are known as _opisthographs_. The bodies were interred wrapped in linen cloths, or swathed in bands, and were frequently preserved by embalming. In the case of poorer interments the destruction of the body was, on the contrary, often accelerated by the use of quicklime. [Illustration: FIG. 2.--Section of Galleries at different levels. (From Seroux d'Agincourt)] [Illustration: FIG. 3.--View of a Gallery.] [Illustration: FIG. 4.--Loculi. (From de Rossi.)] [Illustration: FIGS. 5 and 6.--Loculi. (From de Rossi.)] Interment in the wall-recess or _loculus_, though infinitely the most common, was not the only mode employed in the catacombs. Other forms of very frequent recurrence are the _table tomb_ and _arched tomb_, or _arcosolium_. From the annexed woodcuts it will be seen that these only differ in the form of the surmounting recess. In each case the arched tomb was formed by an oblong chest, either hollowed out of the rock, or built of masonry, and closed with a horizontal slab. But in the table-tomb (fig. 8) the recess above, essential for the introduction of the corpse, is square, while in the arcosolium (fig. 9), a form of later date, it is semicircular. Sarcophagi are also found in the catacombs, but are of rare occurrence. They chiefly occur in the earlier cemeteries, and the costliness of their construction confined their use to the wealthiest classes--e.g. in the cemetery of St Domitilla, herself a member of the imperial house. Another unfrequent mode of interment was in graves like those of modern times, dug in the floor of the galleries (Marchi, _u.s._, tav. xxi. xxvi.). Table-tombs and arcosolia are by no means rare in the corridors of the catacombs, but they belong more generally to the _cubicula_, or family vaults, of which we now proceed to speak. [Illustration: FIG. 7.--Glass Bottles. (From Bosio.)] These _cubicula_ are small apartments, seldom more than 12 ft. square, usually rectangular, though sometimes circular or polygonal, opening out of the main corridors. They are not unfrequently ranged regularly along the sides of the galleries, the doors of entrance, as may be seen in a previous illustration (fig. 3), following one another in as orderly succession as the bedchamber doors in the passage of a modern house. The roof is sometimes flat, but is more usually vaulted, and sometimes rises into a cupola. Both the roof and the walls are almost universally coated with stucco and covered with fresco paintings--in the earlier works merely decorative, in the later always symbolical or historical. Each side of the cubiculum, except that of the entrance, usually contains a recessed tomb, either a table-tomb or an arcosolium. That facing the entrance was the place of greatest honour, where in many instances the remains of a martyr were deposited, whose tomb, according to primitive usage, served as an altar for the celebration of the eucharist. This was sometimes, as in the Papal crypt of St Calixtus (fig. 10), protected from irreverence by lattice work (_transennae_) of marble. The cubiculum was originally designed for the reception of a very limited number of dead. But the natural desire to be buried near one's relatives caused new tombs to be cut in the walls, above and around and behind the original tombs, the walls being thus completely honeycombed with _loculi_, sometimes as many as seventy, utterly regardless of the paintings originally depicted on the walls. Another motive for multiplying the number of graves operated when the cubiculum contained the remains of any noted saint or martyr. The Christian antiquary has cause continually to lament the destruction of works of art due to this craving. One of the most perfect examples of early Christian pictorial decoration, the so-called "Dispute with the Doctors," in the catacomb of Calixtus, the "antique style of beauty" of which is noticed by Kugler, has thus suffered irreparable mutilation, the whole of the lower part of the picture having been destroyed by the excavation of a fresh grave-recess (Bottari, vol. ii. tav. 15). The plates of De Rossi, Ferret, and, indeed, all illustrations of the catacombs, exhibit frequent examples of the same destructive superstition. The illustrations (figs. 11 and 12), taken from De Rossi's great work, representing two of the cubicula in the cemetery of St Calixtus, show the general arrangement of the loculi and the character of the frescoes which ornament the walls and roof. These paintings, it will be seen, are simply decorative, of the same style as the wall-paintings of the baths, and those of Pompeii. [Illustration: FIG. 8.--Table-tomb.] [Illustration: FIG. 9.--Arcosolia. (From Bosio.)] [Illustration: FIG. 10.--Restoration of the Papal Crypt, Cemetery of St Calixtus. (From de Rossi.)] [Illustration: FIG. 11.--Cubiculum in Cemetery of St Calixtus. (From de Rossi.)] [Illustration: FIG. 12.--Cubiculum in the Cemetery of St Calixtus. (From de Rossi.)] [Illustration: FIG. 13.