Cassius \'kash-os\ (Longinus), Gaius (d. 42 bc, near Philippi, Mace¬ donia) Roman general and administrator. He fought alongside Pompey the Great against Julius Caesar but was reconciled with Caesar after Pompey’s defeat. Motivated by jealousy and bitterness, he joined Brutus in the suc¬ cessful conspiracy to assassinate Caesar (44 bc). Forced to leave Rome after the assassination, he went to Syria, and there he ousted the Roman governor (43). With Brutus he raised an army in Macedonia to challenge the Second Triumvirate. Defeated at the Battle of Philippi by Mark Antony, he had his freedmen slay him. He was lamented by Brutus as “the last of the Romans.”
cassone \ko-'so-na\ or marriage chest Chest, usually of wood, intended to contain a bride’s dowry or to be given as a wedding present. It was the most elaborately decorated piece of furniture in Renaissance Italy. In the 15th century, wealthy Florentine families employed artists such as Sandro Botticelli and Paolo Uccello to decorate cassoni with paint¬ ings. They were often made in pairs, bearing the respective coats of arms of the bride and groom. Though cassoni were made in many countries, the finest come from Italy.
cassowary \'ka-S9-,wer-e\ Any of several species of rattle (family Casuariidae) of the Australo-Papuan region. Related to the emu, it has been known to kill humans with slashing blows of its feet, which have long, daggerlike claws on the innermost toe. It has a featherless blue head pro¬ tected by a bony crest and has a black body (immature birds are brown¬
ish). It moves rapidly along narrow tracks in the bush. Cassowaries eat fruit and small animals. The largest species is the common, or southern, cassowary ( Casuarius casuarius), which stands almost 5 ft (1.5 m) tall.
cast iron Alloy of iron that con¬ tains 2-4% carbon, along with sili¬ con, manganese, and impurities. It is made by reducing iron ore in a blast furnace (cast iron is chemically the same as blast-furnace iron) and cast¬ ing the liquid iron into INGOTS called pigs. Pig iron is remelted, along with scrap and alloying elements, in cupola furnaces and recast into molds for a variety of products. In the 18th—19th centuries, cast iron was a cheaper engineering material than wrought iron (not requiring intensive refining and hammering). It is more brittle and lacks tensile strength. Its compressive (load- bearing) strength made it the first important structural metal. In the 20th century, steel replaced it as a construction material, but cast iron still has industrial applications in auto¬ mobile engine blocks, agricultural and machine parts, pipes, hollowware, stoves, and furnaces. Most cast iron is either so-called gray iron or white iron, the colours shown by fracture; gray iron contains more silicon and is less hard and more machinable than white iron. Both are brittle, but malleable cast iron (produced by prolonged heat-treating), first made in 18th-century France, was developed into an industrial product in the U.S. Cast iron that is ductile as cast was invented in 1948. The latter now con¬ stitutes a major family of metals, widely used for gears, dies, automobile crankshafts, and many other machine parts.
Castagno \ka-'sta-nyo\, Andrea del orig. Andrea di Bartolo (b.
c. 1421, San Martino a Corella, Republic of Florence—d. Aug. 19, 1457, Florence) Italian painter active in Florence. Little is known of his early life, and many of his paintings have been lost. His earliest dated works are frescoes in the church of San Zaccaria in Venice (1442). In 1447 he began his greatest work, a series of monumental frescoes depicting the Last Supper and other scenes of Christ’s Passion for the convent of Sant’ Apollonia in Florence (now a museum). His use of pictorial illusionism and scientific perspective, as well as the powerful, sculptural form of his figures, established him as one of the most influential Renaissance paint¬ ers of the 15th century.
caste Any of the ranked, hereditary, endogamous (see exogamy and endogamy) occupational groups that constitute traditional societies in cer¬ tain regions of the world, particularly among Hindus in India. There caste is rooted in antiquity and specifies the rules and restrictions governing social intercourse and activity. Each caste has its own customs that restrict the occupations and dietary habits of its members and their social con¬ tact with other castes. There are about 3,000 castes, or jatis (broadly, “form of existence fixed by birth”), and more than 25,000 subcastes in India. They are traditionally grouped into four major classes, or varnas (“colours”). At the top are the Brahmans, followed by the Kshatriyas, Vaish- yas, and Shudras. Those with the most defiling jobs (such as those who dispose of body emissions and dead animals) are ranked beneath the Shu¬ dras. Considered untouchable, they were simply dubbed as “the fifth” (panchama ) category. Although a great many spheres of life in modem India are little influenced by caste, most marriages are nevertheless arranged within the caste. This is in part because most people live in rural communities and because the arrangement of marriages is a family activ¬ ity carried out through existing networks of kinship and caste.
caste \'kast\ In biology, a subset of individuals within a colony of social animals (chiefly ants, bees, termites, and wasps) that has a specialized func¬ tion and is distinguished from other subsets by morphological and ana¬ tomical differences. Typical insect castes are the queen (the female responsible for reproduction), workers (the usually sterile female care¬ takers of the queen, eggs, and larvae), soldiers (defenders of the colony; also sterile females), and sometimes drones (short-lived males). The dif-
Common, or southern, cassowary (Casuarius casuarius).
ANTHONY MERCIECA FROM ROOT RESOURCES
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
348 I Castelo Branco ► castor-oil plant
ferentiation of larvae into various castes is often determined by diet, though hormonal and environmental factors can also play a role.
Castelo Branco \kash-'tel-u-'bra n i]-ku\, Camilo, viscount of Cor¬ reia Botelho (b. March 16, 1825, Lisbon, Port.—d. June 1, 1890, Seide) Portuguese novelist. An orphan from a family with a tendency to insanity, he studied medicine and theology before beginning to write. While imprisoned for eloping with another man’s wife, he wrote his best- known work, Amor de perdigao (1862; “Fatal Love”), about a thwarted love that leads to crime and exile. His 58 novels, many mirroring his pas¬ sionate life, range from Romantic melodrama to realism. His best works include O romance d’um homem rico (1861; “The Love Story of a Rich Man”) and O retrato de Ricardina (1868; “Portrait of Ricardina”). Ennobled in 1885, he committed suicide five years later.
Castiglione V.kas-tel-'yo-naV, Baldassare (b. Dec. 6, 1478, Casat- ico, near Mantua—d. Feb. 2, 1529,
Toledo) Italian diplomat, courtier, and writer. Born into a noble family, he was attached to the courts of Man¬ tua and Urbino and later entered papal service. He is remembered for The Courtier (1528). Written in the form of a philosophical dialogue, it describes the conduct of the perfect courtier, the qualities of a noble lady, and the ideal relationships between the courtier and his prince. Immedi¬ ately successful in Italy and beyond, it became a manual for those aspir¬ ing to aristocratic manners during the Renaissance.
Castile \ka-'stel\ Spanish Castilla \ka-'ste-lya\ Traditional region, pen¬ insular Spain. Comprising several modern provinces, its northern part is called Old Castile and its southern part New Castile. Castilian territory was united under Leon by Feman Gonzalez in the 10th century. Though it separated from Leon in the 12th century, it was reunited with it by Ferdinand III in 1230. The Spanish part of the kingdom of Navarra was annexed by Castile in 1512, thus complet¬ ing the formation of modern Spain. Castile remains Spain’s centre of politi¬ cal and administrative power. See also Castile-Leon; Castile-La Mancha.