Raeda

vol. I A p.41-42

Raeda

Raeda, reda, or rheda (cf. about the names Revue de l’institution publ. en Belgique 1864, 56. 1867, 390. Walde Lat. etymolog. Wörterbuch² 646), a celtic word (Quint. I 5, 57. 68) meaning a kind of Gallic wagon, <10> which Caesar encountered (bell. Gall. I 51. VI 30) in battles with the Germans and the Gauls. The glosses explain the word with κάρρον, καρρούχιον, σαράγαρον Corp. gloss. lat. VII 180. It was once equated with a carruca in Martial III 47, 5. 13. It was the personal wagon used for travelling by the Romans, which had space for multiple people (Cic. Mil. 28. 54; Phil. II 58; Att. VI 25. Horat. sat. I 5, 86. II 6, 42. Iuven. III 236. IV 1. Mart. X 13, 1. Varro in Nonius 167, 20. Ed. Diocl. 15, 33), <20> and as such, it was made comfortable. Cicero, at the very least, dictated a letter sedens in raeda (Att. V 17, 1). They were also loaded with all kinds of luggage (Iuven. III 10. Mart. III 47, 5). We are neither told by detailed description nor by certain precise illustrations about the constructional design of the reda, which didn’t always remain the same. It had four wheels (Isid. orig. XX 12, 2 reda genus vehiculi quatuor rotarum; Cod. Theod. VIII 5, 8, 2 contrasts them to the birota). <30> According to Cod. Theod. loc. cit. 1, they were able to carry 1000lbs. They were pulled by mules (Varro r. r. III 17, 7) or horses (Varro r. r. II 7, 15), specifically by Gallic ponies (Helvius Cinna in Gellius XIX 13, 5 me … bigis raeda raptat citatis manis), and, if the situation called for it, by two (Helv. Cinna loc. cit.) or four animals (Venantius Fortunatus III 17, 4). According to Cod. Theod. VIII 5, 8, 2, <40> in summer the reda was pulled by 8 mulae, and in winter by 10. The charioteer was called the redarius (Cic. Mil. 29); though this word can also refer to a builder of wagons (Hist. Aug. Max. et Balb. 5, 1). The speed of the journey would vary according to the quality of the wagon, the weight being carried, and the animals pulling it. Maecenas and his companions (Horat. sat. 5, 86) only covered 24 miles or ~36km in one day; <50> however, we don’t know when they set off or when they arrived, so no sure conclusions can be made from this. Venant. Fort. and Helv. Cinna loc. cit. praise the speed of the reda. Suet. Caes. 57 speaks about Caesar’s fast journeys. As well as private redae, there were also hireable ones (raedae meritoriae Suet. loc. cit. and Calig. 39. Sen. de ben. VII 5, 3); even the state postal service made use of the raeda (Sulp. Sev. dial. II 7 raeda fiscalis. Corp. gloss. lat. V 525, 37. 577, 35). <60> In Dig. XXXIII 10, 4ff., the seats - sedularia - and the covers (tapetia vel lintea) of the raeda are mentioned. Alexander Severus shares a particular privilege of the senators, in how they were allowed to use silver carrucae and redae (Hist. Aug. Alex. Sev. 43, 1). A raeda is, perhaps, the two-horse four-wheel wagon which is found on a relief in Maria-Saal in Carinthia, which a coachman is steering, while a woman playing a hand drum is sitting in a richly ornamented covered body of a wagon (publ. in Jabornegg Kärntens Altertümer, Klagenfurt 1871, Taf. 5, 1; in Mužik and Perschinka Kunst und Leben im Altert. Taf. 161, 1; in Blümer Röm. Privataltert.³ 461). Saglio takes a wagon, similar to a char à bancs, <10> pulled by four animals, found on a relief in Langres, to be a raeda (Daremberg-Saglio IV 862 Fig. 5939, after Rev. arch. XI p. 236). Daremberg-Saglio loc. cit. Blümner loc. cit. 460. Marquardt-Mau Privatleben d. Römer 730, 9. 733. Becker Gallus III³ 13.

[Hug.]