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39-600: The practice consisted of a vow ( votum ) to the god Mars of the generation of offspring born in the spring of the following year to humans or cattle . Among the Sabines, this was the period from March 1 to April 30. The practice is related to that of devotio in Roman religion . It was customary to resort to it at times of particular danger or strife for the community. Some scholars believe that in earlier times devoted or vowed children were actually sacrificed , but later expulsion

78-463: A ver sacrum ." The last ver sacrum recorded in history occurred at Rome during the Second Punic War after the defeats at Trasimene and Cannae and concerned only cattle. Livy's narrative of the event provides information on two important points of pontifical jurisprudence. Firstly, the pontifex maximus Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus made it clear the votum would be valid only after

117-483: A collaboration between the two people started. According to an account more based on history, Sabines settled on the Quirinale because of their continuous need for grazing-lands. After the final Roman conquest, carried out by Manius Curius Dentatus in the early third century BC (290 BC), the village became a strategic point in the early Italian road network, dominating the "salt" track ( Via Salaria ) that linked Rome to

156-642: A major site of the Sabine nation well before the foundation of Rome . According to the legend, when Romulus founded Rome, Romans kidnapped Sabine women in order to populate the town ( The Rape of the Sabine Women ) and this led to a war between Romans and Sabines. The battle of the Lacus Curtius came to an end only when the women threw themselves between the armies, begging the men who were by then their relatives to stop fighting. Romulus and Titus Tatius relented and

195-415: A statue, or even a temple building. The votum is thus an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion, a bargaining expressed by do ut des , "I give that you might give." In everyday life, individuals might make votive offerings to a deity for private concerns. Vota privata are attested in abundance by inscriptions , particularly for the later Imperial era . These are regularly marked with

234-598: A vote of the Roman people ( iussu populi ), then he specified a long series of unfavourable events and circumstances which were as a rule regarded as invalidating but would not be so as far as the present votum was concerned in the case they happen. The overall authenticity of the formula preserved in Livy's passage has been noticed by Dumézil while the exceptional theological and juridical prudence showed by Lentulus in ensuring that both fraud and ignorance of private citizens would not affect

273-662: Is strada statale 4 Via Salaria , which connects Rieti with Rome at south and with Ascoli Piceno and the Adriatic Sea at north, just like the ancient Via Salaria Roman road . Other major roads include the strada statale 79 Ternana , which connects Rieti with Terni and with the Orte gate of Autostrada A1 ; strada statale 17 , which branches from strada statale 4 in Antrodoco , connects Rieti with L'Aquila ; strada statale 578 Salto Cicolana , which connects Rieti with Avezzano and with

312-459: The 5 year ( quinquennalia ) and 10 year anniversaries ( decennalia ). Incomplete records have led scholars to debate whether particular quinquennalia and decennalia were celebrated at the beginning of the year, on the dies imperii , or at some other time for specific reasons in each case. Vota publica continued in Rome even after Christianity had become the official religion of

351-537: The Capitoline by a general holding imperium before deploying. The triumph with its dedication of spoils and animal sacrifices at the Capitol was in part a fulfillment of such a vow. A general who faced an uncertain outcome in battle might make a votum in the field promising to build a temple out of gratitude for divine aid in a victory. In 311 BC, Junius Bubulcus became the first plebeian general to vow and oversee

390-511: The Iranian god of victory V(e)r(e)thragna ' s incarnations , seven are of animal form, including the bull, horse, boar and hawk, each of which is associated at one time or another with a ver sacrum and Roman army insignia. On the recto of coins from Campania appears a human character bearing over his head that of a boar, and on the verso the word ROMA . German scholar C. Koch interprets this character as god Quirinus , since he identifies

429-501: The Nera (thus giving birth to Marmore Falls ). The wide area once occupied by the lake turned into a fertile plain (the Rieti Valley ). Following Roman customs, the land was split into characteristic square allotments. The town itself underwent significant development, being re-organised according to typical Roman urban standards (e.g., two crossed roads make up the settlement's backbone), and

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468-535: The Quinisext Council forbade Christians from celebrating, but it remained on the court calendar at least until the reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r, 905–959). Reate Rieti ( Italian: [ˈrjɛːti] ; Latin : Reate , Sabino : Riete ) is a town and comune in Lazio , central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of

507-571: The Salto valley gate of A24 and A25 autostradas. Rieti's railway station is located on the regional, low traffic Terni–Sulmona railway , with trains to Terni and L'Aquila . There is no direct railway link between Rieti and Rome , as the construction of such railway has been subject of a long debate but never took place; Rome can be reached by bus or by catching a train to the Terni station , where direct trains to Rome can be found. The Rieti Airport

