Misplaced Pages

#291708

67-537: The Fasti Ostienses were originally engraved on marble slabs in a public place, either the Ostian forums, or the temple of Vulcan , the tutelary deity of Ostia. The fasti were later dismantled and used as building materials. Since their rediscovery, they have become one of the primary sources for the chronology of the early Roman Empire , along with historians such as Tacitus , Suetonius , and Cassius Dio . The term fasti originally referred to calendars published by

134-529: A Greek pot showing Hephaestus found at the Volcanal has been dated to the 6th century BC, suggesting that the two gods were already associated at this date. However, Vulcan had a stronger association than Hephaestus with fire's destructive capacity, and a major concern of his worshippers was to encourage the god to avert harmful fires. The festival of Vulcan, the Vulcanalia, was celebrated on August 23 each year, when

201-425: A beautiful necklace of silver and sapphires that Vulcan had made for her. Juno admired the necklace and asked where she could get one. Thetis became flustered, causing Juno to become suspicious; and, at last, the queen god discovered the truth: the baby she had once rejected had grown into a talented blacksmith . Juno was furious and demanded that Vulcan return home, a demand that he refused. However, he did send Juno

268-478: A beautifully constructed chair made of silver and gold, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Juno was delighted with this gift but, as soon as she sat in it her weight triggered hidden springs and metal bands sprung forth to hold her fast. The chair was a cleverly designed trap. It was Jupiter who finally saved the day: he promised that if Vulcan released Juno he would give him a wife, Venus the goddess of love and beauty. Vulcan agreed and married Venus. Vulcan later built

335-506: A gloss by Hesychius states that "Velchanos is Zeus among the Cretan". He was the first god of the cavern of Mount Ida , where he had an oracle, and was honoured also in Cyprus. His name is very similar to that of Latin god Volcanus, who himself was considered to be the father of Caeculus and Servius Tullius , not to mention Romulus in the version transmitted by Promathion, which is very similar to

402-633: A poisoned gift for man. Vulcan's contribution to the beautiful and foolish Pandora was to mould her from clay and to give her form. He also made the thrones for the other gods on Mount Olympus . The main and most ancient sanctuary of Vulcan in Rome was the Volcanal , located in the area Volcani , an open-air space at the foot of the Capitolium , in the northwestern corner of the Roman Forum , with an area dedicated to

469-413: A prince, to his friends; and Fabius Maximus called the presents which Augustus made to his friends, on account of their smallness, heminaria , instead of congiaria, because hemina was only the twelfth part of a congius. Tiberius gave a congiarium of 72½ denarii (300 sesterces) to each citizen. Caligula gave the same amount of three hundred sesterces on two occasions. Nero , whose congiaria were

536-603: A sacrifice to the goddess Maia , held every year at the Kalendae of May. Vulcan was among the gods placated after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64. In response to the same fire, Domitian (emperor 81–96) established a new altar to Vulcan on the Quirinal Hill . At the same time a red bull-calf and red boar were added to the sacrifices made on the Vulcanalia, at least in that region of

603-432: A series of deities including Vulcan. The origin of the name is unclear. Roman tradition maintained that it was related to Latin words connected to lightning ( fulgur, fulgere, fulmen ), which in turn was thought of as related to flames. This interpretation is supported by Walter William Skeat in his etymological dictionary as meaning lustre . It has been supposed that his name was not Latin but related to that of

670-412: A smithy under Mount Etna on the island of Sicily . It was said that whenever Venus was unfaithful, Vulcan grew angry and beat the red-hot metal with such a force that sparks and smoke rose up from the top of the mountain, creating a volcanic eruption. According to Virgil , Vulcan was the father of Caeculus . To punish mankind for stealing the secrets of fire, Jupiter ordered the other gods to make

737-559: A statue of himself and an inscription in Greek characters listing his successes. Plutarch states that Romulus was represented crowned by Victory . Moreover, he would have planted a sacred lotus tree in the sanctuary that was still living at the time of Pliny the Elder and was said to be as old as the city. The hypothesis has been presented that the Volcanal was founded when the Forum was still outside

