Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Sources
The most extensive lists of deities pertaining to the conception-birth-development cycle come from the Church Fathers, especially Augustine of Hippo and Tertullian. Augustine in particular is known to have used the now-fragmentary theological works of Varro, the 1st-century BC Roman scholar, who in turn referenced the books of the Roman pontiffs. The purpose of the patristic writers was to debunk traditional Roman religion, but they provide useful information despite their mocking tone.[11] Scattered mentions occur throughout Latin literature. The following list of deities is organized chronologically by the role they play in the process.[12]
Fluonia or Fluvionia, from fluo, fluere, "to flow," is a form of Juno who retains the nourishing blood within the womb.[33] Women attended to the cult of Juno Fluonia "because she held back the flow of blood (i.e., menstruation) in the act of conception."[34] Medieval mythographers noted this aspect of Juno,[35] which marked a woman as a mater rather than a virgo.[36] Alemona feeds the embryo[37] or generally nourished growth in utero.[38] Vitumnus endows the fetus with vita, "life" or the vital principle or power of life (see also quickening).[39] Augustine calls him the vivificator, "creator of life," and links him with Sentinus (following) as two "very obscure" gods who are examples of the misplaced priorities of the Roman pantheon. These two gods, he suggests, should merit inclusion among the di selecti, "select" or principal gods, instead of those who preside over physical
List of Roman birth and childhood deities functions such as Janus, Saturn, Liber and Libera.[40] Both Vitumnus and Sentinus were most likely names that focalized the functions of Jove.[41] Sentinus or Sentia gives sentience or the powers of sense perception (sensus).[42] Augustine calls him the sensificator, "creator of sentience."[43]
The Parcae
The Parcae are the three goddesses of fate (tria fata): Nona, Decima, and Parca (singular of Parcae), also known as Partula in relation to birthing. Nona and Decima determine the right time for birth, assuring the completion of the nine-month term (ten in Roman inclusive counting).[44] Parca or Partula oversees partus, birth as the initial separation from the mother's body (as in English '"postpartum").[45] At the very moment of birth, or immediately after, Parca establishes that the new life will have a limit, and therefore she is also a goddess of death called Morta (English "mortal").[46] The profatio Parcae, "prophecy of Parca," marked the child as a mortal being, and was not a pronouncement of individual destiny.[47] The first week of the child's life was regarded as an extremely perilous and tentative time, and the child was not recognized as an individual until the dies lustricus (see below).
Birthing
The primary deity presiding over the delivery was Juno Lucina, who may in fact be a form of Diana. Those invoking her aid let their hair down and loosened their clothing as a form of reverse binding ritual intended to facilitate labor.[48] Soranus advised women about to give birth to unbind their hair and loosen clothing to promote relaxation, not for any magical effect.[49] Egeria, the nymph, received sacrifices from pregnant women in order to bring out (egerere) the baby.[50] Postverta and Prosa avert breech birth.[51] Diespiter (Jupiter) brings the baby toward the daylight.[52] Lucina introduces the baby to the light (lux, lucis).[53] Vagitanus or Vaticanus opens the newborn's mouth for its first cry.[54] Levana lifts the baby, who was ceremonially placed on the ground after birth in symbolic contact with Mother Earth. (In antiquity, Swaddled infant (Gallo-Roman terracotta votive) kneeling or squatting was a more common birthing position than it is in modern times; see di nixi.[55]) The midwife then cut the umbilical cord and presented the newborn to the mother, a scene sometimes depicted on sarcophagi. A grandmother or maternal aunt next cradled the infant in her arms; with a finger covered in lustral saliva, she massaged the baby's forehead and lips, a gesture meant to ward off the evil eye.[56] Statina (also Statilina, Statinus or Statilinus) gives the baby fitness or "straightness,"[57] and the father held it up to acknowledge his responsibility to raise it. Unwanted children might be abandoned at the Temple of Pietas or the Columna Lactaria. Newborns with serious birth defects might be drowned or smothered.[58]
A goddess suckling a toddler and seated in the wicker chair characteristic of Gallo-Roman goddesses (2nd or 3rd century, Bordeaux)
The cyclical place of the goddess Candelifera, "She who bears the candle,"[63] is uncertain. It is sometimes thought that she provides an artificial light for labor that occurs at night. A long labor was considered likely for first-time mothers, so at least a part of the birthing process would occur at night.[64] According to Plutarch,[65] light symbolizes birth, but the candle may have been thought of as less a symbol than an actual kindling of life,[66] or a magic equivalent to the life of the infant.[67] Candelifera may also be the nursery light kept burning against spirits of darkness that would threaten the infant in the coming week.[68] Even in the Christian era, lamps were lit in nurseries to illuminate sacred images and drive away child-snatching demons such as the Gello.[69]
Neonatal care
Once the child came into the light, a number of rituals were enacted over the course of the following week.[70] An offerings table received congratulatory sacrifices from the mother's female friends.[71] Three deitiesIntercidona, Pilumnus, and Deverrawere invoked to drive away Silvanus, the wild woodland god of trees:[72] three men secured the household every night by striking the threshold (limen; see liminality) with an axe and then a pestle, followed by sweeping it.
