Expert: Maria - 1/4/2008

Question
its really weird, i know, but could you please help me find more info on roman chicken cages? its really strange, but i would like to know how romans kept their chickens in cages, and what the cages looked like. also, what about the sacred chickens that claudius (?i think that was it...)had? i hate to say it, but what about their cages? this is for a project , and i needed an expert, so sorry if im wasting your time....i kinda need the answer by the 14th of this january.

Answer
Hi Caroline,

Your question is quite weird indeed! Anyway it is also interesting.
So a chicken  cage, which in Latin was called “pullaria cavea", looked like the image you can see at the site below:
http://speculum.lib.uchicago.edu/view.php?id=speculum-0293-001&title=(B293)%20Military%20Insignia%20And%20Instruments%20Of%20War%20From%20A%20Marble%20Tablet

If you see on the right down of this marble tablet with an inscription, you realize that  there is a chicken cage as the freedman (‘libertus’, in Latin, i.e. LIB in the inscription) named Atimetus, who is mentioned in the inscription, was just a “PVLLARIUS” (pullarius), that is the man who opened the  cage and fed the  chickens when an augury was needed. If the chickens stayed in their cage, made noises and beat their wings or flew away, the omen was bad; if they ate, the omen was good.

As you can see if you click on the cage to enlarge it, this Roman cage it’s not so different from modern cages, except for it is decorated and shows two little doors.
Inside the cage you can see two chickens which are eating. On the top of the cage  there's even a handle to carry it.
Besides the cage, in this marble tablet made by the ‘pullarius’ Atimetus there are also battle-standards and  legionary eagles with other instruments of war, that he dedicated to the Prefect of the 3rd Legion Cyrenaica, who was likely his commander.

So from the picture in this marble tablet you can certainly know how the Romans kept their chickens in cages, and what the cages looked like, so that you can describe them in your project.


As for the sacred chickens that Claudius had, you refer to the Roman consul Publius Claudius Pulcher, who in 249 BC, during the First Punic War, attacked the Carthaginian fleet at Drepanum (Sicily) and was defeated.  It was believed  that he was defeated because he threw all the sacred chickens overboard saying "If they won't eat, let them drink", since they refused to eat before the battle, as we read in two Roman authors, i.e.  Suetonius, 'Life of Tiberius', chapter 2,  and  Cicero, 'On the nature of the Gods', book II, chapter 3.

Hope this can be helpful to you.

Best,
Maria
_____________________________________________________
1-Note that in 'pullaria cavea' the feminine adjective PULLARIA, agreed with ‘cavea’,  means 'of the chickens', while the noun CAVEA means 'cage'.

2-SUETONIUS(c.71-c.135 AD)was a  Roman scholar and  author of the ‘Lives of the Twelve Caesars’("De vita XII Caesarum”, in Latin).

3-CICERO (106-43 BC) was one of Rome’s  greatest orator and author.