SECTION 10

#1732851092292

804-602: A young deity, master of fire and companion of the Great Goddess . According to Martin L. West , Volcanus may represent a god of the fire named *Volca and attached to the suffix -no- , the typical appendage indicating the god's domain in Indo-European languages . *Volca could therefore be a cognate of the Sanskrit words ulkā ("darting flame") and/or várcas- ("brilliance, glare"). Vulcan's oldest shrine in Rome, called

871-415: Is not explicitly mentioned. Some scholars think that Vulcan might be the unknown god who impregnated goddesses Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste and Feronia at Anxur . In this case, he would be the father of Jupiter . This view, however, is in conflict with that which links the goddess to Jupiter, as his daughter ( puer Jovis ) and his mother too, as primigenia , meaning "primordial". In all of

938-494: 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 . Vulcan belongs to the most ancient stage of Roman religion: Varro , the ancient Roman scholar and writer, citing the Annales Maximi , records that king Titus Tatius dedicated altars to

1005-462: Is related to male fertilizing power. In various Latin and Roman legends he is the father of famous characters, such as the founder of Praeneste Caeculus , Cacus , a primordial being or king, later transformed into a monster that inhabited the site of the Aventine in Rome, and Roman king Servius Tullius . In a variant of the story of the birth of Romulus the details are identical even though Vulcan

1072-564: Is stable and has a clear meaning— kurd ("smith") + Alaeg (the name of one of the Nartic families)+ on ("of the family")—this hypothesis has been considered unacceptable by Dumezil . Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h has proposed the identification with the Irish name Olcan (Ogamic Ulccagni , in the genitive). Gérard Capdeville finds a continuity between Cretan Minoan god Velchanos and Etruscan Velchans . The Minoan god's identity would be that of

1139-401: Is the lectisternium of 217 BC. Other facts that seem to hint at this connection are the relative proximity of the two sanctuaries and Dionysius of Halicarnassus ' testimony that both cults had been introduced to Rome by Titus Tatius to comply with a vow he had made in battle. Varro confirms the fact. Vulcan is related to two equally ancient female goddesses, Stata Mater , perhaps

1206-520: Is the companion of the Great Goddess . These traits are preserved in Latium only in his sons Cacus , Caeculus , and Servius Tullius . At Praeneste the uncles of Caeculus are known as Digiti, a noun that connects them to the Cretan Dactyli . Velchanos was the supreme god of early Cretan religion, where the festival of the βελχάνια (Velchania) as well as a month Ϝελχάνιοσ (Welchanios) are attested:

1273-595: The Cretan god Velchanos , a god of nature and the nether world. Wolfgang Meid has disputed this identification as fantastic . Meid and Vasily Abaev have proposed on their side a matching theonym in the Ossetic legendary smith of the Nart saga Kurd-Alä-Wärgon ("the Alan smith Wärgon"), and postulated an original PIE smith god named * wl̩kānos . But since the name in its normal form

1340-587: The Fasti Capitolini , these fasti did not record the consuls' filiations, making prosopography of the Empire more difficult. Nonetheless, the Fasti Ostienses are immensely valuable as a source for the names and chronology of many of the consuls who held office under the empire. The following tables give the magistrates and events from the most recent reconstruction of the Fasti Ostienses . The years provided in

1407-756: The Vulcanal , was situated at the foot of the Capitoline in the Forum Romanum , and was reputed to date to the archaic period of the kings of Rome , and to have been established on the site by Titus Tatius , the Sabine co-king, with a traditional date in the 8th century BC. It was the view of the Etruscan haruspices that a temple of Vulcan should be located outside the city, and the Vulcanal may originally have been on or outside

SECTION 20

#1732851092292

1474-526: The census every fifth year. Prefects are also mentioned in a few years, but these also appear to have been local officials, often bearing the names of the same families who regularly supplied the city's duumvirs. Inserted between the Roman consuls and Ostian magistrates, the Ostienses describe important occasions, such as events relating to the emperor or the imperial family, the deaths of notable individuals, and

