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ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
The term Roman Mythology requires some explanation, even justification. The religious system
whose centre is placed for convenience in Rome was not in fact purely Roman; the elements which
composed it were numerous and varied. It was not monolithic, but a mosaic in which can be
recognised contributions which were Etruscan, Alban, Sabine, Greek, Syrian, Persian, Egyptian.
Obviously there were Roman elements too; but not to such a degree that they dominated the
system and gave it a specifically national character.
Roman mythology seems poor when compared with the poetic and spiritual richness of Greek and
Oriental mythologies. The Romans were a practical people with little imagination and they sought
to form a religion which corresponded to their needs. It was important to them to feel sheltered
from the perils which threatened the group or the individual; but they experienced no mystic
necessity to love and worship the superhuman powers to whom they had recourse. Their gods
were protectors for whose services they paid; and in case of failure their wages were withheld. Do
ut des: I give to thee so that thou givest to me; such was the cynical profession of faith that one
might inscribe above the entrance of the Roman Pantheon.
We use the term Roman pantheon inaccurately, for there was no genuinely Roman pantheon. The
term was a Greek importation of the third century B.C. Was there not, then, a hierarchy of
divinities worshipped in Rome? There was. But it was not at all like that great assembly of
splendid personages, all possessing their individual traits and each easily recognised, which
composed the Greek pantheon. It was something more abstract and utilitarian: a register, an actual
catalogue (Indigitamenta) in which those who were interested could find the names of protective
powers with special functions attributed to them and the rites which must be performed in order
to purchase their favours.
In the course of time, when the fortunes of war had given the Romans empire over the ancient
world, this utilitarian spirit which they had shown in constructing their own religious system led
them without effort to build on their own soil the temples of the peoples they had defeated. These
foreign gods whom they installed in the family circle, as it were, were new protectors who joined
those who already stood guard over the Roman family and city. Rome, capital of the Empire,
accepted within its walls gods who were formerly enemies but henceforth formed part of Roman
political organisation.
ITALIC GODS
There were a certain number of purely Italic gods. It must not, however, be forgotten that foreign
influences, and above all Greek influence, were felt from very early times. To give a few dates: the
traditional foundation of Rome was 753 B.C. Now during the course of that century Greek
colonies were established in Sicily and in southern Italy which was, indeed, called Magna Graecia.
The Dorians founded Syracuse in 734 and Tarentum in 707. The Achaeans founded Sybaris in 721,
Metapontum and Croton. The Euboeans installed themselves on both sides of the Straits of
Messina, at Rhegium (Reggio) in Italy and at Messina in Sicily.
Mars, the most Roman of the gods, second in importance only to Jupiter himself. Originally an
agricultural deity his character changed with that of the Roman people and he became instead the
god of war of a conquering and warring nation, his agricultural functions devolving on to lesser
gods. Mars had numerous temples both in Italy and throughout the empire, his chief festivals
being in the spring. Roman marble.
Rome-according to tradition in 753 B.C. Koman altar discovered atUstia.
Relations obviously sprang up between these Greeks and the Italic tribes. In particular, Etruscan
towns like Tarquinii, Vulci and Caere were in regular touch with the Hellenic colonies. Now the
Etruscans were closely involved in the history of primitive Rome, which they perhaps conquered.
In any case, during the sixth century tradition speaks of the Etruscan kings of Rome: Tarquinius
the Elder - who was of Greek origin - Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus. Hence it is evident
that the Romans, through the intermediary of the Etruscans, were very early exposed to Hellenic
influence, which explains why in these notes devoted to the Italic gods we shall encounter certain
details already observed in Greek mythology. This early hellenisation of the Roman pantheon
foreshadows the more complete assimilation which took place in the course of the third and
second centuries B.C.
We have seen that the Romans considered their gods as protectors. There were thus two chief
classes of Italic gods: those whose function it was to guard the State, and those who watched over
the family -the family being considered as an integral cell of the State.
We shall study first the gods of the State; but this does not imply that in the eyes of the Romans
these were in any way more important than the gods of the family. Indeed the cult rendered by
the Paterfamilias - who acted as an actual priest - to his lares, his penates and his manes was just
as important as the cult of Janus or Jupiter.
GODS OF THE STATE: PRINCIPAL DIVINITIES
Janus. Janus is unique in that he was an essentially Italic god or, more precisely, Roman. He
appears in no other mythology.
The origin of his name is uncertain. Cicero tried to find it in the verb ire. Others preferred the root
div (dividere), and assumed that the first form of the name was Divanus. A third hypothesis
suggests a form Jana, sometimes employed for Diana, of which the root dius or dium evokes the
idea of the luminous sky.
This last etymology agrees with the established fact that Janus was in origin a solar deity. But his
functions were wide and important and derived one from another.
Janus was first the god of all doorways: of public gates (jani) through which roads passed, and of
private doors. His insignia were thus the key which opens and closes the door, and the stick
(virgd) which porters employed to drive away those who had no right to cross the threshold. His
two faces (Janus bifrons) allowed him to observe both the exterior and interior of the house, and
the entrance and exit of public buildings.
Being god of the gates he was naturally the god of departure and return and, by extension, the god
of all means of communication. Under the name Portunus he was the god of harbours; and since
travel can be either by land or sea, he was supposed to have invented navigation.
Janus was also the god of'beginnings'. As a solar god he presided over daybreak (Matutinus
Pater). He was soon considered as the promoter of all initiative and, in a general way, he was
placed at the head of all human enterprises. For this reason the Romans ascribed to him an
essential role in the creation of the world. He was the god of gods, Janus Pater. Ovid relates that
Janus was called Chaos at the time when air, fire, water and earth were all a formless
mass. When the elements separated. Chaos took on the form of Janus: his two faces represented
the confusion of his original state. Other legends made Janus a king of the golden age of Latium.
He was said to have welcomed Saturn driven from the sky by Jupiter.
The cult of Janus was established either by Romulus or by Numa and always remained popular
among the Romans. Janus appeared at the head of religious ceremonies and, in his quality of
father of the gods, was the first on the Romans' list, coming even before Jupiter. He was honoured
on the first day of every month and the first month of the year (Januarius) bore his name.
In the Forum he had a temple whose gates were open in times of war and closed in times of peace.
The reason for this custom is not certain. The gates of the temple of Janus were, however, rarely
closed: once under Numa, three times under Augustus, then under Nero, Marcus Aurelius,
Commodus, Gordius III, and in the fourth century.
It was told of this temple how, during an attack on Rome by the Sabine Tatius, a Roman woman
was bribed by jewels to show the enemy the path to the citadel. But Janus whose function it was to
open a channel for fountains caused a jet of boiling water to gush forth which stopped Tatius
short. On the spot where the water spurted the temple of Janus was erected.
We possess no statue or bust of Janus, but on coins his effigies arc numerous. He is normally
represented with a double face, or as an older man with a beard. The crown of laurel does not
appear on all his images.
Mars. Mars is without doubt the most Roman of the gods. His cult was more important than that
of Jupiter. This was due to the fact that Mars was very intimately concerned with Roman history,
first because tradition made him the father of Romulus, then because of his functions as an
agricultural god. and finally because he was the god of war. He thus corresponded to the two
successive conditions of the Roman citizen, who was himself first a farmer and then a conqueror.
The origin of his name is disputed. Some connect it with a root mar or max which signified the
generative force. Others give to the root mar the sense of 'to shine', which would imply that Mars
was at first a solar divinity.
The most ancient forms of his name are Maurs and Mavors which were contracted into the usual
form Mars. Other forms - Mar.spiter and Ma.ipiler -- were created by the addition of the word
paler.
The Latins believed that Mars was the son of Juno. Juno gave birth to him, not with the assistance
of Jupiter, but by means of
a mystic union with a fabulous flower. Mars was the husband of the vestal Rhea Silvia. He took
her by surprise while she was sound asleep, and he became the father of Romulus and Remus.
