Virtus (deity)
Virtus is the personification of soldier bravery, divinely revered in ancient Rome .
The worship of virtus (Latin virtue , courage ; 'Roman cardinal virtue ') is closely linked to Honos , the god of honor. Usually both deities were worshiped together, which - as Valerius Maximus reports in his Facta et dicta memorabilia - in 210 BC. Led to an objection by the pontifical college against the plans of Marcus Claudius Marcellus to build a common temple for both of them. According to the priests, if a miracle were to take place in this temple, it would not be possible to decide which of the two gods should now be sacrificed . Marcellus vowed during his consulate in 222 BC Therefore a separate temple for Virtus , which was finally built in 205 BC. Was inaugurated. It was structurally connected to an earlier-built Temple of Honos at the Porta Capena , which could only be reached through the Virtus Temple. The temple was financed with the booty from the conquest of Syracuse . Another temple for Honos and Virtus was built in front of the Porta Collina by Scipio Aemilianus after his conquest of Numantias in 133 BC. A third built by Gaius Marius with the booty from the victory over the Cimbri ; he stood at the site of the later Arch of Titus .
After a reorganization of the veneration by Augustus , the cult of the dea Virtus gradually lost its importance in the imperial era , but was always upheld for military bravery in the traditional Roman sense. Games were held in her honor as late as the 4th century. The Temple of Virtus and Honos was the starting point for the annual parade of the Roman knights on July 15th .
The presentation of the Virtus is varied. She appears on coins as a matron , as well as an old man or a man. She can be armed with a spear and a gladius or clad only with a breastplate or cloak. Your head is usually covered with a helmet. A golden statue of the goddess was melted down after the conquest of Rome by the Gothic king Alaric I in 410.
Inscriptions from Numidia and Germania document the spread of the cult.
swell
- Cassius Dio 54, 18.
- Titus Livius 27:25; 29, 11.
literature
- Walter Pötscher : Virtus 2. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 51, Stuttgart 1964-1975, Col. 1297.
- David Wardle: Virtus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/2, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01487-8 .