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[German version] Part of the diadem-like binding worn by Roman priests and priestesses, or part of cultic adornment. Vittae are the woollen bands hanging on both sides behind the ears or the tassel-shaped ends or fringes. Vitta is often used as a synonym for the whole woollen binding, the infula (especially in poetry), but the relationship and difference (see above) between infulae and vittae are unambiguously clear [1. 1-3; 2. 292]. Siebert, Anne Viola (Hannover) Bibliography 1 U. Staffhorst, P. Ovidius Naso, Epistulae ex Ponto III 1-3, 1965 2 F. Bömer, O. Ovidius Naso, Metamo…

[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] 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] Latin for 'cushion' or 'bed'. The cult image of a god was placed on a pulvinar during the foundation of a sanctuary and also later, on the anniversary of its foundation ( n atalis templi ); according to Serv. Georg. 3,533, the word pulvinar may also refer to the sanctuary itself. The pulvinar played a crucial role  in Roman cult in food offerings to statues or other symbols of the gods, festivals of praying and thanksgiving, and the lectisternium ( pulvinar suscipere: Liv. 5,52,6; cenae ad pulvinaria: Plin. HN 32,20). Pulvinar in a secular sense denotes the emperor's b…

[German version] [1] Wooden or metal staff, symbol of office A wooden or metal staff ending in a crook or spiral, of Etruscan-Italic origin. Politically, it was originally a king's symbol of office (Serv. Aen. 7,187), later a symbol of imperial power and an emblem of the princeps. The lituus is more important as a cultic instrument and emblem of the augurs ( augures ), which they used for quartering the heavens, or …

[German version] is the Latin term for the event of sacrifice, the sacrificial act, in contrast to the sacrificial offering (fruit, bread, wine) or the sacrificial animal ( hostia). Sacrifice was one of the simplest ways to express oneself towards a deity in the private and state cult of Rome. The Latin expression immolatio describes this act; original meaning: sprinkling the sacrificial animal with salted sacrificial spelt ( immolare = sprinkle with sacrificial meal, mola salsa; cf. Fest. 124 L.; Fest. 97 L. s.v. immolare; Serv. Aen. 10,541). Immolatio therefore denotes the act of…

[German version] From Latin piare = pium reddere, 'cleanse', 'expiate' (Plaut. Men. 517; Varro, Ling. 6,30), later also 'reconcile' (Plaut. Asin. 506; Verg. Aen. 6,379). Piaculum denotes on the one hand the action leading to violation of the pax deorum and requiring expiation (Plaut. Truc. 223; Varro, Ling. 629) and on the other hand the ritual act of expiation for such an offence or the sacrificial animal used for this purpose (Cato Agr. 139).…

[German version] Sacral vehicle for pageants or gods, which were used, in connexion with a complex ritual (e.g. Cic. Har. resp. 11,23), for transporting images and attributes ( exuviae) of gods in the pompa circensis at the ludi circenses ( Circus II.) (cf.  Juv. 10,33-46). The tensae formed the conclusion of the  procession into the circus (procedure in the time of Augustus in Dion. Hal.  Ant. Rom. 7,72,1-14). They wer…

[German version] Verdant branch(es), dates and figs, which in Rome were given as benedictions at the beginning of the year or arranged in front of the door of the house. A continuation of the Roman custom is the placing or exchanging of spring branches in front of the official residences of the rex sacrorum and the flamines , in front of the …

[German version] (from tus, 'incense', also thymiaterium). Roman portable metal apparatus on which grains of incense were burned in a Roman sacrifice. For pure incense or smoke sacrifices there was a small portable altar, called an acerra or an ara turicrema. Acerra also seems (Val. Max. 3,3,3) to have been used as a synonym for a …

[German version] (Etymology: *dhh1s-no-; but Oscan-Umbrian fēsnā < stressed form *dheh1s- [1]). Generic expression for the holy place ( locus sacer, Liv. 10,37,15) consecrated to the deity by the pontifices (Varro, Ling. 6,54; Fest. 78 L.;   pontifex ). Initially designating the location without regard for the form and function of the cult site contained within the sacred precincts (e.g. grove, spring, cave, temple, altar etc.). Later, fanum really comes to mean only the ancient sanctuary as opposed to the temple ( aedis) as an architectural entity. Attempts to differentiate fanum fr…

[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.