1541-532: The city limits before they expanded to include the Capitoline Hill . The Volcanalia sacrifice was offered here to Vulcan, on August 23. Vulcan also had a temple on the Campus Martius , which was in existence by 214 BC. The Romans identified Vulcan with the Greek smith -god Hephaestus . Vulcan became associated like his Greek counterpart with the constructive use of fire in metalworking . A fragment of

1608-483: The emperors to appoint two, four, or even six pairs of consuls during the course of a year. Part of the reason for increasing the number of consuls was to show favour to the Roman aristocracy, for whom holding the consulship for even a short period was a great honour; but the more practical reason was to fill the large number of important positions in the imperial bureaucracy that were traditionally held by ex-consuls. Typically, each pair of consuls would enter office at

1675-440: The pontifices , indicating the days on which business could be transacted ( fasti ) and those on which it was prohibited for religious reasons ( nefasti ). These calendars frequently included lists of the annual magistrates. In many ancient cultures, the most common way to refer to individual years was by the names of the presiding magistrates. The annually-elected consuls were the eponymous magistrates at Rome, and so lists of

1742-476: The Elder tells the same story, but states that the father was the Lar familiaris . The divinity of the child was recognized when his head was surrounded by flames and he remained unharmed. Through the comparative analysis of these myths, archaeologist Andrea Carandini opines that Cacus and Caca were the sons of Vulcan and of a local divine being or a virgin as in the case of Caeculus. Cacus and Caca would represent

1809-472: The Roman people in the same way as Trajan, and of him Fronto said: I consider it good policy that the prince did not neglect the theatre or the circus and arena, as he well knew that there are two things which the Roman applaud especially—the distribution of grain, and games. The neglect of the important thing [grains] causes great harm, of the frivolous thing [entertainment] greater hatred—the crowd hungering more for games than for bread, because by

1876-469: The Volcanal was originally the site where corpses were cremated. Congiarium Of Ancient Roman containers, a congiarium , or congiary ( Latin , from congius ), was a vessel containing one congius , a measure of volume equal to six sextarii . In the early times of the Roman Republic , the congius was the usual measure of oil or wine which was, on certain occasions, distributed among

1943-443: The above-mentioned stories, the god's fertilizing power is related to that of the fire of the house hearth. In the case of Caeculus, his mother was impregnated by a spark that dropped on her womb from the hearth while she was sitting nearby. Servius Tullius ' mother Ocresia was impregnated by a male sex organ that miraculously appeared in the ashes of the sacrificial ara, at the order of Tanaquil , Tarquinius Priscus ' wife. Pliny

2010-514: The agrarian activities of that month and in symmetric correlation with those of the second half of July (Lucaria on July 19 and 21, Neptunalia on 23 and Furrinalia on 25). While the festivals of July dealt with untamed nature (woods) and waters (superficial waters the Neptunalia and underground waters the Furrinalia) at a time of danger caused by their relative deficiency, those of August were devoted to

2077-560: The ancient Cretan god honoured in the Βελχ?νια who presided over initiation rites, the Consualia must have a meaning of integration into the citizenship. This provides an explanation for the choice of the festival of the Parilia as the date of the foundation of Rome, since these are first of all the festival of the iuniores . Festus writes: "Parilibus Romulus Vrbem condidit, quem diem festum praecipue habebant iuniores." The date of April 21 marked

Fasti Ostienses - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-516: The beginning, or Kalends, of a month, although sometimes consuls would take office on the Ides or Nones, or on rare occasions between these dates. Most of the emperors held the consulship several times, typically serving as one of the ordinares , and then resigning, often as early as the Ides of January. In addition to the consuls, the Ostienses listed the local duumviri jure dicundo , the chief magistrates of Ostia, who were also tasked with carrying out

2211-459: The city. The nature of Vulcan is connected with religious ideas concerning fire; the Roman concept of Vulcan seems to associate him to both the destructive and the fertilizing powers of fire. In the first aspect, he is worshipped in the Volcanalia , to avert its potential danger to harvested wheat. His cult is located outside the boundaries of the original city to avoid the risk of fires caused by

