Lupercalia

Un misterioso rito, retaggio vivente di epoche remotissime, si rinnova ogni anno all’interno delle celebrazioni del carnevale di Castelnuovo a Volturno, in Molise. Un essere fantastico, Gl’ Cierv, furioso e selvatico Uomo Cervo, muore e rinasce ciclicamente, simbolo solare e della rigenerazione della natura, testimonianza viva di un antico mito cosmico-agrario. Seguendo le sue orme, un viaggio lunghissimo attraverso il tempo e lo spazio ci conduce in un reame magico nel quale sciamani in estasi, contadini e cacciatori sono i custodi dell’arcaico culto del dio cervo.

ENG: A mysterious ritual, a living legacy of ancient times, is renewed every year within the celebrations of the Castelnuovo a Volturno carnival, in Molise (Italy). A fantastic being, Gl ’Cierv, furious and wild Deer Man, dies and reborn cyclically, a solar symbol and the regeneration of nature, living testimony of an ancient cosmic-agrarian myth. Following in his footsteps, a very long journey through time and space leads us to a magical realm in which ecstatic shamans, farmers and hunters are the keepers of the archaic cult of the deer god.

Link per l'acquisto:
https://www.stamperiadelvalentino.it/product/luomo-cervo/

ISBN: 979-12-80721-08-2

The paper discusses the cult of the Hirpi Sorani, comparing it with other wolf cults of central Italy (Roman Lupercalia, Etruscan reliefs possibly depicting the cult of Calu), analyzing the common elements of these cults, and suggesting that the cults have a common origin.

La ricerca su Valenze del lupo nel mondo romano, concentrata sul periodo monarchico e repubblicano, è finalizzata all’indagine di un tema, quello del lupo nel mondo romano, già oggetto di numerosi studi che hanno riguardato in alcuni casi la raccolta e l’analisi filologica delle fonti storiche, in altri la catalogazione di materiali figurati e la loro analisi iconografica e iconologica, in altri ancora l’interpretazione in chiave religiosa e socioculturale. Ne deriva che l’argomento non è mai stato trattato in maniera organica, sulla base cioè dell’utilizzo integrato di fonti storiche, documentazione archeologica e analisi comparativa, strumenti che solo se utilizzati insieme riescono a dare del problema un quadro esaustivo. Non basta. Poiché l’oggetto in esame, il lupo, non costituisce un’entità astratta, bensì un’entità reale, oggetto di approfonditi studi nel campo della zoologia, si ritiene opportuno partire dai dati scientifici relativi a tassonomia, distribuzione, morfologia e etologia per stabilire corrispondenze con i dati messi a disposizione dalla ricerca storica. A questo tipo di approccio è da riferire anche l’analisi della licantropia come forma di delirio di origine neurologica, secondo la classificazione della medicina moderna, ma così interpretata già a partire da Galeno.  La ricerca, che si avvale anche di fonti e testimonianze che esorbitano il periodo prescelto qualora si tratti di espressioni che possano essere riferite a tradizioni antiche, si articola in tre parti. La prima, costituita dalla raccolta della documentazione, dove si analizza il lupo con i dati messi a disposizione dalla scienza moderna; si procede alla raccolta delle fonti sul lupo nel mondo romano, con particolare approfondimento degli episodi legati al lupo e relativi alla leggenda di fondazione della città di Roma, l’analisi del complesso dei Lupercalia e dei racconti e degli eventi prodigiosi che, nell’ambito del periodo indagato, presentano una connessione con il lupo. La fase di documentazione è completata dall’analisi topografica dei luoghi che, nella città di Roma, presentano una relazione con il lupo o con i rituali ad esso collegati nonché dall’analisi di materiali figurati significativi. La seconda parte riguarda la comparazione e si occupa di verificare le valenze del lupo nel mondo indoeuropeo, con un’attenzione particolare all’area occupata da popolazioni elleniche, per la quale si registrano il maggior numero di fonti, e, tra gli altri popoli, alla presenza del tema in questione presso gli Etruschi, ma senza tralasciare indicazioni utili che possono provenire da altre culture, anche da quelle non direttamente in contatto con il mondo romano, ma originate dallo stesso sostrato. L’ultima fase della ricerca riguarda l’analisi dei dati raccolti.

This paper uses a minor issue in the Roman festival of the Lupercalia as a case study in Roman myth and ritual. It is a technical discussion of the names of the Luperci priests,
which show some variation, usually ignored by scholars. Careful attention to epigraphical evidence shows that the Luperci were divided into two groups, derived from the names of ancient gentes: Fabii and one of either Quintii or Quintilii. Theoretical distinction between myth and ritual helps to sort out the confusing evidence, with a claim that Fabii or Quintilii were only applied to the Luperci of mythical aetia, not the historical reality of the ritual. This conclusion implies that Caesar’s Luperci should be called Iuliani, not Iulii.

