DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0800
724 Gradual elimination of the thunderbolt
Zeus IHarios occurs in Dion. Hal. ant. Ro?n. 2. 49 K&twv d£ Hopnios {frag. 50 Peter)
to fiev ovofxa rui ~Za§ivuv 'idvei red^vai (prjaiv tiri ~2&(3ov tov *ZayKov daifiovos inix^piov,
tovtov de tov H,dyKOv vtto tlvwv IlLcrTtov KaXetadai Ata, 4. 58 tovtwv iari twv bpKiwv
\x.vr\p,eiov iv 'Pco/xr; Kdp.evov ev iepw Aios UhttIov, Sv 'Puip-awi XdyKOv koKovcflv, 9. 60 iv Se ttj
irokei tov veicv tov Wiot'iov Aids ILirbpios Uoutov/jllos. .. Kadiepuae k.t.\., as a rendering of
the Latin Dius Fidius (cp. Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 266 'E-rrideTa Atbs no. 78 ttlcft'lov).
The facts relating to this deity are collected by G. Wissowa in Roscher Lex. Myth. i.
1189 f., iv. 316 ff., id. Rel. Knit. Rom.'1 pp. 129 ff., 280 f., alib., E. Aust in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1246^ In addition to literary allusions we have extant dedications
to him as Semo Sanctis Sanctus Deus Fidius (Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 3472), Sanctis
Sanctus Semo Deus Fidius (id. no. 3473), Semo Sanctis Deus Fidius (id. no. 3474), Semo
Sanctis (id. no. 3475), Sanctis Deus Fidius (id. no. 3476). Wissowa Rel. Kult. Rom.'2 p. 130
infers that his full name was Semo Sancus Dius Fidius, where Semo Sanctis is not to be
regarded as a distinct divinity blended with Dius Fidius, but as an appellative like
Duonus Cerus in the case of Ianus (supra p. 328 n. 8), Bona Dea in that of Fauna, Deus
Bonus in that of Aesculapius, etc. (G. Wissowa in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 686 ff.).
A corresponding Umbrian god was Iupater Sanctus, mentioned in the Tabulae Iguvinae
ii d, 17 Sasi Iuvepatre, ii b, 24 Iupater Sase (R. S. Conway The Italic Dialects Cam-
bridge 1897 i. 417, C. D. Buck A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian Boston, U.S.A. 1904
p. 297) and apparently to be identified with the Fisos Sattcios of i a, 15 Fise Sasi, \\b, 3
Fiso Sansie and the Fisovios Sancios of vi b, 5 Fisoui Sansi, 6 Fisoui Sansi, 8 Fisoui Sansi
(bis), 9 Fisouie Sansie, 10 Fisouie Sansie, 12 Fisouie Sansie (dis), 14 Fisouie Sansie,
15 Fisouie Sansie, vii a, 37 Fisoui Sansii (cp. also the Vesticios Sancios of ii a, 4 Vestise
Sase). But, although the historian of religion is strongly disposed to equate the Dius
Fidius of the Romans with the Fisos (or Fisovios) Sattcios of the Umbrians, the philologist
sees lions in the way. W. Schulze ' Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen ' in the Adh.
