Aquaelicium

Aquaelicium (also Aquilicium ) was a ritual petition for rain in the Roman religion. The word is a compound of aqua ("water") and elicere ("lure out"), so it literally means "water evocation".

This magical or theurgical custom, in which a stone lying in front of the Porta Capena next to the Temple of Mars, called lapis manalis , was dragged into or through the city relatively late , is a practice that can be observed across cultures. The word is also used in this sense in ethnology . In Rome, the custom was later associated with Jupiter .

literature

• Karl Bötticher, Der Baumkultus der Hellenen: depicted according to the worship customs and the traditional works of art , p.410