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In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], '''Inuus''' was a god, or aspect of a god, who embodied [[copulation]]. Little evidence of the name remains. [[Servius]] says that Inuus is an [[epithet]] of [[Faunus]], as were '''Fatuus''' and '''Fatulcus''' (Greek [[Pan (god)|Pan]]), from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the [[etymology]] of ''ineundum'', "a going in, penetration"<ref>See the [[infinitive verb|infinitive]] form ''[[wiktionary:inire|inire]]''; ''ineundum'' is a [[gerund]].</ref> in the sexual sense.<ref>[[Servius]], note on ''[[Aeneid]]'' 6.775; Julian Ward Jones, Jr., ''An'' Aeneid'' Commentary of Mixed Type: The Glosses in Mss Harley 4946 and Ambrosianus G111 inf.'' (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996), pp. 24, 31–32.</ref>
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], '''Inuus''' was a god, or aspect of a god, who embodied [[copulation]]. Little evidence of the name remains. [[Servius]] says that Inuus is an [[epithet]] of [[Faunus]], as were '''Fatuus''' and '''Fatulcus''' (Greek [[Pan (god)|Pan]]), from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the [[etymology]] of ''ineundum'', "a going in, penetration"<ref>See the [[infinitive verb|infinitive]] form ''[[wiktionary:inire|inire]]''; ''ineundum'' is a [[gerund]].</ref> in the sexual sense.<ref>[[Servius]], note on ''[[Aeneid]]'' 6.775; Julian Ward Jones, Jr., ''An'' Aeneid'' Commentary of Mixed Type: The Glosses in Mss Harley 4946 and Ambrosianus G111 inf.'' (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996), pp. 24, 31–32.</ref>


[[Livy]] is the sole source for identifying Inuus as the form of Faunus for whom the [[Lupercalia]] was celebrated: "naked young men would run around venerating [[Mount Lyceum|Lycaean]] Pan, whom the Romans then called Inuus, with [[Trickster|antics]] and lewd behavior."<ref>[[Livy]] 1.5.2: ''nudi iuvenes Lycaeum Pana venerantes per lusum atque lasciuiam currerent, quem Romani deinde vocarunt Inuum.''</ref> Although Ovid does not name Inuus in his treatment of the Lupercalia, he may allude to the sexual action in explaining the mythological background of the festival. When [[Romulus]] complains that a low fertility rate has rendered the [[abduction of the Sabine women]] pointless, [[Juno]], in her guise as the birth goddess [[Lucina]], offers an instruction: "Let the sacred goat go into the Italian matrons" (''Italidas matres … sacer hirtus inito'', with the verb ''inito'' a form of ''[[wikt:inire|inire]]''). When the would-be mothers temporarily recoil from this advice, an [[augur]], "recently arrived from [[Etruscan]] soil," offers a ritual dodge: a goat was killed, and its hide cut into strips for flagellating women who wished to conceive; thus the [[aetiology (myth)|aetiology]] for the practice at the Lupercalia.<ref>[[Ovid]], [[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]] 2.441ff.; Jane F. Gardner, ''Roman Myths'' (University of Texas Press, 1993), p. 77, noting that [[Juno Sospita]] wears a goatskin cloak.</ref> [[Rutilius Claudius Namatianus|Rutilius]] offers a similar play, ''Faunus init'' ("Faunus enters") in pointing out a statue depicting the god at Castrum Inui ("Fort Inuus").<ref>[[Rutilius Claudius Namatianus|Rutilius]], ''De reditu suo'', line 232.</ref> [[Georg Wissowa]] rejected both the etymology and the identification of Inuus with Faunus.<ref>[[Georg Wissowa]], ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'', 2nd ed., p. 211, as cited by [[J.G. Frazer]], ''The Golden Bough'', vol. 2, ''Adonis Attis Osiris'' (London, 1919), p. 234, note 3.</ref>
[[Livy]] is the sole source for identifying Inuus as the form of Faunus for whom the [[Lupercalia]] was celebrated: "naked young men would run around venerating [[Mount Lyceum|Lycaean]] Pan, whom the Romans then called Inuus, with [[Trickster|antics]] and lewd behavior."<ref>[[Livy]] 1.5.2: ''nudi iuvenes Lycaeum Pana venerantes per lusum atque lasciuiam currerent, quem Romani deinde vocarunt Inuum.''</ref> Although Ovid does not name Inuus in his treatment of the Lupercalia, he may allude to the sexual action in explaining the mythological background of the festival. When [[Romulus]] complains that a low fertility rate has rendered the [[The Rape of the Sabine Women|abduction of the Sabine women]] pointless, [[Juno]], in her guise as the birth goddess [[Lucina]], offers an instruction: "Let the sacred goat go into the Italian matrons" (''Italidas matres … sacer hirtus inito'', with the verb ''inito'' a form of ''[[wikt:inire|inire]]''). When the would-be mothers temporarily recoil from this advice, an [[augur]], "recently arrived from [[Etruscan]] soil," offers a ritual dodge: a goat was killed, and its hide cut into strips for flagellating women who wished to conceive; thus the [[Etiology#mythology|aetiology]] for the practice at the Lupercalia.<ref>[[Ovid]], [[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]] 2.441ff.; Jane F. Gardner, ''Roman Myths'' (University of Texas Press, 1993), p. 77, noting that [[Juno Sospita]] wears a goatskin cloak.</ref> [[Rutilius Claudius Namatianus|Rutilius]] offers a similar play, ''Faunus init'' ("Faunus enters") in pointing out a statue depicting the god at Castrum Inui ("Fort Inuus").<ref>[[Rutilius Claudius Namatianus|Rutilius]], ''De reditu suo'', line 232.</ref> [[Georg Wissowa]] rejected both the etymology and the identification of Inuus with Faunus.<ref>[[Georg Wissowa]], ''Religion und Kultus der Römer'', 2nd ed., p. 211, as cited by [[J.G. Frazer]], ''The Golden Bough'', vol. 2, ''Adonis Attis Osiris'' (London, 1919), p. 234, note 3.</ref>