2278-406: The columns on the left are based on modern scholarship; the original inscription does not provide years. Portions of names and text in square brackets have been interpolated. Periods (full stops) have been supplied for abbreviations. Missing text is indicated with an ellipsis in brackets, [...]. These tables use modern conventions for distinguishing between I and J, and between U and V. Otherwise,

2345-466: The consuls going back many years were useful for dating historical events. Over time such lists also became known as fasti . Located at the mouth of the Tiber , Ostia was the chief seaport of Rome from the earliest period until the third century AD, when it was overtaken by Portus . The Fasti Ostienses were inscribed in a public place somewhere in the city, although precisely where is uncertain; perhaps in

2412-463: The consuls who entered office at the beginning of January, and traditionally gave their names to the year, followed by all of the suffecti , consuls who took office following the resignation or death of their predecessors in the course of the year. Under the Republic , consules suffecti were elected only if one of the ordinares died, or was forced to resign. But in imperial times, it became common for

2479-565: The day of the Volcanalia (August 23) a sacrifice was offered to Hora Quirini, paredra of Quirinus with whom the deified Romulus was identified. As the Consualia were mentioned first in connection with the founding of Rome in the episode of the abduction of the Sabine women, as the Volcanalia are celebrated two days later and two days before the Opiconsivia , and as the name Volcanus resembles that of

2546-421: The dedication of statues and temples. The main focus is on events at Rome, although several events of local significance to Ostians are also recorded, including the appointment of new Priests of Vulcan, and the donation of congiaria . Although the surviving portions of the fasti cover a period of nearly two hundred and twenty five years, only about eighty-five years are partially preserved. Moreover, contrary to

2613-438: The earliest known examples represented on medals, gave four hundred. Despite Trajan 's financial success, his practice of giving extravagant congiaria to the people of Rome received severe condemnation. His first congiarium, in 99, was probably no larger than that of Nerva (75 denarii per person), but his second and third distributions of money, after each Dacian War , amounted to 650 denarii per person. Hadrian treated

2680-472: The earliest surviving portion records the events from 49 to 44 BC. The last extant year is AD 175, but there are many gaps, and most of the surviving years are damaged. It is not clear at what time the fasti were dismantled for reuse as building material; they may have been abandoned as early as the Severan dynasty , but more likely this occurred following the advent of Christianity as the state religion toward

2747-404: The end of the fourth century, or still later, when the city came under threat from raids from both land and sea during the fifth century. However, from the ninth century to the nineteenth, the old city was effectively abandoned, and regarded largely as a source of material for construction elsewhere. For each year, the Ostienses provide a list of the consuls , including both of the ordinares ,

Fasti Ostienses - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-494: The god and a perennial fire. It was one of the most ancient Roman shrines. According to Roman tradition the sanctuary had been dedicated by Romulus . He had placed on the site a bronze quadriga dedicated to the god, a war trophy from the Fidenates . According to Plutarch, though, the war in question was that against Cameria , that occurred sixteen years after the foundation of Rome. There Romulus would have also dedicated to Vulcan

2881-426: The god in the city itself. This power is, however, considered useful if directed against enemies and such a choice for the location of the god's cult could be interpreted in this way too. The same idea underlies the dedication of the arms of the defeated enemies, as well as those of the surviving general in a devotion ritual to the god. Through comparative interpretation this aspect has been connected by Dumézil to

2948-496: The goddess who stops fires and Maia . Herbert Jennings Rose interprets Maia as a goddess related to growth by connecting her name with IE root *MAG. Macrobius relates Cincius' opinion that Vulcan's female companion is Maia. Cincius justifies his view on the grounds that the flamen Volcanalis sacrificed to her at the Kalendae of May. In Piso's view, the companion of the god is Maiestas . According to Gellius as well, Maia

3015-520: The legend of Servius. The founder of Rome has a close relationship with this god as he founded the Volcanal and there he dedicated a quadriga with his own statue after his first victory. It is there too that a part of the tradition locates the place of his death: the site was marked by the Lapis Niger : Festus writes "Niger lapis in Comitio locum funestum significat, ut ali, Romuli morti destinatum...". On

