Mutunus tutunus
Mutunus Tutunus or Mutinus Titinus was a Roman deity who was associated with the wedding rite of the Confarreatio . He seems to have been represented ithyphallically or as a phallus and in this respect corresponded to the Priapus of Greek mythology . Presumably, however, his cult image was not a human figure or Herme , but a phallus with pronounced testicles. It has been suggested that the fascinum is related to Mutunus Tutunus in a similar way as the Herme to Mercury .
According to Christian authors, the bride is said to have sat on his cult image during the wedding ceremonies so that God would deflower her . In particular, the size of the phallus is drawn in. So it says with Augustine :
"Isn't Priapus also present, the super-masculine one, on whose monstrous and hideous member the newlyweds had to sit, according to the most honorable and pious custom of the matrons."
How much of these polemical reports can actually be traced back to Varro is difficult to decide.
It is also uncertain whether there is actually a double name, since Varro derives from a Mutunus vel (“or”) Tutunus, whereas the Christian authors write from Mutunus et (“and”) Tutunus, i.e. This means that Mutunus and Tutunus are actually two traditional forms of the god's name, about which there was already uncertainty in Varro's time. The name Mutunus is possibly related to mutto , which means " penis " and muttonium , the name for a phallic amulet.
According to Festus , there was a sanctuary of Mutunus Tutunus on Velia , which was visited by Roman women alone, wearing a toga praetexta , a ceremonial garment actually reserved for high-ranking persons and priests, from which one can conclude that they are representatives of a patrician priesthood acted.
Another possible interpretation is related to wedding customs: not only priests and dignitaries wore the toga with the purple stripe, but also boys on the day they became men. For girls, the corresponding day was the wedding day on which they took off their children's clothes and veiled ( capite velato ) made a sacrifice in the toga praetexta , possibly in the shrine of Mutunus Tutunus, where the symbolic defloration described above could have taken place However, due to the condition of the surviving text, one can no longer say exactly.
The fate of the sanctuary is also unclear: this venerable shrine seems to have been torn down by Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and a bathing complex was built in its place, certainly not without the consent of Augustus , whose loyal follower was Domitius Calvinus. The passage with Festus is badly spoiled and the excerpt from Paulus Diaconus is only very brief.
literature
- Georg Wissowa : Religion and cult of the Romans . CH Beck, Munich 1902; 2nd edition 1912, reprinted in 1971, ISBN 3-406-03406-3
- Ingemar König : Vita romana. WBG, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-17950-1 , p. 35f
- Kurt Latte : Roman religious history . 2nd ed. (1967), Beck, Munich ( Handbook of Classical Studies , Section 5, Part 4), ISBN 3-406-01374-0 .
- C. Robert Phillips: Mutunus Tutunus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 8, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01478-9 , column 564 f.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ M. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, 1974, Ndr. 1991, pp. 344-347
- ^ Translation by Alfred Schröder. From: The holy church father Aurelius Augustinus twenty-two books on the divine state. Vol. 1. In: The Holy Church Father Aurelius Augustinus selected writings. Kösel, Kempten 1911, online . Cf. also de civitate Dei 7:24.
- ↑ Arnobius the Elder : disputationum adversus gentes 4,7
- ↑ Tertullian : Apologeticum 25.3
- ↑ Lactantius : divinae institutiones 1,20,36
- ↑ Varro: antiquitates rerum divinarum fr. 151b Cardauns
- ↑ Festus 142: 20-30; Paulus Diaconus epitome 143,10f. L.