#romanpagan

[recaptchalater]

“You believe in God?" demanded Billy Karma.

'I believe in thirty-seven separate and distinct gods,' answered Argyle proudly. 'That puts me thirty-six ahead of you.'

'It makes you a pagan.'

'It makes you a man of limited vision,' said Argyle.”

― Mike Resnick, The Outpost

[taylorswi13-blog]

Mythology Help

Hello! I’m currently writing a book that includes the Greek, Roman, Norse and Egyptian gods. Although they are not the entire focus, I would really appreciate people (polytheists) pointing me in the right direction as to how to portray them correctly. I’m very experienced with the Greek Gods, but I’m having trouble finding sources/research for the other three.

[romaaeternaofficial]

Sorry for the delay, life has had me busy. I present to you the temple of the week.

TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND PULLOX

Castor, aedes: a temple of Castor (or the Dioscuri?) in circo Flaminio, that is, in Region IX, to which there are but two references. Its day of dedication was 13th August (Hemerol. Allif. Amit. ad id. Aug.; CIL I2 p325: Castori Polluci in Circo Flaminio; Fast. Ant. ap. NS 1921, 107), and it is cited by Vitruvius (IV.8.4) as an example of an unusual type (columnis adiectis dextra ac sinistra ad umeros pronai), like a temple of Athene on the Acropolis at Athens, and another at Sunium (Gilb. III.76, 84).

Castor, aedes, templum: * the temple of Castor and Pollux at the south-east corner of the forum area, close to the fons Iuturnae (Cic. de nat. deor. III.13; Plut. Coriol. 3; Dionys, VI.13; Mart. I.70.3; FUR fr. 20, cf. NS 1882, 233). According to tradition, it was vowed in 499 B.C. by the dictator Postumius, when the Dioscuri appeared on this spot after the battle of Lake Regillus, and dedicated in 484 by the son of the dictator who was appointed duumvir for this purpose (Liv. II.20.12, 42.5; Dionys. loc. cit.). The day of dedication is given in the calendar as 27th January (Fast. Praen. CIL I2 p308; Fast. Verol. ap. NS 1923, 196; Ov. Fast. I.705‑706), but by Livy (II.42.5) as 15th July. The laterº may be merely an error, or the date of the first temple only (see WR 216‑217, and literature there cited).

Its official name was aedes Castoris (Suet. Caes. 10: ut enim geminis fratribus aedes in foro constituta tantum Castoris vocaretur; Cass. Dio XXXVII.8; and regularly in literature and inscriptions — Cic. pro Sest. 85; in Verr. I.131, 132, 133, 134; III.41; Liv. cit. and VIII.11.16; Fest. 246, 286;1 Gell. XI.3.2; Mon. Anc. IV.13; Plaut. Curc. 481; CIL VI.363, 9177, 9393, 9872, 10024 — aedes Castorus (CIL I2582.17) or Kastorus (ib. 586.1; cf. EE III.70) appear merely as variants of this), but we also find aedes Castorum (Plin. NH X.121; XXXIV.23; Hist. Aug. Max. 16.1; Valer. 5.4; Not. Reg. VIII; Chron. 146), and Castoris et Pollucis2 (Fast. p103Praen. CIL p.I2.308; Asc. in Scaur. 46; Suet. Tib. 20; Cal. 22; Flor. Ep. III.3.20, cf. Lact. Inst. II.7.9; CIL VI.2202, 2203, although perhaps not in Rome, cf. Jord. I.2.369), forms due either to vulgar usage or misplaced learning. Besides aedes, templum is found in Cicero (pro Sest. 79; in Vat. 31, 32; in Pis. 11, 23; pro Mil. 18; de domo 110; de harusp. resp. 49; ad Q. fr. II.3.6), Livy once (IX.43.22), Asconius (in Pis. 23; in Scaur. 46), the Scholia to Juvenal (XIV.261), the Notitia and Chronograph (loc. cit.). In Greek writers it appears as τὸ τῶν Διοσκούρων ἱερόν (Dionys. VI.13), τὸ Διοσκόρειον (Cass. Dio XXXVIII.6; LV.27.4; LIX.28.5; Plut. Sulla 33), νεὼς τῶν Διοσκούρων (Cass. Dio LX.6.8; App. B. C. I.25; Plut. Sulla 8; Pomp. 2; Cato Min. 27).