[German version] In the actual sense ‘the beginning’, cf. also inaugurare: ‘employ auguries’, ‘question divinatory birds’; ‘consecrate’. In Roman religious law, inauguratio is the priestly inauguration into office that has been applied from historically tangible time only for the   flamines maiores ( Dialis: Gai. Inst. 1,130; 3,114; Liv. 27,8,4; 41,28,7; Martialis: Liv. 29,38,6; 45,15,10; Macrob. …

[German version] ( October equus). A chariot race was held every year on the Ides of October on the  Campus Martius in Rome (Fest. 190 L.; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 97), and the right-hand horse of the victorious team (but cf. [2]) killed. The horse's head was (previously?) wrapped in bread ( panibus) or ─ if we follow the conjecture in [5] ─ with cloths ( pannibus). After the animal had been killed with spears, the inhabitants of the Roman quarters of Via Sacra and Subura fought for t…

[German version] (literally ‘thread’, ‘string’, ‘ribbon’). In Roman cultic and magical use, the functions of the licium are twofold: it connects or binds, and it encircles or closes something or someone. In its connecting or binding function it is used primarily in love spells (cf. Verg. Ecl. 8,73ff.). The licium also serves to enclose the voting area at convocations of the people (Varro, Ling. 6,86-88, 93 and 95; Paul Fest. 100,11 L.). However, it is more common or more important in its encircling or closing function, in which it has an apotr…

[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] ('Ceremony of supplication'or 'propitiation' or 'thanksgiving'). In Roman religion, supplicatio denoted in the wider sense an offering of wine and incense ( ture ac vino supplicare), and in the narrower sense a ceremony of the commonwealth arranged by the authorities. Such supplicationes…

[German version] Roman civic festival of the 'cleaning of the trumpets' ( tubi or tubae), which was celebrated on 23 March and 23 May. The March date was considered as feriae (holiday) for Mars (InscrIt 13,2,104; 123), the May date as feriae for Volcanus (InscrIt 13,2, 57 and 187). The doubling of the tubilustrium in May is still unclear (but see [1. 219-221]). During these days, the trumpets were cleaned in the Atrium Sutorium and then used for cultic activities ( sacra: Varro, Ling. 6,14; cf. InscrIt 13,2, 123; Fest. 480 et passim) -- according to modern interpretation for summoning…

[German version] also Suovitaurilia. The combination, traditional in Roman religion, of three sacrificial animals - pig ( sus), sheep ( ovis) and bull ( taurus) - that were led, as part of ritual purification (Lustratio), round a place (e.g. a piece of land: Cato Agr. 141; [1. 103-125]) or group of people to be lustrated, and subsequently sacrificed. A distinction was made between suovetaurilia lactentia or minora (piglet, lamb and calf: Cato Agr. 141) and adult suovetaurilia maiora (e.g. boar, ram, bull: Varro Rust. 2,1,10; cf. Plin. HN 8,206). The suovetaurilia se…

[German version] (“small sanctuary”). Diminutive form of the Latin sacrum. Distinct from it was the sacrarium, the storage room for the sacred gear ( sacra supellex), which did not necessarily have to be consecrated (Consecratio). Sacellum could describe public Roman cult sites consisting of an open altar with an enclosure (Trebatius in Gell. NA 7,12,5; cf. Fest. 422 L.), as well as private sanctuaries. It had the form of a chapel, with the divine image standing in a niche ( aedicula ) in front of which the offering was made (cf. Paul. Fest. 319 L.). In everyday speech, sacellum …

