Hercules and the Great Altar (August 12): Pagan Holidays in Ancient Rome

On August 12, the Romans honoured Hercules at the Forum Boarium. Let us start by giving some general background info on Hercules:

Hercules (Ancient Greek: Hēraklês), was actually named Alcides (Ancient Greek: ΑΛΚΕΙΔΗΣ Alkeidēs, also: ΑΛΚΑΙΟΣ Alkaios) at birth, but we will explain when and why His name was changed further down. Alcides, as we shall call Him for now, was the result of an extramarital affair of the King of the Gods Iuppiter and a mortal woman called Alcumena (Ancient Greek: ΑΛΚΜΗΝΗ Alkmēnē). Iuno, Iuppiter’s wife and Queen of the Gods, hated Alcides with a passion as He reminded Her of Her husband’s infidelity. 

Shortly after Alcides was born, His stepmother Iuno sent serpents into His room to kill Him, but Alcides took after His father in terms of strength and fearlessness so He made short work of the slithering assassins. This fresco from the 1st century CE, shows the infant Alcides casually strangling the venomous snakes His stepmother sent to kill Him. Note how His father Iuppiter overlooks the situation in the guise of an eagle. To the right, we can see His mother and stepfather, evidently having trouble believing what their eyes are registering.

 

Another time later in His life though, Iuno used Alcides’ enormous strength against Him. She sent Him a fit of madness, and He ended up killing His own wife and children.

Once He came to His senses, He was obviously devastated. Plagued by an unbearable feeling of guilt, He decided to travel to Delphi to consult the oracle of the God Apollo.

In Delphi, the priestess of Apollo renamed Alcides ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ 【Hēraklēs】[I] (or Hercules to the Romans). ΗΡΑ 【Hera】 is Iuno’s Greek name and “kles” means something like “glory”.

The priestess also told Him to serve the king of Tiryns for 12 years and it was this king that ordered Hercules to do what He is most famous for: The 12 Labours.

These labours were meant to be unreasonably difficult, because the king actually wanted Hercules to fail, but He completed them successfully one after the other.

In between the original Greek labours, the Romans later added another “side labour” in order to establish a link between Hercules and the city of Rome. The Roman addition goes something like this: 

After Hercules had stolen the cattle of the three- bodied giant Geryones as one of His 12 Labours, Hercules drove His newly acquired cattle through what would later become Rome. As it happened, a monster by the name of Cacus lived there. The greedy creature had set his eyes on a few bulls and in an attempt to outwit Hercules he pulled them away from His herd by their tails, making them walk backwards so that Hercules would not be able to follow their tracks. However, the cattle started mooing and alarmed Hercules, who was resting nearby. As He saw what was happening, Hercules grabbed His trusty club and made Cacus pay with his life for the crime he committed.

Hercules decided to celebrate this happy ending by erecting an altar and sacrificing a bull to His divine father Iuppiter, but all this action had made Him thirsty, so He started looking for water. Before long, He was lured to a nearby grove by the sound of a trickling spring. The grove was sacred to a mysterious Goddess (usually believed to be Bona Dea) and only accessible through a gate. He asked an old priestess for permission to go in take a handful of water from the stream, but the priestess told Him to go look elsewhere, as only women were allowed on the temple grounds. Hercules was not really used to not getting His way, so He impatiently beat down the gate with His shoulder and went in to quench His thirst anyway. Annoyed at the women from the Sacred Grove for not cooperating, He decided that women would never be allowed to worship at the Great Altar He was about to erect. [II] [III] [IV] Then, the hero called the villagers to what would be known later as the Forum Boarium (“Cattle Marketplace”). He sacrificed a bull to His divine father Iuppiter and set up the Ara Maxima (“Great Altar”). Henceforth, the Urban praetor would offer a heifer to Hercules here every year on August 12. [V] As per Hercules’ order, women were not allowed and worshippers were required to worship in Greek style, that is with uncovered head [VI] (In the Roman tradition, the head was usually covered during worship.)

