Laurentes Lavinates

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The Laurentes Lavinates ( Latin plural , singular form Laurens Lavinas ) were an ancient Roman association, probably of a religious nature, named after the two ancient cities of Laurentum and Lavinium in Lazio , which in turn played an important role in the mythical founding history of Rome. From inscriptions belonging to this is for various members of the Roman upper classes Collegium testified, however, the exact structure and activity is still unclear in many respects.

The Laurentes Lavinates community was nominally located in Lavinium, but was organized and conceived from Rome. Its members are proven to be scattered across the Roman Empire. The members differed in the "simple" and the priestly Laurentes Lavinates : The priesthoods were modeled in their structure and their functions probably other collegia like the Roman priesthoods and probably included different functions like the Flemish and the Salier . In the inscriptions, however, these officials usually simply refer to themselves as "sacerdos" ("priests") of the Laurentes Lavinates , so that a more precise differentiation of the individual functions is difficult. In addition to these clearly religious positions, there was also a larger circle of members whose members simply refer to themselves in the inscriptions as "Laurens Lavinas" and from which the priestly Laurentes Lavinates were recruited. However, in antiquity the entire association seems to have been perceived as a religious organization, at least in part, and not just the part with clear priestly titles.

The organization of the Laurentes Lavinates could have arisen as part of the re-establishment of Lavinium by Emperor Augustus , which had been made because the Julio-Claudian ruling family traced their ancestry back to the city founder Lavinium, the Trojan hero Aeneas . According to a hypothesis by Hermann Dessau , the Laurentes Lavinates were supposed to be symbolic representatives of the Lavinian people, which no longer existed, in order to take over the sacred tasks in the religiously important, but politically no longer significant city. Accordingly, the unofficial priestly offices of the association could ultimately have been sacred functions in view of the religious character of the entire city. Most of the members of the Laurentes Lavinates came from the Roman knighthood , but there are also non-knightly Laurentes Lavinates attested (especially from the end of the 2nd and first half of the 3rd century) .

Priest of Laurentes Lavinates were involved in the sacrifices that the high Roman magistrates ( consuls , praetors , dictators at the beginning of their term in Lavinium) the Penates and Vesta were offering. They were also involved in the cult acts in the context of the Feriae Latinae .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Scheid, Maria Grazia Granino Cecere: Les sacerdoces publics équestres. In: Ségolène Demougin, Hubert Devijver, Marie-Thérèse Raepsaet-Charlier (eds.): L'ordre équestre. Histoire d'une aristocratie (II e siècle av. J.-C. - III e siècle ap. J.-C. ), École française de Rome, Paris / Rom 1999, ISBN 2-7283-0445-9 , p. 79–189, here p. 103 f.
  2. ^ Georg Wissowa : The Roman state priesthoods of old Latin community cults. In: Hermes . Volume 50, 1915, pp. 1–33, here p. 23 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Jörg Rüpke: Fasti sacerdotum. The members of the priesthoods and the sacred functional staff of Roman, Greek, Oriental and Judeo-Christian cults in the city of Rome from 300 BC. BC to AD 499 Part 1: Annual and college lists. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-07456-2 , p. 26.
  4. ↑ Tom Derks: Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices. The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values ​​in Roman Gaul. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 1998, ISBN 90-5356-254-0 , p. 109 f.
  5. ^ Hermann Dessau: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum . Volume 14: Inscriptiones Latii Veteris Latinae. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1887, p. 187 f.
  6. ^ John Scheid, Maria Grazia Granino Cecere: Les sacerdoces publics équestres. In: Ségolène Demougin, Hubert Devijver, Marie-Thérèse Raepsaet-Charlier (eds.): L'ordre équestre. Histoire d'une aristocratie (II e siècle av. J.-C. - III e siècle ap. J.-C. ), École française de Rome, Paris / Rom 1999, ISBN 2-7283-0445-9 , p. 79–189, here p. 110.
  7. ^ John Scheid, Maria Grazia Granino Cecere: Les sacerdoces publics équestres. In: Ségolène Demougin, Hubert Devijver, Marie-Thérèse Raepsaet-Charlier (eds.): L'ordre équestre. Histoire d'une aristocratie (II e siècle av. J.-C. - III e siècle ap. J.-C. ), École française de Rome, Paris / Rom 1999, ISBN 2-7283-0445-9 , p. 79-189, here pp. 101-103.
  8. ^ John Scheid, Maria Grazia Granino Cecere: Les sacerdoces publics équestres. In: Ségolène Demougin, Hubert Devijver, Marie-Thérèse Raepsaet-Charlier (eds.): L'ordre équestre. Histoire d'une aristocratie (II e siècle av. J.-C. - III e siècle ap. J.-C. ), École française de Rome, Paris / Rom 1999, ISBN 2-7283-0445-9 , p. 79-189, here pp. 110-112.