His functions were at first rustic. In ancient times he was the god of vegetation and fertility. Under
the name of Silvanux - who afterwards became a distinct divinity - he presided over the prosperity
of cattle. He lived in forests and in the mountains. In a general way he protected agriculture: in
this aspect he is found associated with Robigus who preserved corn from the blight (rohigo).
Several animals were sacred to him: the woodpecker, the horse and the wolf whose image
frequently appears in the sanctuaries of the god: it was a she-wolf who had suckled Romulus and
Remus. Among the plants and trees which were dedicated to him were the fig-tree, the oak, the
dog-wood, the laurel and the bean.
These details, together with the fact that Mars was the god of Spring, when his most important
festivals were celebrated, demonstrate that Mars was essentially an agricultural god. He was
called Mars Gmdivux, from grandiri, 'to become big, to grow'.
His warrior functions only came afterwards, but in the end they supplanted his former duties
which were then transferred to Ceres and Liber. Mars became the god of battle. Honour was paid
to him in his temple at Rome before setting out on military expeditions. Before combat sacrifices
were offered to him, and after victory he received his share of the booty. Moreover he sometimes
appeared on the field of battle, escorted by Bellona and Vacuna, warrior-goddesses, by Pavor and
Pallor, who inspired terror in the enemy ranks, and by Honos and Virtus, who instilled in the
Romans honour and courage. Mars still preserved his former title ofGradivus, but it had changed
in meaning and by corruption was now connected with the verb gradi 'to march'. Mars was now a
foot-soldier. After victory he was accompanied by Vitula and Victoria.
Mars was venerated in Etruria, in Umbria. among the Sabines who associated him with the
goddess Nerio,' in Samnium and among the Oscans and in Latium. His temples were very
numerous and the Romans erected more of them in the conquered territories.
At Rome where he was worshipped as Mars and as Quirinus he had a sacrarium on the Palatine
Hill in the Roma Quadrala of Romulus. It was there that the god's sacred spears were kept and the
twelve shields, Ancilia, which were objects of his cult. Wishing to bestow upon King Numa a
token of his benevolence Mars - or according to Ovid, Jupiter - caused a shield to fall from the sky.
to which the fate of Rome was thenceforth attached. In order to avoid all risk of theft or
destruction, Numa had eleven identical shields constructed and placed them under the
guardianship of
a special college of priests, called the Salii. Primitively the rites of the Salii were intended to
protect the growth of plants.
Mars appeared as a purely agricultural god in the festivals of the XmA"nY;//a which were
celebrated in Rome on the twenty-ninth of May. They were purification festivals. During them
Mars was offered the.wm'Mwn/M. in the course of which a pig. a ram and a bull were led around
before being immolated to the god.
Mars also figures in the chanting of the /#ri'"/". a college of priests who were responsible for the
cult of Dea Dia. a rural goddess, closely related to Ceres.
Representations of Mars almost all derive from Greek art. The most Roman image of him is
probably a bearded Mars, with cuirass and helmet, reproduced from a statue of Mars Ultor in the
temple constructed by Augustus. As for the numerous figures of Mars engraved on medals, they
are in the Greek style and copy the Arcs type.
Bellona, his companion - sister, wife or daughter - had a celebrated temple in Rome near the gate
of Carmenta. There the senate gave audience to ambassadors. In front of the temple rose the 'war
column' which the fetialis struck with his lance when war was declared.The pricstsof Bellona
werechosen fromamongthc gladiators.
Jupiter. In the name Jupiter can he found the root (//. r//i'. which corresponds to the idea of
brilliance, the celestial light.
The function of the Etruscan Jupiter, who was called 7YwM. was to warn men and. on occasion, to
punish them. For this purpose he possessed three thunderbolts. He could hurl the first whenever
he felt like it. as a warning: but to hurl the second, which was also premonitory, he had to obtain
the permission of twelve gods. roM.scM/M or mm/)//CM. The third thunderbolt was the one
which punished. It could only be released with the consent of superior or hidden gods - (///
.vH/"'nmv.s, wro/iv/. This primitive Jupiter can be compared with Summanus. another Etruscan
thunder-god who presided over the night sky.
The Latin Jupiter was first ofall the god of light - sun and moon -and of celestial phenomena:
wind. rain, thunder, tempest and lightning. His role was thus important to the agricultural
population. Several epithets correspond to his diverse duties: Jupiter Lucetius was the god of light:
Jupiter Elicius (f//MTf, to elicit, to draw forth) caused the rain to fall: Jupiter Liber was the god of
creative force: Jupiter Dapalis presided over sowing; Jupiter Terminus watched over the boundary
stones of fields.
Jupiter rapidly lost his rural functions and became the great protector of the city and the State. He
was a warrior-god (Jupiter Stator. Eeretrius. Victor). He symbolised the great virtues of justice,
good faith and honour: he protected youth. In short he was the great tutelary power of the Empire:
Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Solemn titles were reserved for him: Conservator orbis. Conservator
Augustorum. Propugnator, etc. A more prosaic title, Pistor 'baker' - recalled that Jupiter once
advised the Romans, who were besieged in the Capitol by the Gauls, to throw bread over the
walls in order to show the enemy that they were in no fear of starvation.
Jupiter was worshipped throughout Italy. On the Quirinal he had a very ancient temple, the
Capitolium vetus. where he formed a triad with Juno and Minerva. This temple was built on the
Capitoline Hill under the Tarquins and the three gods there formed the Capitoline Triad. There
Jupiter bore the name Optimus Maximus.
It was under the aegis of the Capitoline Jupiter that the senators assembled to declare war.
Generals appeared before him prior to setting out to war and after victory returned to offer him a
crown of gold and part of the booty.
The /"(// rowaw, annual games, were celebrated in the circus in his honour. Their foundation
was attributed to the Elder Tarquin. They consisted of athletic contests, especially chariot races.
As well as the ludi romani there were the /H(///j/c&V/ which consisted of foot races and
theatrical entertainments.
Images of Jupiter are practically all derived from Greek art. The Volscian Jupiter is, however,
curious in that it is beardless and the god is depicted as a young man.
Juno. Sister and consort of Jupiter. Juno was a very great Italic-goddess. In the remotest epochs she
was found among the Sabincs. the Oscans. the Latins, the Umhrians and the Etruscans.
Her oldest titles. Lucetia and Lucina. correspond to her chief functions.
Juno Lucetia was the feminine principle of the celestial light, of which Jupiter was the masculine
principle. Like Jupiter she was also a moon-goddess: in this latter aspect she was coupled with
Diana.
Goddess of light, she was by derivation the goddess of childbirth, for the new-horn baby is
brought into the light. The goddess was then Juno Lucina.
In this aspect she occupied an important part in the ceremonies of marriage and afterwards. She
had many titles: Juno Pronuba watched over the arrangement of marriages: Juno Domiduca
conducted the bride to the house of her husband and saw that she crossed the threshold; Juno
Nuxia coated the doorposts with perfume; Cinxia unknotted the bride's girdle. Later Juno Lucina
protected the pregnant wife, strengthened the hones of the infant (Juno Ossipago) and assured the
mother's supply of milk (Juno Rumina). Juno Sospita received fervent invocations at the time of
labour and delivered the baby.
As a goddess of childbirth she was naturally invoked by wives who were barren. It was Juno
Lucina who rescued the Sabine women from the scourge of sterility with which they had been
stricken after their abduction.
To sum up, Juno Lucina was the goddess and symbol of the Roman matron - a logical
consequence of her own title of spouse of Jupiter, the supreme god.
Her role of goddess of childbirth was not confined to the protection of the Roman wife. Under the
name Populonia, Juno also watched over the multiplication of the race. Under the name Martialis,
mother of Mars, she was the goddess of birth and finally of fertility - Caprotina. This is what they
said of the origin of this epithet: taking advantage of Rome's weakness after the invasion of the
Gauls, the neighbouring tribes marched against the city under the leadership of Posthumius
Livius. They threatened to destroy Rome unless all the women and girls were turned over to them.