--Plan of a supposed Church, Catacomb of Sant' Agnese. (From Marchi.)] Each _cubiculum_ was usually the burying-place of some one family, all the members of which were interred in it, just as in the chantry-chapels connected with medieval churches. In them was celebrated the funeral-feast on the day of burial and on its anniversary, as well as the eucharist, which was the invariable accompaniment of funerals in the primitive church (Bingham, _Orig. Eccl._ bk. xxiii. c. iii. 12). The funeral-banquet descended to the Christian church from pagan times, and was too often profaned by heathen licence. St Augustine, in several passages, inveighs against those who thus by "gluttony and insobriety buried themselves over the buried," and "made themselves drunk in the chapels of the martyrs, placing their excesses to the score of religious reverence for the dead." (August., _De Mor. Eccl. Cathol._, c. 34, _Contr. Faust_, lib. xx. c. 21, _Confess._, lib vi. c. 2) Some curious frescoes representing these funeral-feasts, found in the _cubicula_ which were the scene of them, are reproduced by Bosio (pp. 355, 391) and others. A romantic air has been thrown over these burial chapels by the notion that they were the places of worship used by the Christians in times of persecution. This to a certain extent is doubtless true, as in the case of the chapel of Santa Priscilla, where the altar or stone coffin of a martyr remains, with a small platform behind it for the priest or bishop to stand upon. But that they can have been so used to any large extent is rendered impossible by their limited dimensions, as none of them could hold more than fifty or sixty persons. In some of the catacombs, however, there are larger halls and connected suites of chapels which may possibly have been constructed for the purpose of congregational worship during the dark periods when the public exercise of the Christian religion was made penal. The most remarkable of these is in the cemetery of Sant' Agnese (see plan, fig. 13). It consists of five rectangular compartments, three on one side of the corridor and two on the other, connected by a passage intersecting the gallery at right angles. Two of the five compartments are supposed to have been assigned to male, and two to female worshippers, the fifth, at the extremity of the whole, being reserved for the altar and its ministers. In the centre of the end-wall stands a stone chair (fig. 14), considered to have been the episcopal cathedra, with a bench for the clergy on each side. There is no trace of an altar, which may, Marchi thinks, have been portable. The walls of the compartments are occupied by arched sepulchral recesses, above and below which are tiers of ordinary graves or _loculi_. The arrangements are certainly such as indicate a congregational purpose, but the extreme narrowness of the suite, and still more of the passage which connects the two divisions, must have rendered it difficult for any but a small number to take any intelligent part in the services at the same time. Although the idea of the use of the catacombs for religious worship may have been pressed too far, there can be no doubt that the sacred rites of the church were celebrated within them. We have already spoken of the eucharistic celebrations of which the _cubicula_ were the scene; and still existing baptisteries prove that the other sacrament was also administered there. The most remarkable of these baptisteries is that in the catacomb of San Pontianus (fig. 15). Ten steps lead down to a basin of sufficient depth for immersion, supplied by a spring. Some of the subterranean chambers contain armed seats and benches cut out of the tufa rock. These are supposed by Marchi and others to indicate schoolrooms, where the catechumens were instructed by the bishop or presbyters. But this theory wants verification. It is impossible not to be struck with the remarkable analogy between these rock-hewn chairs and those discovered in the Etruscan tombs, of the purpose of which no satisfactory explanation has been given. [Illustration: FIG. 14.--Bishop's Chair. Catacomb of Sant' Agnese.] [Illustration: FIG. 15.--Baptistery of San Pontianus. (From Perret.)] Theories of the use of the catacombs. Very exaggerated statements have been made as to the employment of the catacombs as dwelling-places by the Christians in times of persecution. We have, however, sufficient evidence that they were used as places of refuge from the fury of the heathen, in which the believers--especially the bishops and clergy, who would naturally be the first objects of attack--might secrete themselves until the storm had blown over. This was a purpose for which they were admirably adapted both by the intricacy of their labyrinthine passages, in which any one not possessing the clue
{'title': 'Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Cat" to "Celt" by Various', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}