cateia

• a kind of spear, probably barbed, Verg. A. 7, 741; Sil. 3, 277; Val. Fl. 6, 83; Gell. 10, 25, 2; cf. Serv. ad Verg. l. l.; Isid. Orig. 18, 7, 7.

• Celtic, a barbed spear, V.

CATEIAa missile used in war by the Germans, Gauls, and some of the Italian nations, ascribed also to Persians and other Orientals (Verg. A. 7.741; Val, Flacc. 6.83; Aul. Gell. 10.25), and supposed to resemble the aclys (Serv. l. c.; Isid. Orig. 18.7). Now the aclis or aclys is said by Servius to have been obsolete in his time, and therefore imperfectly known ; but it is described (he adds) as a club a foot and a half long, studded with points, and furnished with a thong, so that it can be recovered by the thrower (ad Aen. 7.730, where Virgil himself mentions the thong, flagellum). As far as the two can be distinguished, the aclys seems to have been more of a club, the cateia more of a spear. Papias (s. v.) makes it a Persian word: later writers consider it Celtic, which, as Conington observes (ad Aen. l. c.), would agree with Virgil's Teutonico ritu, the Celtae and Teutones being often confounded. The weapon was also called teutona from the name of the people (Isid. l. c.; Aelfric, Gloss. Saxon. ap. Lersch). francisca or francisque, the peculiar weapon of the Franks, is described as a two-edged axe used as a missile and carried in the belt: a modification perhaps of the aclys rather than the cateia. Cf. Lersch. Antiq. Verg.(Bonn, 1843), § 40, de cateia et aclyde.

A missile used in war by the Germans, Gauls, and some of the Italians, and ascribed by some writers to the Persians. It was supposed to resemble the aclis, which was a sort of dart studded with points, and about a foot and a half long. (See Aul. Gell. x. 25; Orig. xviii. 7; ad Aen. vii. 730.) The cateia was also known as teutona, from the name of the people.