Sacra gentilicia are a main evidence of gentes’ originary autonomy within the civitas. An analysis of the sources about several cults held by main gentes in Republican age confirms the internal charachter of the gentilician cult, often strenghtened by myths about origins of the rituals going back to the oldest stage of the roman religious tradition. Nevertheless any attempt to include funerary rites among the gentilician cult should be refused, since they commemorate the defunct ancestors, and only the agnates, but don’t purpose to ensure the union of the various families bearing the same nomen gentilicium. Informations about gentilician burials should be compared with those about distinguished subjects of republican history buried inside the pomerium. Such analysis may help to solve open questions about the problems of sacred urban space, relationships between pomerium and Urbs and the various ways of urban space occupation.

The Lupercalia is one of the most important and most controversial of Roman festivals. This paper addresses the issue of its topography, which has received renewed attention in recent years. It is divided into two main sections, the first discussing the hotly debated location of the Lupercal cave, and the second the course of the running Luperci. The former section reviews the literary and archaeological evidence for the location of the cave, discusses its significance as a unique religious site, and calls for further investigation in the area of the southwest Palatine. The second section seeks to challenge the most influential theories on the course of the Luperci by carefully examining the ancient evidence and the terminology it uses. A contextualization of the sources and the topographic elements they describe shows that many modern theories contain serious flaws when it comes to this subject. Most modern interpretations rely on a passage of Augustine which is very problematic because of his biased interpretatio Christiana. The conclusion is that the festival’s typology as a ritual of lustration is key to understanding the course of the Luperci.

This work aims to offer, through an icon-
ographic and literary analysis, a new per-
spective towards the degree of nudity ex-
hibited by the luperci during the celebration
of the Lupercalia in Rome.
To reach this objective, we make a start
with the analysis of the main topics that
have been studied in relation to this holiday
by several generations of scholars. We, then,
go on to try to explain, through the different
functions of the ritual, the purpose of this
religious ceremony in the eyes of Roman society itself. Finally, and making use of the
only ancient images of the luperci that have
survived to this day, we seek to account for
the evolution of their clothing.
Thus, we will try to determine to what
extent the main opinion of historiography
is valid or not – concerning the fact that the
luperci, until Augustus, exhibited their naked
bodies, but after his reforms they would start
to use much heavier clothing –. This sup-
posed variation of the priestly attire may be
related to a certain fundamental change that,
under the auspices of Augustus, deprived
the senators of continuing to exercise as lu-
perci in favor of knights. The equites – who
would thus see their social status elevated –,
would end up being, in turn, relegated from
this role at some undetermined time in the
IV or V centuries AD. After that, their old
roles came to be played by professional act-
ors, which would finally distort much of the content of this millenial ritual.

Hirpi Sorani, “the wolves of Soranus,” were priests, belonging to several Faliscan families and worshipping Apollo Soranus and other local gods. Once a year, during a popular community festival celebrated on Mount Soracte, these priests carried offerings, walking barefoot on blazing embers and feeling no pain. In antiquity, some regarded their abilities as god-given, while others attributed the immunity of Hirpi Sorani to pain to application of an ointment. Fire-walking occurred also in other parts of the Mediterranean world.
Fire-walking is well-known in the modern world. Contemporary anthropological research, employing interviews with the fire-walkers, as well as quantitative criteria of assessing their physical and mental state, sheds light on the experiences of ancient fire-walkers. Fire-walking involves alteration of consciousness, associated with the release of endogenous substances, which renders high-ordeal participants immune to pain, and results in the state of euphoria and blessedness. The research on the state of low-ordeal witnesses of fire-walking demonstrates that they were also passionately involved. Thus, perceived suffering and alteration of consciousness of several people endows the entire community with a transformative experience which can be construed in terms of redemption and purification.
These observations elucidate the cognitive and social roles of fire-walking in the ancient Mediterranean: these rituals bestowed the high-ordeal participants with feelings of euphoria and extreme salience of their experience, which compelled them to participate in the ritual time and again, while the empathy of the low-ordeal participants brought about feelings of elation and purification.

In this paper, I apply the methodologies of dance studies and cultural studies of the body to an analysis of the Roman Lupercalia. Focusing on the corporeality of the participants as the most striking component of the performance, I demonstrate that the physicality of these bodies and their mobility through the city of Rome not only transmit but also generate cultural significance, which is crucial for understanding the role of dance in Roman public rituals and its consequent part in the construction of Roman identities.