Some female slaves offered to go to the camp of Posthumius, disguised as free women. The
stratagem was successful. But that night, when the enemy was asleep, they unfurled from the top
of a wild fig-tree (cuprificus) a signal to the Romans who hastened to come and slaughter the
aggressors. The slaves were set free and rewarded by the State; and their act of heroism was
commemorated
Juno Moneta, after having been the adviser of those about to be married, became the adviser of the
Roman people. When the Gauls attempted to scale the walls of the citadel of the Capitol it was
Juno's sacred animals, the geese, who warned (Latin momre, to warn) the defenders of the peril.
Later this epithet Moneta changed its meaning, due to the installation near the temple of Juno of
the mint where money was coined.
Juno Sospita, protectress of confinements, became in a broader sense she who was always willing
to help, the liberator. She had two temples at Rome. At Lanuvium, Juno Sospita had a temple
which was guarded by a serpent. Every year a maiden would offer cakes to the serpent. If it
accepted, this was a sign that the girl was a virgin. Its refusal was an evil omen and a year of
sterility was to be feared.
A temple to Juno Lucina was built on the Esquiline in 735 B.C. only a few years after the
foundation of Rome. In the temple of the Capitoline Triad, built by the Tarquins, Juno's title was
Regina. There she held the golden sceptre, the Patera and the thunderbolt. She then played the
role of august consort of Jupiter and protectress of the Roman people. Her cult was spread
throughout the Empire.
The festivals of Juno Lucina, the Matronalia, were celebrated by Roman matrons at the Kalends of
March. After a ceremony in the sacred grove of the Palatine it became a family festival. The
mistress of the house was its central figure; she received a present from her husband and served
her slaves at the table.
Juno Regina is almost always represented standing; her attributes are the sceptre, the patera, the
veil and the peacock.
Juno Sospita is armed with spear and shield.
Juno Lucina carries a child in her arms; there are two more at her feet. She is also represented with
a child in her arms and in her hand a flower which recalls the circumstances in which she
conceived the god Mars.
Vesta. Vesta is the most beautiful of Roman divinities, bright and pure like the flame which is her
symbol. Her name derives - like the name Hestia - from a Sanskrit root, vas, which expresses the
idea of'shining'.
The Latins had made Vesta a goddess who personified the earth and fire. The Romans kept only
the second of these personifications. Nor was Vesta the goddess of fire in its broadest sense, but
only of fire required for domestic use or in religious ceremonial.
In the beginning Vesta was associated with Janus Pater and Tellus Mater, and was the protectress
of sown fields. She was also a symbol of idealised maternity - although she was a virgin - because
fire nourishes.
As a goddess of fire she received both a private and a public cult.
Every hearth had its Vesta. With Jupiter Dapalis she presided over the preparation of meals; she
was offered the first food and drink. With the Lares and the Penates she held a pre-eminent
position in the house.
At Rome the centre of her cult, which was said to have been originated by Romulus, was in the
Regia. It lasted almost all the year, being interrupted only during the months of January and
November. The chief festivals of Vesta were the Vestalia which were celebrated on the seventh of
June. On that day her sanctuary (which normally no one except her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins,
entered) was accessible to mothers of families who brought plates of food. The Vestals officiated.
The ceremonies were simple and unsanguinary. The objects of the cult were essentially the hearth
fire and pure water drawn into a clay vase, handmade, and narrow at the base so that it could not
stand on the ground.
The Vestals, who played a role of first importance in Roman liturgy, enjoyed exceptional prestige.
When Numa first instituted them they were two in number; Servius increased them to six. They
were chosen by lot from patrician families and entered the college between.the ages of six to ten.
They remained there for thirty years. During the first ten years they received instruction in their
duties which they exercised for the following ten years. Then, in their turn, they taught the
younger Vestals.
They took vows of absolute chastity. Those who broke their vows were punished by death.
Originally they were whipped to death, but the Elder Tarquin modified this torture: they were
then whipped and walled-up alive in a tomb which was sealed after a few provisions had been
deposited in it. Vestals accused of impurity
sometimes managed to clear their reputation. It was told how Tuccia proved her virginity by
bringing back water from the Tiber in the sacred sieve. The accomplice of the guilty Vestal was
whipped to death in the Forum Boarium. During the course of eleven centuries only twenty
Vestals broke their vow and suffered punishment.
If a Vestal let the sacred fire go out she was whipped by order of Pontifex Maximus.
When the Vestals had finished the thirty years of their engagement they could marry. They rarely
took advantage of this right, however, preferring to maintain the privileges of their position.
Whenever they appeared in public they were preceded by a lictor, and if a man condemned to
death chanced to meet a Vestal he was immediately reprieved.
Statues of Vesta are not numerous. Her image is found on coins, mostly imitations of Greek art.
She is always veiled.
Vulcan. Vulcan was one of the oldest of Latin gods, ante-dating even Jupiter. Under the name
Volcanus, he was the first Jupiter of Rome whose foundation he protected. In his aspect of Jupiter
he formed a couple with Juno. He was also associated with Maia, an incarnation of the Earth
Mother, and with Vesta, considered as goddess of the earth. He was not allied with Venus who in
those remote times still played a small part in Roman mythology. Volcanus was the father of
Cacus, whose legend will be recounted later. To him was also attributed the paternity of Servius
Tullius, king of Rome.
A maiden in the neighbourhood of Praeneste was seated one day near the fire when a spark fell on
her; some months afterwards she gave birth to a son. She exposed him in the forest where some
girls found him beside a lighted fire. For this reason he was regarded as a son of Vulcan and
because of the smallness of his eyes they named him Coeculus. When he grew up he founded the
town of Praeneste, celebrating the occasion with public games. As some of those present cast
doubts on his paternity he invoked his father Vulcan and the crowd was immediately surrounded
by flames.
Vulcan was the god of the thunderbolt and of the sun, then the god of fires whose ravages he
could arrest, and finally became
ROMAN MYTHOLOGY - 205
the god who was associated with the attribute of life-giving warmth.
He was invoked as the divinity of the hearth and, as he was united with Maia, mother of springs,
he was considered the first god of the Tiber. He even possessed warlike functions and may have
preceded Mars as god of battles. In the early history of Rome, then, Volcanus was a more
important personage than the later Vulcan.
The Volcanalia were celebrated on the twenty-third of August. On the twenty-seventh of August
Vulcan was feted in the Vohurnulia in his role of god of the Tiber, Volturnus being one of this
river's religious names. The seventeenth of August was the festival of the Portunalia, also
consecrated to the Tiber. It is probable that in ancient times human sacrifices were offered to
Vulcan. His altar in the Forum was the Volcanal.
The Romans always represented him as bearded, sometimes with a slight facial deformity which
doubtless recalled his infirmity. Near him stand the hammer, tongs and anvil, attributes which
came from Greece. He wears a bonnet (pileus) and a short tunic which leaves his right arm and
shoulder free.
Saturn. Saturn was a very ancient agricultural divinity of Latin and Roman origin; he was of the
same rank as Janus and Jupiter. His name may be connected with satur (stuffed, gorged) or with
sator (a sower); in either case he is synonymous with abundance.
Saturn was a working god and a vine-grower (vitisator). Under the name Stercutius he saw to the
manuring of fields. He was associated with Ops, who was a personification of the earth's riches.
Saturn was supposed to have been king of Italy during the golden age. Driven from the sky by
Jupiter he hid himself (latuit) in the country since called Latium, and indeed beneath the Capitol at
Rome itself. His reign brought prosperity and abundance.
The Saturnalia, celebrated on the seventeenth of December, originally consisted of a series of rural
festivals, sementivae feriae, consualia larentalia, paganalia. The Saturnalia assumed their real
importance in 217 B.C., a time when the defeat at Lake Trasimene, a prelude to the disaster of
Cannae, caused a religious revival among the Romans.