546-589: The diocese of Rieti , as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region. The town centre stands on a small hilltop, commanding from the southern edge the wide Rieti valley , at the bottom of the Sabine hills and of monti Reatini , including mount Terminillo . The plain was once a large lake, drained by the ancient Romans, and is now the fertile basin of the Velino River . Only the small Ripasottile and Lungo lakes remain of

585-715: The eponyms of the new community. These included the wolf ( hirpus ), after which the Hirpini of Campania were supposed to have been named; the woodpecker ( picus ), which gave its name to the Piceni or Picentes who settled present-day Marche (hence the green woodpecker as the symbol of the region); the vulture ( vultur ) of the Vultures; and the horse ( equus ) of the Aequi or Aequicolae in Latium . The Samnites were led by an ox ( bos ) after which

624-467: The signa . Others in use were the wolf, the Minotaur , the horse and the boar. Andreas Alföldi has linked each animal with a Roman god , starting with the eagle and Jupiter and ending with the boar of Quirinus : thus the wolf would be related to Mars , the Minotaur to Liber and the horse to Neptune . Dumézil emphasizes the affinity of Indo-Iranian human and warrior gods with animal forms: among

663-560: The Adriatic Sea through the Apennines. Many lands of Reate and Amiternum were confiscated and allocated to Romans. From the outset, Sabines were offered Roman citizenship but without voting rights, until in 268 BC they gained full citizenship, and were incorporated into two new tribes ( Velina and Quirina ). Curius Dentatus drained a large portion of the lake by diverting the Velino river into

702-572: The Empire, possibly as late as the 6th century. Because the vows were as much affirmations of political loyalty as religious expressions, they were difficult to abolish without undermining the sacral aura of the emperor's authority. In the Eastern Roman Empire , this festival was known as the Vóta ( Βότα ). The emperors Arcadius and Honorius banned the sacrifices associated with the festival. In 692

741-653: The Norman king Roger II of Sicily in 1149. The city was rebuilt with the help of the Roman comune , and from 1198 was also a free commune, of Guelph orientation, with a podestà of its own. As a favourite Papal seat, Rieti was the place of important historical events: Constance of Hauteville married here by proxy Emperor Henry VI (1185). Charles I of Anjou was crowned King of Apulia, Sicily and Jerusalem by Pope Nicholas IV in 1289. Pope Gregory IX canonized St. Dominic in Rieti (1234). Moses ben Isaac of Rieti (1388–1467)

780-579: The Republic, public vota ( vota publica ) or vota pro salute rei publicae ("vows for the well-being of the republic") were offered on the day the consuls took office, eventually fixed on 1 January ( Kal. Ian. ). These were joined by vota for Caesar ( vota pro Caesare or pro salute Caesaris ) in 44 BC. Under the Empire, the Senate decreed vota on behalf of Octavian (later Augustus ) as princeps in 30 BC. These vows for

819-425: The auspices of the god. As a group, the youth were called sacrani and were supposed to enjoy the protection of Mars until they had reached their destination, expelled the inhabitants or forced them into submission, and founded their own settlement. The tradition is recorded by Festus , Livy , Strabo , Sisenna, Servius , Varro , and Dionysius of Halicarnassus . Guide animals that led the group sometimes became

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858-496: The boar, aper , as the animal symbol of the god. Dumézil remarks that the boar is the animal symbolizing Freyr , a Vane (god) in Scandinavian mythology, who rides one. Dumézil argues that of the two major traditions of the founding of Rome , one seems to make reference to a ver sacrum and the other makes an explicit identification. This last one says that sacrani who had come from the town of Reate , today Rieti, expelled

897-407: The building of a temple; he honored the goddess Salus, "Salvation". A vow would also be made in connection with the ritual of evocatio , negotiations with the enemy's tutelary deity to offer superior cult . An extreme form of votum was the devotio , the ritual by which a general sacrificed himself in battle and asked the chthonic deities to take the enemy as offerings along with him. In

936-494: The consuls and pontiffs , and in the provinces probably by governors and local priests and officials. For the vota for the emperor and his family, the people of the capital were assembled to offer collective vows; it was refusal to take part in these events and similar rituals that sometimes led to persecution of Christians . Subsequently, the anniversary day of each emperor's acclamation ( dies imperii ) were celebrated with similar rituals; larger rituals marked

975-588: The exact centre of Italy (Latin Umbilicus Italiae ). Other sights include: Also interesting are the sights in the Lake Lungo and Ripasottile Natural Preserve, and the Mount Terminillo . Rieti is not crossed by any of Autostrade of Italy ; all roads connecting Rieti with other cities are therefore state highways ( strade statali ), in most cases single carriageway roads. The most important road link

1014-590: The indigenous Ligures and Sicels from the place that would later become the Septimontium . In the version accepted as canonic by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus Rome was founded by two twins, sons of Mars, who were nurtured by a she-wolf and who had left the town of Alba of their own accord. Dumézil's interpretation is not universally shared by scholars: in the Cambridge Ancient History , Arnaldo Momigliano states flatly that " Romulus did not lead

