Acatus
Acatus dim. ACATIUM (ἄκατος, ἀκάτιον). 1. A kind of boat or small vessel [NAVIS]. 2. In the rigging of a ship, ἀκάτια were certain sails, perhaps stay-sails, of which nothing definite is known (cf. Liddell and Scott, s. v.). The statement in Julius Pollux and Hesychius that the main-mast was so called is extremely doubtful; in the only classical text where the word occurs, τὰ ἀκάτια are contrasted with τὰ μέψαλα ἱστία (Xen. Hell. 6.2.27); and Rich, s.v. rightly observes that the only certain thing is that the acatium was especially adapted for fast sailing with light winds. 3. A drinking-vessel, so named from its shape, somewhat like our modern sauce-boat. The above figures are from the collection in the Louvre (ap. Daremberg and Saglio). The ἀκάτια are expressly distinguished from larger cups (Epicrat. ap. Ath. xi. p. 782 f., fr. 9, Meineke); but there was also a μεγάλη ἄκατος used in libations (Antiph. ap. Ath. xv. p. 692 f., fr. 5, Meineke).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.