CRĀTER (κρατήρ, Ionic κρητήρ, from κεράννυμι, I mix), a vessel in which the wine, according to the custom of the ancients, who very seldom drank it pure, was mixed with water, and from which the cups were filled. Craters were among the first things on the embellishment of which the ancient artists exercised their skill; and the number of craters dedicated in temples seems everywhere to have been very great.
CRĔPĬDA (κρηπίς), a slipper. Slippers were worn with the pallium, not with the toga, and were properly characteristic of the Greeks, though adopted from them by the Romans.
CRĪMEN. Though this word occurs so frequently, it is not easy to fix its meaning. Crimen is often equivalent to accusatio (κατηγορία); but it frequently means an act which is legally punishable. Those delicta which were punishable according to special leges, senatus consulta, and constitutiones, and were prosecuted in judicia publica by an accusatio publica, were more especially called crimina; and the penalties in case of conviction were loss of life, of freedom, of civitas, and the consequent infamia, and sometimes pecuniary penalties also.
CRISTA. [[Galea].]
CRĬTES (κριτής), a judge, was the name applied by the Greeks to any person who did not judge of a thing like a δικαστής, according to positive laws, but according to his own sense of justice and equity. But at Athens a number of κριταί was chosen by ballot from a number of selected candidates at every celebration of the Dionysia: they were called οἱ κριταί, κατ’ ἐξοχήν. Their office was to judge of the merit of the different choruses and dramatic poems, and to award the prizes to the victors. Their number was five for comedy and the same number for tragedy, one being taken from every tribe.
CRŌBỸLUS. [[Coma].]
CRŎCŌTA (sc. vestis, κροκωτὸν sc. ἱμάτιον, or κροκωτὸς sc. χιτών), was a kind of gala-dress, chiefly worn by women on solemn occasions, and in Greece especially, at the festival of the Dionysia. Its name was derived from crocus, one of the favourite colours of the Greek ladies.
CRŎTĂLUM. [[Cymbalum].]
CRUSTA. [[Caelatura].]
CRUX (σταυρός, σκόλοψ), an instrument of capital punishment, used by several ancient nations, especially the Romans and Carthaginians. Crucifixion was of two kinds, the less usual sort being rather impalement than what we should describe by the word crucifixion, as the criminal was transfixed by a pole, which passed through the back and spine and came out at the mouth. The cross was of several kinds; one in the shape of an X, called crux Andreana, because tradition reports St. Andrew to have suffered upon it; another was formed like a T. The third, and most common sort, was made of two pieces of wood crossed, so as to make four right angles. It was on this, according to the unanimous testimony of the fathers, that our Saviour suffered. The punishment, as is well known, was chiefly inflicted on slaves, and the worst kind of malefactors. The criminal, after sentence pronounced, carried his cross to the place of execution; a custom mentioned in the Gospels. Scourging appears to have formed a part of this, as of other capital punishments among the Romans; but the scourging of our Saviour is not to be regarded in this light, for it was inflicted before sentence was pronounced. The criminal was next stripped of his clothes and nailed or bound to the cross. The latter was the more painful method, as the sufferer was left to die of hunger. Instances are recorded of persons who survived nine days. It was usual to leave the body on the cross after death. The breaking of the legs of the thieves, mentioned in the Gospels, was accidental; because, by the Jewish law, it is expressly remarked, the bodies could not remain on the cross during the Sabbath-day.