 

Shown on this photograph  is gilded statue of the young Hercules that was found at the Forum Boarium. It was made in the 2nd century BCE and belonged to one of the temples that were dedicated to Hercules. One of these temples, can still be seen today at the Forum Boarium. Unfortunately, the Ara Maxima itself did not survive and its exact appearance is unknown. 

Sources:

[I] Apollodorus. Bibliothēkē: 2.4.12.

[II] Virgilius. Aeneis: 8. 195～.

[III] Ovidius. Fasti: 6.65～.

[IV] Propertius. Elegies: 4.9:1～74.

[V] Varro. De Lingua Latina: 6.54.

[VI] Macrobius. Saturnalia: 3.6.16-17.

Lemuria (May 9, 11 & 13): Dealing with Harmful Spirits in Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome, the month of May was associated with the ancestors and the dead in general.

According to Ovidius, even the name of the month of May itself “Mensis Maius” derived from “Maiores” meaning “the ancestors”. Because of the association with death, it was considered ill-advised to get married during this month, just like it was during the Parentalia in February. Also just like during the Parentalia: the doors of temples were closed on at least certain days of the month of May. [I]

On May 9^th , 11^th and 13^th there were rituals associated with the Lemures.
These vague entities were in any case associated with the dead. Depending on the interpretation, they were the spirits of those who died young, those who suffered a violent death [II] [III] or those who did not receive the proper funeral rites. [IV] This is a theme one can also encounter in other cultures.  

Origin Legend

According to one theory, Lemuria was originally pronounced Remuria. Ovidius sees a connection between these celebrations and Remus, the twin brother of the mythical founder of Rome Romulus.

Remus was tragically killed and after the burial of Remus, his ghost was said to have appeared before Faustulus and Acca (they were the adoptive parents of Romulus and Remus that found the twins at the teat of a she-wolf and raised them until they were men). Remus’ ghost appeared before the old couple and pleaded with them to have his brother institute a day of celebration in his honour. Faustulus and Acca communicated the request of their deceased son to their still-living son and the latter complied: Romulus named these celebrations “Remuria” after his twin brother Remus.[I]

Ritual

At a certain point during the Lemuria the Lemures were believed to haunt the houses at night.

To appease these spirits of the dead, the head of the household was to get up in the middle of the night wearing shoes without knots.

There is also mention of a certain apotropaic hand gesture that is often believed to have looked something like this:

After washing his hands with spring water, the head of the household would avert his face

while throwing black beans. At this point he would utter the following charm 9 times:

“HAEC EGO MITTO, HIS […] REDIMO MEQVE MEOSQVE FABIS”

Which means something like:

“I cast these beans and by doing so I redeem myself and my family.”

After that, he washes his hands once again and produces some kind of sound by striking or clashing bronze (perhaps pots or pans?). Once the shades have collected their offerings (being the beans) it is time to ask them to leave. Again 9 times: the pater familias shouts:

“MANES EXITE PATERNI”

Which means

“Spirits of the ancestors, get out! “

He then turns his head forward again and at this point the ritual is over. [I]

Setsubun 節分

Beans as a means to ward off evil in Japan: Mamemaki 豆撒き

Beans are also used to ward of harmful entities in other cultures:

In many households in modern-day Japan, the father of the house dresses up as an oni (鬼 demon) at the beginning of February to scare and/or amuse his children, who in turn will throw soy beans at him shouting “Demons out, good fortune in!” (鬼は外！福は内！Oni ha soto! Fuku ha uchi!)
Sources
 [I] Ovidius. Fasti. Book V (May 9).[II] Thaniel, George "LEMURES AND LARVAE" in The American Journal of Philology (summer 1973), The Johns Hopkins University Press: p182.[III] Adkins, Lesley and Roy A. Adkins (2014) Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Infobase Publishing: p317.] [IV] Saint Augustine (2012) The City of God: Books 1-10. New City Press: p290, footnote 32.]

The God of Wine: the Liberalia in Honour of Liber Pater / Bacchus / Dionysus and Libera

Who is Liber Pater?

