PLUTEO. — A pluteo is generally understood to be an element, usually made of marble or sometimes wood (as in Syria), used for railing or partitioning.
The plutei of Trajan (anaglypta Traiani) in the loggia of the Rostra in the Roman Forum were famous; these were richly carved. The earliest plutei in Christian buildings (such as St. Peter’s in the Vatican and St. Agnes’) were similar to those carved in one of the reliefs of the Arch of Constantine. By the 6th century, they appear with a cross in the center, as in St. Clement’s, St. Peter’s, and St. Lawrence’s in Rome, and in Constantinople, or with monograms, as in St. Clement’s (of John II), or richly decorated, as in Ravenna.