This paper suggests that the enigmatic details of the Lupercalia's ritual may have been influenced by a myth brought to Etruria from the Near East with the worship of Astarte. It posits the syncretism of Astarte's religious tradition with the burgeoning career of Juno near the time of Rome's foundation in a celebration marking the arrival of spring.

Quel est le sens de l'apparat revêtu par César aux Lupercales, le 15 février 44 av. notre ère ? Cet article propose une nouvelle lecture de l'événement au regard d'une comparaison avec les insignes du pouvoir romains offerts aux rois étrangers sous la République, et dont le sens serait celui d'un apparat royal.

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia suden uskonnollista merkitystä antiikin Roomassa sekä tuoda esille suden ja Rooman välisen erityissuhteen taustoja. Keskeisinä tutkimuskysymyksinäni on selvittää, missä määrin roomalaisten ja lähikansojen susiin liittyvissä kulteissa oli yhteisiä rakennetekijöitä, mikä oli suden merkitys roomalaisille enne-eläimenä sekä välttelivätkö roomalaiset susiin kohdistuvaa väkivaltaa.
Tutkimukseni perustuu klassillisen filologian metodiin eli kielellisten dokumenttien kriittiseen tarkasteluun historiallisessa ja kulttuurisessa kontekstissaan.

Osoitan tutkimuksessani, ettei suden uskonnollinen erityisasema rajoittunut antiikin Italiassa pelkästään roomalaisiin. Esitän hypoteesin, että roomalaisten, faliskien ja etruskien parista tunnettujen, suteen liittyvien uskonnollisten arvostusten taustalla voisi olla Tiberin laakson alueella esihistoriallisena aikana harjoitettu suden palvonta.

Myös roomalaisen kulttuuripiirin arkielämässä ja -käytännöissä voi nähdä merkkejä suden poikkeuksellisesta asemasta. Kaupunkialueilla nähdyt sudet tulkittiin antiikin Roomassa enteiksi. Susi oli ainoa nisäkäs, joka oli roomalaisille merkityksellinen enne-eläin. Roomalaiset eivät näytä käyttäneen susia amfiteattereiden metsästysnäytöksissä eivätkä aktiivisesti metsästäneen niitä. He pyrkivät välttämään väkivaltaa susia kohtaan muulloinkin, jos se vain oli mahdollista. Syynä väkivallan kartteluun on mielestäni pidettävä suden antiikin Roomassa nauttimaa uskonnollista erityisasemaa.

x x x

This study aims to analyze the religious significance of the wolf in Ancient Rome and throw light on the basis of the special relationship between the Romans and the wolf. The most important research questions of the thesis are whether any common elements can be found in the various wolf cults of Central Italy, what the significance of the wolf was as a portent, and whether the Romans avoided violence against the wolf. The study is based on the method of classical philology, studying linguistic documents critically in their historical and cultural context. I show in the thesis that in Ancient Italy the special religious significance of the wolf was not limited only to the Romans. I propose the hypothesis that the religious reverence shown to the wolf by the Romans, the Faliscans and the Etruscans could be based on the worshipping of the wolf in the Tiber valley in the prehistoric era. The special position enjoyed by the wolf can also be seen in daily life and practices in the Roman cultural sphere. Wolves that were seen in urban areas were interpreted as portents. The wolf was the only quadruped that was considered by the Romans to be a significant portent. Wolves do not seem to have been actively hunted or displayed in the venationes of Roman amphitheaters. Whenever possible, the Romans avoided violence against wolves in other contexts, too. This must be due to the religious importance of the wolf to the Romans.

The City and the Wilderness: the Rites of Lupercalia

Abstract: In this analytic survey of Lupercalia all the ritual acts are first examined separately and then inserted in and interpreted through the unifying frame of the ritual as a whole. This approach allows the conclusion that the Lupercalia, taking place at the end of the old Roman year, staged and realized, through a series of rites of passage and the presence of the Luperci, the irruption of the wilderness and its forces in the civilized world, that of the city. This temporary entry of the wilderness into civilization ensured the disintegration of religious pollution of the preceding year and thus purified the community for the next one.

Keywords: Purification, New Year Festival, Rites of Passage, Wilderness, Civilization, Faunus, Flamen Dialis, Luperci, Exta, Hirpi Sorani.


La Cité et la Sauvagerie : les Rites des Lupercales.