3082-459: The local forum, or on the walls of the temple of Vulcan, the location of which has not been identified. In either case, they were probably superintended by the Pontifex Volkani , the priest of Vulcan at Ostia. The surviving fragments of the Ostienses mention this appointment several times. The carving of the Ostian fasti may have begun as early as the dictatorship of Sulla , in 81 BC, but

3149-434: The metallurgic and the domestic fire, projections of Vulcan and of Vesta . These legends date back to the time of preurban Latium . Their meaning is quite clear: at the divine level Vulcan impregnates a virgin goddess and generates Jupiter, the king of the gods; at the human level he impregnates a local virgin (perhaps of royal descent) and generates a king. The first mention of a ritual connection between Vulcan and Vesta

3216-449: The names and notes are given as spelled in the fasti. The following praenomina appear in the Fasti Ostienses . Most were regularly abbreviated. Vulcan (mythology) Vulcan ( Latin : Vulcanus , in archaically retained spelling also Volcanus , both pronounced [wʊɫˈkaːnʊs] ) is the god of fire including the fire of volcanoes , deserts , metalworking and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth . He

3283-513: The people, before the building of the rostra . On the Volcanal there was also a statue of Horatius Cocles that had been moved here from the Comitium , locus inferior , after it had been struck by lightning. Aulus Gellius writes that some haruspices were summoned to expiate the prodigy and they had it moved to a lower site, where sunlight never reached, out of their hatred for the Romans. The fraud

3350-401: The people; and thus congiarium became a name for liberal donations to the people, in general, whether consisting of oil, wine, grain, or money, or other things, while donations made to the soldiers were called donativa , though they were sometimes also termed congiaria . Congiarium was, moreover, occasionally used simply to designate a present or a pension given by a person of high rank, or

3417-428: The remains of a draining channel made of tufaceous slabs. The hypothesis has been suggested that this was Vulcan's area itself. The rock shows signs of damages and repairs. On the surface there are some hollows, either round or square, that bear resemblance to graves and were interpreted as such in the past, particularly by Von Duhn . After the discovery of cremation tombs in the Forum the latter scholar maintained that

SECTION 50

#1732851092292

3484-450: The remains of a fisherman's fire on the beach and became fascinated with an unextinguished coal, still red-hot and glowing. Vulcan carefully shut this precious coal in a clamshell, took it back to his underwater grotto, and made a fire with it. On the first day after that, Vulcan stared at this fire for hours on end. On the second day, he discovered that when he made the fire hotter with bellows, certain stones sweated iron, silver or gold. On

3551-440: The results of human endeavour on nature with the storing of harvested grain (Consualia) and their relationship to human society and regality (Opiconsivia) which at that time were at risk and required protection from the dangers of the excessive strength of the two elements of fire (Vulcanalia) and wind (Vulturnalia) reinforced by dryness. It is recorded that during the Vulcanalia people used to hang their clothes and fabrics under

3618-399: The sons of Vulcan are Philammon, Cecrops , Erichthonius , Corynetes, Cercyon, Philottus, and Spinther. The origin of the Roman god of fire Vulcan has been traced back to the Cretan god Velchanos by Gérard Capdeville, primarily under the suggestion of the close similarity of their names. Cretan Velchanos is a young god of Mediterranean or Near Eastern origin who has mastership of fire and

3685-420: The southern boundary of the sacred space and has a protective function against evil influences. Since the territory of the city of Rome was seen as a magnified temple in itself, the three fires should be identified as the hearth of the landlord in the temple of Vesta ( aedes Vestae ); the sacrificial fires of each temple, shrine or altar; and the defensive fire in the temple of Vulcan. Another meaning of Vulcan

3752-477: The starting point of the process of initiation of the future new citizens which concluded four months later on the ceremony of the Consualia, which involves athletic games and marriages. Through his identification with the Hephaestus of Greek mythology , Vulcan came to be considered as the manufacturer of art, arms, iron , jewelry, and armor for various gods and heroes, including the lightning bolts of Jupiter. He

