Terminus (god)

Last updated
Terminus is often pictured as a bust on a boundary stone, here the .mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%} concedo nvlli or concedo nulli means "I yield to no one". Design for a Stained Glass Window with Terminus, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg
Terminus is often pictured as a bust on a boundary stone, here the concedo nvlli or concedo nulli means "I yield to no one".

In Roman religion, Terminus was the god who protected boundary markers; his name was the Latin word for such a marker. Sacrifices were performed to sanctify each boundary stone, and landowners celebrated a festival called the "Terminalia" in Terminus' honor each year on February 23. The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill was thought to have been built over a shrine to Terminus, and he was occasionally identified as an aspect of Jupiter under the name "Jupiter Terminalis".

Contents

Ancient writers believed that the worship of Terminus had been introduced to Rome during the reign of the first king Romulus (traditionally 753–717 BC) or his successor Numa (717–673 BC). Modern scholars have variously seen it as the survival of an early animistic reverence for the power inherent in the boundary marker, or as the Roman development of proto-Indo-European belief in a god concerned with the division of property. [ citation needed ]

Worship

The name of the god Terminus was the Latin word for a boundary stone, [1] and his worship as recorded in the late Republic and Empire centred on this stone, with which the god could be identified. [2] Siculus Flaccus, a writer on land surveying, records the ritual by which the stone was sanctified: the bones, ashes, and blood of a sacrificial victim, along with crops, honeycombs, and wine, were placed into a hole at a point where estates converged, and the stone was driven in on top. [3] On February 23 annually, a festival called the Terminalia was celebrated in Terminus' honor, involving practices which can be regarded as a reflection or "yearly renewal" of this foundational ritual. [4] Neighboring families would garland their respective sides of the marker and make offerings to Terminus at an altar — Ovid identifies these, again, as crops, honeycombs, and wine. The marker itself would be drenched in the blood of a sacrificed lamb or pig. There followed a communal feast and hymns in praise of Terminus. [2] [5]

These rites were practised by private landowners, but there were also related public ceremonies. Ovid refers to the sacrifice of a sheep on the day of the Terminalia at the sixth milestone from Rome along the Via Laurentina; [2] it is likely this was thought to have marked the boundary between the early Romans and their neighbors in Laurentum. [5] Also, a stone or altar of Terminus was located in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Because of a belief that this stone had to be exposed to the sky, there was a small hole in the ceiling directly above it. [2] [6] On occasion Terminus' association with Jupiter extended to regarding Terminus as an aspect of that god; Dionysius of Halicarnassus refers to "Jupiter Terminalis", [7] and one inscription names a god "Juppiter Ter." [8]

There is some evidence that Terminus' associations could extend from property boundaries to limits more generally. Under the Republican calendar, when the intercalary month Mercedonius was added to a year, it was placed after February 23 or February 24, [9] and some ancient writers believed that the Terminalia on February 23 had once been the end of the year. [10] Diocletian's decision in 303 AD to initiate his persecution of Christians on February 23 has been seen as an attempt at enlisting Terminus "to put a limit to the progress of Christianity". [11]

History

Ancient views

Ancient authors agreed that the worship of Terminus was of Sabine origin, ascribing its introduction to Rome either to Titus Tatius, the Sabine colleague of Rome's founding king Romulus (traditional reign 753–717 BC), [12] or to Romulus' successor Numa Pompilius (717–673 BC). [7] [13] Those authors who gave the credit to Numa explained his motivation as the prevention of violent disputes over property. [7] [13] Plutarch further states that, in keeping with Terminus's character as a guarantor of peace, his earliest worship did not involve blood sacrifices. [13]

The stone in the Capitoline Temple was believed to have been among the altars located on the Capitoline Hill before the Temple was built under Tarquinius Priscus (traditional reign 616–579 BC) or Tarquinius Superbus (535–510 BC). When the augurs took the auspices to discover whether the god or goddess of each altar was content for it to be moved, Terminus refused permission, either alone or along with Juventas the goddess of youth. The stone was therefore included within the Capitoline Temple, and its immovability was regarded as a good omen for the permanence of the city's boundaries. [2] [14]

Modern views

According to the dominant scholarly view during the late 19th and much of the 20th century, Roman religion was originally animistic, directed towards spirits associated with specific objects or activities which were only later perceived as gods with independent personal existence. Terminus, with his lack of mythology and his close association with a physical object, seemed a clear example of a deity who had developed little from such a stage. [4]