The Saturnalia lasted seven days, from the seventeenth to the
ROMAN MYTHOLOGY - 207
twenty-third of December. It was a period of unrestrained festivity. After the religious ceremony
there was an immense feast: people even took the precaution of bathing in the morning in order to
remain all day at table. Encumbering togas were removed and they ate at ease in tunics. In
memory of the golden age the masters served the slaves whovduring the festivals, could say and
do what they liked. There was a general suspension of public activity. Law courts did not sit,
schools were closed, commercial and military operations were suspended.
In the temple of Saturn near the Capitol the State treasury was kept, as well as the standards of the
legions which were not on campaign. The god's effigy was bound with woollen strips which
prevented him from leaving Roman territory. His bands were untied during the Saturnalia.
In a painting from Pompeii Saturn is standing, his chest half bare, a sickle in his hand. On coins he
carries a sickle or ears of corn.
Minerva. The name Minerva is connected with the root manas or mens. She first appeared in
Etruria under the names of Menrva, Menrfa, Meneruva, Menarva, and was perhaps a goddess of
the thunderbolt. It seems that this Etruscan Minerva very early merged with the Greek Athene.
Minerva is hence the least Italic of the divinities with whom she formed the triad Jupiter-Juno-
Minerva.
The Roman Minerva was especially the protectress of commerce and industry and of schools. It
was only later that she assumed the character of a warrior-goddess.
According to Roman tradition the cult of Minerva originated in Falerii. When in 241 B.C. the
Romans took this town they carried Minerva off, built her a temple at the foot of Mount Coelius
and gave her the name Minerva Capta. There was, however, a temple already consecrated to
Minerva in Rome on the Aventine. In any case her cult was not ancient in Latium or among the
Sabines.
Minerva was honoured, in association with Mars, in the Qitin-quairus which lasted five days
during the Spring equinoxes.
Minerva was venerated throughout the Empire. Particularly homage was paid to her by
corporations of artisans, flute-players, doctors and so forth.
There was no purely Roman figure of Minerva. The Etruscans had represented her with wings,
holding a screech-owl in her hand. It will be remembered that this bird was sacred to Athene.
_________________ Мой девиз: один против всех, и всем несдобровать...
Mercury. The name Mercury is connected with the root merx (merchandise) and mercari (to deal,
trade). He is not very ancient for he does not appear in the Indigitamenta. The early Romans,
being above all countrymen, had no need for a god of commerce.
The Roman Mercury appeared only about the fifth century B.C. and was exclusively the god of
merchants. For long he was known only in this capacity, so that Plautus, in his prologue to
Amphitryon, reminds his audience that Mercury presided over messages and commerce. Like
certain other minor divinities - Pecunia, Aes-culanus, Argentinus - he watched over tradesmen's
profits.
Mercury had a temple on the Aventine. Among animals the cock was especially sacred to him.
To portray him Roman artists generally drew upon representations of Hermes. They gave
Mercury a beardless face and, for attributes, the caduceus and the winged petasus, with a purse in
his hand.
AGRICULTURAL DIVINITIES
Faunus. Legend made Faunus the son of Picus and the grandson of Saturn. He was thought to
have been one of the first kings of Latium. He gave laws to the still barbarous tribes and invented
the shawm or rustic pipe. He deified his father Picus and his mother Canente who on the death of
her husband wasted away with grief until there was nothing left of her. Faunus was one of the
first Roman rustic divinities and, above all, a fertility god. He also possessed the gift of prophecy
and caused voices to be heard in the countryside. But to obtain oracular information from him he
had first to be bound, as King Numa succeeded in doing. Under the name Lupercus he had a
temple on the Palatine, the Lupercal -the name of the grotto where the she-wolf suckled the twins,
Romulus and Remus. The Lupercalia were celebrated on the fifteenth of February and were
among the most important festivals on the Roman calendar. Their function was purificatory. Goats
Mercury. Effigy on a Roman Coin. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
and he-goats were sacrificed, and perhaps dogs. After the animals were immolated two youths
were led to the altar. The priests touched their brows with the bloody knife and wiped them with
a wad of wool soaked in milk, after which the youths would burst out laughing. The priests of the
college of the Luperci, half naked, draped only in the skins of the sacrificed goats, would then
perform a ceremony during which women who wanted to become pregnant would hold out their
hands and turn their backs to be struck with a whip of goat's hide. Ovid gives a rather amusing
explanation of the nudity of the Luperci. One day Faunus surprised Hercules and Omphale asleep
in a grotto. Faunus wished to take advantage of the sleeping young woman, but the lovers had
playfully exchanged garments. In the darkness Faunus did not notice this and, deceived by the
softness of the robe Hercules was wearing, approached him instead of Omphale. He was, as can
be imagined, rudely repulsed. To avoid such misadventures in the future, Faunus insisted that his
priests should be naked when they celebrated his festivals. The Lupercalia were only suppressed
in 494 A.D. by Pope Gelasius who
Head of Minerva. To the Romans Minerva was above all the goddess of
handicrafts, learning and the arts and as such was particularly venerated by
the guilds of artisans, artists and professional men.
She later assumed Athene's other role as a warrior-goddess and
was worshipped in association with Mars in the Quinquatrus - a. festival
which finally came to be considered her own.
Statue after the Athene Parthenos of Phidias.
replaced them by a festival in honour of the ritual Purification of the Virgin.
With Faunus, god of fertility, was associated Fauna, who was his wife or daughter. Fauna was
invoked under the name of Bona Dea: women celebrated her cult at the beginning of December
with a mysterious festival which was forbidden to men and degenerated into an orgy. Also
associated with Faunus was Ops, a very ancient Sabine goddess whom Rome adopted. Ops was a
personification of creative force and agricultural fertility. She was venerated in the Opalia on the
nineteenth of December and invoked by sitting down and touching the earth with the hand.
Fauna, or Bona Dea, was also closely related to Maia who symbolised the earth's Spring fertility
and was honoured in May. Another goddess of Latium, Marica, was loved by Faunus who,
according to
Virgil's interpretation, made her the mother of the king, Latinus.
Census. Census was one of the most ancient gods of Rome. He presided over sowing. His
festivals, the Consualia, consisted of two distinct ceremonies. In the first, which took place on the
twenty-first of August after the harvest, Consus was associated with Ops. T,here were chariot
races and horse races, entertainments, dancing and a curious race on oxhides rubbed with oil. The
second ceremony of the Consualia took place on the fifteenth of December after the sowing.
Chariot races with mules were held in the circus. Consus had an altar near the Circus Maximus.
During the year this altar was covered with earth to evoke the idea of sowing. It was only swept
for the Consualia. It was during the festivals of Consus that the Romans abducted the Sabine
women.
Pales. Pales was at first a masculine divinity attached to the person of Jupiter. Afterwards Pales
took on feminine form and became the protectress of flocks, giving vigour to the males and
fecundity to the females. Her festivals, the Palilia, were celebrated on the twenty-first of April, the
date of the foundation of Rome. On the eve of the festival a purification ceremony took place in
houses and stables in which a sacred mixture made by the Vestals was employed. Then the
livestock and stables were sprinkled with lustral water. Pales gave her name to the hill where
Roma Quadrata rose, the Palatine.
Liber Pater. This Italic god's first function was to preside over the fertility of the fields. He was
also a god of fecundity. He was honoured on the seventeenth of March in the Liberalia. This was
the day on which adolescents left off wearing the praetexta and assumed the apparel of a man (the
toga virilis). Liber Pater did not become the god of vine-growers until after he had been confused
with lacchus Dionysus. His consort was Libera, an ancient Italic goddess about whom there is
little information.
Silvanus. This Latin divinity was popular in Rome from very early days. As his name indicates
Silvanus was a forest god. He "was, they said, the son of a shepherd of Sybaris and a she-goat or
else a maiden named Valeria Tusculanaria. He watched chiefly over the work of clearing land and
making pastures in wooded country. His province extended to all arboriculture, as well as to
guarding herds and to the tilling of the soil. Domestic cattle were sacrificed to him. He was often
confused with Faunus or with Pan whose physical aspect he had. Silvanus was particularly feared
by children and by women in labour.
