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[German version] The Roman festival of Meditrinalia was celebrated on 11 October (InscrIt 13,2, p. 519) with the tasting and libation of the fresh must. To that end, it was mixed with the boiled down must of the previous year; this was seen as a way of preserving it (Columella 12; Pall. Agric. 11, 14 and 17-19; [1. 916-919]). The name Meditrinalia was derived from the Latin mederi, ‘to heal’. In the same way as the mixing of the wine was to preserve its qualities, the tasting and libation of a mixture of new wine with that of the previous year was seen as a pre…

[German version] A. Name and characteristics The Roman god S. or Saeturnus (ILLRP 255; Fest. 432 f. L.), whose name is formed like Juturna and Manturna, is etymologically connected with sator ('sower') by various ancient authors (Varro, Ling. 5,64; Aug. Civ. 6,8; 7,13,19; Tert. Ad nat. 2,12; Arnob. 4,9; Fest. 432 L.; Macrob. Sat. 1,10,20) and some modern scholars, although his festival did not fall in the sowing season. The derivation from saturare (Cic. Nat. D. 2,64; 3,62) stemmed from the fact that his feast day was the 17th December, when the yearly cycle 'was co…

[German version] The name of the goddess M. is derived from Oscan mefitis, ‘suffocating, sulphurous exhalation’ (cf. Verg. Aen. 7,83f.; Serv. Aen. 7,84). Hence the first evidence of a cult of M. is found on Oscan territory: Aeclanum (Vetter 162), Pompeii (Vetter 32) and Rossano di Vaglio. There had been a temple since the 4th century BC in which M. was worshipped beside Juppiter and Mars [1; 2]. In the 1st century BC, M. was also worshipped in the nearby Roman town of Potentia (CIL X 130-133 and p. 961; cf. ibid. 3811, from Capua). Her most prominent temple was at the l acus Ampsanctus (Valle d'An…

[German version] [1] ( Lar, Lares). [German version] A. Nature of the lares The lares (Old Latin Lases [1]; cf. Etruscan Lasa = Nympha) are Roman spirits, which were worshipped in houses, on streets and at crossroads (= Manes: Arnob. 3,41; Serv. Aen. 3,302; = daímones: Cic. Tim. 38; CGL 2,121,17; 265,62; = hḗrōes: Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,2; Plut. Mor. 316f; CGL 2,121,14; 3,290,56); they were equated with the deified souls of the dead (e.g. Paul Fest. 273). Servius (Aen. 6,152) has the worship of the lares come from primeval household burials. The lares are male and capable of procreation;…

I. Geography and history [German version] A. The name and its development The name I. acquired its modern meaning during the Augustan period; it originally described the kingdom of the Oenotrian ruler Italus, comprising the Bruttian peninsula from Sila to Scylletium (Antiochus FGrH 555 F 5; according to Hecat. FGrH 1 F 41,51-53, Medma, Locris, Caulonia, and Krotalla were in I.). Hellanicus links I. with the term vitulus (‘calf’) and the legend of the calf of  Geryoneus which had run away from Hercules (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,35); Timaeus associates the name wit…

[German version] A Roman water nymph, whose name came to be associated with the Latin iuvare (‘to help’, ‘to support’) in popular etymology (Varro Ling. 5,71; Serv. Auct. Aen. 12,139). The ending - turna led to a connection with  Turnus, whose sister she was believed to be (Verg. Aen. 12,146). She is, however, also called Diurna (= the eternal, sc. Sources) (CIL VI 1, 3700). However, the etymology is still uncertain. I. is one of the mistresses of  Jupiter, who made her a goddess and gave her rule over lakes and rivers (Verg. Aen. 12,139-141). The nymph Lara/Tacita…

[German version] A. Name H. is the Roman form of the Greek  Heracles (Ἡρακλῆς; Hēraklês), Old Latin Hercle and Hercoles, Latin Hercules, Oscan Her(e)cleis/clos, Etruscan  Hercle. Mastrocinque, Attilio (Verona) [German version] B. Cattle breeding The theft of  Geryoneus' cattle, which the oldest witnesses of the H. legend in Etruria ( c. 600 BC) refer to, was the most important of H's. heroic deeds in Italy. The Roman myth relates that H. killed  Cacus, who had stolen some of his cattle, and in memory of this, together with  Evander [1] and the …