The tiny amount known of Inuus has not been a bar to elaborate conjecture, as [[William Warde Fowler]] noted at the beginning of the 20th century in his classic work on [[Roman festivals]].<ref>[[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' (London, 1908), p. 312, commenting with an atypical degree of disparagement that "Unger … has much to say about Inuus in the worst style of German pseudo-research"; G.F. Unger, "Die Lupercalen," ''Rheinische Museum'' 36 (1881) 50–86.</ref> "It is quite plain," Fowler observed, "that the Roman of the literary age did not know who the god (of the Lupercalia) was."<ref>Fowler, ''Festivals'', pp. 312–313.</ref>
The tiny amount known of Inuus has not been a bar to elaborate conjecture, as [[William Warde Fowler]] noted at the beginning of the 20th century in his classic work on [[Roman festivals]].<ref>[[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' (London, 1908), p. 312, commenting with an atypical degree of disparagement that "Unger … has much to say about Inuus in the worst style of German pseudo-research"; G.F. Unger, "Die Lupercalen," ''Rheinische Museum'' 36 (1881) 50–86.</ref> "It is quite plain," Fowler observed, "that the Roman of the literary age did not know who the god (of the Lupercalia) was."<ref>Fowler, ''Festivals'', pp. 312–313.</ref>

Revision as of 19:36, 27 February 2010

In ancient Roman religion, Inuus was a god, or aspect of a god, who embodied copulation. Little evidence of the name remains. Servius says that Inuus is an epithet of Faunus, as were Fatuus and Fatulcus (Greek Pan), from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the etymology of ineundum, "a going in, penetration"[1] in the sexual sense.[2]

Livy is the sole source for identifying Inuus as the form of Faunus for whom the Lupercalia was celebrated: "naked young men would run around venerating Lycaean Pan, whom the Romans then called Inuus, with antics and lewd behavior."[3] Although Ovid does not name Inuus in his treatment of the Lupercalia, he may allude to the sexual action in explaining the mythological background of the festival. When Romulus complains that a low fertility rate has rendered the abduction of the Sabine women pointless, Juno, in her guise as the birth goddess Lucina, offers an instruction: "Let the sacred goat go into the Italian matrons" (Italidas matres … sacer hirtus inito, with the verb inito a form of inire). When the would-be mothers temporarily recoil from this advice, an augur, "recently arrived from Etruscan soil," offers a ritual dodge: a goat was killed, and its hide cut into strips for flagellating women who wished to conceive; thus the aetiology for the practice at the Lupercalia.[4] Rutilius offers a similar play, Faunus init ("Faunus enters") in pointing out a statue depicting the god at Castrum Inui ("Fort Inuus").[5] Georg Wissowa rejected both the etymology and the identification of Inuus with Faunus.[6]

