Listed 14 sub titles with search on: Mythology for destination: "ITALY Ancient country EUROPE".
Italus (Italos), an ancient king of the Pelasgians, Siculians, or Oenotrians, from whom Italy was believed to have derived its name. (Thuc. vi. 2; Dionys. i. 35.) Hyginus (Fab. 127) calls him a son of Telegonus by Penelope. By Electra, the daughter of Latinus, he is said to have become the father of Remus, the founder of Rome, and by Lucania, the father of the heroine Rome, to whom is likewise ascribed the foundation of Rome. (Dionys. i. 72; Plut. Romul. 2; comp. Serv. ad Aen. i. 6, viii. 328; Aristot. Polit. vii. 10.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Vesta. An Italian goddess of the hearth, and more especially of the fire on the
hearth, both in name and in nature akin to the Greek Hestia (q.v.), but worshipped
by the Italian nations, particularly by the Latins, from ancient times independently
of any connection with Greece. It has been shown that the worship of Vesta had
its origin in the difficulty and the necessity of obtaining fire in primitive
times. Hence, as even in the present time among savage tribes, arose the custom
of keeping a fire always alight somewhere for the use of the community and of
carrying fire thence for any new settlement. This custom was preserved by the
conservatism of religion among civilized Greeks and Romans, after the necessity
had ceased to exist, and the State-hearth was preserved in each Latin State, just
as in Greece in the Prytanea; and in like fashion an outgoing settlement carried
its sacred fire from the parent city. It was natural that from these observances
the sacred flame itself should become personified as a goddess (Ovid, Fast.vi.
291) who presided over the hearth of each house, and in the State-hearth or sanctuary
of Vesta over the whole commonwealth. Vesta was thus intimately connected with
the Penates as deities of the household and of the State (see Penates); and the
fact that the sacred fire was brought from the parent city made the Romans trace
back the origin of the cult to the more ancient Latin settlements, first to Lanuvium
and Alba, and, after the idea of a Trojan origin prevailed, to Troy itself, whence
it was supposed the sacred fire of Vesta as well as the Penates had come ( Verg.
Aen.ii. 296). To this cause belongs the ancient custom at Rome that praetors,
consuls, and dictators, before they began their functions, sacrificed at Lanuvium,
that town having been an ancient religious centre of the Latins. At Rome, as in
other Latin cities, the sacred fire was tended and the service of Vesta maintained
by a body of virgin priestesses, who lived together in a house (Atrium Vestae)
to the southeast of the Forum, and under the northwest side of the Palatine, abutting
on the Via Nova. This house, as rebuilt under Hadrian, was excavated in 1883,
and from its character and the inscriptions (as late as the beginning of the fourth
century A.D.) and sculptures found in it much additional light has been thrown
on the Vestal service. See Jordan, Das Tempel der Vesta und d. Haus der Vestalinnen
(Berlin, 1886); and Lanciani, in his Ancient Rome, ch. vi. (Boston, 1888).
It is no doubt right to assume that the Vestals represented the daughters
of the chief in the primitive tribe, who maintained the State-fire in their father's
hut. When Vesta was recognized as a personal deity it became necessary that the
priestesses should dwell in a sort of nunnery, and that the goddess should have
a separate temple; but this Aedes Vestae preserved the shape of the primitive
chief's hut, and was a round building (see illustration under Roma). The public
worship of Vesta was maintained in this temple: her private worship belonged to
every domestic hearth --in the earliest Roman houses in the atrium. In her aspect
as a benign goddess of fire Vesta seems to have been akin to or identical with
Stata Mater (q. v.). See Preuner, Hestia-Vesta (Tubingen, 1864); Maes, Vesta e
Vestali (Rome, 1883); the discussion by Frazer in the (English) Journal of Philology,
vol. xiv., and the articles Lares, Penates, and Vestales, in this Dictionary.
