Roman Calendar - May 15, Mercuralia
Festival of Mercurius, god of merchants and commerce. On this day Roman merchants took water from the sacred well of Porta Capena, and sprinkled it on themselves, their ships, and their cargo to protect them while travelling. The water from Mercurius' well was believed to to aid in forgiving sins – both those committed in the past as well as any that might be committed in the future – and was thought to bring good luck.
Porta Capena was located near the FAO headquarters that can be seen on the right of the photo 2. During those days the valley between the FAO building and Baths of Caracalla (in the middle of the pic) was forested and there were also lots of caves and springs in the area. It was considered a sacred and mysterious place where Camenae, goddesses of childbirth, wells, fountains and prophecies lived. Livius also tells us that it was here that king Numa Pompilius held meetings with his divine counselor Egeria.
Photo 1: Pompeii, House of Venus and the Four Gods
Atttribution:
Sergey Sosnovskiy, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo 2: A view From Palatine Hill towards Baths of Caracalla
Rome July 2007