Résumé: Est proposée ici une étude analytique des Lupercales, où chacun de leurs rites est d’ abord étudié séparément pour être ensuite inséré et interprété dans le cadre unificateur du rituel tout entier. Cette approche démontre que les Lupercales mettaient en scène et réalisaient à travers une série de rites de passage et la figure des Luperques l’ irruption, à la fin de l’ ancienne année romaine, du monde sauvage et de ses forces dans le monde civilisé, la cité. Cette entrée éphémère du sauvage dans le civilisé assurait la désintégration des maux de l’ année écoulée et ainsi purifiait la communauté pour la nouvelle année.

Mots-clés : Purification, Fête de fin d’ année, Rites de passage, Sauvagerie, Civilisation, Faunus, Flamen Dialis, Luperques, Exta, Hirpi Sorani.

Es geht um die Frage, wann und warum die Ursprünge Roms nicht nur mit Romulus und Aeneas, sondern im Besonderen auch mit Arkadien verbunden wurden. Zu diesem Zweck werden die Romulusbiographie Plutarchs, die Fragmente römischer Annalisten und das 1. Buch der Archaiologia des Dionysios von Halikarnass untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, dass Konstrukte von Roms arkadischen Wurzeln auf den frühen Hellenismus zurückgehen, d. h. auf Gelehrte peripatetischer und alexandrinischer Provenienz, und dass sie sekundär von den frühesten römischen Historikern übernommen und adaptiert wurden. Zugleich werden die genealogischen, aitiologischen, etymologischen Verfahren untersucht, derer man sich zur Schaffung derartiger Konstrukte bediente.

Il punto di partenza dell'articolo è un sondaggio storico-semantico dei verbi che in greco e in latino definiscono il latrato del lupo (ololyzo, ylakteo e ululo). Attraverso questa analisi si rintracciano alcune connessioni con la sfera lupesca che l’immaginario intellettuale cristiano aveva ereditato dal mondo greco e romano: sono presi in considerazione, in particolare, il mito narrato nella tragedia greca di Euripide sulle Baccanti e la festa romana dei Lupercalia.

It has recently (JIES 2011) been proposed that the Roman god Faunus/Silvanus and Vedic Rudra share a common origin. The names of the divinities represent a clear binary opposition that is already by itself remarkable (Rudra/Silvanus can be rendered as 'savage' and Faunus/Śiva as 'favourable '). The structural correspondence includes several overlapping divine functions: their
savage nature and abode, protection of cattle, healing and fertility, multiplicity and gender, a specific type of warfare (Männerbund) and prophecy and singing.

However, their sexuality can also be added to the number of similarities, as I argue in this paper. While several rituals attest Silvanus’ danger to women, Faunus is also the god of the Lupercalia, a ritual where young naked men strike women with goatskin whips to ensure their fertility. The sexual exploits of Faunus earned him the epithet Inuus, which is derived from 'inire' (to penetrate ). He is said to have violated his daughter in the form of a snake. On the Indian side, various myths associate the creation of Rudra with the punishment of Prajāpati for
committing incest with his daughter.

This paper is an addendum to the article " Choreography of Lupercalia: Corporeality in Roman Public Religion " , published in the latest issue of GRMS. In my previous essay, I explored the methodological possibilities of the notion 'choreography' , a concept that has been critically re-elaborated by dance scholars in the past two decades, and applied it to the wandering of the Luperci in order to understand the performative role of their mobility and physicality as traits shared with other dances within the realm of Roman public religion. The aim of the current article is to refine the approaches proposed for Lupercalia by examining aspects of training, performance, and reception that are intrinsic to this choreographic practice, and to observe these elements in light of the Roman idea of sodalitas ('corporation'). This approach will allow us to determine how dancing—and, more exactly, corporeality—works in the construction of Roman identities. Keywords Roman dance – ludus – choreography – Lupercalia – Roman identity Foreword Year after year, around the Ides of February, the area of the ancient oppidum at the Palatine was covered by masculine bodies commemorating in their movement the pre-foundational origins of the Roman civilization. The nudity of the runners, the ludic atmosphere of the races, and, of course, the hectic interaction with passers-by reinforced the chaotic ambiance of one of the most 'irreverent'

Dans notre article, nous avons démontré que les sources antiques indiquent clairement que, sous la République romaine, les origines des Lupercales étaient étroitement associées par les historiens, et aussi par le grand nombre, non pas à la figure diaphane d’Ėvandre l’Arcadien, mais bien à un épisode du mythe de Romulus – celui du séjour des jumeaux surhumains chez les bergers du Palatin. De plus, on peut supposer, à titre d’hypothèse, que l’association du mythe romuléen aux Lupercales remontait déjà à l’époque de l’établissement de la cité du Palatin dans la seconde moitié du VIIIe siècle avant notre ère.