This text is cited Feb 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Feretritis, a surname of Jupiter, which is probably derived from ferire, to strike; for persons who took an oath called upon Jupiter, if they swore falsely, to strike them as they struck the victim they sacrificed to him. (Fest. s. v. Lapidem Silicem.) Others derived it from ferre, because he was the giver of peace, or because people dedicated (ferebant) to him spolia opima. (Fest. s. v. Feretrius; Liv. i. 10; Propert. iv. 10. 46)
Diana, an original Italian divinity, whom the Romans completely identified with the Greek Artemis. The earliest trace of her worship occurs in the story about Servius Tullius, who is said to have dedicated to her a temple on the Aventine, on the ides of Sextilis. It is added that, as Diana was the protectress of the slaves, the day on which that temple had been dedicated was afterwards celebrated every year by slaves of both sexes, and was called the day of the slaves (dies servorum; Fest. s. v. servorum dies; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 100; Martial, xii. 67). Besides that day of the slaves, we hear of no festival of Diana in early times, which may be accounted for by supposing that either she was a divinity of inferior rank, or that her worship had been introduced at Rome without being sanctioned or recognized by the government, that is, by the ruling patricians. The former cannot have been the case, as the goddess was worshipped by the plebeians and the Latins as their patron divinity; for a tradition related that the plebeians had emigrated twice to the Aventine, where stood the temple of Diana (Liv. ii. 32, iii. 51, 54; Sallust, Jug. 31); and the temple which Servius Tullius built on the Aventine was founded for the benefit of the Latin subjects, who assembled and sacrificed there every year (Dionys. iv. 26; comp. Liv. i. 45; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 4). The Sabines and Latins, who formed the main stock of the plebeians, were thus in all probability the original worshippers of Diana at Rome. Now s we know that the Aventine was first occupied by the conquered Sabines who were transplanted to Rome (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 657; Dionys. iii. 43), and as it is stated that shortly before the decemviral legislation the Aventine was assigned to the plebeians, and that the law ordaining this assignment was kept in the temple of Diana (Dionys. x. 32; Liv. iii. 54), it seems clear that Diana's worship was introduced at Rome by the Sabines and Latins on their becoming plebeians, and that she was worshipped by them in particular without the state taking any notice of her, or ordaining any festival in honour of her. Varro (de L. L. v. 74) moreover expressly attests, that the worship and name of Diana had come from the Sabines. Now, as the religion of the Latins and Sabines did not differ in any essential point from that of the Romans, we may ask what Roman divinity corresponded to the Sabine or Latin Diana? Diana loved to dwell in groves and in the neighbourhood of wells; she inspired men with enthusiasm and madness; she dreaded the very sight of male beings so much, that no man was allowed to enter her temple, and she herself remained a virgin (Horat. Epist. ii. 1. 454; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 3; Fest. s. v. Juvenilia; Augustin, de Civ. Dei, vii. 16); and these characteristics at once shew a striking resemblance between Diana and Feronia or Fauna Fatua. This circumstance, and the fact that Diana was the goddess of the moon, also render it easy to conceive how the Romans afterwards came to identify Diana with the Greek Artemis, for Fauna Fatua bore the same relation to Picus and Faunus that Artemis bore to Apollo.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Fascelis, a surname of Diana in Italy, which she was believed to have received from the circumstance of Orestes having brought her image from Tauris in a bundle of sticks (fascis, Serv. ad Aen. ii. 116; Solin. i. 2; Sil. Ital. xiv. 260). Fascelis, however, is probably a corruption, for the purpose of making it allude to the story of Orestes bringing her image from Tauris: the original form of the name was probably Facelis or Facelina (from fax), as the goddess was generally represented with a torch in her hand.
Janus and Jana, a pair of ancient Latin divinities, who were worshipped as the
sun and moon, whence they were regarded as the highest of the gods, and received
their sacrifices before all the others (Macrob. Sat. i. 9; Cic. de Nat. Deor.
ii. 27). The name Janus is only another form of Dianus, and Jana of Diana; but
the ancients connected it also with janua (door), for it was also applied to a
covered passage with two entrances, as the Janus medius in the forum (Heindorf,
ad Horat. Sat. ii. 3. 18). The fact of Jana being identical in import with Luna
and Diana is attested beyond a doubt by Varro (de Re Rust. i. 37). We stated above
that Janus was regarded as identical with Sol, but this does not appear to have
been the case originally, for it is related that the worship of Janus was introduced
at Rome by Romulus, whereas that of Sol was instituted by Titus Tatius (August.
