Nitschke, Bernadetta - red. ; Dolański, Dariusz - red.
During the Second Punic War the Romans brought from Sicili cult of a goddess identified withVenera and called her Venus Erycina. The first temple dedicated to her was built in the City centreon the Capitoline Hill in 215 B.C. The second one was built in 181 B.C. this time however,outside the religious boundary of the City, ?extra portam Collinam. Bringing the cult of VenusErycina to Rome was undoubtedly connected with the defeat of the Roman army by the Carthaginianarmy at Trasimene. Consul Gaius Flaminius died at the battle and the Romans lost 15thousand soldiers. ; Livius informs that in this particular situation decemviri, on the order of Senate,consulted books and decided (among other things) that temples should be vowed to VenusErycina. A theory commonly adopted by antiquity researchers tells that the right to possess sacralobjects within pomoerium was confined to native gods, foreign gods had to please themselves withtemples located outside the religious boundaries of the City. How can the phenomenon of buildingVenus Erycina's temple on the Capitoline Hill be explained? ; Most scholars admit that itmay be explained by the old Roman origin of the goddess. However, how to explain the fact thatanother temple dedicated to the goddess, vowed at the time of war with the Ligures in 184 byconsul Lucius Porcius Licinius and dedicated in 181, was located outside pomoerium near portaCollina. Why ever had the second Venus Erycina temple been built in 181 B.C? ; The erection ofthe second temple dedicated to the same god may suggest a break in the cult or it may serve asa completion of the cult with important characteristics originally ignored. This might have beenthe case of Venus Erycina. It is worth recalling here the cult of Venus Verticordia. Although it was introduced in two stages, the case of Verticordia may not be viewed as a break in the cult butas the cult reinforcement. ; The unity of the cult may be further proved by the fact that both templeswere dedicated on the same day- the 23 of April, while celebrating Vinalia priora. Nevertheless,it needs to be stated here that the condition of preserved source data does not allow to stateexplicitly whether in the two temples dedicated to Venus Erycina one and the same goddess wasworshipped. The reason behind the erection of the second of the temples is still unknown.
Zielona Góra: Oficyna Wydawnicza Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego
In Gremium : studia nad historią, kulturą i polityką, tom 3
Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego
2018-04-19
2017-06-01
417
312
https://zbc.uz.zgora.pl/repozytorium/publication/51118
Nazwa wydania | Data |
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Świątynie Wenus Erycyńskiej w starożytnym Rzymie = The temples of Venus Erycina in ancient Rome | 2018-04-19 |