In the atrium of the house, a bed was made up for Juno, and a table set for Hercules.[73] In the Hellenized mythological tradition, Juno tried to prevent the birth of Hercules, as it resulted from Jupiter's infidelity. Ovid has Lucina crossing her knees and fingers to bind the labor.[74] Etruscan religion, however, emphasized the role that Juno (as Uni) played in endowing Hercle with his divine nature through the drinking of her breast milk. Intercidona provides the axe without which trees cannot be cut (intercidere). Pilumnus or Picumnus grants the pestle necessary for making flour from grain. Deverra gives the broom with which grain was swept up (verrere) (compare Averruncus). Juno in her bed represents the nursing mother.[75] Hercules represents the child who requires feeding. Rumina promotes suckling.[76] This goddess received libations of milk, an uncommon liquid offering among the Romans.[77]
Drawing of a scene on an Etruscan mirror, in which Uni (Juno) suckles the adult Hercle (Hercules) before he ascends to immortality
Dies lustricus
Nundina presides over the dies lustricus,[78] the purification day when the child was given a name (praenomen). This occurred on the eighth day for girls and the ninth day for boys, a difference Plutarch explains by noting that "it is a fact that the female grows up, and attains maturity and perfection before the male."[79] Until the umbilical cord fell off, typically on the seventh day, the baby was regarded as "more like a plant than an animal," as Plutarch expresses it.[80] The ceremony of the dies lustricus was thus postponed until the last tangible connection to the mother's body was dissolved, and the child was seen "as no longer forming part of the mother, and in this way as possessing an independent existence which justified its receiving a name of its own and therefore a fate of its own."[81] The day was celebrated with a family feast.[82] On the dies lustricus, the Fata Scribunda were invoked.[83] The "Written Fates" probably refers to a ceremonial writing down of the child's new name, perhaps in a family chronicle.[84] To the Romans, the giving of a name was as important as being born. The receiving of a praenomen inaugurated the child as an individual with its own fate.[85]
Child development
In well-to-do households, children were cared for by nursemaids (nutrices, singular nutrix, which can mean either a wet nurse who might be a slave or a paid professional of free status, or more generally any nursery maid, who would be a household slave). Mothers with a nursery staff were still expected to supervise the quality of care, education, and emotional wellbeing of children. Ideally, fathers would take an interest even in their infant children; Cato liked to be present when his wife bathed and swaddled their child.[86] Nursemaids might make their own bloodless offerings to deities who protected and fostered the growth of children.[87] Most of the "teaching gods" are female, perhaps because they themselves were thought of as divine nursemaids. The gods who encourage speech, however, are male.[88] The ability to speak well was a defining characteristic of the elite citizen. Although women were admired for speaking persuasively,[89] oratory was regarded as a masculine pursuit essential to public life.[90]
List of Roman birth and childhood deities Potina (Potica or Potua) enables the child to drink.[91] Edusa, from the verb edo, edere, esus, "eat," also as Edulia, Edula, Educa, Edesia etc., enables the taking of nourishment.[92] The variations of her name may indicate that while her functional focus was narrow, her name had not stabilized; she was mainly a divine force to be invoked ad hoc for a specific purpose.[93] Ossipago builds strong bones;[94] probably a title of Juno, from ossa, "bones," + pango, pangere, "insert, fix, set." Alternative readings of the text include Ossipagina, Ossilago, Opigena, Ossipanga, Ossipango, and Ossipaga.[95] Carna makes strong muscles, and defends the internal organs from witches or strigae. Cunina protects the cradle from malevolent magic.[96] Cuba helps the child transition from cradle to a bed.
Head of a child from the Antonine era
Paventia or Paventina averts fear (pavor) from the child.[97] Peta sees to its "first wants."[98]
Agenoria endows the child with a capacity to lead an active life.[99] Adeona and Abeona monitor its coming and going in learning to walk. Interduca and Domiduca accompany it leaving the house and coming home again.[100] Catius pater, "Father Catius," is invoked for sharpening the minds of children as they develop intellectually.[101] Farinus enables speech. Fabulinus prompts the child's first words. Locutius enables it to form sentences. Mens ("Mind") provides it with intelligence. Volumnus or Volumna grants the child the will to do good.[102] Numeria gives the child the ability to count. Camena enables it to sing.[103] The Muses give the ability to appreciate the arts, literature, and science.[104] Children wore the toga praetexta, with a purple band that marked them as sacred and inviolable, and an amulet (bulla) to ward off malevolence.