de Civ. Dei, iv. 23), and the priority of the worship of Janus is also implied
in the story related by Macrobius (Sat. i. 9). Hence we must infer that the two
divinities were identified at a later period, and that in such a manner that the
separate idea of Sol was lost in that of Janus, for we find few traces of the
worship of Sol, while that of Janus acquired the highest importance in the religion
of the Romans. Numa in his regulation of the Roman year called the first month
Januarius, [p. 551] after Janus, the highest divinity, presiding over the beginning
of all things: the same king dedicated to Janus the passage called Janus, which
was opened in times of war, and closed when the Roman arms rested. (Liv. i. 9;
Varro, de Ling. Lat. v. 164.) This passage (commonly, but erroneously, called
a temple), with two entrances, was usually called Janus Geminus, Janus Bifrons,
Janus Quirinus or Portae Belli (Horat. Carm. iv. 15. 8; Virg. Aen. vii. 607),
and stood ad infimum Argiletum, close by the forum. Atemple of Janus was built
by C.Duilius in the time of the first Punic war: it was restored by Augustus,
and dedicated by Tiberius. (Tacit. Ann. ii. 49.) Niebuhr (Hist. of Rome, vol.
i. p. 292, 3d edit.) explains the objects of the earliest Janus (and those of
the others in a similar manner) as follows: " When the two cities (that of the
Romans on the Palatine, and that of the Sabines on the Quirinal) were united on
terms of equality, they built the double Janus, on the road leading from the Quirinal
to the Palatium, with a door facing each of the cities, as the gate of the double
barrier which separated their liberties. It was open in time of war, that succour
might pass from one to the other, and shut during peace; whether for the purpose
of preventing an unrestricted intercourse, out of which quarrels might arise,
or as a token that, though united, they were distinct." But if this had been the
case, the two gates would necessarily have faced the north and south, whereas,
according to the express testimony of Procopius (Bell. Goth. i. 25), the two gates,
as well as the two-faced statue of Janus, which stood in the passage, faced the
east and west. It is therefore more probable that the Janus Geminus originally
was not an ordinary gate of the city, but, like the later porta triumphalis, used
only on certain occasions, viz. armies marching out against an enemy and returning
from their campaign, passed through it: hence it was open in war, indicating symbolically
that the god too had gone out to assist the Roman warriors, and shut in time of
peace that the god, the safeguard of the city, might not escape. (Ov. Fast. i.
281 ; Macrob. Sat. i. 9.) This covered gate is in later times often called a temple,
but probably in a wider sense of the word, that is, as a sacred place, containing
the statue of Janus. A bronze statue of the god, five cubits in height, existed
as late as the time of Procopius. The earliest representations, however, appear
to have been the two-faced heads, which are frequently seen on Etruscan medals
found at Volaterrae. A statue with four faces was brought to Rome after the conquest
of the Etruscan town of Falerii (Serv. ad Aen. vi. 607; Macrob. l. c.), and was
there imitated, for one of the same kind existed at Rome in the forum of Nerva
as late as the time of Laurentius Lydus (De Mens. iv. 1). Whether the Etruscan
divinity with two or four faces was originally the same as the Roman Janus is
uncertain, but it was at any rate very natural for the Romans to see in him their
own Janus, and to identify the two. The identity of Janus with the Sun was commonly
expressed by his indicating with the fingers of the right hand the 55 (Plin. H.
N. xxxiv. 7), and in later times by his counting in his right hand 300 pebbles,
and in his left 65 (L. Lydus, de Mens. i. 4). In some representations he held
in his right hand a staff or sceptre, and in his left a key (Ov. Fast. i. 99;
comp. L. Lydus, l. c.), by which he is symbolically described as the god who had
power over the entrance of heaven (Ov. Fast. i. 125); hence he had the surnames
of Patulcus or Patulcius, and Clusius or Clusiviuns (Ov. Fast. i. 129; Serv. ad
Men. vii. 610; Macrob. l c.; L. Lydus, de Mens. iv. 1). Although in the classical
age the Romans them-selves avowed that Janus was peculiar to them-selves (Ov.
Fast. i. 90), yet we find at a later period, when Janus was regarded as the god
of all entrances and gates, that he was identified with Apollo thurais. (Macrob.
l. c.) We pass over a series of arbitrary etymological and philosophical speculations
(see Varro, ap. August. de Civ. Dei, vii. 9; Festus, s. v. Chaos), and merely
remark, that no nation of antiquity attributed such importance to the beginning
of a work or undertaking as the Romans, who believed that the progress and success
of a thing had some magic connection with its beginning (Gellius, v. 12; Plin.
