Mantica
πήρα
Mantica (πήρα, θύλακος), properly a hand-bag, a wallet or travelling bag, in which a few necessaries could be carried. It was carried in the hand or slung over the shoulder (Appul. Met. 1.60; Catull. 22, 21; Pers. 4, 24), or strapped on behind the saddle of the horse, mantica cui lumbos onere ulceret
(Hor. Sat. 1.6, 106). The later word averta was a larger sort of saddle-bag, usually of leather. Either would suffice to carry, besides provisions, whatever change of clothes the poorer traveller needed. The rich entrusted their luggage to the attendant slaves, who packed it up in bundles. Thus the Greek στρώματα (Arist. Av. 616; Ran. 12), carried on a journey by the slave, means a roll of clothes as well as bedding; and these were also more methodically packed in a στρωματόδεσμος, or large bag. (Plat. Theaet. p. 175 E; Aesch. Fals. Leg. § 99; Poll. 7.79; Rutherford, New Phryn. p. 487.)
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.