Tag: Juno Sospita

227 out of 410 days: Confusing Omens, Confusing Cities

Liv Yarrow1 Comment

Reverse of RRC 472/1. 1944.100.3525

 

I used to think I was the only person who might mess up Lanuvium and Lavinium.  NOT SO! Apparently Dionysius of Halicarnassus made the same mistake when he told this story:

While Lavinium was building, the following omens are said to have appeared to the Trojans. When a fire broke out spontaneously in the forest, a wolf, they say, brought some dry wood in his mouth and threw it upon the fire, and an eagle, flying thither, fanned the flame with the motion of his wings. But working in opposition to these, a fox, after wetting his tail in the river, endeavoured to beat out the flames; and now those that were kindling it would prevail, and now the fox that was trying to put it out. But at last the two former got the upper hand, and the other went away, unable to do anything further.5 Aeneas, on observing this, said that the colony would become illustrious and an object of wonder and would gain the greatest renown, but that as it increased it would be envied by its neighbours and prove grievous to them; nevertheless, it would overcome its adversaries, the good fortune that it had received from Heaven being more powerful than the envy of men that would oppose it. These very clear indications are said to have been given of what was to happen to the city; of which there are monuments now standing in the forum of the Lavinians, in the form of bronze images of the animals, which have been preserved for a very long time.

Why should we assume he’s wrong?  Or at least that the attribution of this prophecy is disputed? Whelp.  The obverse of the above coin looks like this:

Obverse of RRC 472/1. 1944.100.3525

 

That’s Juno Sospita, the patron goddess of Lanuvium!  The moneyer’s family is well known for celebrating their connection to this city on their coins.  If there was a statue that looked like the reverse, it probably stood in that forum, not at Lavinium.  Add in this tantalizing bit of Horace:

Bk III: XXVII Europa

 Let the wicked be led by omens of screeching

from owls, by pregnant dogs, or a grey-she wolf,

hurrying down from Lanuvian meadows,

or a fox with young:

And we can be pretty sure that Lanuvium that claimed the she-wolf and by extension the eagle as prodigies of its foundation.  

It’s also a nice example of the wolf as a non-Roman, but still Latin, symbol, one that is morphed into a proto-Roman symbol through its alignment to the Aeneas narrative.

Pity its too late for the book.  Thank goodness for this blog as a thought dumping space.

[Refs found at Crawford 1974: 482]

 

79 out of 410 days: Trial by Snake

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This is the coin type at the heart of the chapter I need finish by the end of the month. I don’t expect to write too much about it here as I seem to like to keep my free writing and the formal writing separate. Yesterday was mostly looking at possible (and impossible!) epigraphic references to other members of the moneyer’s family, the gens Mamilia. Today I was chasing up the references from an old article that suggested the type is all about the moneyer showing support for the Italians. Not an idea I’m ready to support, but the references he cited were all fascinating. Here’s the best of the lot:

In the bodies of these people there was by nature a certain kind of poison, which was fatal to serpents, and the odour of which overpowered them with torpor: with them it was a custom to expose children immediately after their birth to the fiercest serpents, and in this manner to make proof of the fidelity of their wives, the serpents not being repelled by such children as were the offspring of adultery. This nation, however, was almost entirely extirpated by the slaughter made of them by the Nasamones, who now occupy their territory. This race, however, still survives in a few persons who are descendants of those who either took to flight or else were absent on the occasion of the battle. The Marsi, in Italy, are still in possession of the same power, for which, it is said, they are indebted to their origin from the son of Circe, from whom they acquired it as a natural quality. But the fact is, that all men possess in their bodies a poison which acts upon serpents, and the human saliva, it is said, makes them take to flight, as though they had been touched with boiling water. The same substance, it is said, destroys them the moment it enters their throat, and more particularly so, if it should happen to be the saliva of a man who is fasting

The other references also mention snake taming, but they’re not quite as fun (Pliny NH 25.11, Serv. Aen. 7.750, Sil., Ital. Pun. 8.495-510). I find it hard to believe that Mamilius is claiming kinship with the Marsi as fellow offspring of Circe via the coin, but who doesn’t like a good snake story?! It made me think of the ritual being shown on this coin:

Propertius 8.4 helps us understand the image:

Lanuvium, from of old, is guarded by an ancient serpent: the hour you spend on such a marvellous visit won’t be wasted; where the sacred way drops down through a dark abyss, where the hungry snake’s tribute penetrates (virgin, be wary of all such paths!), when he demands the annual offering of food, and twines, hissing, from the centre of the earth. Girls grow pale, sent down to such rites as these, when their hand is rashly entrusted to the serpent’s mouth. He seizes the tit-bits the virgins offer: the basket itself trembles in their hands. If they’ve remained chaste they return to their parents’ arms, and the farmers shout: ‘It will be a fertile year.’

This seems to be part of cult of Juno Sospita, or at very least it took place in close proximity with her sanctuary and it is her head on the obverse of the coin. Here’s some recent scholarship with references. The cult at Lanuvium is rightly contextualized by the accounts of the powers to charm snakes linked to Circe and her ilk (Medea, Angitia, etc) and the origins of various Italic peoples and associations with specific Italian topography.

***

The original wire transfer is still lost. I spent a horrible time on the phone with HSBC. Again. We’re investigating other services… I took a break to write this post largely because I need to tamp down my rage to get back to writing properly.

52 out of 410 Days: Syncretism

Liv Yarrow1 Comment

Kinda looks like a Christmas wreath, doesn’t it?  This occurred to me yesterday when I was in a local boutique buying bangles as Eidi for the young people who invited me to celebrate with their family today. [I’m really excited.]  The woman in the shop suggested an up-sell: gold cloth bags to hold each bangle set.  My first reaction was “ooo …nice! well-worth 2 bucks” and then she pulled them out of the cupboard and they had a holly leaf and berry design over them.  I quickly back pedalled.  I can’t exactly bring gifts looking like I used left over Christmas wrapping.  I was worried about being perceived as uncouth or insensitive.   At the same time it was Muslim woman in a muslim shop advising me on my purchase.   I took them home and wrapped them myself.   

And then when I got home I find myself reading about the reception of the cult of Cybele, a.k.a. the Magna Mater, in Rome.  This is the first coin at Rome to depict the goddess.  

 

Her cult object was originally an aniconic (non-figurative) black stone.  That got set inside a silver statue.  And, all the Roman representations follow the Greek model.  I’m not going to go on about this as there is an award winning book on the subject.  Most intriguingly in the earliest archaeological layers of her temple at Rome terracotta plaques representing Juno Sospita were found.  This is not one of those finds, but gives a visual point of reference as to what Juno Sospita’s iconography looked like in the early period.

 

What’s my take away?  I know that Eid isn’t Christmas, and I also know there is nothing inappropriate about borrowing one set of traditions to augment the celebrations of a different religion.  The elisions are more comfortably made by insiders, than outsiders.  I find the phenomenon bemusing, but not confusing.    After all the holly and the ivy and the presents and many other festive trappings all entered Christian celebrations from earlier pre-existing religious traditions.

I don’t want to stretch the parallels with ancient worship too far.  Monotheism and polytheism often work very differently, so too communally versus individually driven worship.   And, yet.  I think my understanding of Cybele is just a little more nuanced for having gone present shopping.