[German version] (Etym.: Lat. lectum sternere, ‘to prepare a couch’). To serve the gods, food for the gods: a very old form of sacrifice in which a meal was laid out on a table for the god who was lying on a feasting couch in the temple (cf. Iovis epulum ). This practice was based on the idea that the gods received their share at every meal, suggesting their actual presence. The term lectisternium is only used in a sacred context. First and foremost, the lectisternium was a part of the Graecus ritus, thus a widely common form of sacrifice in Greek worship. In Rome, on the other hand, i…

[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 tra…

[German version] (‘fortunate sacrifice’). From the Latin litare (based on Greek λιτή/ litḗ, ‘entreaty’) = ‘to sacrifice under favourable auspices’ (intransitive) in contrast to sacrificare (‘to sacrifice’). The distinction between the two verbs litare and sacrificare disappeared in the Augustan period, as they were used synonymously. Litatio was a technical term of Roman pontifical law (cf. Serv. Aen. 2,119) for the favourable course and completio…

[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 i…

[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 (T…

[German version] (usually pl. verbenae, original meaning 'sacred branch'). Latin collective term for all fresh branches and herbs used in the Roman religion during ritual practices, the main feature being their evil-resisting and purifying effect. There is no evidence to identify V. with a particular herb; the sources mention different herbs: rosemary (Serv. Aen. 12,120), myrtle (Serv. …

[German version] (‘moulders of sacrificial cakes’, bakers). They assisted the   pontifices ( fictores pontificum: CIL VI 1074; 10247) and the Vestals ( fictores virginum Vestalium: CIL VI 786; 2134; Varro, Ling. 7,44, Cic. Dom. 139), their office, according to Ennius (Ann. 115), dated back to Numa. The fictores baked the sacrificial cakes ( liba) ─ a task which they may have taken over from the Vestal virgins ─ and sometimes they were also present at the sacrifices themselves. Cf. strufertarii (Fest. 85 L.), who…

[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.…

[German version] Roman sacrificial cake (Fest. 408), always mentioned in conjunction with fertum; these two kinds of sacred pastries are not identical, but in their context are hard to distinguish. Only Cato (Agr. 134 and 141) differentiates: strues for Ianus, fertum for Iuppiter. The Flamen Dialis had to have boxes with these two cakes constantly hanging on the bedposts (Gell. NA 10,15,14). Strues were used in sacrifice to expiate lightning-struck trees by means of  so-called strufertarii (Paul. Fest. 75; 377); as a preliminary sacrifice at animal sacrifices; at a lustratio pagi bet…

[German version] (Woollen) band with various uses. Together with garlands, the infulae are the most commonly used items of decoration in Roman worship: on sacrificial animals, sacred buildings, sometimes also altars (Fest. 100 L.). They are also used to decorate houses on the occasion of a wedding (Luc. 2,355; Plin. HN 29,30; Serv. Aen. 4,458). As a component of priestly vestments (head band [1]), the infula is a diadem-like band from the ends of which tassels ( vittae) hang down on both sides, sometimes of red and white threads, sometimes subdivided into individual segments ( astragalos …

[German version] (older victumarius). 'Sacrificial servant' in the Roman state cult, according to social class a slave or freedman (for the area of the city of Rome cf. CIL VI 2201; 9087; 9088; 33781), derived from Lat. victima, 'sacrificial animal' (CIL XII 533). There is a distinction to be made between the victimarii and the popae (who stunned the animals by striking them with a hammer). The cultrarius [1. 2483]…

[German version] The Vitulatio is described in the Roman calendar as the day of joy (Latin vitulari in ancient Roman poets means 'express joy') and bears a no longer clearly explicable relationship to a festival which had to do with military activities. It was celebrated on 6 July and not, as formerly assumed, on 8/9 July [1; 2. 572]. On that day there were celebrations i…

[English version] (“Opferkuchenformer”, Bäcker). Hilfspersonal der pontifices ( f. pontificum: CIL VI 1074; 10247) und Vestalinnen ( f. virginum Vestalium: CIL VI 786; 2134; Varro ling. 7,44, Cic. dom. 139), …

