Nodus Herculaneus
The nodus Herculaneus (also nodus Herculeus , Latin "Knot of Hercules ") was a special knot in the wedding customs of ancient Rome with which the cingulum , the belt on the traditional wedding robe of the bride, the tunica recta , was tied.
The belt was made of sheep's wool , which one particular sacred qualities attributed, and had the groom on the wedding night without help and be solved in silence, at best could Iuno cinxia that " Juno the belt," are called, whose nickname on this very cingulum back, and was the guardian of this procedure. Once he untied the knot, the groom could hope to be as productive in fathering children as Hercules, who fathered 70 children.
It was considered a magical knot that could ward off the evil eye and bewitchment (the fascinatio , which in this context could best be translated as "knitting"). Pliny writes that wounds heal particularly quickly when the bandage is tied with this knot and that it is generally useful and salutary to use the knot to tie the belt every day, and Hercules was the first to find this out.
Metaphorically, the nodus Herculaneus was used in a similar way to the Gordian knot and was regarded as a symbol of a problem that was difficult to solve.
swell
- Sextus Pompeius Festus at Paulus Diaconus epitoma Festi 63 sv Cingillo and Cinxiae Iunonis
- Arnobius the Elder disputationum adversus nationes 3, 25
- Martianus Capella de nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii 2, § 149
- Pliny Naturalis historia 28.17
literature
- Ingemar König : Vita romana. From daily life in ancient Rome. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-17950-1 , p. 35 f.
- Karen K. Hersch: The Roman Wedding. Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19610-9 , p. 109 ff.