The tiny amount known of Inuus has not been a bar to elaborate conjecture, as William Warde Fowler noted at the beginning of the 20th century in his classic work on Roman festivals.[7] "It is quite plain," Fowler observed, "that the Roman of the literary age did not know who the god (of the Lupercalia) was."[8]

The Christian apologist Arnobius, in his extended debunking of traditional Roman deities, connects Inuus and Pales as guardians over flocks and herds.[9]

Castrum Inui

Servius's note is prompted by the mention of Castrum Inui at Aeneid 6.77:[10]

A Roman imperial bust of Faunus

This is one and the same as the town (civitas) in Italy which is called New Fort (Castrum Novum). Vergil says 'Fort Inuus' for the place, that is, 'Fort Pan', who has a cult there. He is called Inuus, however, in Latin, Πάν (Pan) in Greek; also Ἐφιάλτης (Ephialtes), in Latin Incubus; likewise Faunus, and Fatuus, Fatuclus. He is called Inuus, however, from going around having sex everywhere with all the animals, hence he is also called Incubus.[11]

Castrum Nova is Giulianova in Etruria, but Servius seems to have erred in thinking that Castrum Inui, on the coast of Latium, was the same town. Rutilius makes the same identification as Servius, but says there was a figure of Inuus over the gate of the coastal town.[12]

Darwinian connection

Charles Darwin used the nomenclature Inuus ecaudalus in writing of the Barbary ape, now classified as Macaca sylvanus.[13] Charles Kingsley wrote to Darwin in January 1862 speculating that certain mythological beings may represent cultural memories of creatures "intermediate between man & the ape" who became extinct as a result of natural selection:

I want now to bore you on another matter. This great gulf between the quadrumana & man; & the absence of any record of species intermediate between man & the ape. It has come home to me with much force, that while we deny the existence of any such, the legends of most nations are full of them. Fauns, Satyrs, Inui, Elves, Dwarfs — we call them one minute mythological personages, the next conquered inferior races — & ignore the broad fact, that they are always represented as more bestial than man, & of violent sexual passion. … The Inuus of the old Latins is obscure: but his name is from inire — sexual violence.[14]

References

  1. ^ See the infinitive form inire; ineundum is a gerund.
  2. ^ Servius, note on Aeneid 6.775; Julian Ward Jones, Jr., An Aeneid Commentary of Mixed Type: The Glosses in Mss Harley 4946 and Ambrosianus G111 inf. (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996), pp. 24, 31–32.
  3. ^ Livy 1.5.2: nudi iuvenes Lycaeum Pana venerantes per lusum atque lasciuiam currerent, quem Romani deinde vocarunt Inuum.
  4. ^ Ovid, Fasti 2.441ff.; Jane F. Gardner, Roman Myths (University of Texas Press, 1993), p. 77, noting that Juno Sospita wears a goatskin cloak.
  5. ^ Rutilius, De reditu suo, line 232.
  6. ^ Georg Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2nd ed., p. 211, as cited by J.G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. 2, Adonis Attis Osiris (London, 1919), p. 234, note 3.
  7. ^ William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908), p. 312, commenting with an atypical degree of disparagement that "Unger … has much to say about Inuus in the worst style of German pseudo-research"; G.F. Unger, "Die Lupercalen," Rheinische Museum 36 (1881) 50–86.
  8. ^ Fowler, Festivals, pp. 312–313.
  9. ^ Arnobius, Adversus Nationes 3.23.
  10. ^ A.J. Boyle and R.D. Woodard, Ovid: Fasti (Penguin Books, 2000), p. 91.
  11. ^ Servius, note on Aeneid 6.775: una est in Italia civitas, quae castrum novum dicitur: de hac autem ait 'castrum Inui', id est Panos, qui illic colitur. Inuus autem latine appellatur, Graece: item Graece, latine Incubo: idem Faunus, idem Fatuus, Fatuclus. dicitur autem Inuus ab ineundo passim cum omnibus animalibus, unde et Incubo dicitur.
  12. ^ Rutilius, De reditu suo, 225–234; Dennis George, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883, 3rd ed.) vol. 1, p. 297, note 7.
  13. ^ Charles Darwin, "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals," in The Indelible Stamp: The Evolution of an Idea, edited by james D. Watson (Running Press, 2005), p. 1132 online.
  14. ^ Charles Kingsley to Charles Darwin, in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Cambridge University Press, 1997), vol. 10, pp. 61–63 online. Content advisory: This letter contains remarks and assumptions of "the superior white race" that in the 21st century are racist and offensive.


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