This view of Terminus retains some recent adherents, [5] but other scholars have argued from Indo-European parallels that the personalised gods of Roman religion must have preceded the city's foundation. Georges Dumézil regarded Jupiter, Juventas and Terminus as the Roman form of a proto-Indo-European triad, comparing the Roman deities respectively to the Vedic Mitra, Aryaman, and Bhaga. In this view the sovereign god (Jupiter/Mitra) was associated with two minor deities, one concerned with the entry of men into society (Juventas/Aryaman) and the other with the fair division of their goods (Terminus/Bhaga). [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jupiter (god)</span> Chief deity of Roman state religion

Jupiter, also known as Jove, is the god of the sky and thunder, and king of the gods in ancient Roman religion and mythology. Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering, or sacrifice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vesta (mythology)</span> Ancient Roman goddess of the hearth, home, and family

Vesta is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. She was rarely depicted in human form, and was more often represented by the fire of her temple in the Forum Romanum. Entry to her temple was permitted only to her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins. Their virginity was deemed essential to Rome's survival; if found guilty of inchastity, they were buried or entombed alive. As Vesta was considered a guardian of the Roman people, her festival, the Vestalia, was regarded as one of the most important Roman holidays. During the Vestalia privileged matrons walked barefoot through the city to the temple, where they presented food-offerings. Such was Vesta's importance to Roman religion that following the rise of Christianity, hers was one of the last non-Christian cults still active, until it was forcibly disbanded by the Christian emperor Theodosius I in AD 391.

Juventas, also known as Iuventus or Juventus (Greek equivalent: Hebe), was the ancient Roman goddess whose sphere of tutelage was youth and rejuvenation. She was especially the goddess of young men "new to wearing the toga" (dea novorum togatorum)—that is, those who had just come of age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Numa Pompilius</span> King of Rome from 715 to 672 BC

Numa Pompilius was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions are attributed to him, such as the Roman calendar, Vestal Virgins, the cult of Mars, the cult of Jupiter, the cult of Romulus, and the office of pontifex maximus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Di Penates</span>

In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates or Penates were among the dii familiares, or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. They were thus associated with Vesta, the Lares, and the Genius of the pater familias in the "little universe" of the domus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabines</span> Ancient Italic people

The Sabines were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juno (mythology)</span> Ancient Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth

Juno was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counsellor of the state. She was equated to Hera, queen of the gods in Greek mythology and a goddess of love and marriage. A daughter of Saturn and Ops, she was the sister and wife of Jupiter and the mother of Mars, Vulcan, Bellona, Lucina and Juventas. Like Hera, her sacred animal was the peacock. Her Etruscan counterpart was Uni, and she was said to also watch over the women of Rome. As the patron goddess of Rome and the Roman Empire, Juno was called Regina ("Queen") and was a member of the Capitoline Triad, centered on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, and also including Jupiter, and Minerva, goddess of wisdom.

The Capitoline Triad was a group of three deities who were worshipped in ancient Roman religion in an elaborate temple on Rome's Capitoline Hill. It comprised Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The triad held a central place in the public religion of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egeria (mythology)</span> Legendary wife of Roman king Numa, minor goddess

Egeria was a nymph attributed a legendary role in the early history of Rome as a divine consort and counselor of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to ancient Roman religion. Her name is used as an eponym for a female advisor or counselor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus</span> Temple on the Capitoline Hill of Ancient Rome

The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also known as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, was the most important temple in Ancient Rome, located on the Capitoline Hill. It was surrounded by the Area Capitolina, a precinct where numerous shrines, altars, statues and victory trophies were displayed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Stator (3rd century BC)</span> Ancient Roman temple at the Palatine hill

The Temple of Jupiter Stator was a sanctuary at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome. In Roman legend, it was founded by the first king of Rome, Romulus, honoring a pledge he had made during a battle between the Romans and the Sabines. However, no temple seems to have been built on the site until the early 3rd century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romulus</span> King of Rome from 753 to 716 BC

Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these traditions incorporate elements of folklore, and it is not clear to what extent a historical figure underlies the mythical Romulus, the events and institutions ascribed to him were central to the myths surrounding Rome's origins and cultural traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulcan (mythology)</span> Ancient Roman god of fire, volcanoes, and metalworking