Dans notre communication, nous avons démontré que les sources antiques indiquent clairement que, sous la République romaine, les origines des Lupercales étaient étroitement associées par les historiens, et aussi par le grand nombre, non pas à la figure diaphane d’Ėvandre l’Arcadien, mais bien à un épisode du mythe de Romulus – celui du séjour des jumeaux surhumains chez les bergers du Palatin. De plus, on peut supposer, à titre d’hypothèse, que l’association du mythe romuléen aux Lupercales remontait déjà à l’époque de l’établissement de la cité du Palatin dans la seconde moitié du VIIIe siècle avant notre ère.

Le résumé de l’article en question donné par le Bulletin analytique d’histoire romaine :

Le but de l’étude est de déterminer l’emplacement exact, à Rome, de la célèbre statue de la louve allaitant les jumeaux fondateurs érigée en 296 par les édiles curules Ogulnii : au comitium ou à côté du Lupercal ? Pour l’auteur, il s’agit du Lupercal, comme il le montre (1ère partie) à partir d’une analyse des sources républicaines et augustéennes (en particulier Fabius Pictor, Tite-Live et Denys d’Halicarnasse, ainsi que l’argument ex silentio de l’un des Anaglypha Traiani). La localisation au comitium tient à la légende du déplacement de la ficus Ruminalis par Attus Navius dont l’auteur étudie ensuite la genèse (2e partie) : cette dernière
procéderait de la transformation de la légende du figuier ruminal dupliqué (le figuier du Comitium étant le jumeau de celui du Lupercal) en celle du figuier ruminal déplacé car, la véritable ficus Ruminalis ayant disparu au début de notre ère, celle du Comitium perpétuait dorénavant seule l’antique gloire « ruminale ».

Brief English language summary:

In 296 B.C., the curule aediles Ogulnii placed near a fig tree called Ruminalis a statue of a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. The sources about the statue are scarce, so there is no consensus on its precise location in Rome. Still, under the influence of F. Coarelli, most specialists locate the statue in Comitium and not near the Lupercal where grew the fig tree Ruminalis. But, using written and archaeological sources, I showed that the lupa Ogulnia certainly stood in front of the Lupercal. This conclusion is of great importance for any study on the political and religious ideology in Rome at the end of the IV century B.C., because the fact that, in 296 B.C., a sculpture celebrating Romulus was placed in front of the Lupercal, and thus under the southwest plateau of the Palatine, where, in 294 B.C., was inaugurated the temple of Victoria, shows clearly that, at the start of the III century B.C., Romans associated the figure of Romulus with their new goddess of victory: thus, the roman military success was placed under the protection of Romulus.

Tunnetun tarun mukaan pentunsa menettänyt susiemo imetti Rooman perustajia, Romulusta ja Remusta. Antiikin roomalaiset pitivät sutta kansansa esiäitinä. Se oli eläin, johon koko valtakunta samaistettiin. Kaupunkialueella nähtyjä susia pidettiin ennusmerkkinä jumalilta ja roomalaisilla oli jopa erityinen susipapistonsa. Huomionarvoista on myös se, että roomalaiset välttelivät susien vahingoittamista. Niitä ei muista eläimistä poiketen käytetty amfiteattereiden näytöksissä eikä metsästetty.

Rooma, suden kaupunki -teos valaisee suden asemaa roomalaisten tarustossa, taiteessa, arkielämässä, kirjallisuudessa ja uskomuksissa. Esinne nousevat niin antiikintutkijoiden väittelyn kohteena olevat ajankohtaiskysymykset kuin kysymys siitä, miksi juuri susi oli eläin johon roomalaiset samaistuivat. Kirja avaa antiikin Roomaan laajemminkin tuoreita, kiinnostavia näkökulmia. Vaikka suden ja Rooman yhteys onkin tunnettu kautta länsimaisen kulttuuripiirin, ei aiheesta aiemmin ole julkaistu kokonaisesitystä millään kielellä.

FL Mika Rissanen on tutukinut Rooman ja suden erityisyhteyttä lähes kahden vuosikymmenen ajan. Hän on myös väitellyt samasta aiheesta: hänen väitöskirjansa käsittelee suden uskonnollista asemaa antiikin Roomassa. Aiemmin Rissanen on kirjoittanut Sami Kosken ja Juha Tahvanaisen kanssa Finlandia-palkinnon voittaneen teoksen Antiikin urheilu sekä Juha Tahvanaisen kanssa historiallisiin oluttarinoihin paneutuvan kirjan Kuohuvaa historiaa, jonka käännösoikeudet on myyty kahdeksaan maahan.

