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[German version] An epithet of  Jupiter of uncertain meaning, which already caused etymological speculation during antiquity, reflecting antiquarian and political interests. These related the name and cult of the god to each other. Derivations ranged from ferre ( arma: Prop. 4,10,47; Liv. 1,10,5-6; cf. R. Gest. div. Aug. 19: tropaiophóros; pacem: Fest. 81 L.) and feretrum (rack on which captured weapons were carried during the triumph…

[German version] Roman personification of death, modelled on the Greek Thanatos. Recorded in the title of an Atellan farce Mortis ac Vitae iudicium by Novius in Non. p. 479,7, a satire Mors ac Vita by Ennius (cf. Quint. Inst. 9,2,36), in Latin poets and on tomb inscriptions. Represented with corresponding attributes M. visualizes (1) the cause of death (Stat. Theb. 7,53: voltuque cruento M. armata sedet), (2) the transition from life to death (Anth. Lat. 2,429,1-2; 346,3-4; Hor. Carm. 1,14,13) and (3) death as a state (motionlessness, silence: Lucr. 3,959). I…

[German version] Roman goddess of indigitamenta , unequivocally thus only at Aug. Civ. 4,11. Her name is mentioned there in conjunction with the protection and care of newborn children whom she ‘lifts up’ from the earth ( terra) (probably with a perfect tense meaning of the suffix -na, s. [1]). Varro in Non. 848 L. also suggests that L. took up her abode directly after the birth, i.e. she is interpreted as a divine midwife who is the first carer of newborn infants. …

(Σικελία/ Sikelía, Sicily). The largest island in the Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum; cf. Str. 2,5,19; differently Hdt. 1,170 and Timaeus FGrH 566 F 65): 25,460 km2, including the offshore islands such as the Insulae Aegates, Ustica, the Aeoli Insulae, Cossura, Lopadusa…

[German version] MS (= sanctuaries on rises or anticlines) were to be found in various ancient civilizations. Among the oldest monuments known to archeology are the so-called fire sanctuaries of Baal in the Near East [1]. It has been assumed that the numero…

(Λέων; Léōn). Cf. also Leo. Byzantine emperor Leo [4-9]. Sicilian place na…

[German version] Roman goddess, personification of youth. The earliest evidence for the appellativum is Iuventus (3rd cent. BC [1. 154]), from the 1st cent. BC also Iuventas; Iuventa, however, is rare and late. In Rome I. had cult centres on the Capitol and at the Circus Maximus: the integration of her aedicula (‘chapel’) inside the   cella of Minerva at the temple of Jupiter on the Cap…

[German version]  Hymn of the  Salii. This cultic song in 35 fragments of unknown sequence, partly in saturnians, is only preserved by antiquarians ( Antiquarian;  C. Arvale,  C. Saeculare); a commentary on it was written by  Aelius Stilo in the 1st cent. BC. It was regarded as belonging to the oldest Roman poetry (Varro, Ling. 7,3). Its age is uncertain, addenda probably date from as late as the 2nd cent. AD (SHA Aur. 21). It begins with a general invocatio, the   …

[German version] [1] Sabinian deity According to Serv. Auct. Georg. 1,7, the Sabine name for Ceres. Presumably P. had the role of an agrarian deity in the pantheon of the Sabini; her exact function, however, cannot be determine…

(εἴδωλον; eídōlon, Lat. idolum, picture, image, delusion). [German version] [1] Refers to a smaller-than-life-portrait Refers to a smaller-than-life portrai…

[German version] A Roman deity who, according to Serv. Georg. 1,21 belongs to a circle of twelve gods invoked by the flamen Cerialis ( Flamines ) in the sacrum Cereale for Ceres and Tellus. M. and the other deities of the circle are linked by protective functions for specific agricultural activities. The etym…

[German version] In Livius Andronicus (Odusia fr. 23 FPL according to Caesellius Vindex in Gell. 3,16,11) M. foretold the day of a person's death. According to Gell. ibid., M. is the Latin translation of the Greek Moira, which can be considered etymologically certain owing to their having the same origin. Caesellius Vindex's grouping of M. with Nona and Decuma as the tria fata (contradicted by Varro at Gell. 3,16,10) is an antiquarian constr…

[German version] Name of an ancient Roman goddess, the sources show both one and two r (cf. CIL I2 p. 323: Furrinalia; the MSS vary). On the possible etymological emergence of the name from Etruscan, Oscan (here perhaps from * fursina, * forsina), or Umbrian, see [1. 137]. Her cult in earlier times is documented by a festival on 25 July, the Fu(r)rinalia or Furnalia, and a flamen Furinalis (  flamines ; Varro, Ling. 5,84; 6,19; Fest. 78 L). Myths or rites are unknown. The grove of F. was located in Rome on the other side of the Tiber (in today's…