The Lupercale: Legend becoming History
After several years working in the city-center, one is always amazed at the reactions of awe and marvel that field officers –or even external visitors- have after having coffee in the terrace of the Roman Headquarters of my working place. In fact, if we consider how the daily hustle and bustle of life makes even the Romans themselves almost indifferent –or better, it makes them “take for granted”- the tangible history that surrounds them, it should not surprise at all that a banal daily ritual such as drinking coffee in the terrace –either at breakfast or after lunch- prevents those of us who work at Headquarters to stop, take a look and realize that our offices are truly located in the “cradle of the cradle” of Western civilization. How so?
Geographically speaking, my office’s Headquarters rest mainly on the Aventine hill and overlook the Circus Maximus in its entirety. It is indeed the Circus Maximus that separates the Aventine from the opposite Palatine hill. Moreover, of the seven hills of Rome, the latter is considered the centremost part of Rome, for not only does it rise above the ancient Roman Forum, but it also contains the Domus Livia, the residence of Rome’s first Emperor, Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.)
Anyone with a minimal knowledge of history, knows or has heard the legend of Roman inception. Very briefly, Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus, the two twin brothers, children of the Vestal Virgin Rea Silvia and of the God Mars. Legend has it that Rea Silvia abandoned the brothers in order to save them from the wrath of the King Amulius, who wanted to kill them. Hence, she placed them in a basket and left them by the side of the Tiber River. It was precisely by the banks of the Tiber River that a she-wolf found the twins. The she-wolf saved the twins and sheltered them in a cave, where she later suckled them. The cave came to be known as the “Lupercale”. (The root of the word “Lupercale” is “lupo”, which means “wolf”.)
In line with the Roman tradition, by which all Emperors re-connected themselves to their predecessors –and the way they did this was by either building their self-glorifying monuments next to the ones of their predecessors, so as to show their link to the past, or by building on top of “spoliae” (past ruins left by their predecessors),- the first Emperor of Rome, Augustus, not only restored the Lupercale to its ancient splendour , but he also built his residence on top of the exact spot where it was believed to be. Augustus wanted to demonstrate his divine descendancy by placing his home on top of this mythological sanctuary.
The Lupercale remained a sacred site up until the 5th century A.D. approximately, for before Pope Gelasius I forbid people to walk or be around the sacred spot, the “Lupercalia” (ancient rituals to invoke fertility, inspired on the foundation of Rome) were also celebrated in this mythical cave. The cave then disappeared into oblivion until 1526, when the greatest historian of ancient Roman history of all times, Bartolomeo Marliano, prompted the hypothesis of its existence and attempted to describe it, yet, given the lack of adequate resources and means in those days, was never successful in truly finding it.
Who would have thought that this finding would be made in our times?...
In a statement that stunned the world, the Italian archaeologist Irene Papi, announced on 26 January 2007 that a cave which might have been the “Lupercale” was found. Despite various controversies that arose among dissenting scholars, the confirmation that the hypogeum discovered was indeed the Lupercale arrived on 20 November 2007. A micro-camera was submerged 16 meters below the excavations taking place in the Palatine. A circular cave, 9 meters tall and with a diameter of 7.5 meters was located. The cave, presented a coffered ceiling and other polychrome marble mosaic decorations, together with scattered white shells and the “white eagle” (Augustus’s undisputed symbol), all very rich decorations that altogether, matched the descriptions provided during Augustus’s own times by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus. To give an ulterior, sure proof was the fact that the cave is located precisely on the area known in antiquity as the “Germalus”, the slope of the Palatine hill that leads to the Tiber River. In fact, in his will, Augustus had specifically mentioned the “Germalus”, and how he restored the entire area contiguous to it, including the Lupercale itself. For us, modern spectators, the Lupercale is located by the wall of Aurelius’s temple, between the Temple of Apollo Palatine and the Church of Saint Anastasia, at the same level of the Circus Maximus.
When the Lupercale was discovered, the former Mayor of Rome –then Minister for Cultural Affairs- Francesco Rutelli, announced that in early 2008, the Lupercale would be open to the public. By March 2008, the countdown should have come to a close, however ten years have passed and it is (still) closed to the public. In any case, as tourists and art-lovers in their own city, the Romans, together with the foreigners and other expatriates living in Rome, may someday soon be enabled to partake of this legend and make it history with their physical presence. As for those of us sharing my workplace, knowing that we are merely at a stone’s throw from the Lupercale will, if anything, make our coffee-time in the terrace less banal and, as we contemplate the Circus Maximus from above (again, knowing what we now know!), probably...more legendary.
(Genie, Rome, 10 January 2018)