Lupercalia

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The Lupercalia (Latin lupercalia , German also Luperkalien ) were the main festival of the Roman herd god Faunus , who was nicknamed Lupercus ("wolf repeller") and had a holy grotto ( Lupercal ) on the Palatine Hill in Rome , where his picture was hung with a goatskin . Emperor Augustus transformed the grotto into a sanctuary in honor of the cult around the city's foundation.

The Lupercalia, supposedly founded either by Romulus or Euandros , were a purification and fertility festival (see also: Februara ). It was celebrated on February 15, when spring approached. As the day of atonement , the feast day was called this februatus . The ancient customs of the Lupercalia, cultivated in Rome until late antiquity, point to atonement and fertilization of the land, the city, its inhabitants and their flocks.

The celebration began with a goat offering in the Lupercal, which was followed by a sacrificial meal. During the sacrifice ceremony, two distinguished young men were brought in and touched by the sacrifices on the foreheads with the bloody knife, whereupon others wiped the blood again with wool soaked in milk, but the young men themselves had to laugh - possibly this is a symbol of atonement or a reminder of elderly sacrifices . After the meal, the otherwise naked priests, the Luperci , tied the skins of the sacrificed goats around their hips, cut other skins into straps and walked through the city, presumably around the Palatine Hill. Married women liked to stand in their way and let them slap their hands with the straps because they hoped it would bring marriage blessings.

The priestly community of the luperci was originally divided into the luperci Quinctiales and the luperci Fabiani , to which 44 BC. In honor of Gaius Iulius Caesar , luperci Iuliani came. Marcus Antonius also took part in the celebration of that year, offering the dictator Caesar a royal diadem.

In 494, Pope Gelasius I achieved that the lupercalia, the last publicly tolerated remnant of the ancient Roman cult, were repealed.

reception

Brian Moore published the novel The Feast of Lupercal in 1957 (German translation 1964 with the title Saturnian Dance ).

The festival is depicted in the opening scene of Shakespeare's drama Julius Caesar.

In Colleen McCullough's novel The legacy Caesars are creating the luperci Iuliani and the celebration of Lupercalia the year 44 v. Chr. Described in detail.

See also

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ The details of the sacrifice are only recorded in Plutarch , Romulus 21 ( English translation ).
  2. ^ Plutarch, Caesar 61 ( English translation ).