Canathron
κάναθρον
Canathron (κάναθρον or κάνναθρον) was a Laconian car made of wood, with an arched plaited covering,--πλέγματα ἔχουσα, as Hesych. says (hence the derivation probably from κάννα, a reed
),--in which the Spartan ladies used to go to Amyclae for the celebration of the Hyacinthia. We may compare the Roman pilentum. The capital passage is Polycrates ap. Athenaeus, 4, 139f: τῶν δὲ παρθένων αἱ μὲν ἐπὶ καννάθρων καμαρωτῶν ξυλίνων ἁρμάτων φέρονται πολυτελῶς κατεσκευασμένων. The nature of the adornments was at times fantastic: εἴδωλα γρυπῶν ἢ τραγελάφων (Plut. Ages. 19; cf. Xen. Ages. 8, 7; Müller, Dorians, 2.298). Eustath. on Il. 24.190 is in error in stating that κάνναθρον and πείρινς are the same. The latter is a basket put into the chariot, and used for holding the necessaries for a journey, and also for a seat (Buchholz, Hom. Real. 2.1, 228).
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.