On March 17, the ancient Romans celebrated the Liberalia in honour of Liber Pater and Libera.

Liber Pater is an ancient Italic Fertility Deity that is closely related to the Greek God of Wine ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ 【Dionysos】 or ΒΑΚΧΟΣ 【Bakkhos】. [I] Through Greek influence, Liber Pater was also commonly referred to as Bacchus.

During the Imperial period, He was typically depicted as a young man with a wreath of Ivy berries and leaves on top of His head since He was a once hidden under some ivy leaves to protect Him from His jealous stepmother Iuno. [II]  By the way, artists of the renaissance period and later often mistook the leaves and fruit on His head for grape leaves and grapes, though ancient depictions of grapes in addition to Ivy berries in His wreath exist too.

In His hands, Bacchus often carries some grapes, a cantharus (Greek: ΚΑΝΘΑΡΟΣ 【kantharos】) filled with wine or a thyrsus (Greek: ΘΥΡΣΟΣ 【thyrsos】), which is a phallic staff with a pine cone or some vine leaves on top.

He often wears nothing more than a shoulder cloth, a leopard skin or a deer skin.

Who is Libera?

Libera is an ancient Italic Fertility Deity as well. As the consort of Liber Pater, She became associated with a mortal girl from Greek mythology called ΑΡΙΑΔΝΗ 【Ariadnē】: Right after she was abandoned on the island Naxos by Theseus, the slayer of the Minotaurus (Greek: ΜΙΝΩΤΑΥΡΟΣ【Minōtauros】. [III]

Bacchus found the beautiful Ariadne, sobbing on the beach. He comforted Her, one thing led to another and She ended up becoming His immortal consort. [IV]

Liber Pater’s retinue

Liber Pater and Libera are often depicted in the company of the following creatures:

・ a string of female followers called the Maenades (Greek: ΜΑΙΝΑΔΕΣ 【Mainades】)

・ the Satyri (Greek: SATΥROI 【Satyroi】), a race of men with pointy ears and a horse tails

・ Silenus, the father of the Satyri

As guests, we can sometimes also see the Gods:

・ Faunus and

・ Hercules as they followed Bacchus’ merry gang around during a certain period.

・ Here and there, Amor shows up too, perhaps to symbolise Liber Pater’s love for Libera, or, more generally, passionate emotions that are often experienced while under the influence of wine.

・ And then finally, there’s the large felines that help Bacchus and His friends to get from one place to another.

What did the Romans do on the Liberalia?

So how did the Romans celebrate the Liberalia?

First of all, there was the offering of liba, or honey cakes, to Liber Pater. Just like in the followers of Dionysos in Greece, followers of Liber Pater were often women and it was a priestess that presided over the ritual. According to Ovidius, it had to be an older woman because they love wine more than young girls do. [V]

Secondly, there was an important rite of passage for a number of freeborn boys every year on this day:

To symbolise the fact that they were leaving boyhood behind, they took of their “bulla” which was amulet that boys wore around their neck for protection. They would offer the bulla to the household Deities called the Lares.) The striped toga called the toga Praetexta was taken off and exchanged for a pure white toga virilis, a symbol that they were now free, adult citizens. [VI] [VII] [V]

The age that was considered appropriate for this rite of passage seems to have differed, but it was generally between the age 13 and 18 years old. [VIII]

Sources:

[I] Mac Góráin, Fiachra. "Dionysus in Rome " in Vanda Zajko et al. (2017) A Handbook to the Reception of Classical Mythology: Wiley Blackwell.

[II] Ovidius. Fasti. Book III 767.

[III] Ovidius. Metamorphoseon Libri. Book VIII:152-182.

[IV] Ovidius. Fasti. Book III: March 8.

[V] Ovidius. Fasti. Book III 762.

[VI] Persius. Satires: 5.30-31]

[VII] Propertius 4.1.131-2.

[VIII] Olson, Kelly (2017) Masculinity and Dress in Roman Antiquity. Taylor & Francis: p48.