Marica (goddess)

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Location of the sanctuary of the goddess Marica

Marica was an ancient Italian goddess who had lived since the 9th century BC. In a sanctuary at the mouth of the Garigliano river . The ruins of their temple are now on the border between the regions of Lazio and Campania near the city of Minturno , which is named after the ancient place Minturnae .

etymology

Clay base with a dedication to Marica from the 3rd century BC Chr.

The location of the place of worship is closely related to the water element , which could also be reflected in the name of the goddess. According to a suggestion by Mauro Cristofani and Helmut Rix , the name Marica is based on a similar formation to Anticus and Posticus , which are stressed on the second syllable and mean foresight and backwards . Both words refer to a direction of view in space. Hence the name Marica could indicate a person looking out to sea. Carlo De Simone , on the other hand, traces the name of the goddess back to the Indo-European roots mari and mori , which are associated with swampy waters. According to this, Marica would be the goddess of the stagnant and marshy course of the Garigliano river, which was called Liris in ancient times .

Aspects

Old Italian inscription on a bowl from the 6th or 5th century BC. Chr.

The cult of the Marica initially seems to be shaped by the landscape elements of a forest clearing , a swamp on a river valley and water in the form of a river and the sea. In addition to the reference to water, the shape of the Marica later also shows characteristics of a mother goddess , who is responsible for fertility and reproduction on the one hand , but also has the connotation of an earth goddess . In the process of identification with goddesses of the classical pantheon, she was evidently aligned with Diana and Aphrodite . The Roman Diana was u. a. as the goddess of childbirth and protector of women and girls and the Greek Aphrodite was also the patroness of sexuality and procreation. The relationship to the cult of Aphrodite, who was worshiped in the nearby port of Minturnae in the form of a shrine as Pontia , is unclear . A connection between the worship of Marica and the cult of Isis , the Egyptian patron goddess of shipping, popular in the Roman era , is documented in Minturnae, at least for the imperial period .

The cult of Marica could also have aspects of Hecate , who was also worshiped as the goddess of crossroads, thresholds and crossings. On a pre-Roman pottery that was found at the sanctuary and dates from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, the goddess appears with the surname ( epithet ) Trivia of Hecate. The nickname Trivia stands for an intersection with three paths. However, the reading of the inscription is controversial. It is also unclear whether the epithet refers to Hecate or describes an aspect of Marica.

Marica also found its way directly into Roman mythology. Virgil referred to Marica in his Aeneid as a nymph , that is, a nature spirit , and made her the wife of Faunus and mother of the mythical king Latinus . Marica has apparently also been used as a synonym for fauna and fate . The church father Lactantius compared Marica with the Kirke .

sanctuary

Depiction of Marius in the marshes near Minturnae (Comic History of Rome 1850)

The Sanctuary of Marica was about 600 meters from the sea on the northern bank of the Garigliano river . The place of worship probably existed since the 9th century BC. In this early period it comprised a sacred grove (Lucus) with an altar . According to legend, Marica was buried in this grove. The area was located in the settlement area of ​​the Aurunker , an old Italian people with an Italian language related to Latin . The Aurunker built here at the end of the 6th century BC. An archaic temple. In the 5th or 4th century BC The Aurunker founded a city upriver, which was renamed by the Romans in 314 BC. Was destroyed and rebuilt as a colony under the name Minturnae .

Under the Romans, the sanctuary apparently gained supraregional importance and was expanded to include a port. The place of worship probably included other buildings besides the temple. In 207 BC The grove of Marica and the Jupiter temple in nearby Minturnae were hit by lightning, which the Romans regarded as a sign of the gods ( Prodigium ). 88 BC The general and statesman Marius was on the run from his opponent Sulla . On his way from Italy to North Africa he came to the area of ​​Minturnae and, according to ancient tradition, found shelter in the grove of the goddess Marica. After Marius 87 BC After returning to Rome in the 3rd century BC, he allegedly had a picture painted depicting his experiences at Minturnae, and donated it as a consecration gift ( anathema ) to the temple of Marica. In this context, Plutarch described the sanctuary of Marica as a place from which what had once been brought in could not be brought out again.

Excavations

Plan of the Temple of Marica by Paolino Mingazzini (1938)

The remains of a temple on the north bank of the Garigliano have been known for a long time. Since the mid-19th century, local scholars had suggested identifying the relics with the sanctuary of the goddess Marica. This is based essentially on literary sources. In 1911 Giulio Quirino Giglioli discovered two ceramics with dedications to Marica, so that the sanctuary could be assigned to the goddess without a doubt.