This temple was restored in 117 B.C. by L. Caecilius Metellus (Cic. pro Scauro 46, and Ascon. ad loc.; in Verr. I.154; Plut. Pomp. 2). Some repairs were made by Verres (Cic. in Verr. I.129‑154), and the temple was completely rebuilt by Tiberius in 6 A.D., and dedicated in his own name and that of his brother Drusus (Suet. Tib. 20; Cass. Dio LV.27.4; Ov. Fast. I.707‑708). Caligula incorporated the temple in his palace, making it the vestibule (Suet. Cal. 22; Cass. Dio LIX.28.5; cf. Divus Augustus, Templum, Domus Tiberiana), but this condition was changed by Claudius. Another restoration is attributed to Domitian (Chron. 146), and in this source the temple is called templum Castoris et Minervae, a name also found in the Notitia (Reg. VIII), and variously explained (see Minerva, Templum). It had also been supposed that there was restoration by Trajan or Hadrian (HC 161), and that the existing remains of columns and entablature date from that period, but there is no evidence for this assumption, and the view has now been abandoned (Toeb. 51). The existing remains are mostly of the Augustan period (AJA 1912, 393), and any later restorations must have been so superficial as to leave no traces.

This temple served frequently as a meeting-place for the senate (Cic. in Verr. I.129; Hist. Aug. Maxim. 16; Valer. 5; CIL I2586.1), and played a conspicuous rôle in the political struggles that centred in the forum (Cic. de har. resp. 27; de domo 54, 110; pro Sest. 34; in Pis. 11, 23; pro Mil. 18; ad Q. fr. II.3.6; App. B. C. I.25), its steps forming a sort of second Rostra (Plut. Sulla 33; Cic. Phil. III.27). In it were kept the standards of weights and measures (CIL V.8119.4; XI.6726.2; XIII.10030.13 ff.; Ann. d. Inst. 1881, 182; Mitt. 1889, 244‑245), and the chambers in the podium (see below) seem to have served as safe deposit vaults for the imperial fiscus (CIL VI.8688, 8689),3 and for the treasures of private individuals ( Cic. pro Quinct. 17; Iuv. XIV.260‑262 and Schol.). No mention is made of the contents of this temple, artistic p104or historical, except of one bronze tablet which was a memorial of the granting of citizenship to the Equites Campani in 340 B.C. (Liv. VIII.11.16).

The traces of the earlier structures (including some opus quadratum belonging to the original temple; see Ill. 12) indicate successive enlargements with some changes in the plan of cella and pronaos (for the discussion of these changes and the history of the temple, see Van Buren, CR 1906, 77‑82, 184, who also thinks that traces can be found of a restoration in the third century B.C.; cf. however, AJA 1912, 244‑246). The Augustan temple was Corinthian, octastyle and peripteral, with eleven columns on each side, and a double row on each side of the pronaos. This pronaos was 9.90 metres by 15.80, the cella 16 by 19.70, and the whole building about 50 metres long by 30 wide. The floor was about 7 metres above the Sacra via. The very lofty podium consisted of a concrete core enclosed in tufa walls, from which projected short spur walls. On these stood the columns, but directly beneath them at the points of heaviest pressure travertine was substituted for tufa. Between these spur walls were chambers in the podium, opening outward and closed by metal doors. From the pronaos a flight of eleven steps, extending nearly across the whole width of the temple, led down to a wide platform, 3.66 metres above the area in front. This was provided with a railing and formed a high and safe place from which to address the people. From the frequent references in literature (see above) it is evident that there was a similar arrangement in the earlier temple of Metellus. Leading from this platform to the ground were two narrow staircases, at the ends and not in front. The podium was covered with marble and decorated with two cornices, one at the top and another just above the metal doors of the strong chambers. Of the superstructure three columns on the east side are standing, which are regarded as perhaps the finest architectural remains in Rome. They are of white marble, fluted, 12.50 metres in height and 1.45 in diameter. The entablature, 3.75 metres high, has a plain frieze and an admirable worked cornice (for the complete description of the remains of the imperial temple previous to 1899, see Richter, Jahrb. d. Inst. 1898, 87‑114; also Reber, 136‑142; D'Esp. Fr. I.87‑91; II.87; for the results of the excavations since 1899, CR 1899, 466; 1902, 95, 284; BC 1899, 253; 1900, 66, 285; 1902, 28; 1903, 165; Mitt. 1902, 66‑67; 1905, 80; for general discussion of the temple, Jord. I.2.369‑376; LR 271‑274; HC 161‑164; Théd. 116‑120, 210‑212;a DE I.175‑176; WR 268‑271; DR 160‑170; RE Suppl. IV.469‑471; Mem. Am. Acad. V.79‑1024; ASA 70; HFP 37, 38).

