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I. Religious studies [German version] A. General Sacrifice is one of the central concepts in describing ritual religion in ancient and modern cultures. In European Modernity, the term sacrifice (directly or indirectly influenced by Christian theology of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ to redeem mankind) also has an intimation towards individual self-giving ('sacrifice of self'). The range of nuances in the modern meaning stretches to include discourses that have lost their religious motif and hav…

[German version] The Roman goddess R. traditionally appears in conjunction with a fig tree, the f icus Ruminalis, which provided food for the twins Romulus and Remus (Liv. 1,4,5). The goddess' sanctuary was said to be near to the tree. The ancient etymological connection between R. and ruma or rumis ('female breast'; Fest. 326, 332 f. L., Varro, Ling. 5,54), refers to the breast-like shape and milk-like juice of the nutritious fig [1. 112 f.]. For this reason, R. allegedly received sacrifices of milk (Varro, Rust. 2,11,5; Non. p. 167 f. M. = …

[German version] Roman phallic deity, whose name is also preserved as Mutinus Titinus [1. 425f.], and who was associated with the Greek Priapus (Varro Antiquitates rerum divinarum fr. 151a Cardauns). Pictorial representations of this deity do not exist. He is most probably not depicted on a denarius of Q. Titius Mutto (cf. RRC, p. 344-347). MT had a sanctuary in Rome in Veliis (Velia) where women offered sacrifices to him, clothed in the toga praetexta (Fest. 142,20-30; Paul. Fest. 143,10f. L.). A second sanctuary may be mentioned in the highly fra…

[German version] According to Festus (116,2; 150,34), the Oscan form of Mars. The appearance of M. in Oscan dedicatory inscriptions (Vetter 196; [1. no. 177, 179]: 3rd/2nd cents. BC) and the Oscan roots of the Mamertini, important since the 4th cent. BC, seemed to support Festus [2. 155, 167, 172]; this led to the marginalization of Varro's postulate of the Sabine origin of M. (Varro, Ling. 5,73). The so-called Lapis Satricanus (AE 1979, 136), found in Satricum 50 km south-east of Rome, a dedicatory inscription Mamartei (‘for Mamars), is proof of the existence of a Latinized form at c. 500 B…

[German version] Roman goddess. The earliest literary evidence (Fest. 416 f. L. with [1. 2167]) mentions a statue of Stata Mater, which is said to have stood in the Forum Romanum until the early 1st cent. BC; the population of the city of Rome is supposed to have then carried the cult of the goddess into the vici ('city quarters'; Vicus ) (Fest. 416 f. L.; cf. [2]). Inscriptions from the Imperial period attest to dedications by the vicomagistri to Stata Mater alone (ILS 3307), in conjunction with the Lares Augusti (ILS 9250; Lares) or with Volcanus (ILS 3306). She was invoked to a…

[German version] [1] Athenian praised by Solon (Τέλλος; Téllos). Athenian, praised by Solon [1] to Croesus as a most fortunate person (Hdt. 1,30): T. saw healthy children and grandchildren grow up in a well-ordered polis, died in battle for his homeland and was given an honorary burial in Eleusis [1] (Hero cult). Doubt as to T.'s historicity are without foundation [1. 44 f.]. In Herodotus' [1] Lydian tale ( 'lógos'), which is imbued with oriental doctrines of wisdom, he presents profoundly Greek values (worldliness, ideal of citizenship, immortality through des…

[German version] Roman festival to avert mildew (Lat. robigo) on 25 April, at the 5th milestone on the via Claudia (Verrius Flaccus, InscrIt 13,2 p. 131; with differing topographies. Details: Ov. Fast. 4,901-942), with the sacrifice of a sheep and a dog by the flamen Quirinalis (Ov. Fast. 4,905-910; F lamines ) and (at least in the later period) ludi with equestrian competitions (Tert. De spectaculis 5). Apart from a goddess Robigo (InscrIt 13,2 p. 131; Ov. Fast. 4,907; 911), a god Robigus (the latter is better attested) has been passed down to us (Fest…

(Menerva, Menrva). I. Cult A. The earliest findings [German version] 1. General M. is traditionally considered an Etruscan deity that came to Rome as part of the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno and M., who had their temple on the Capitolium ([1; 5]; undecided [6. 163f.]). Thus, on the basis of representations of M. on Etruscan mirrors as a martial goddess [2] modelled on the Greek Athena, it is assumed that she was a Hellenic goddess introduced via Etruscan trade contacts with Greece. Besides taking as evidence the form Menrva/ Menerva in Etruscan, but also Menerva in Italian and Old La…

[German version] Roman deity identified with Picus (Aemilius Macer fr. 1 Courtney; Non. 834 L.; cf. [1. 6-8]), even though there is no etymological connection to picus, 'woodpecker' [2. 254; 3. 299f.]. Also known as Sterculinius, inventor of manuring (Serv. Aen. 9,4), P. had a brother Pilumnus, who, as Stercutius, was also associated with manure (Serv. Auct. Aen. 10,76; [2. 293f.]). Servius (according to Varro in Non. 848,11-15 L.) interpreted P. and Pilumnus as gods of marriage ( di coniugales) or of small children ( di infantium). This Varronian speculation does not exclude…

[German version] A modern term describing deities, primarily in Roman religion, whose role was limited to one particular activity only and whose name described that role (e.g. Obarator; Stata Mater). The term has its origin in [1. 276-301]: 'Sondergötter' there designates deities in the second of three phases of a supposed religious evolution. The first phase were the 'Augenblicksgötter' (anonymous deities connected with only one activity); from the sondergötter evolved the pantheon of personalised deities. The modern concept of sondergötter synthesises the Romans' co…