Tellus Mater. In the remotest times Tellus Mater was a goddess of fecundity in company with a
male divinity, Telluno. Afterwards she was associated with Jupiter. In her role of mother she
watched over marriage and the procreation of children. The bride would offer her a sacrifice when
she entered her husband's house. She had her part in the porca praecidanea, the sow immolated to
Ceres 'before the harvest'. As an agricultural deity she protected the fruitfulness of the soil and all
the states which the seed passes through when it is sown in the soil.
Flora. In primitive central Italy Flora was the goddess of budding springtime, of cereals, fruit
trees, the vine and flowers. With Robigus (or Robigo) she prevented wheat-rust. With Pomona she
watched over fruit trees. She had a temple on the Quirinal and another near the Circus Maximus.
Her festivals, the Floralia, lasted from the twenty-eighth of April to the third of May and were
rather licentious. On the twenty-third of May there was another festival in her honour, a rose
festival. The Sabines and the Latins venerated another goddess, Feronia, who shared some of
Flora's functions and watched over spring flowers and vegetation. It is possible that Feronia was
originally an underworld divinity. She was associated with Soranus, a Sabine divinity who
became a solar god after first having been a god of the underworld. In the course of a sacrifice
which mountaineers were offering on Mount Soracte wolves appeared and seized the offerings;
they then took refuge in a cave from which escaped pestilential vapours. The oracle declared thai
these wolves were under the protection of the god Soranus and instructed the mountaineers to
live by rapine, like the wolves. Whence arose the name Hirpi Sorani which was given to them. The
name was perpetuated in a Roman family, especially devoted to the cult of Soranus and Feronia.
During the festivals of Feronia members of this family, the Hirpini, would walk bare-footed over
glowing coals without burning themselves.
Divinities of the Waters. All stretches of water, all springs and all rivers were deified. The nymph
Juturna - or rather Diuturna - a native of Latium, was the goddess of still waters and of rivers over
which Jupiter gave her empire in reward for her love. She was venerated in the Juturnalia on the
eleventh of January by the college of the Fontani who were artisans assigned to aqueducts and
fountains.
Neptunus was perhaps originally a water-god or a protector against drought. During the
Neptunalia on the twenty-third of July they would build huts of branches for shelter against the
sun.
As for the Nymphs, they were in a general way water divinities. Usually they were associated
with some superior deity like Jupiter, Diana or Ceres. Their cult originated in Latium. Their
springs were found near the Capena gate. The most famous was the fountain of the nymph Egeria
whom Numa, the king, would come to consult during the night. According to Ovid she married
Numa and after his death retired to the woods in the valley of Aricia where Diana changed her
into a fountain. She is reputed to have foretold the fate of new-bom babies.
Among the other nymphs may be mentioned the Camenae who were prophetic nymphs. One of
them, Antevorta, knew the past; another, Postvorta, the future. The most important of the
Camenae was Carmenta who first dwelt in Arcadia where she had a son by Mercury, Evander.
When Evander left his native land and came to Italy, where he founded the town of Pallantium,
Carmenta came
with him. She changed the fifteen Greek letters brought by Evander into Roman letters; she had
the gift of prophecy and lived until she was a hundred and ten. After her death she received
divine honours.
Ceres and Diana. In their aspect of Italic divinities Ceres and Diana offer no particular interest.
Ceres, who came from Campania, had a temple in Rome; but her rites, like the temple itself, were
Greek. Diana retained only briefly her primitive character as a goddess of light, mountains and
woods. She was rapidly hellenised. Among other sanctuaries Diana had a temple on the shores of
Lake Nemi whose priest was traditionally an escaped slave. In order to obtain this office he had
first to kill his predecessor in single combat. From then on he, too, was a target for any assassin
who might wish to supplant him.
Venus. Venus, too, in early days occupied a very modest position in the Roman pantheon. With
Feronia and Flora she symbolised spring and fruitfulness. She had her place in the Floralia
(twenty-eighth of April to the third of May) and in the Vinalia rustica on the ninth of August.
Vertumnus. It is not known whether Vertumnus was Etruscan or Latin. In any case the origin of
his name is clearly Latin: vertere, 'to change'. He was a god of fruit trees like Ceres and Pomona.
Pomona was courted by all the rural gods, but she yielded only to Vertumnus. In order to seduce
her he was forced to assume several different guises, appearing before her as a labourer, a
vinegrower and a harvester. In the end he overcame her suspicions by assuming the aspect of an
old woman. Vertumnus was also associated with Silvanus, and he was venerated with the god of
the Tiber, the course of which he was supposed to have altered. Tradition shows him revolving in
the assembly of gods, where he was constantly changing shape.
GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD.
It was above all from primitive Etruria that the Romans borrowed their conception of the infernal
regions and its inhabitants. In the Etruscan underworld the naive and terrifying visions common
to all primitive religions mingle with the abstract conceptions of more developed systems. Both
were submitted to Greek influence while they retained their national characteristics. In the infernal
regions Eita or Ade (Hades) with his consort Persipnei (Persephone) reigned. The chief infernal
figures were Charun (Charon) and Tuchulcha, a female demon with ferocious eyes, the ears of an
ass. a beak in place of a mouth, two serpents twined around her head and a third around her arm.
At the moment of death the soul was seized by two groups of genii. The first were malevolent and
were led by Charun who carried a mallet or a torch. The second group were benevolent and were
led by Vanth. Their dispute symbolised the struggle between good and evil. The deceased
travelled to the afterworld either in a chariot, on horseback, or on foot. He is sometimes depicted
with two genii, one leading him by the hand and the other following him; sometimes
accompanied by a winged divinity who carries in his right hand a scroll on which is inscribed the
dead man's record. Another subterranean divinity, Tages, taught the Etruscans haruspicy - that is
to say the rules for foretelling the future by the examination of entrails and by the observation of
lightning. Tages in the guise of a child suddenly rose from a furrow before a certain labourer,
Tarchon, and revealed to him certain magic formulas which were afterwards gathered together in
books.
The Romans had no great Underworld divinities. Those of whom we shall speak have a confused
personality which only developed under Hellenic influence. In the primitive epoch the real
infernal gods were the Manes.
Dis Pater. His name signified that he was the richest of all the gods - dis is a contraction of ditis,
'rich' - and indeed the number of his subjects continued ceaselessly to increase. In much the same
way the Greeks called the god of the dead Pluto, ploutos being 'riches'. Dis Pater was never
popular; his altars were rare. The Romans being superstitious did not care to worship a
personification of death; or perhaps they reserved their homage for the Manes.
Orcus. Orcus represented Death. His name was also applied to the Underworld. He carried off the
living by force and conducted them to the infernal regions. He was sometimes confused with
Pluto.
Februus. Februus was probably the Etruscan god who corresponded to Dis Pater. It seems that the
month of February was sacred to him; it was the month of the dead. In Etruria they also invoked a
certain Mancus who must have been another Dis Pater.
Libitina. Libitina was an ancient Roman divinity, originally perhaps an agricultural divinity, who
became the goddess of funerals and was identified by, some with Proserpina. Whenever anyone
died a piece of money had to be brought to her temple. Undertakers were called libitinurii.
Mania, Lara. These two divinities were probably one and the same person who was considered to
be the mother of the Lares and the Manes. Lara was a nymph who talked so much that Jupiter cut
out her tongue. For this reason she was called Mula or Tacila. Mania took part in the festivals of
the Compitalia and the Feralia; she became a kind of ogress who frightened small children.
Maniac were grotesque figurines which represented the dead; woollen dolls which were hung on
doors in honour of the Lares were also called maniac.
Lemures, Larvae. These were the ghosts of the dead whose activities were mischievous. They
returned to earth to torment the living. The Lemur ia on the ninth, eleventh and thirteenth of May
were instituted by Romulus in expiation of the murder of his brother; for Remus had appeared
after his death to the shepherd Faustulus and to Acca Larentia to demand reparation. Romulus
then created the Remuriu which by corruption of the first letter became the Lemur ia.
