Camillus


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

EncycloReader

Camillus and CAMILLA, in Roman antiquity, originally terms used for freeborn children. Later, they were used to denote the attendants on certain priests and priestesses, especially the flamen dialis and flaminica and the curiones. It was necessary that they should be freeborn and the children of parents still alive (Dion. Halic. ii. 21). The name Camillus has been connected with the Cadmilus or Casmilus of the Samothracian mysteries, identified with Hermes (see Cabeiri).