In the summer of 1926, the excavation of the temple was carried out under the direction of Paolino Mingazzini . Two phases of construction could be determined for the building: An older building from the pre-Roman times, of which some tuff blocks have been preserved, which are currently mostly below the surface of the earth. Some of the tuff blocks apparently served as the foundation for the newer Roman temple, which was built between the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century AD. This temple was oriented with its front side to the east, whereas the archaic temple of the Aurunker was oriented to the west. The Roman temple is apparently a building that was surrounded on all sides by a portico ( peripteros ).

The currently visible, densely overgrown structures consist of a cement-like podium that protrudes about 90 cm from the ground. The outer edge of the podium is covered by blocks of tufa bound with mortar. A series of rectangular travertine blocks rests on this podium , which border the cement floor of the temple. The total height of the structure is around 1.5 m. Some terracotta fragments of the temple roof from the previous building of the Aurunker were found , including antefixes and painted eaves tiles . Since these relics probably come from different epochs, it can be assumed that the temple was redesigned in the early days.

Numerous votive offerings were found on the site, ranging from the Archaic period to the Roman Empire. The artifacts from pre-Roman times, including above all Impasto pottery in the form of cups, jugs and bowls, are almost all locally produced and date back to the 9th century BC. On the other hand, votive offerings were found from the Roman era that had been made in Cales , Capua and Teanum . The finds from this time include ceramic products, statues and head sculptures.

In the immediate vicinity of the temple, some as yet little researched structures were identified that were of functional importance for the sanctuary, as votive offerings were also found here. 80 m south-west of the temple there is a cement building, which consists of several rooms and is covered by a barrel vault. The building was already examined in the first half of the 19th century. They discovered beakers, lamps, statues and a small bronze as votive offerings, which suggest a direct connection to the place of worship. Due to the wall technology used, one can conclude that the building was constructed in the 1st or 2nd century AD. Overall, the extension buildings testify to the supraregional importance of the sanctuary in the imperial era.

Ancient sources

Literary sources

  • Menturnis [...] lucum Maricae [...] de caelo tactam. ( Livy , Ab urbe condita 27, 37, 2)
  • Hunc Fauno et nympha genitum Laurente Marica accipimus [...]. ( Virgil , Aeneid 7, 47-48)
  • [...] qui Formiarum moenia dicitur princeps et innantem Maricae litoribus tenuisse Lirim late tyrannus [...]. ( Horace , Carmen saeculare 3, 17, 6-9)
  • [...] ἐκπίπτει δ 'εἰς ἄλσος ἱερὸν τιμώμενον περιττῶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Μιντούρναις ὑποκείμενον τῇ πόλει [...] .λει [...]. ( Strabon , Γεωγραφικά 5, 3, 6)
  • Marius, post sextum consulatum annumque LXX, nudus ac limo obrutus, oculis tantummodo ac naribus eminentibus, extractus arundineto circa paludem Maricae in quam se fugiens consectantes Sullae equites abdiderat, iniecto in collum loro, in carcerem Minturnus estuiri perussu duiri. ( Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana 2, 19, 2)
  • [...] delabitur inde Vulturnusque celer nocturnaeque editor aurae Sarnus et umbrosae Liris per regna Maricae Vestinis inpulsus aquis […]. ( Lucretius , De rerum natura 2, 422-425)
  • [...] non blanda Circe Dardanisve Caieta desiderantur, nec Marica nec Liris. ( Martial , Epigrammaton libri duodecim 10, 30, 8–9)
  • Caeruleus nos Liris amat, quem silva Maricae protegit: hinc squillae maxima turba sumus. (Martial, Epigrammaton libri duodecim 13, 83)
  • Τὸ γὰρ τῆς λεγομένης Μαρίκας ἄλσος, ὃ σέβονται καὶ παραφυλάττουσι μηθὲν ἐκεῖθεν ἐκκομισθῆναι τῶν εἰσκομισθέντων , ἐμποδὼν ἦν τῆς ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ὁδοῦ, καὶ κύκλῳ περιιόντας ἔδει βραδύνειν, ἄχρι οὗ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τις ἐκβοήσας ἔφη μηδεμίαν ἄβατον μηδ 'ἀπόρευτον ὁδὸν εῖναι δι' ἧς σῴζεται Μάριος. ( Plutarch , Βίοι Παράλληλοι / Μάριος 39, 8)
  • [...] flavaeque terens querceta Maricae Liris [...]. ( Claudian , Panegyricus dictus Probino et Olybrio consulibus 259–260)
  • Liris, non longe a Marsis Vestinisque, cuius in ripa nymphae Maricae Minturnensis templum est. [...] Marica in Campania, ubi Marica nympha sepulta est. ( Vibius Sequester , De fluminibus fontibus lacubus nemoribus paludibus montibus gentibus per litteras 96 and 153, 30 R)
  • Faunae et Fatuae nomen quasi asperum fugit poeta, et Maricam dixit fuisse uxorem Fauni. Est autem Marica dea litoris Minturnensium iuxta Lirim fluvium: Horatius "et innantem Maricae litoribus tenuisse Lirim". Quod si voluerimus accipere uxorem Fauni Maricam, non procedit: dii enim topici, id est locales, ad alias regiones non transeunt. Sed potest dictum esse per poeticam licentiam 'Laurente Marica', cum sit Minturnensis. Dicunt alii per Maricam Venerem intellegi debere, cuius fuit sacellum iuxta Maricam, in quo erat scriptum Ποντίῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ. ( Servius , Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 7, 47)
  • Maricam autem Minturnenses praecipue colunt, cuius etiam lucus in ipsa Minturnensium civitate est. ( Pomponius Porphyrio , Comentarii ad Horatium Flaccum 3, 17, 8.)
  • [...] nam et Romulus post mortem Quirinus factus est; et Leda Nemesis; et Circe Marica [...]. ( Lactantius , Institutiones Divinae 1, 21, 23)
  • Liris per paludes Maricae in mare effuditur. ( Scholion to Lukian 2, 424)
  • Maricam deam Dianam dicit. Minturnenses enim Cumanis subreptum sigillum Dianae sibique datum, quoniam mari venerat, Maricam vocaverunt Dianam, sicut etiam eadem vocitatur Fascilina eo, quod intra ligni fascem sit occultata. (Scholion to De civitate Dei by Augustine 2:23)