On this occasion every father of a family went through an extraordinary ritual: he arose, barefooted,
at midnight, he snapped his fingers to drive away the shades and washed his hands three
times. He filled his mouth with black beans, then tossed them behind him, saying: T throw away
these beans and with them I redeem myself and mine.' He repeated this invocation nine times.
Meanwhile the funerary spirits picked up the beans. The father then again purified his hands,
struck a brazen instrument and repeated nine times: 'Paternal manes, go.' After this he could
safely look behind him.
The Manes. They were called Di Parentes or Manes. The latter term derived from an archaic
adjective matins - 'good' - which was the opposite of immunis. Thus the Manes were, properly
speaking, the 'Good Ones'. They were the object of a public and a private cult. Whenever a town
was founded a round hole would first be dug. In the bottom of it a stone, lapis manalis, which
represented agate to the Underworld, would then be embedded. On the twenty-fourth of August,
the fifth of October and the eighth of November this stone would be removed to permit the Manes
to pass through. The object of the cult rendered to them was to appease their anger. Originally
they were offered blood sacrifices, and it is probable that the first gladiatorial combats were
instituted in their honour. Their festivals, the Parenlalia and the Feralia, were celebrated in
February. From the thirteenth to the twenty-sixth business ceased and temples were closed.
Tombs were decorated with violets, roses, lilies and myrtle and on them was deposited food of
various kinds.
Like the Greeks the Latins placed the Infernal Regions in the centre of the earth. It could be
reached by various openings - caves, lakes, marshes. One of the most celebrated of these was Lake
Avernus in Campania, a grim and deserted spot in the neighbourhood of Pozzuoli. The hills
which surrounded it were formerly covered with woods sacred to Hecate (luci averni) and pitted
with cavities through which, according to Cicero, one called forth the souls of the dead. Near
Avernus the cave called the Cave of the Cumaean Sibyl can still be seen.
GODS OF THE CITY
Fortuna. Called Fors, then Fors Fortuna, she represented fate with all its unknown factors. Her
name derives from fero. She was from remotest antiquity venerated in many Italian provinces, but
her
most important cult was celebrated at Praeneste in Latium where a certain Numerius Suffustus,
digging in a cliff', discovered some tablets in oak inscribed with mysterious formulas, by means of
which oracles could be delivered.
At Praeneste Fortuna was called Primigenia - firstborn (of Jupiter) - and, with an inconsequence
which is not rare in the history of ancient myths, she was considered to be Jupiter's nurse and
daughter at the same time.
Fortuna Primigenia was introduced to Rome in 204 B.C. during the second Punic war. However,
the Romans already had a Fortuna who, they said, had favoured the astonishing political career of
Servius Tullius, the slave who became king. One legend makes Servius Tullius the son of Fortuna;
another said he was her lover. The godde^ , in order to visit him, would slip during the night
through the skylight. The Porta Fenesiella in Rome recalled this memory.
Fortuna was honoured under many names. In Rome she was Fortuna publica popu/i romani.
Fortuna Muliebris - protectress of matrons univirae namely, only once married - persuaded Coriolanus
to raise the siege of Rome at the prayers of his mother and the Roman wives. A golden
statuette of Fortuna had always to remain in the sleeping quarters of Roman Emperors. Citizens
who were distinguished by outstanding good or bad luck had a Fortuna. When overtaken at sea
by a storm Caesar said to the terrified pilot: 'What do you fear? You carry Caesar and his Fortuna.'
The countless representations of Fortuna show her chief attributes to be the wheel, the sphere, a
ship's rudder and prow, and a cornucopia. The goddess is sometimes seated, sometimes standing.
Occasionally she has wings.
Genius. The Genius was the anonymous deity who protected all groups of people and the places
of their group activities. The number of genii was unlimited. The most important genius was,
naturally, the Genius publicus populi romani who appeared on coins, sometimes with the features
of the reigning emperor. After this Genius came the genii of districts, of curia and decuria; then
those of towns, tribes and colonies. Every corporation had its Genius, as well as every house, gate,
street and so on. The Roman emperors subsequently instituted the public cult of their own
personal Genii for the entire duration of their term of office.
Lares and Penates. The public cult of the Lares was later than their private cuit. Their role in the
city was, however, identical to that which they played in the family.
Among the Latins, Sabines and Etruscans the public Lares or Compitales - were originally placed
where two fields joined, and as they were found at the intersections of roads there were two Lares
for the same compitum - or crossroads. This distinguished the public Lares from the family Lar
which was always single.
From the country they came into the towns. The Lures compiialex became national divinities.
When Decius Mus undertook to save the Roman army he first invoked the Lares (and the Manes)
as well as Janus, Jupiter and Mars. The public Lares kept Hannibal away from the walls of Rome.
In the end they represented the city's and even the Empire's illustrious dead. Alexander Severus
venerated the Lares of Orpheus, of Abraham, of Apollonius of Tyana and of Jesus Christ.
In the epoch of the kings the Penates already enjoyed a public cult. They were called Penates
popn/i' romaniand they were venerated in the Regia where the sacred fire burned and the penus
of Vesta stood. There were two of them and they carried spears. The objects of their cult - which
continued until the end of paganism were guarded by the Vestals and by the pontiffs.
Tiberinus. The god of the Tiber naturally received a particular cult at Rome. To prevent him from
overflowing the Vestals would on the fifteenth of May throw from the Sublicius bridge twentyfour
wicker manikins, without doubt images of former human sacrifices. On the seventeenth of
June the Liuli piscatorii the festival of fishermen and divers took place, and on the seventeenth of
August, the Tiherinalia. The Tiber was so venerated that in the first century the Senate rejected a
project for altering its course. Rhea Silvia, mother of the twins, was thrown into the Tiber and
became its spouse.
Angerona. Very little is known about the goddess Angerona who was depicted holding a finger to
her bound and sealed mouth. She may have been the goddess of Silence or, as some claim, the
hidden name of Rome, which it was forbidden to pronounce.
Terminus. Social life received the protection of several divinities such as Terminus. He played a
very important role, for he watched over property, which was a holy thing, and presided over the
fixing of boundaries and frontiers. Actually Terminus was at first only a title of Jupiter's; but a
legend gave him his own personality: it was told how Terminus and Juventas refused to make
way for Jupiter when Jupiter came to install himself on the Capitol. At first the god was
represented by a plain block of stone. Later he was depicted as a column surmounted by a human
head.
Fides: Deus Fidius: Semo Sancus. These three divinities were responsible for the sincerity of public
and private transactions. Fides, who was of Sabine origin, personified good faith, especially in
verbal contracts: Aecles Field Populi Romani. Deus Fidius, also of Sabine origin, was the guardian
of hospitality. Scmo Sancus. a Latin god, was the god of oaths. Thus honest people found themselves
protected. The rest were not, however, without patrons. Lavcrna and Summanus accepted
the prayers of thieves and impostors.
Bonus Eventus. Success in enterprises was the responsibility of Bonus Eventus; he was at first a
rural god in charge of the harvest. Then his province spread to all kinds of initiative. He had a
temple in Rome and a statue on the Capitol.
Victoria. This Latin goddess was probably the same as the Sabine Vacuna. After having been the
protectress of fields and woods she became responsible for the Romans' success in arms. They
considered her as one of their most ancient divinities. With her they honoured Vica Pota and
Vitula or Vitellia who presided over victory celebrations.
After victory came Pax (Peace), but her cult was neither ancient nor widespread. She had a temple
in Rome only after A.D. 75 Concordia symbolised the union of citizens. A temple was erected to
her in 367 at the time when the plebeians won political equality. Felicitas personified happy
events. Laetilia and Annona were connected with incidents particularly desirable for the city of
Rome: namely, the arrival of corn.
DEIFIED HEROES AND ALLEGORIES.
Hercules (Greek, Heracles). In primitive times the functions of Hercules whom some people
merged with Semo Sancus, Deus Fidius and Silvanus - were rural. He assured the fruitfulness of
the countryside, watched over families and guarded their heritage. Certain authorities see in him
the particular Genius of man as Juno was of women.