H. N. xxxvi. 5). Janus was the god of the beginning of everything: he protected
the beginning of all occupations and actions as well as of human life, whence
he was called Consivius (a conserendo, or consationibus, Macrob. Sat. i. 9; Tertull.
ad Nat. ii. 11). Hence, whenever a civil or military undertaking did not succeed,
it was attributed to some fault in the manner of beginning it, and was frequently
commenced afresh (Ov. Fast. i. 179). It was indeed Jupiter who by augury sanctioned
every undertaking, but its beginning depended on the blessing of Janus; hence
these two divinities were invoked first in every undertaking, and in all prayers
their names were mentioned first. The fact of the name of Janus being pronounced
even before that of Jupiter, and that according to tradition Janus was in Italy
before any of the other gods, and that he dedicated temples to them (Macrob. l.
c.; Ov. Fast. i. 70; L. Lydus, de Mens. iv. 2; Aur. Vict. de Orig. Gent. Rom.
3), is perfectly in accordance with the idea of the god, he being the beginning
of every thing; but it does not follow that on this account he was considered
superior or more powerful than all the other gods. As he presided over the beginning
of the year, the people offered sacrifices to him on the first day of the year,
and priests offered sacrifices to him on twelve altars, as the beginner of the
twelve months, and prayed to him at the commencement of every day (Varro, ap.
Macrob. l. c.; P. Vict. Reg. Urb. xiv.). As the kalends of every month were sacred
to Juno, Janus was surnamed Junonius, and in reference to his presiding over the
beginning of every day, he was called Matutinus pater. On new year's day, which
was the principal festival of the god, people took care that all they thought,
said, and did, was pure and favourable, since every thing was ominous for the
occurrences of the whole year. Hence the people wore festive garments, abstained
from cursing, quarrelling; they saluted every one they met with words of a favourable
import, gave presents to one another, and performed some part of what they intended
to do in the course of the year, auspicandi causa (Columella, de Re Rust. xi.
2; Senec. Epist. 83; Ov. Fast. i. 169). The presents connumber 300, and with those
of the left the number sisted of sweetmeats, such as gilt dates, figs, honey cakes,
and copper coins, showing on one side the double head of Janus and on the other
a ship (Ov. Fast. i. 185, &c., 230; Plin. H. N. xxiii. 3, 13; Martial, viii. 33,
xiii. 27; Plut. Quaest. Rom.; Macrob. Sat. i. 7; L. Lydus, de Menes. iv. 2). The
general name for these presents was strenae. The sacrifices offered to Janus consisted
of cakes (called janual), barley, incense, and wine.
(Ov. Fast. i. 75, 128, 172; Festus, s. v. janual; L. Lydus, de Mens. iv. 2)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Jan 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Curitis, a surname of Juno, which is usually derived from the Sabine word curis, a lance or spear, which according to the ancient notions was the symbol of the imperium and mancipium, and would accordingly designate Juno as the ruling goddess. (Ov. Fast. ii. 477, vi. 49; Macrob. Sat. i. 9). Hartung (Die Relig. der Rom. ii.72) finds in the surname Curitis an allusion to a marriage ceremony, in which some of the bride's hair was either really or symbolically cut off with the curved point of a sword. (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 87 ; Ov. Fast. ii. 560)
Gradivus, i. e. the striding or marching, a surname of Mars, who is hence called gradivus pater and rex gradivus. Mars Gradivus had a temple outside the porta Capena on the Appian road, and it is said that king Numa appointed twelve Salii as priests of this god. The surname is probably derived from gradior, to march, or march out, and we know that the soldiers, when they marched out, sometimes halted near his temple. (Liv. i. 20, vii. 23; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 35; Ov. Fast. vi. 191, &c.; Fest. s. v. Gradivus)
Fascinus, an early Latin divinity, and identical with Mutinus or Tutinus. He was worshipped as the protector from sorcery, witchcraft, and evil daemons; and represented in the form of a phallus, the genuine Latin for which is fascinum, this symbol being believed to be most efficient in averting all evil influences. He was especially invoked to protect women in childbed and their offspring (Plin. Hist. Nat. xxviii. 4, 7); and women wrapt up in the toga praetexta used to offer up sacrifices in the chapel of Fascinus. (Paul. Diac.). His worship was under the care of the Vestals; and generals, who entered the city in triumph, had the symbol of Fascinus fastened under their chariot, that he might protect them from envy (medicus invidiae), for envy was believed to exercise an injurious influence on those who were envied. (Plin. l. c.) It was a custom with the Romans, when they praised any body, to add the word praefiscine or praefiscini, which seems to have been an invocation of Fascinus, to prevent the praise turning out injurious to the person on whom it was bestowed.