3819-431: The summer heat placed crops and granaries most at risk of burning. During the festival, bonfires were created in honour of the god, into which live fish or small animals were thrown as a sacrifice, to be consumed in the place of humans. The Vulcanalia was part of the cycle of the four festivities of the second half of August (Consualia on August 21, Vulcanalia on 23, Opiconsivia on 25 and Vulturnalia on 27) related to

3886-427: The sun. This habit might reflect a theological connection between Vulcan and the divinized Sun. Another custom observed on this day required that one should start working by the light of a candle, probably to propitiate a beneficial use of fire by the god. In addition to the Vulcanalia of August 23, the date of May 23, which was the second of the two annual Tubilustria or ceremonies for the purification of trumpets,

3953-627: The surrounding buildings until it was totally covered over. Nonetheless the cult was still alive in the first half of the imperial era, as is testified by the finding of a dedica of Augustus's dating from 9 BC. At the beginning of the 20th century, behind the Arch of Septimius Severus were found some ancient tufaceous foundations that probably belonged to the Volcanal and traces of a rocky platform, 3.95 meters long and 2.80 meters wide, that had been covered with concrete and painted in red. Into its upper surface are dug several narrow channels and in front of it are

4020-419: The third day he beat the cooled metal into shapes: bracelets, chains, swords and shields. Vulcan made pearl-handled knives and spoons for his foster mother, and for himself he made a silver chariot with bridles so that seahorses could transport him quickly. He even made slave-girls of gold to wait on him and do his bidding. Later, Thetis left her underwater grotto to attend a dinner party on Mount Olympus wearing

4087-414: The third or defensive fire in the theory of the three Vedic sacrificial fires. In such theory three fires are necessary to the discharge of a religious ceremony: the hearth of the landlord, which has the function of establishing a referential on Earth in that precise location connecting it with Heaven; the sacrificial fire, which conveys the offer to Heaven; and the defensive fire, which is usually located on

SECTION 60

#1732851092292

4154-451: The top of Mount Olympus . Vulcan fell down for a day and a night, landing in the sea. Unfortunately, one of his legs broke as he hit the water, and never developed properly. Vulcan sank to the depths of the ocean, where the sea-nymph Thetis found him and took him to her underwater grotto, wanting to raise him as her own son. Vulcan had a happy childhood with dolphins as his playmates and pearls as his toys. Late in his childhood, he found

4221-405: The town walls. The Volcanal was perhaps used as a cremation site, as suggested by the early use of the Forum as a burial site. Livy mentions it twice, in 189 and 181 BC, for the prodigies of a rain of blood. The area Volcani was probably a locus substructus . It was five meters higher than the Comitium and from it the kings and the magistrates of the beginnings of the republic addressed

4288-543: Was associated with Vulcan; and he backs up his view by quoting the ritual prayers in use by Roman priests. Vulcan is the patron of trades related to ovens (cooks, bakers, confectioners) as attested in the works of Plautus , Apuleius (the god is the cook at the wedding of Amor and Psyche ) and in Vespa 's short poem in the Latin Anthology about the litigation between a cook and a baker. According to Hyginus ' Fabulae,

4355-471: Was revealed, however, and the haruspices were executed. Later it was found that the statue should be placed on a higher site, thus it was placed in the area Volcani . In 304 BC a sacellum to Concordia was built in the area Volcani : it was dedicated by aedilis curulis Cnaeus Flavius . According to Samuel Ball Platner , in the course of time the Volcanal would have been more and more encroached upon by

4422-486: Was sacred to Vulcan. The Ludi Vulcanalici , were held just once on August 23, 20 BC, within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. A flamen , one of the flamines minors , named flamen Vulcanalis was in charge of the cult of the god. The flamen Vulcanalis officiated at

4489-451: Was the son of Jupiter and Juno , and the husband of Maia and Aphrodite (Venus) . His smithy was believed to be situated underneath Mount Etna in Sicily . As the son of Jupiter, the king of the gods, and Juno, the queen of the gods, Vulcan should have been quite handsome, but baby Vulcan was small and ugly with a red, bawling face. Juno was so horrified that she hurled the tiny baby off

#291708