[English version] [1] Stab aus Holz oder Metall als Amtsinsignie Gekrümmter oder spiralförmig endender Stab aus Holz oder Metall, etr.-ital. Herkunft. Im polit. Sinne urspr. Amtsinsigne des Königs (Serv. Aen. 7,187), später Symbol imperatorischer Macht, Wahrzeichen des Princeps. Von größerer Bed. ist l. als Kultgerät und Insigne der Auguren ( augures ), die ihn zur Bezeichnung der Himmelsregionen bzw. des templum verwenden. Mythol…

[English version] ( October equus). An den Iden des Oktober wurde alljährlich auf dem Campus Martius in Rom ein Wagenrennen abgehalten (Fest. 190 L.; Plut. qu. R. 97) und das rechte Pferd des siegreichen Zweigespanns (vgl. aber [2]) getötet. Der Kopf des Pferdes wurde (zuvor?) mit Broten ( …

[English version] Von lat. piare = pium reddere, “reinigen”, “sühnen” (Plaut. Men. 517; Varro ling. 6,30), dann auch “versöhnen” (Plaut. Asin. 506; Verg. Aen. 6,379). P. bezeichnet zum einen die zur Verletzung der pax deorum führende, eine Sühnung erfordernde Handlung (Plaut. Truc. 223; Varro ling. 629), zum anderen den rituellen Akt der Sühnung eines solchen Verstoßes bzw. das zu diesem Zweck verwendete Opfertier (Cato agr. 139). Da die korrekte Einhaltung von Vorschriften, Handlungen und Regeln zum wesentlichen Bestandteil röm. Kultausübung gehörte, war die …

[English version] Lat. “Kissen” oder “Bett”. Auf dem p. wird bei der Gründung eines Heiligtums und später am Stiftungstag ( natalis templi ) das Götterbild gelagert; nach Serv. georg. 3,533 kann mit p. auch der Tempel selbst gemeint sein. Eine zentrale Rolle spielte das p. bei der Bewirtung der Götterbilder bzw. der Göttersymbole im röm. Kult, bei Bitt- und Dankfesten und dem lectisternium ( p. suscipere: Liv. 5,52,6; cenae ad pulvinaria: Plin. nat. 32,20). In profaner Bed. bezeichnet das p. die Kaiserloge im Circus (Suet. Aug. 45,1; Claud. 4,3; CIL VI 9822). Siebert, Anne Viola (Hanno…

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[English version] (“kleines Heiligtum”). Diminutiv zu lat. sacrum. Hiervon zu unterscheiden ist das sacrarium, der Aufbewahrungsraum für den sakralen Hausrat ( sacra supellex), das nicht unbedingt konsekriert sein mußte ( consecratio ). S. kann öffentliche röm. Kultstätten, die aus einem offenen Altar mit einer Einfriedung bestanden (Trebatius bei Gell. 7,12,5; vgl. Fest. 422 L.), aber auch private Heiligtümer bezeichnen. …

[English version] (“glückliches Opfern”). Von lat. litare (zu griech. λιτή, “die Bitte”) = “erfolgreich opfern” (ohne Objekt) im Gegensatz zu sacrificare (“opfern”); in augusteischer Zeit schwindet der Unterschied zw. den als Syno…

[English version] (eigentlich “Faden”, “Schnur”, “Band”). In röm. kult.-magischer Verwendung obliegt dem l. zweierlei Wirkung: es (ver-)bindet und (um-)schließt eine Sache oder Person. In seiner (ver-)bindenden Funktion wird es hauptsächlich im Liebeszauber verwendet (vgl. Verg. ecl. 8,73ff.). Mit dem l. wird aber auch der Abstimmungsbezirk bei Einberufungen des Volkes umschlossen (Varro ling. 6,86-88, 93 und 95; Paul. Fest. 100,11 L.). Geläufiger oder wichtiger ist es freilich in der (um-)schließenden Funktion, in der es apotropäisc…