Epigraphic sources

  • pari med esom kom meios sokiois trivoiaḍ (or trivoiai) deom duo [nai ---] nei.
  • C (aius) Carulio (s) C (ai) f (ilius) Marica (e) dede (t). ( CIL 01, 02438 )
  • Maricae d (onum) d (edit) [.] Livius Muci [a] n [us]. ( AE 1908, 83 )
  • Διὶ Ἡλίωι Σαράπιδι καὶ Εἴσιδι μυριωνύμῳ καὶ τοῖς συννάοις θεοῖς.
    L (ucius) Minicius Natalis co (n) sul, proco (n) s (ul) provinciae Africae, augur, leg (atus) Aug (usti) pr (o) pr (aetore) Moesiae Inferioris, curator operum publicorum et aedium sacrarum .     (AE 1905, 183 )

literature

  • Livia Boccali, Cristina Ferrante: Minturno. Garigliano. Foce. Lucus Maricae. In: Cristina Ferrante, Jean-Claude Lacam, Daniela Quadrino (eds.): Fana, templa, delubra. Corpus dei luoghi di culto dell'Italia antica. Volume 4. Quasar Edizioni, Rome 2015. ISBN 9788871406015 , pp. 107-118. ( online )
  • Cristina Ferrante, Daria Mastrorilli: Minturnae (Minturno). Introduzione. In: Cristina Ferrante, Jean-Claude Lacam, Daniela Quadrino (eds.): Fana, templa, delubra. Corpus dei luoghi di culto dell'Italia antica. Volume 4. Quasar Edizioni, Rome 2015. ISBN 9788871406015 , pp. 87-98. ( online )
  • Celia E. Schultz, Paul B. Harvey (Eds.): Religion in Republican Italy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 9780521863667 , pp. 105-113.
  • Rudolf Peter : Marica. In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2, Department 2, Leipzig 1897, Col. 2373-2375. ( online )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Plutarch, Βίοι Παράλληλοι / Μάριος 40, 1.
  2. ↑ Paolino Mingazzini: Il santuario della dea M. all foci del Garigliano. In: Monumenti Antichi Reale Accademia dei Lincei. 37: 693-981 (1938)
  3. ^ Mauro Cristofani : Due testi dell'Italia preroman. In: QuadAEI (Quaderni di Archeologia Etrusco-Italica). 25, 1996, pp. 10-32.

Web links

Commons : Marica  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 14 '  N , 13 ° 46'  E