[German version] With the derivation from Latin portus, 'harbour' (schol. Veronense in Verg. Aen. 5,241; Cic. Nat. D. 2,66), the Roman god P. was identified under Greek, perhaps even Corinthian, influence with Palaemon/Melicertes and Ino/Leucothea (Fest. 279 L.; Ov. Fast. 6,543-548) [1]. Even before this derivation the Tiber harbour entrance fell within the sphere of the god: already in the 5th cent. BC, Latin portus meant 'door' (Fest. 262,19-22 L.; [2. 343 f.; 3. 141-178]); P. carried a key (Fest. 48,25-27 L.). It is doubtful whether P. had a  flamen ( Flamines )…

[German version] On the Kalendae of each Roman month the pontifices ( pontifex ) announced in the Curia Calabra the date of the Nonae (Calendar B. 4.); on that date, in the course of the nonalia sacra (NS) , the rex sacrorum proclaimed on the Capitoline Arx the first festival of the month (Varro Ling. 6,27f.; [1. 210-214]). Varro regards the NS as a surviving feature of the time of the kings, when the rural population would come to Rome and gather before the rex to be given information about that month's festivals. Varro's use of the present tense ( edicit) indicates that he is referring to a…

[German version] The Roman goddess of fruit, Lat. pomum (Fest. 144,12 f. L.; Varro Fr. 181, 189 Cardauns), whose sanctuary ( pomonal) was situated outside Rome on the via Ostiensis in the ager Solonius (Fest. 296,15-17 L.; [1. 144 f.]). The Roman calendars do not record any festival for P.; movable festival days ( feriae conceptiuae) are probable [2. 199]. P. had a flamen minimus ( flamines ; Fest. 144,13 f. L.; CIL III 12732); the description minimus probably does not refer to a hypothetical subordinate status of the goddess, but reflects differentiation within the fl…

[German version] (also Rosaria). The Roman festival of the offering of roses to the dead. The Rosalia were a private parentatio (Parentalia), not a festival of public religion (they appear only in one late Roman calendar, which may not even refer to the traditional Rosalia: Philocalus, InscrIt 13,2 p. 247, for 23 May), but were sometimes celebrated in connection with the ruler cult (24-26 May: IPergamon no. 374). The connection between the Rosalia and the decoration of military standards with roses ( R. signorum) is unclear; ritual procedures involving the standards are record…

[German version] Roman personification of ‘prudence’, wrongly classified as ‘amorphous numen’ [1. 478]. The Sibyllini libri decreed the introduction of its cult in 217 BC (Liv. 22,9,8): its temple was pledged as the result of the Roman defeat at the hands of Hannibal at Lake Trasimenus by the Praetor T. Otacilius Crassus (Liv. 22,10,10; Ov. Fast. 6,241-248), and was dedicated on the Capitol, beside the temple of Venus Erycina, in 215 BC (Liv. 23,31,9). It was renewed by Aemilius [I 37] Scaurus ( cos. 115 BC: Cic. Nat. D. 2,61). The early Imperial Fasti record the 8th of June as natalis templi …

[German version] A. Origins and functions The name Neptunus may etymologically be derived from Sanskrit apām nápāt, ‘descendant of the waters’ [1; 2. 100-103]; N. was primarily a ‘land water god’ [3. 2515]. The Etruscan name Nethuns is linguistically related to N., but this god is probably the Etruscan version of an Italian N. whose function was expanded through Etruscan sea trade with the Greeks, linking up with the role of Greek Poseidon as the god of the sea, so that he became a maritime deity himself [4. 285f.]. Identified w…

Hünemörder, Christian (Hamburg) I. Meteorology [German version] A. Early conceptions In Antiquity, Greece with its many islands, and intimately connected with the sea, relied on the observation of the winds (ἄνεμος/ ánemos, Latin ventus) that blow at various times of the year, because navigation (Navigation) for merchant ships through the Aegean and Mediterranean to Egypt and Magna Graecia was always important (except for the Spartans) [1]. Homerus [1] already refers to the most prevalent winds, named after their direction of o…

[German version] Roman movable holiday ( Feriae ) to promote the growth of the seed, which Ovid discusses in relation to 24-26 January (Ov. Fast. 1,657-704) with reference to the Fordicidia of 15 April [1. 142 f.]. The festival included sacrifices to Tellus and Ceres on two days separated by seven days (Lydus, Mens. 3,9); it was celebrated following the first spring sowing within 91 days of the vernal equinox (Varro, Rust. 1,34) and before the second spring sowing in late January or …

[German version] Roman goddess, at times identified with Hestia (Cic. Nat. D. 2,67; Cic. Leg. 2,29); evidence for a possible Sabine origin: Varro Ling. 5,74; [1. 168-170]. The fact that the Roman cult of V. is very old is indicated by her archaic round temple as well as her connection to the rex sacrorum or the archaic ritual of the expulsion of purgamina - what was described as stercus ('garbage') - from V.'s temple on 15 July ( Quando stercum delatum fas: Varro Ling. 6,32; InscrIt 13,2,335 f.; 471; Fest. 466; [2. 320 f.]). The round temple at the edge of the Forum Romanum…

[German version] The Romans like other ancient Mediterranean peoples determined the placement of their boundary stones as well as the guardianship of their boundaries (lat. termini, sing. terminus) by calling on divine assistance and legal ordinances [1]. The latter were attributed to King Numa  (Fest. 505 L.). They may even have been included in the inscriptions of Rome's Lapis niger (6th cent. BC; [2]) and played an important role in Roman property law ([3. pp.110-124]; cf. Ov. fast. 2,660; [4. pp.98-122]). The importan…