Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Ratis

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

RATIS (σχεδία). A raft; formed by joining together a number of planks to make a float, as shown by the annexed example (Ratis/1.1), from a mosaic in the ceiling of an ancient temple of Bacchus, now the church of Santa Constantia, near Rome. Plin. H. N. vii. 57. Quint. x. 2. 7. Cic. Att. ix. Isidor. Orig. xix. 1. 19.

2. (πλοῖον κοντωτόν). A flat-bottomed boat, pushed on by a pole, as in the annexed example (Ratis/2.1), from the very ancient mosaic pavement of Praeneste, instead of being rowed with oars. It constitutes in fact the first step in naval architecture from the simple raft to the regular vessel. Virg. Georg. ii. 445. Flor. iv. 2. 32. Diodor. xix. Bayfius, Re Nav.

3. By the poets used indiscriminately for a boat or ship of any kind.

4. A pontoon, or bridge of boats for passing over from one side of a river to the other; formed by fixing the requisite number of boats in the centre of the stream to serve as piers for supporting a footway of planks laid athwart them from one side of the river to its opposite bank; whence the expression of Livy, rate jungere flumen. The example (Ratis/4.1) is from the column of Antoninus.

• 
  Ratis/1.1
• 
  Ratis/2.1
• 
  Ratis/4.1