https://atena.fi/kirjat/historia/rooma-suden-kaupunki

The festival of the Lupercalia is one of the most discussed issues in Roman religion. The ritual requires young naked men to strike passer-bys (especially women) with goatskin whips while running around the Palatine. It is an explicit example of how the male and the female bodies are situated in a discourse maintained (if not established) by the Roman state. After a vast amount of bibliography on the subject, a number of hotly debated issues still remain to be resolved. Just like its modern critics, ancient sources are in disagreement as to the meaning of the festival. Most of the sources term it a purification showing that a strong exegetical tradition lies behind their statements. At the same time, all substantial accounts of the Lupercalia (Ovid, Plutrach, Servius) insist on its beneficial aspect of female fertility. In order to explain the role of the male and the female body in this peculiar ritual, both the aspects of fertility and purification need to be addressed. Modern scholars’ differing views on the origins of the ritual (A. K. Michaels, A. Alföldi, A. W. Holleman, T. P. Wiseman, etc.) are to be resolved by closely looking at other Roman rituals of purification (lustrations). The Indo-European origins of the ritual are to be considered within its specific Roman context. Thus, a detailed overview of lustrations should help us understand the citizen body (populus), as well more specific issues with which these lustrations are concerned. Only an analysis of this wider context of lustrations can illustrate the particular ritual of the Lupercalia, and clarify its essential features of purification and fertility, here concerned with the functions of the concrete male and female bodies in question. 

Sorry to say that I am not able to upload a copy of this paper at the moment as it forms a chapter of my thesis, which I hope to publish.

Résumé :
La période entre 338 et 290 av. J.-C. fut un tournant pour Rome, car elle vit la soumission des Latins et la défaite des Samnites, ce qui permit à l’Urbs de devenir la première puissance italique. On assista donc à l’avènement d’un impérialisme romain. Se pose alors la question de l’idéologie d’État de cette Rome en transition. Comme cette expansion fut accompagnée par la construction, à Rome, de dix nouveaux temples, souvent dédiés à des divinités nouvelles, et que toute divinité exprimait une idéologie, il nous a semblé possible de reconstituer, dans ses grands traits, cette idéologie d’État grâce aux nouvelles divinités et leurs sanctuaires. Nous avons donc choisi d’analyser deux nouveaux temples : celui de Quirinus et celui de Victoria. Le choix de Quirinus s’explique par le fait que ce dieu avait, on l’a montré, déjà été assimilé à Romulus ; quant à Victoria, on l’a choisie pour trois raisons : elle était une déesse de la victoire ; son temple fut élevé au-dessus du Lupercal, au cœur même de la « Rome de Romulus » ; grâce aux fouilles de P. Pensabene, on peut reconstituer son sanctuaire. Puis, on a analysé les deux temples et leurs divinités à travers les concepts (cadre social de la mémoire, mémoire collective) issus de la sociologie de M. Halbwachs. On a ainsi constaté qu’à travers ces temples, l’élite dirigeante avait diffusé auprès du peuple une nouvelle identité collective affirmant le caractère exceptionnel de Rome et contenant l’idée d’une expansion illimitée de l’Urbs. Cette création d’une identité romaine impérialiste se fondant sur Romulus et la religion en général, on peut l’interpréter comme la construction d’un destin collectif pour Rome.

La thèse a été publiée en 2021 chez les Belles-Lettres.

Karlis Konrads Vé, Romulus, Quirinus et Victoria. La construction d’une mémoire collective à Rome entre 338 et 290 av. J.-C., Paris, 2021.


Summary:
The period between 338 and 290 B.C. saw a sea change for Rome, because the subjugation of the Latins and the defeat of the Samnites allowed her to become the main italic power, and witnessed the advent of a roman imperialism. In this context arises the problem of the state ideology of this Rome in transition. As this expansion was accompanied by the construction of ten new temples in Rome, frequently consecrated to new deities, each of them expressing a specific ideology, we thought it possible to reconstruct the new state ideology through an analysis of the deities and shrines in question. So, for our study, we chose two new temples, those of Quirinus and of Victoria. Quirinus because of his assimilation to Romulus, Victoria because she was a deity of victory; her shrine was built above the Lupercal, at the heart of the “Rome of Romulus”; and because her temple can be reconstructed thanks to the excavations of P. Pensabene. Then we analyzed the two temples and their godheads through concepts (social frame of memory; collective memory) taken from the sociology of M. Halbwachs. In this way we came to the conclusion that, through these two shrines, the ruling élite had tried to communicate to the common people a new collective identity promoting the exceptionality of Rome and her unlimited powers of expansion. This construction of an imperialistic roman identity being based on Romulus and the religion in general, one can interpret it as construction of a collective destiny for Rome. 