1053-458: The larger original. According to the legend, Reate was founded by Rea, a divinity (that would be the origin of the town name). It was founded at the beginning of the Iron Age (9th–8th century BC). Probably in earlier times the lands around Rieti were inhabited by Umbri , then by Aborigines and later on by Sabines , who reached the lands sited in the nearby of Tevere river. Reate was originally

1092-458: The letters V.S.L.M., votum solvit libens merito , noting that the person making the dedication "He has fulfilled his vow, willingly, as it should." William Warde Fowler found in these offerings "expressions of … religious feeling" and a gratitude for blessings received that go deeper than contractual formalism. During the Republican era , the votum was a regular part of ceremonies conducted at

1131-628: The tensions between Reate and Interamna ( Terni ) following the lake drainage, and refers to the country house (villa) that his friend Q. Axius owned in the plain. One of the most important Sabine families that gained success in Rome was the Gens Flavia , from which Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus (who started the building of the Colosseum , also known as the Amphitheatrum Flavium) descended. The Reatin poet and writer Marcus Terentius Varro

1170-483: The validity of the sacrum and harm the Roman people has been remarked by Bouché-Leclercq. Votum In ancient Roman religion , a votum , plural vota , is a vow or promise made to a deity . The word comes from the past participle of the Latin verb voveo, vovere , "vow, promise". As the result of this verbal action, a votum is also that which fulfills a vow, that is, the thing promised, such as offerings,

1209-568: The well-being of the emperor ( vota pro salute imperatoris , principis , or Augusti ) were moved to 3 January—the usual date of the Compitalia —under Caligula in AD 38. Vota for the state continued to be held on January 1st, while the vows for the emperor came to include his family as well. During these public vows, offerings were made to Jupiter , Juno , Salus , and sometimes other deities . In Rome, these ceremonies were conducted by

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1248-628: Was a Jewish scholar and physician who authored a two-part Dantean poem known for its wealth of literary-biographical information, and especially as a primary source for the Shalshelet haQabbalah of Gedalya ibn Yihya. This poem was published as Sefer Miqdash Meat by Jacob Goldenthal (Vienna 1851). After the Papal seat had been moved to Avignon , Rieti was conquered by the King of Naples, while inner struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines broke out. In 1354 it

1287-665: Was born in 116 BC and he is usually referred to as the father of Roman erudition. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire Rieti suffered destruction by Barbarians, but never ceased to be an important gastaldate during the Lombard domination, as part of the Duchy of Spoleto . Under the Franks, it was the county capital. It was sacked by the Saracens in the ninth and tenth century and by

1326-422: Was crowded with buildings, including baths ( thermae ). Only scarce remains were found during excavations in 19th and 20th century: the foundations of a large temple, the stone floor of the main square (forum), walls from private houses, concrete vaults, statues and pottery items. The most striking remains are the stone bridge across the Velino river and the viaduct. Piazza San Rufo is traditionally considered to be

1365-536: Was fortified with strong walls. A stone bridge was laid across the Velino river, and a large viaduct was built to bring goods from the Via Salaria directly to Rieti's southern gate. Roman Reate receives a number of mentions in Latin literature, thanks to its flourishing soil, its valued assets, and some peculiarities of the surroundings (such as wandering islands and hollow-subsurfaced fields). Cicero , for instance, describes

1404-403: Was fought just outside the city at Antrodoco . After the unification of Italy , it was initially part of Umbria , being annexed to Lazio in 1923. It became the provincial capital on January 2, 1927. Rieti has a humid temperate climate ( Köppen climate classification : Cfb ) with cool winters and hot summers, and plentiful precipitation throughout the year. The ancient Sabine and Roman city

1443-411: Was named their capital Bovianum , founded upon the hill on which the ox had stopped. The Mamertini of Sicily received their name directly from the god Mars. Guide animals from the ver sacrum and their legends may explain the use of animal insignia by the Roman army . Gaius Marius was the first to adopt the eagle in all the signa militaria ; previously the eagle had been the first and highest of

1482-517: Was substituted. Dionysius of Halicarnassus states the practice of child sacrifice was one of the causes that brought about the fall of the Pelasgians in Italy. The human children who had been devoted were required to leave the community in early adulthood, at 20 or 21 years of age. They were entrusted to a god for protection, and led to the border with a veiled face. Often they were led by an animal under

1521-609: Was won back by Cardinal Albornoz , and it later became a feudal seigneury of the Alfani family within the Papal States . More of the surrounding plain was drained in the following century, but this led to confrontation with the neighboring Terni . Rieti was province capital of the Papal States from 1816 to 1860. In 1821 the Battle of Rieti between Austrian forces and southern Italian rebels

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