Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Calavius

by William Smith

Cala'vius, the name of a distinguished Campanian family or gens. In conjunction with some other Canipanians, the Calavii are said to have set fire to various parts of Rome, b. c. 211, in order to avenge themselves for what the Campanians had suffered from the Romans. A slave of the Calavii betrayed the crime, and the whole family, together with their slaves who had been accomplices in the crime, were arrested and punished. (Liv. xxvi. 27.)