The PhD thesis was published in 2021 by Les Belles-Lettres (Paris).

Karlis Konrads Vé, Romulus, Quirinus et Victoria. La construction d’une mémoire collective à Rome entre 338 et 290 av. J.-C., Paris, 2021.

RIASSUNTO: La ricerca tenta un riesame globale della questione dei culti privati, e in particolare di quelli gentilizi, e del posto da essi occupato all’interno delle forme religiose romane sviluppandosi su un duplice fronte: da una parte si è proceduto a una riconsiderazione quanto più accurata possibile della storiografia moderna, a partire dal XVI secolo, con l’analisi di alcune posizioni dottrinali particolarmente significative.
Per un altro verso, si è proceduto a una riconsiderazione globale delle fonti conosciute sui culti gentilizi per verificare sia l’autenticità delle informazioni trasmesse dai testi che le riportano, sia il reale significato attribuito al culto all’interno del gruppo gentilizio, per cogliere i rapporti instauratisi nel corso dei secoli tra questo e il culto pubblico cittadino. A questo scopo sono stati raccolti i testi più significativi che menzionano culti di gentes, tentando di accertarne la natura, pubblica o privata, sulla quale si riscontrano spesso notevoli discordanze in dottrina.
L’esame delle fonti sui culti gentilizi ha poi permesso di rilevare una vitalità nella produzione di miti da parte delle gentes ancora in piena età repubblicana. Ciò sembra smentire le ricostruzioni, eccessivamente rigide, di molta parte della dottrina, che ha ipotizzato un meccanico sovrapporsi della struttura religiosa cittadina, specchio della raggiunta maturità politica della civitas, sulle forme religiose, tendenzialmente centrifughe, dei gruppi gentilizi, che sarebbero state relegate tra le forme di culto privato. Invece i due momenti non si sono succeduti in un rapporto meramente cronologico né in una sequenza di forme dalla più semplice alla più complessa, ma hanno proceduto parallelamente, seppure con vitalità diversa e con diverso destino. In particolare alcuni episodi di II secolo a.C. mostrano come la cura del culto privato abbia ancora un’efficacia dirimente anche nei confronti delle cariche pubbliche.

ABSTRACT: This research tries a global reexamination of the topic of the Roman private cults, and particularly of the sacra gentilicia, in order to understand the place they occupied inside the Roman religious forms. The book develops on a double front: on one side it proceeds to a reconsideration of the modern historiography, from the very XVI century, analysing some particularly meaningful doctrinal positions.
On the other side, it proceeds to a global reconsideration of the sources on the gentilician cults, in order to verify both the authenticity of the informations transmitted by the texts that mention them, and the real meaning attributed to the cults inside the gentilician groups, in order to recognize the relationships between them and the city public cult. To this purpose the most meaningful texts mentioning cults of gentes have bee gathered, trying to verify their nature, public or private, a problem on which notable discordances are often found in doctrine.
Furthermore, the examination of the sources about the gentilician cults has allowed to notice a vitality in production of gentilician myths still in full republican age. This seems to deny the sometimes excessively rigid reconstructions of a significant part of the doctrine, which has hypothesized a mechanic overlapping of some city religious structures,, mirror of the political maturity of the civitas, on the potentially centrifuge religious forms of the gentilician groups, relegated among the forms of private cult. Instead, the two moments not merely supervened in chronological relationship, neither in a sequence of forms from the simplest to the most complex, but they parallelly proceeded, even though with different vitality and destiny. Particularly, some episodes of II century B.C. show as the care of the private cult has still a settling effectiveness towards the public magistratures, such as consulship.