[English version] (der “abgeschnittene Knochen”). Gegenstand eines röm. Rituals, das nach dem Wechsel von der Erd- zur Brandbestattung ausgeübt wurde. Nach dem auf Numa Pompilius zurückgeführten röm. ius pontificum, das die Brandbestattung eigentlich untersagte (Plut. Numa 22), galt ein Toter erst dann als ordnungsgemäß bestattet, wenn wenigstens ein vollständiges Körperteil gänzlich beigesetzt worden war (Cic. leg. 2,55; Varro ling. 5,23; Paul. Fest. 135 L.). Hintergrund ist die Idee, daß die Bestattung als Rückgabe des Leichnams an die Erde verstanden wurde. Der zu verbrennenden Leiche wurde ein Finger abgetrennt und beigesetzt. In der Grabkammer bei S. Caesareo an der Via Appia wurden Urnen mit abgetrennt bestatteten Körperteilen aus republikan. Zeit gefunden (CIL I 22, 1015ff.). Bestattung; Sakralrecht; Totenkult Siebert, Anne Viola (Hannover) Bibliography G. Rohde, s.v. O.r., RE 18, 1534-1536  Latte, 100f., 211.

[English version] (Woll-)Binde mit vielseitiger Verwendung. Neben Girlanden ist die i. das am häufigsten verwendete Schmuckutensil im röm. sakralen Bereich: an Opfertieren, sakralen Gebäuden, teilweise auch Altären (Fest. 100 L.); sie ist auch Schmuck des Hochzeitshauses (Lucan. 2,355; Plin. nat. 29,30; Serv. Aen. 4,458). Als Bestandteil der Priestertracht (Kopfbinde [1]) ist die i. eine diademartige Binde, von der beiderseits der Enden Quasten ( vittae) h…

[English version] Im eigentlichen Sinne “der Anfang”, vgl. auch inaugurare: “Augurien anstellen”, “Weissagevögel befragen”; “einweihen”. Im röm. Sakralrecht ist i. die priesterliche Amtseinführung, die seit histor. faßbarer Zeit nur bei den flamines maiores ( Dialis: Gai. …

[English version] (Etym.: lat. lectum sternere, “ein Bett ausbreiten”). Götterbewirtung, Göttermahl: sehr alte Form des Opfers, bei dem in einem Tempel der auf einem Speisesofa liegenden Gottheit auf einem Tisch eine Mahlzeit dargebracht wurde (vgl. Iovis epulum ). Dahinter steht die Vorstellung, daß bei jeder Mahlzeit die Götter ihren Anteil erhielten, d.h. direkt anwesend waren. Der Begriff l. wird nur in sakralem Zusammenhang verwendet. In erster Linie ist das l. Bestandteil des Graecus ritus, daher eine im griech. Gottesdienst weit verbreitete Form des Opfer…

[English version] ist die lat. Bezeichnung für den Vorgang des Opferns, die Opferhandlung, im Gegensatz zu der Opfergabe (Früchte, Brot, Wein) oder dem Opfertier ( hostia). Das Opfer war eines der einfachsten Arten, sich im röm. Privat- wie Staatskult gegenüber einer Gottheit zu äußern. Der lat. Ausdruck i. umschreibt diesen Vorgang; urspr. Bed.: das Bestreuen des Opfertieres mit gesalzenem Spelt, dem Opferdinkel ( immolare = mit Opfermehl, mola salsa, bestreuen; vgl. Fest. 124 L.; Fest. 97 L. s.v. immolare; Serv. Aen. 10,541). I. bezeichnet somit den Akt der Reinigung vor de…

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[English version] [1] Hasta, hastati Die hasta diente im röm. Heer während der mittleren Republik vor allem als Stoßlanze für den Nahkampf, obwohl sie auch geworfen werden konnte; sie hatte einen hölzernen Schaft und eine Eisenspitze. Die h. war der Kampfweise der Phalanx angepaßt, blieb aber im Gebrauch, als die Römer im 4. Jh. v.Chr. zur flexibleren Aufstellung in Manipeln ( manipulus ) übergingen. Nach Livius (Liv. 8,8,5-13), dessen Darstellung allerdings nicht unproblematisch ist, bestand das röm. Heer 340 v.Chr. aus drei Schlachtreihen, den hastati, den principes und den triarii. Die triarii wa…