kathisma

Or ca·this·ma

[kah-theez-mah, ka-thiz-muh]

noun

plural

kathismata, cathismata 

1. one of the 20 divisions of the Psalter in the Greek rite.

Word History and Origins

Origin of kathisma¹

First recorded in 1850–60; from Medieval Greek, Greek káthisma “seat,” from kathízein “to sit down” (equivalent to kat- kat- + hízein “to set, sit”; sit ¹ ) + -isma -ism ( def. )

Example Sentences

This place, called Kathisma or “seat” in Greek, is said to be where the Virgin Mary rested and drank from a well, not long before giving birth in a stable to Jesus.

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But on the sixth day of the riots they led him to the Hippodrome, installed him in the royal seat of the Kathisma, and crowned him there with a gold chain of his wife's, for want of a proper diadem.

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Belisarius attacked at once all three gates of the Hippodrome: that directed against the door of the Kathisma failed, but the soldiery forced both the side entrances, and after a hard struggle the rebels were entirely routed.

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The emperor's box, called the Kathisma, occupied the whole of the short northern side, and contained many hundreds of seats for the imperial retinue.

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The great central throne of the Kathisma was the place in which the monarch showed himself most frequently to his subjects, and around it many strange scenes were enacted.

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