He was linked with the history of Rome's very site. When he carried off the cattle of Geryon, the
triple-bodied monster who reigned over the western coast of Iberia, Hercules made a stop
between the Aventine and the Palatine hills under the hospitable roof of Evander. During the
night the brigand Cacus half man, half satyr, the son of Vulcan - stole some of his heifers. To hide
the theft Cacus dragged the animals by the tail to his den on the Aventine. The following morning
the stolen heifers bellowed in answer to the bulls which Hercules was preparing to drive on.
Guided by the sound, Hercules removed the boulder which concealed the den of Cacus and after a
terrible struggle slew the bandit in spite of the flames which he belched forth. The scene of this
battle was later called the Forum Boarium.
Romulus and Remus. Romulus and Remus were sons of Mars. Mars had surprised the Vestal,
Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, King of Alba, while she was asleep and lain with her. The
resulting twins were placed in a winnowing basket and set afloat on the Tiber. The river
overflowed and deposited the basket before the grotto Lupercal, under the fig-tree Ruminal. There
a she-wolf came to suckle the infants who were sheltered and brought up by the shepherd
Faustulus and his wife Acca Larentia.
When the twin brothers decided to found a new city they first
carefully studied the flight of birds. In that section of the sky which the Augur's wand had
apportioned to Romulus he saw twelve vultures. In Remus' section only six could be seen.
Romulus proceeded, with a plough harnessed to a white cow and a white bull, to draw a furrow
which should mark the boundary of the new city's walls. Remus jumped over this shallow furrow
in derision and his brother killed him. It is possible that this rivalry between the two brothers was
a symbol of the rivalry between the two districts of ancient Rome - the Cermalus (or the Aventine)
and the Palatine.
In order to people his town, which was more or less in the shape of a square - the Roma Quadrata
- Romulus founded a place of asylum beyond the ramparts. The neighbours refused to marry such
outlaws and Romulus took advantage of the rustic festival called the Consualia to abduct the
daughters of the Sabine tribe whom he had invited to the ceremonies. The mysterious death of
Romulus and his disappearance during a storm are the invention of the poet Ennius. Afterwards
Romulus was identified with Qui-rinus and worshipped under that name.
Acca Larentia, wife of the shepherd Faustulus and the foster-mother of Romulus, had another
legend according to which she was a notorious courtesan in the days of Romulus and Ancus.
Hercules played dice with the guardian of her temple. He won and in consequence ordered her to
unite with a certain rich Tuscan named Tarrutius who left her a large fortune. Acca Larentia left it
to the Roman people who in her honour instituted the Larentalia.
Castor and Pollux. At the battle of Lake Regillus in 496 B.C. during the war with Latium, the
Roman dictator Aulus Posthumius made a vow to erect a temple to Castor and Pollux who were
honoured atTusculum, a town which was an enemy of Rome's. A few seconds later Castor and
Pollux were seen at the head of the Roman cavalry leading it to victory. That same evening the
inhabitants of Rome saw two young men, dressed in purple chlamydes. watering their white
horses at the fountain of Juturna in the Forum. They were Castor and Pollux who had come to
announce the victory and, incidentally, to become part of the religion of Rome. They were of
Greek origin and had arrived via Etruria where they were called Kastur and Pultuke by the
Etruscans; but they rapidly became altogether Roman. A magnificent temple was erected to them
in the Forum. They accompanied the Roman army on its campaigns and during battles appeared
in the midst of the cavalry. They also protected sailors and travellers at sea. At Ostia they calmed a
storm which was preventing ships loaded with corn from entering port. In their quality of marine
gods they naturally presided over commerce. In the second century A.D. they were incorporated
in funeral rituals and their popularity was so great that even Christians did not deny that they
were symbols of life and death.
Aeneas. Although he afterwards became the national hero of Rome, Aeneas was of foreign origin.
He was the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, son-in-law of Priam and chief of the Dardanians. In
the///arfhe figures among the allies of Troy and appears as a warrior both intrepid and full of
wisdom. There are various traditions about him. According to one he valiantly defended the
citadel of Ilium; according to another he delivered the town to the Greeks and succeeded Priam.
But the most accredited story is that which -according to Stesichorus, Timaeus and Lycophron -
relates how Aeneas left Troy after its fall with his warriors and the remaining Trojans in search of
a new fatherland. After vain attempts to establish himself in Thrace, in Crete and in Sicily, he
finally reached the banks of the Tiber. There he helped the king of the Aborigines, Latinus, in his
struggle with the Rutuli. He married the daughter of Latinus, Lavinia, and built a town which was
called Lavinium. Later he succeeded Latinus and after a four years' reign perished rather
mysteriously in a battle with the Rutuli. Long before Virgil made him the hero of the Aeneid
Aeneas was venerated by the Romans - under the name Jupiter indiges - as the founder of their
race. Many of the great Roman families, notably that of the Julii, boasted that they descended from
him.
Connected with the cult of Aeneas was that of Anna Perenna, sister of Dido, who had sought
asylum with Aeneas and, persecuted by Lavinia's jealousy, drowned herself in the river Numicus.
When the plebeians took refuge on the Mons Sacer, Anna Perenna, in the guise of an old woman,
brought them food to eat and for this reason was honoured with a temple in Rome.
The Emperors. The deification of sovereigns was not a Roman invention: in eastern countries
kings had for a long time been the objects of religious worship. In Rome it was the Senate that
awarded the honour of apotheosis. An immense pyre was erected on top of which an image of the
new god was placed. From the midst of the flames an eagle would carry the soul of the emperor to
his celestial abode.
Even before the Empire Julius Caesar had, after his death, achieved apotheosis. Augustus was the
first emperor to be deified. Then Claudius, then still others and finally even empresses. These
honours were the logical consequence of those which they received during their lifetime. Even
before death raised them to the rank of divinities people spoke of their numen and of their
aeternitas. Some of the emperors were aware of the irony of these excessive homages. When
Vespasian was dying he announced that he felt himself becoming a god. Referring to his brother,
Geta, whom he caused
to be put to death by centurions, the emperor Caracalla declared that Geta would be a god
provided he was not living. The triumph of Christianity did not immediately put an end to the
custom of deification.
Allegories. The Romans deified numerous virtues and devoted cults to them. Aequitas, scale in
one hand and in the other a rod which corresponded to a unit of measurement, was equity.
Pudicitia watched over the chastity of matrons and only accepted homage from wives who were
univirae. The Aeternitas and Clementia of the emperors were venerated and the Fecunditas of
empresses. The latter were created in order to celebrate the birth of a daughter to Poppaea, the
wife of the emperor Nero. Veneration was also paid to Spes (Hope), Libertas, Virtus (Courage),
Pietas (Piety), etc. These cults are merely a random selection mentioned to give some idea of the
incalculable number which then existed.
GODS OF THE FAMILY
Genius. The Genius was by definition the creative force which engendered the individual; it
watched over his development and remained with him until the hour of his destruction. It
presided over his marriage and over the nuptial bed, for this reason being entitled genialis. It
appeared at the birth of the being whose function it was to protect. It formed the infant's
personality. The power of the child's Genius depended on luck. If it was a boy its tutelary spirit
was a Genius; if a girl it would be a Juno.
The Genius and the Juno did not accomplish their protective mission unassisted. They had many
auxiliaries. Nundina presided over the infant's purification. Vaticanus made it utter its first cry.
Educa and Potina taught it to eat and drink. Cuba kept it quiet in its cradle. Ossipago and Carna
saw to the development of its bones and flesh. Abeona and Adeona taught it to walk. Sentinus
saw to
the awakening of the infant's intellectual faculties, and such like. In a word, the Genius fostered
the growth and all the intellectual and moral faculties of the individual of whom it was a kind of
abstract double. The cult rendered to the Genius was very simple: on the day of birth it was
offered wine and flowers, after which there was dancing. The Genius was first represented as a
serpent. Later the Genius of the head of the family was depicted as a man in a toga. He was
installed between the Penates and the Lar. With him sometimes appeared the Juno of the wife.