Vulcan is the god of fire including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth. He is often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer. The Vulcanalia was the annual festival held August 23 in his honor. His Greek counterpart is Hephaestus, the god of fire and smithery. In Etruscan religion, he is identified with Sethlans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saturn (mythology)</span> God in ancient Roman mythology

Saturn was a god in ancient Roman religion, and a character in Roman mythology. He was described as a god of time, generation, dissolution, abundance, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation. Saturn's mythological reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace. After the Roman conquest of Greece, he was conflated with the Greek Titan Cronus. Saturn's consort was his sister Ops, with whom he fathered Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, Ceres and Vesta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mars (mythology)</span> Roman god of war, guardian of agriculture

In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Mars is the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him, and in October, the months which traditionally began and ended the season for both military campaigning and farming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulcanal</span>

The Shrine of Vulcan, or Vulcanal, or Volcanal, was an 8th-century BC sacred precinct on the future site of the Roman Forum in Rome, modern Italy. Dedicated to Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, it was traditionally considered to commemorate the spot where the legendary figures Romulus and Tatius concluded the peace treaty between the tribes known as the Latins — on the Palatine Hill — and the Sabines — on the Quirinal and Esquiline. This famous merger of the hill-villages was said to be the foundation of the Roman state.

In ancient Roman religion, a sacellum is a small shrine. The word is a diminutive from sacrum. The numerous sacella of ancient Rome included both shrines maintained on private properties by families, and public shrines. A sacellum might be square or round.

<i>Casa Romuli</i> Reputed home of Romulus

The Casa Romuli, also known as the tugurium Romuli, was the reputed dwelling place of the legendary founder and first king of Rome, Romulus. It was situated on the south-western corner of the Palatine hill, where it slopes down towards the Circus Maximus, near the so-called "Steps of Cacus". It was a traditional single-roomed peasants' hut of the Latins, with straw roof and wattle-and-daub walls, such as are reproduced in miniature in the distinctive funerary urns of the so-called Latial culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminalia (festival)</span> Ancient Roman festival for god Terminus

Terminalia was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the god Terminus, who presided over boundaries. His statue was merely a stone or post stuck in the ground to distinguish between properties. His worship is said to have been instituted by Numa who ordered that every one should mark the boundaries of his landed property by stones to be consecrated to Jupiter Terminalis, and at which every year sacrifices were to be offered at the festival of the Terminalia. On the festival the two owners of adjacent property crowned the statue with garlands and raised a crude altar, on which they offered up some corn, honeycombs, and wine, and sacrificed a lamb or a suckling pig. They concluded with singing the praises of the god. The public festival in honour of this god was celebrated at the sixth milestone on the road towards Laurentum doubtless because this was originally the extent of the Roman territory in that direction.

References

  1. ↑ Herbert Jennings Rose; John Scheid (2003). "Terminus". In Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (ed.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition, revised ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1485–1486. ISBN   0-19-860641-9.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Ovid, Fasti 2.639–684.
  3. ↑ Siculus Flaccus, De Condicionibus Agrorum 11.
  4. 1 2 W. Warde Fowler (1899). The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic: An Introduction to the Study of the Religion of the Romans. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 324–327. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
  5. 1 2 3 H. H. Scullard (1981). Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 79–80. ISBN   0-500-40041-5.
  6. ↑ Samuel Ball Platner; Thomas Ashby (1929). "Terminus, Fanum". A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London: Oxford University Press. p. 512. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  7. 1 2 3 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.74.2–5.
  8. 1 2 Georges Dumézil (1996) [1966]. Archaic Roman Religion: Volume One. trans. Philip Krapp. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 200–203. ISBN   0-8018-5482-2.
  9. ↑ Herbert Jennings Rose; Simon R. F. Price (2003). "Calendar, Roman". In Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (ed.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition, revised ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 274. ISBN   0-19-860641-9.
  10. ↑ Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.3; Ovid, Fasti 2.47–54.
  11. ↑ J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz (1979). Continuity and Change in Roman Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN   0-19-814822-4.
  12. ↑ Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.10.
  13. 1 2 3 Plutarch, Roman Questions 15; Numa 16.
  14. ↑ Livy 1.55; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 3.69.3–6.

Further reading

Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg The dictionary definition of Terminus at Wiktionary

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.