This temple was standing in the fourth century, but nothing is known of its subsequent history, except that in the fifteenth century only three columns were visible, for the street running by them was called via Trium Columnarum (Jord. II.412, 501; LS I.72, and for other reff. II.69, p105199, 202; DuP 97). In the early nineteenth century it was often wrongly called the Graecostasis or the temple of Jupiter Stator.

[recaptchalater]

“Yet rather than calling the earliest religions, which embraced such an open acceptance of all human sexuality, 'fertility cults,' we might consider the religions of today as strange in that they seem to associate shame and even sin with the very process of conceiving new human life. Perhaps centuries from now scholars and historians will be classifying them as 'sterility cults.”

― Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman

[romaaeternaofficial]

Undramatic but significant moment. Roma Aeterna's first altar. Soon, a solid marble altar is in the near future. On behalf of the Cassii Longini, my ancestors, and those of Roma Aeterna, I, Gaia Cassia Antonia Longina Augusta Italica, give this to Janus and Roma Aeterna. May the ancestors and gods smile upon you and Roma Aeterna. 🙌🏻🏛

[romaaeternaofficial]

So one of my many side projects for the betterment of the cultus and for Roma Aeterna is to take texts and put them into scrolls. Here is my first scroll. It is an English and Latin version of the morning and evening lararium rites written by Triarius.

[romaaeternaofficial]

TEMPLE OF THE WEEK: Temple Of Antoninus Pius and Faustina

Antoninus et Faustina, templum: the temple built by Antoninus Pius on the north side of the Sacra via at the entrance to the forum, just east of the basilica Aemilia, in honour of his deified wife, the empress Faustina, who died in 141 A.D. (Hist. Aug. Pius 6). After the death of Antoninus himself in 161, the temple was dedicated to both together (Hist. Aug. Pius 13). The inscription on the architrave records the first dedication, and that added afterwards on the frieze records the second (CIL VI.1005: divo Antonino et divae Faustinae ex s.c.). In consequence of this double dedication the proper name of the temple was templum d. Antonini et d. Faustinae (so a fragment of the Fasti of 213‑236 A.D., CIL VI.2001), but it was also called templum Faustinae p14(Hist. Aug. Salon. 1; Not. Reg. IV) and templum d. Pii (Hist. Aug. Carac. 4). It is represented on coins of Faustina (Cohen2, Faustina senior, Nos. 1, 64‑71, 191‑194, 253‑255, 274).

In the seventh or eighth century this temple, apparently in good condition, was converted into the church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda (Armellini2, 156‑157; HCh 288), the floor of which is about 12 metres above the ancient level. Excavations in front of the temple were undertaken in 1546 (LS II.193‑196; JRS 1919, 183), 1810, 1876, 1885 (HJ 9), and in 1899 and following years (CR 1899, 186; 1902, 285; BC 1900, 62‑63; 1902, 30‑31; NS 1899, 77), when the whole eastern side was exposed to view. It was hexastyle prostyle, with two columns on each side, besides those at the corners, and pilasters in antis. The columns are of cipollino, 17 metres high and 1.45 in diameter at the base, with Corinthian capitals of white marble, and support an entablature of white marble which probably encircled the whole building. The existing remains consist of portions of the cella wall of peperino, built into the walls of the church, extending for 20 metres on the north-west and 15 on the south-west side; the columns of the pronaos, which stand free from the church with the exception of the two nearest the antae; the architrave and frieze of the façade and sides as far as the cella wall extends, but only a small part of the cornice; and the wide flight of steps leading down to the Sacra via, in the middle of which are the remains of an altar. Some fragments of a colossal male and female statue, and a few other pieces of sculpture, have been found. The whole temple was covered with slabs of marble, which have disappeared. The frieze on the sides of the temple was beautifully sculptured in relief with garlands, sacrificial instruments and griffins, and on the columns are numerous inscriptions and figures, some of which are Christian and have been scratched as early as the fourth century A.D. (HJ 8‑9, and literature cited; HC 220‑222; Thédenat, 160, 273‑274; D'Espouy, Monuments, ii.96‑98; Fragments, i.92; ii.91, and especially Bartoli in Mon. L. xxiii.947‑974; DAP xv.368; RE Suppl. IV.485‑7; SScR 247; HFP 36).

Shared from lucriscurtuis

[recaptchalater]

“Eat of my deep earth, drink of my living streams, for I am your Mother. Your heart is my wild drum, your breath my eternal song. If you would live, dance with me!”

― Juliet Marillier, Cybele's Secret