The Penates. Their name derives from penus, the larder or room where food was stored. Their first
function was to see to the preservation of food and drink. Indeed, they were closely bound to the
life of the family and shared its joys and sorrows. Their role was so important that they received
the epithet of dii or divi which was not accorded, in fact, to either the Genius or to the Lar.
The Penates were always two in number. Their altar was the hearth which they shared with Vesta.
Their images were placed before that of the Genius, at the back of the atrium. At every meal they
were put between the plates and offered the first helping of food.
These simple practices dated back to the remotest times. In later days they were observed only in
rural districts. To the Penates were often added gods who exercised a particular protection over
the particular family: Mercury appeared among the Penates of a merchant, Vesta in the house of a
baker, Vulcan in the house of a blacksmith. When the family moved the Penates moved with it. In
the same way, when the family became extinct they disappeared.
The Lar. The term Lar was Etruscan and signified chief or prince. The Lares found among the
Latins, the Sabines and the Etruscans belong to the most ancient Italic mythology.
First they were protectors of agriculture, associated with Census and the agricultural Mars. They
played the role of guardians -custodes agri. Their image was crudely sculptured from a treestump
and was usually situated at the approaches of the farmhouse.
Their functions and their cult did not greatly differ from those of the Penates. Actually they were
frequently confused. Their altar was also the hearth and they received similar homage. On festive
occasions they were decorated with garlands and offered incense, fruit and libations of wine.
Unlike the Penates there was only one family Lar. He symbolised the house. The phrase: ad larem
suum reverti meant to come home. He was invoked on all important occasions of family life:
departures, marriages, funerals. The bride when she crossed the threshold of her new house
offered the Lar a sacrifice and gave him a coin. After funerals two rams were immolated to him in
order to purify the house. The family Lar was habitually represented in a juvenile aspect with
curly hair, a short tunic and in a dancing posture. Above his head he raises the rhyton from which
wine flows into a patera.
Numerous divinities were concerned with family life. We have already mentioned some of the
ones who watched over the child's birth and first footsteps. In discussing the epithets of Juno we
have alluded to certain divinities who presided over various aspects of marriage. In addition to all
these there were Orbona, the goddess
who protected orphans: Viriplaca, who soothed quarrels between husband and wife; Deverra,
Intercidona, Pilumnus were divinities of the broom, the axe and the mortar, whose intervention at
the moment of childbirth drove away rustic evil spirits. In the conjugal chamber there was even a
bed made for Pilumnus and his twin brother Picumnus who were both responsible for looking
after the new-born baby. The list of such divinities could still be extended.
THE GREEK CONTRIBUTION
In the third century B.C. the poet Ennius enumerated the twelve great gods of the Graeco-Roman
pantheon: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jove, Neptunus, Volcanus,
Apollo.
Janus and Saturn, purely Italic divinities, officially lost their pre-eminence although they
continued to receive an important cult. The other great gods found their functions augmented by
those they possessed under other names in the Greek pantheon. At the same time they changed
their nature, ceased to be abstractions and took on human shape. Certain secondary divinities
were promoted to the first rank: Ceres, Diana and Venus acquired their full stature by joining
forces with Demeter, Artemis and Aphrodite. Neptune, a rather slight personage with ill-defined
duties, inherited the maritime empire of Poseidon. Liber Pater, a modest Italian peasant, was
attached to the fortunes of lacchus-Dionysus.
Apollo sprang in all his novelty into the midst of the Roman gods and won for himself a position
of great eminence. It was, indeed, Apollo who opened the road for his Greek compatriots. In the
fifth century the Sibyl of Cumae, a priestess of Apollo, offered to sell King Tarquin nine books of
prophecy. Twice the king refused, finding the price too high. Each time the priestess tossed three
books into the fire and doubled the price of those remaining. Tarquin finally bought the last three
which were preserved in the
temple of the Capitol and called the Sibylline Books. They contained instructions for gaining the
favours of foreign gods, Greek and Oriental. This was how Apollo made his entrance into Rome,
following an epidemic in 431. For the same reason an appeal was made in 293 to the god of
Epidaurus, who was the serpent-god Aesculapius.
In succession all the great gods of Greece were introduced into Roman religion, some reinforcing
already established deities, others bringing with them entirely new cults. At the same time the
Hellenic ritual and manner of praying appeared, including the rites of lectislernia and
supplicaiiones. To celebrate a lectisternium beds were set up for pairs of deities; their effigies were
laid on the beds and before them a meal was set. The first lectisternium was celebrated in 399 11. r.
The supplications consisted of public processions which began at the temple of Apollo and visited
different sanctuaries in the city.
The hellenisation of Roman mythology began at an early date and continued steadily and rapidly.
It was complete between the third and the second centuries. Livy attributed this retreat of old
Roman tradition before foreign influence to the political and moral crisis which attended the Punic
wars.
THE ORIENTAL CONTRIBUTION. Divinities from the Orient were introduced into Italy with all
their functions and all their rites. They retained their personalities unaltered. They underwent not
an adaptation, but simply a physical transfer.
Asia Minor. The great goddess of Phrygia, Cybele, first penetrated Italy with her spouse Attis
under the name of Magna Mater daum Idaea. In 205 B.C. the Romans, terrified by a shower of
stones, consulted the Sibylline Books. These promised that Hannibal, who was still established in
Bruttium, would be driven from Italy by the presence of the Great Mother of Ida. The Senate sent
ambassadors to King Attalus from whom they received the black meteoric stone which was
supposed to be the throne of the goddess. This sacred object was received at Ostia by Scipio
Nasica, 'the best citizen of Rome', and carried by matrons to the Palatine and placed in the temple
of Victory (April, 204). In 202 Hannibal was defeated at Zama by Scipio Africanus. A temple was
then built for Cybele on the summit of the Palatine and games were instituted in her honour. The
cult of Cybele assumed its full importance at the beginning of the Empire.
Another divinity from Asia Minor was Ma, a personification of fruitfulness. Ma was introduced
into Rome by the dictator Sulla in about 85 B.C.
Egypt. The cult of Isis and of Serapis penetrated Italy by way of Sicily and the south of the
Peninsula. It was at first practised by slaves and freed men during the second century. The Senate
tried in vain to arrest its progress, but was unable to prevent its spreading
to the centre and north of Italy. Caligula installed it solemnly in Rome and in the Field of Mars
erected a temple of Isis Campestris. Caracalla built another one on the Quirinal.
The Egyptian gods who never lost their character remained for long popular in Rome. Their
greatest popularity dated from the third century. At the end of the fourth century there were still
processions in honour of Isis.
Syria. Alargalis, known under the name of Dea Syria, first entered Latin territory as far back as the
second century B.C. She was at first worshipped by slaves.
A consequence of Rome's various annexations was the introduction and assimilation of various
foreign cults. The numerous Syrian Baals and the goddess Baltic were brought to Rome by Syrian
recruits, excellent troops which the Emperors incorporated into the Roman army.
Their cults were established by the first century and reached the apogee of their importance in the
third. The Emperor Heliogabalus
attempted to have the Baal of Ephesus recognised as the principal god of the Empire.
Persia. The cult of Mithras was the last to appear in Rome, during the course of the first century
B.C. It became very important and persisted until the end of paganism. It was practised by the
functionaries and by the Emperors themselves. Commodus had himself initiated into its
mysteries. In 307 Diocletian consecrated at Car-nuntum on the Danube a temple to Mithras,
'Protector of the Empire'.
We have come far from the humble and rustic divinities whom in primitive days the peasants of
Latium worshipped. Most of them were forced to give way before the more brilliant gods, or else,
in order not to disappear completely, to combine with them. Those who, thanks to the persistent
devotion of country folk still survived, had a faded air and appeared like poor relations in the
sumptuous pantheon which Rome, mistress of the world, erected as a measure of her glory.
_________________ Мой девиз: один против всех, и всем несдобровать...
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