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[German version] (the so-called 'Game of Troy'; also referred to as lusus puerorum equestris, Troicus lusus, Troiae decursio or simply Troia). An Ancient Italian battle game on horseback for boys and adolescents. Etymologically derived from Lat. amptruare or truare ('hopping while dancing', cf. [1] s. v. amtruo). The origin and development of the Troiae lusus (TL) is contested by scholars. The main source for the mythological origin is Verg. Aen. 5,548-603 in connection with the story of the founding of Rome, a version which is not tenable in view…

[German version] (Greek σίστρον/ sístron). Egyptian musical instrument, a bronze rattle, used particularly in the cult of Isis. Two forms are known: 1) stirrup s.: grip or handle with a U-shaped frame; between the arms three moving cross-pieces, on which in an earlier period metal rings were threaded. 2) naos s.: in the form of a temple gate, i.e. between rectangular and slightly trapezoidal. Statue representing Isis with a s. cf. [1. 128, cat. no. 51]. With the spread of the Isis cult in the Greek and Roman worlds the s. also spread, including as a votive gift in Greek sanctuaries [2]. Siebert…

[German version] Comparable with the Roman banquet of the gods called the lectisternium. According to ancient table manners (men reclined on beds, women sat), at the sellisternium statuettes of the goddesses were placed on sellae (chairs, stools) and a meal was offered to them. Sellisternia are particularly transmitted as a component of the ludi saeculares (CIL VI 32323; 32329). Likewise they could be performed after ominous portents. Coins struck under Titus and Domitian refer to a sellisternium linked to a lectisternium on the occasion of an epidemic, a fire in Rome, as w…

[German version] ('cut-off bone'). Object of a Roman ritual practised after the change from burial to cremation. According to the Roman ius pontificum, going back to Numa Pompilius, which in fact forbade cremation (Plut. Numa 22), a corpse was lawfully buried only when at least one complete body-part had been fully interred (Cic. Leg. 2,55; Varro Ling. 5,23; Paul. Fest. 135 L.). The idea behind this is that a burial is a return of the body to the earth. A finger would be separated from the body to be cremated, and in…

[German version] Latin 'monetary contribution', 'donation', but also 'minted coin' (Fest. 379; 412). In the cult of the Latin West, a stips is a monetary offering for a deity that was - like food and drink sacrifices (Sacrifice) and offerings of votive gifts - either placed on an altar or thrown into a special 'offertory box' ( Thesaurus ; Varro, Ling. 5,182). A stips was 1) given for the benefit of the temple coffer; 2) submerged in water (e.g. Suet. Aug. 57); 3) buried (e.g. Tac. Ann. 4,53). Numerous inscriptions record this practice. Repairs in or of sanctuaries were financed ex stipe ('by d…

[German version] Parade of the iuventus of Roman equites on 15 July. Its route led from the Temple of Mars to the Porta Capena, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and up to the Temple of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus on the  Capitolium (sources: Liv. 9,46,15; Vir. ill. 32,2). There are mythical/cultic and constitutional versions of the origins of this institution, whose beginnings can be traced to the 4th cent. BC. The first is connected with the help given by the Dioscuri in the battle between the Romans and …

[German version] (originally 'cap'). Roman head adornment in the form of a rounded cone ( meta). Tutulus was known as the hairstyle of the mater familias and the flaminica, and had, therefore, a function similar to the one of the galerus or the pileus of the pontifices and the flamines [1]. The term t utulus refers also to a high hairstyle with red ribbons, obtained by piling up the gathered hair in a conical form on the top of the head (Fest. 484 L.). The tutulus was already known in Etruria in the 6th/5th cent. BC, as the common hairstyle of Etruscan women [2. 75]. Siebert, Anne Viola (Hannover) Bib…

[German version] In the auspicia ex tripudiis interpretations were made of the feeding behaviour of  hens (Cic. Div. 1,27; 1,77; 2,71-73). If feed fell to the ground when they were eating it was interpreted as a positive sign, if the birds hung back, cried out or turned away from the food as a negative one. Augures; Divination Siebert, Anne Viola (Hannover) Bibliography J. Linderski, The Augural Law, in: ANRW II 16.3, 1986, 2146-2312, esp. 2174.