Februus, an ancient Italian divinity, to whom the month of February was sacred, for in
the latter half of that month great and general purifications and lustrations
were celebrated, which were at the same time considered to produce fertility among
men as well as beasts. Hence the month of February was also sacred to Juno, the
goddess of marriage, and she was therefore surnamed Februata or Februtis (Fest.
s. v. Februarius; Arnob. iii. 30). The name Februus is connected with februare
(to purify), and februae (purifications) (Varro, de L. L. vi. 13; Ov. Fast. ii.
31, &c.). Another feature in the character of this god, which is however intimately
connected with the idea of purification, is, that he was also regarded as a god
of the lower world, for the festival of the dead (Feralia) was likewise celebrated
in February (Macrob. Sat. i. 4, 13; Ov. Fast. ii. 535, &c.); and Anysius (ap.
J. Lydum, de Mens. i.) states, that Februus in Etruscan signified the god of the
lower world (kaatachthonios). Hence Februus was identified with Pluto. When the
expiator sacrifices were burnt, the people threw the ashes backwards over their
heads into the water (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 43; Isidor. Orig. v. 33; Voss.
in Virg. Eclog. viii. 101).
Feronia, an ancient Italian divinity, who originally belonged to the Sabines and Faliscans, and was introduced by them among the Romans. Greek writers, as usual, describe her as of Greek origin. Dionysius (ii. 49) thus relates, that the Lacedaemonians who emigrated at the time of Lycurgus, after long wanderings (pheromenoi), at length landed in Italy, where they founded a town Feronia, and built a temple to the goddess Feronia. But, however this may be, it is extremely difficult to form a definite notion of the nature of this goddess. Some consider her to have been the goddess of liberty, because at Terracina slaves were emancipated in her temple (Serv. ad Aen. viii. 465), and because on one occasion the freedmen at Rome collected a sum of money for the purpose of offering it to her as a donation. (Liv. xxii. 1.) Others look upon her as the goddess of commerce and traffic, because these things were carried on to a great extent during the festival which was celebrated in honour of her in the town of Feronia, at the foot of mount Soracte. But commerce was carried on at all festivals at which many people met, and must be looked upon as a natural result of such meetings rather than as their cause. (Dionys. iii. 32; Strab. v.; Liv. xxvi. 11, xxvii. 4; Sil. Ital. xiii. 84.) Others again regard her as a goddess of the earth or the lower world, and as akin to Mania and Tellus, partly because she is said to have given to her son three souls, so that Evauder had to kill him thrice before he was dead (Virg. Aen. iii. 564), and partly on account of her connection with Soranus, whose worship strongly resembled that of Feronia. Besides the sanctuaries at Terracina and near mount Soracte, she had others at Trebula, in the country of the Sabines, and at Luna in Etruria. (Comp. Serv. ad Aen. xi. 785; Varro, de L. L. v. 74; Muller, die Etrusker, vol. i., vol. ii.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lua, also called Lua mater or Lua Saturni, one of the early Italian divinities, whose worship was forgotten in later times. It may be that she was no other than Ops, the wife of Saturn; but all we know of her is, that sometimes the arms taken from a defeated enemy were dedicated to her, and burnt as a sacrifice, with a view to avert punishment or any other calamity. (Liv. viii. 1, xlv. 33 ; Gellius, xiii. 22; Varro, de Ling. Lat. viii. 36, with Miiller's note.)
Mana or Mana Genita, an ancient Italian divinity. When a sacrifice was offered to her, the people used to pray that none of those born in the house should become pious, that is, that none should die. (Plut. Quaest. Ronm. 52.) The name Mana is of the same root as Manes, and like manis (whence immanis) originally signified good. (Comp. Macrob. Sat. i. 3; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 63; Isidor. Orig. viii. 11.) It is not impossible that Mana may be the same divinity as Mania.
Garanus, a shepherd of gigantic bodily strength, who is said to have come from Greece into Italy in the reign of Evander, and slew Cacus. (Serv. ad Aen. viii. 203.) Aurelius Victor (Orig. Gent. Rom. 6) calls him Recaranus, but both writers agree in identifying him with the Greek Heracles.
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