Chariot Race in the Circus. (Florentine Gem.)
The horse-racing followed the same rules as the chariots. The enthusiasm of the Romans for these races exceeded all bounds. Lists of the horses (libella), with their names and colours, and those of the drivers, were handed about, and heavy bets made upon each faction; and sometimes the contests between two parties broke out into open violence and bloody quarrels, until at last the disputes which originated in the circus had nearly lost the Emperor Justinian his crown.—II. Ludus Trojae, a sort of sham-fight, said to have been invented by Aeneas, performed by young men of rank on horseback, and often exhibited by the emperors.—III. Pugna equestris et pedestris, a representation of a battle, upon which occasions a camp was formed in the circus.—IV. Certamen Gymnicum. See [Athletae], and the references to the articles there given.—V. [[Venatio].]—VI. [[Naumachia].]
Cisium. (From monument at Igel, near Treves.)
CĬSĬUM, a light open carriage with two wheels, adapted to carry two persons rapidly from place to place. The cisia were quickly drawn by mules. Cicero mentions the case of a messenger who travelled 56 miles in 10 hours in such vehicles, which were kept for hire at the stations along the great roads; a proof that the ancients considered six Roman miles per hour as an extraordinary speed.
Cista. (From a Painting on a Vase.)
CISTA (κίστη). (1) A small box or chest, in which anything might be placed, but more particularly applied to the small boxes which were carried in procession in the festivals of Demeter and Dionysus. These boxes, which were always kept closed in the public processions, contained sacred things connected with the worship of these deities. In the representations of Dionysiac processions on ancient vases women carrying cistae are frequently introduced.—(2) The ballot-box, into which those who voted in the comitia and in the courts of justice cast their tabellae. It is represented in the annexed cut, and should not be confounded with the situla or sitella, into which sortes or lots were thrown. [[Situla].]
CISTŎPHŎRUS (κιστοφόρος), a silver coin, which is supposed to belong to Rhodes, and which was in general circulation in Asia Minor at the time of the conquest of that country by the Romans. It took its name from the device upon it, which was either the sacred chest (cista) of Bacchus, or more probably a flower called κιστός. Its value is extremely uncertain: some writers suppose it to have been worth in our money about 7¼d.