Roman boy wrapped in his cloak (1st century AD)
Later literature
James Joyce mentions a few Roman birth deities by name in his works. In the "Oxen of the Sun" episode of Ulysses, he combines an allusion to Horace (nunc est bibendum) with an invocation of Partula and Pertunda (per deam Partulam et Pertundam) in anticipation of the birth of Purefoy. Cunina, Statulina, and Edulia are mentioned in Finnegans Wake.[105]
References
[1] Giulia Sissa, "Maidenhood without Maidenhead: The Female Body in Ancient Greece," in Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World (Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 362, translating the German term Augenblicksgtter which was coined by Hermann Usener. [2] Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook (Cambridge University Press, 1998), vol. 2, p. 33. [3] M. Golden, "Did the Ancients Care When Their Children Died?" Greece & Rome 35 (1988) 152163; Keith R. Bradley, "Wet-nursing at Rome: A Study in Social Relations," in The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives (Cornell University Press, 1986, 1992), p. 202; Beryl Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 104. [4] Anthony Corbeill, "Blood, Milk, and Tears: The Gestures of Mourning Women," in Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome (Princeton University Press, 2004), pp. 67105. [5] Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy, p. 103. [6] Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy, p. 99. [7] Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy, p. 64. [8] Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy, pp. 101102. [9] Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy, p. 104. [10] Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.93,as cited by Rawson, Children and Childhood in Roman Italy, p. 104. [11] Beard et al., Religions of Rome,vol. 2, p. 33. [12] The order is based on that of Robert Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome (Routledge, 2001; originally published in French 1998), pp. 1820, and Jrg Rpke, Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), pp. 181182. [13] Beard, Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook, vol. 2, pp. 3233; Rpke, Religion of the Romans, p. 79. [14] Augustine, De Civitate Dei 6.9.Ludwig Preller, Rmische Mythologie (Berlin, 1881), vol. 1, p. 211. [15] Festus 55 (edition of Lindsay); Karen K. Hersch, The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 101, 110, 211. [16] William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908), p. 142. [17] For an extensive look at the knot of virginity, primarily in early Christian culture, see S. Panayotakis, "The Knot and the Hymen: A Reconsideration of Nodus Virginitatis (Hist. Apoll. 1)," Mnemosyne 53.5 (2000) 599608. [18] Pliny, Natural History 28.42; Anthony Corbeill, Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome (Princeton University Press, 2004), pp. 3536. [19] Attributed to Theodorus Priscianus, Additamenta 10 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=42EKAQAAMAAJ& pg=PA351& dq="lanam+ de+ ove+ quam+ lupus"& hl=en& sa=X& ei=sgWtT82vB4vpgAf55M3nDA& ved=0CEQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage& q="lanam de ove quam lupus"& f=false); Corbeill, Nature Embodied, p. 37. See also Marcellus Empiricus, De medicamentis 10.70 and 82. [20] Augustine, De Civitate Dei 6.9. [21] J.N. Adams, The Latin Sexual Vocabulary (Johns Hopkin University Press, 1982), pp. 155156. The verb is used in the satiric verses chanted by the soldiers at the triumph of Julius Caesar, where he is said to have caused the Gauls to submit (see Gallic Wars), and to have submitted himself to Nicomedes. A subigitatrix was a woman who took the active role in fondling (Plautus, Persa 227). [22] Adams, Latin Sexual Vocabulary, p. 182; Augustine, De Civitate Dei 6.9. [23] The cult of this god was either misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented by Church Fathers as a ritual deflowering during marriage rites; no Roman source describes such a thing. See Mutunus Tutunus. [24] Sissa, "Maidenhood without Maidenhead," p. 362. [25] Augustine of Hippo, De Civitate Dei 6.9.3. [26] Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome, p. 18. [27] Rpke, Religion in Republican Rome, p. 181. [28] Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 289. Macrobius, Saturnalia `1.9, lists Consivius among the titles of Janus from the act of sowing (a conserendo), that is, "the propagation of the human race," with Janus as the auctor ("increaser," source, author). Macrobius says that the title Consivia also belongs to the goddess Ops. [29] Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome, p. 18, citing Augustine, De Civitate Dei 6.9.3. [30] Rpke, Religion in Republican Rome, p. 181. [31] Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome, p. 18, citing Augustine, De Civitate Dei 6.9.3: dea Mena, quam praefecerunt menstruis feminarum. This may seem illogically placed in the sequence; Roman girls were not married until they were ready for childbearing, so menstruation would mark the bride as old enough to marry, and conception would halt the flow. [32] Rpke, Religion in Republican Rome, p. 181.
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