Sevgililer Günü sahiden de ticaret hızlansın diye uydurulmuş bir gün mü sizce? Yoksa kökü daha eskilere dayanıyor olabilir mi? Hemen bütün kutlamalar biraz eskiye gider. Hatta çok eskiye gider. Bazen o kadar gider ki artık ilk hali unutulur, yeni halinden başkası hatırlanmaz olur. Sevgililer Günü'nün de böyle bir öyküsü var. Kurtlu bir hikâye bu. Hayır, çürüyüp kurtlanmış değil, gerçek kurt var içinde. Hatta keçiler bile var. Bir tuhaf öyküdür bu, içinde kurtlar, keçiler, kamçılar, çıplaklar ve azizler dolaşan. Ama eğlencelidir de. Doğrusunu söylemek gerekirse Sevgililer Günü pek inandığım bir şey değildir. İnsanın sevgilisi varsa, gözü ne gün görür ne de gece. Aşk zaten bir delilik halidir ve eğer bu deliliğe kapılmışsa kişi, gün de anlamını yitirir gece de. Eğer konu hediye almaya gelirse, o zaman sanılanın tam tersine ekonomik de olabilir böyle bir gün. Durmadan hediye almak yerine, "Hayatım sevgililer günü var ya, o zaman alacağım sana hediye zaten" diyerek tasarruf sağlanabilir. Eğer siz de, "Emperyalizmin oyunları bunlar. Böyle bir gün mü olurmuş. Dükkanlar para kazansın diye uydurulmuş bir şey" diye düşünenlerdenseniz, lütfen okumayı sürdürünüz çünkü öyle değil. Ama öyle bile olsa, Sevgililer Günü, Anneler Günü gibi özel günlerde çiçekçilerin, kuyumcuların daha fazla kazanması kötü bir şey de sayılmaz. AYIP OLABİLİR Mİ? Aşktan konuşmak için takvimlere özel bir gün eklenmiş olmasına hiç gerek yok. İstediğimiz zaman konuşabiliriz çünkü insana dairdir ve insana dair olan hiçbir şey tabu değildir. Cinsellik mesela. "Ayıp" kabul edilir toplumumuzda genel olarak değil mi? Görmüş olma olasılığınız çok yüksek, bir video var sosyal medyada, şurada burada dolaşıyor, bir amcaya mikrofon uzatıyorlar, "Sizce mutluluk nedir?" diyorlar, amca kızıyor, "Siz onu ne bileceksiniz, onu hanımla ben biliriz" diyor. Artık mutluluğu ne olarak biliyorsa… Belli ki cinsellikle ilişkili kafasındaki mutluluk. Onun için de kızıyor. Kimse amcaya eşinin detaylarını sorduğu da yok ama konunun içinde cinsellik olduğunu zannettiği için sinirleniyor, "Konuşulacak şey mi bu canım, sana ne!" der gibisinden kestirip atıyor. Oysa şu yaşlı dünyada, cinsellik olmadan var olmuş bir tek canlı yok. Her insan, ana-babasının cinsellik deneyimiyle dünyaya geldi. Diyeceksiniz ki, "Sevgililer Günü anlatacaktın, cinsellikten söz ediyorsun. Ne alakası var?" E dediğiniz gibi, Sevgililer Günü. Yok mu yani alakası? Hem ben cinsellik değil, tabu üzerinde duruyorum şu an. Yani, durdum, bitti. KUTLAMALAR ESKİYE GİDER Gelelim mi 14 Şubat'a? Gelelim ama yolda bir iki yere uğramamız lazım. Malum1, bugün uluslararası özel günler takvimindeki çoğu etkinliğin kökü, çok ama çok daha eskilerde atılmış tohumlardan çıkıyor. Daha önce bu sayfada hakkında konuşmuştuk, nevruz, nartugan, ilkbaharın ilk günleri, sonbahar, kışın ortası, yazın ortası derken birçok gün, bugünün takvimlerine girmeden çok daha önce, pagan dönemlerde de vardı. Belirli bir tarihte belirli bir şeyi kutlamaya alışmış insanlar, inançları değişince bile aynı tarihte birşeyleri kutlamayı sürdürdüler ama bu kez ayıp olmasın diye kutladıkları şeyin adını değiştirmiş oluyorlardı. İşte 14 Şubat Sevgililer Günü de böyle sonradan duruma uygun hale getirilmiş günlerden biri. İKİZLERE SÜTANNE En iyisi en baştan anlatmak. Roma şehrinin MÖ 753'te kurulduğuna inanılır. Söylenceye göre son derece özetle söylemek gerekirse, yetim kalan iki kardeş, Remus ve ikizi Romulus, bir kurt tarafından emzirildikleri ve dolayısıyla hayatlarının kurtarıldığı yerde Roma kentini kurarlar. (Romalılar, bunların, Troya'nın çöküşünden sonra bölgeden göç eden Troyalıların soyundan gelen Etrüskler olduğuna da inanırlar. Çok önemli değil, geçelim.) Bu

""The religious role of wolves in Central Italy: The cults of the Lupercalia, the Hirpi Sorani and Veltha"

In the ancient Central Italy there were three religious cults with analogical elements of wolf priesthoods: the Roman Lupercalia, the Faliscan cult of the Hirpi Sorani and the little known Etruscan cult of Veltha. In my thesis I analyze the cults comparatively making a hypothetical suggestion of their common origin.

An abstract of my results can be read at the article: "The Hirpi Sorani and the Wolf Cults of Central Italy" http://www.academia.edu/2177407/The_Hirpi_Sorani_and_the_Wolf_Cults_of_Central_Italy"