d. gb/t. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. Phil.-hist. Classe 1904 N.F. v. 2. 473 ff. concludes (p. 475 n. 2):
'Die Identificirung mit lat. Fidius...ist grammatisch unhaltbar, trotzdem sie sich sachlich
aufs Beste zu empfehlen scheint.' And Walde Lat. etym. Wbrterb. 2 p. 289 s.v. 'fido' says:
'fisus.. .ist mit o. Fiisiais, u. Fiso-, Fisiu, Fisovie usw. nur dann vergleichbar, wenn es
urit. fenthalt, was sehr unsicher ist, wie infolgedessen auch iiberhaupt (trotz lat. Fidius)
die etymologische Zugehorigkeit der o.-u. Gotternamen zu unserer Wz.' Abandoning,
then, the road that leads to Umbria and limiting our enquiry to Rome, we find that the
connexion of Fidius with fides, etc., has been almost universally assumed. For little
weight can be attached to the dissent of L. Aelius Stilo, who took Dius Fidius to be for
Diovis Ftlitis (L. Aelius Stilo frag. 9 Funaioli ap. Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 66 Aelius Dium
Fidium dicebat Diovis filium, ut Graeci AibaKopov Castorem, et putabat hunc esse Sancum
ab Sabina lingua et Herculem a Graeca, cp. Paul, ex Fest. p. 147, 8 ff. Midler, p. 133,
1 ff. Lindsay, interp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 4. 204, 8. 301, H. Hagen anecdota Helvetica
Lipsiae 1870 pp. 212, 37 ff. and 260, 16 ff. ( = commentum Einsidlense in Don. artem
minorem de adverbio), G. Goetz—G. Gundermann in the Corpusglossariorum Latinorum
Lipsiae 188S ii. 54, 1 Diuus Alius dibcvioc • i)paK\-rjc). There are, however, some points
about the god and his ritual that provoke further investigation. He was, to begin with,
a sky-god, to whom appeal must be made only under the open sky. Any one who swore
by Dius Fidius stepped into the compluvium so as to have no roof over his head (Varr.
Cato vel de liberis educandis ap. Non. Marc. p. 793, 23 ff. Lindsay itaque domi rituis
nostri qui per Dium (so Scaliger for deum) Fidium iurare vult prodire solet in com-
pluvium). Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 66 rightly connects this custom with the fact that
Iupiter's roof had a hole in it (supra i. 53). The sky-god was from of old the recipient of
open-air worship (supra i. 117 ff.), and his relatives took after him. The oath by Dionysos
must not be sworn beneath a roof, and boys who wanted to swear by Herakles were
turned out of doors for the purpose (Plout. quaestt. Rom. 28). The bronze disks or
wheels (aenei ordes) dedicated by the Romans to Semo Sangus out of the spoils of
Privernum (Liv. 8. 20) were perhaps solar symbols, as I conjectured in Folk-Lore 1905
xvi. 272 n. 9. At Iguvium the man who offered a calf to Iupater Sancius held a wheel
Zeus IHarios occurs in Dion. Hal. ant. Ro?n. 2. 49 K&twv d£ Hopnios {frag. 50 Peter)
to fiev ovofxa rui ~Za§ivuv 'idvei red^vai (prjaiv tiri ~2&(3ov tov *ZayKov daifiovos inix^piov,
tovtov de tov H,dyKOv vtto tlvwv IlLcrTtov KaXetadai Ata, 4. 58 tovtwv iari twv bpKiwv
\x.vr\p,eiov iv 'Pco/xr; Kdp.evov ev iepw Aios UhttIov, Sv 'Puip-awi XdyKOv koKovcflv, 9. 60 iv Se ttj
irokei tov veicv tov Wiot'iov Aids ILirbpios Uoutov/jllos. .. Kadiepuae k.t.\., as a rendering of
the Latin Dius Fidius (cp. Scholl—Studemund anecd. i. 266 'E-rrideTa Atbs no. 78 ttlcft'lov).
The facts relating to this deity are collected by G. Wissowa in Roscher Lex. Myth. i.
1189 f., iv. 316 ff., id. Rel. Knit. Rom.'1 pp. 129 ff., 280 f., alib., E. Aust in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. v. 1246^ In addition to literary allusions we have extant dedications
to him as Semo Sanctis Sanctus Deus Fidius (Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 3472), Sanctis
Sanctus Semo Deus Fidius (id. no. 3473), Semo Sanctis Deus Fidius (id. no. 3474), Semo
Sanctis (id. no. 3475), Sanctis Deus Fidius (id. no. 3476). Wissowa Rel. Kult. Rom.'2 p. 130
infers that his full name was Semo Sancus Dius Fidius, where Semo Sanctis is not to be
regarded as a distinct divinity blended with Dius Fidius, but as an appellative like
Duonus Cerus in the case of Ianus (supra p. 328 n. 8), Bona Dea in that of Fauna, Deus
Bonus in that of Aesculapius, etc. (G. Wissowa in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 686 ff.).
A corresponding Umbrian god was Iupater Sanctus, mentioned in the Tabulae Iguvinae
ii d, 17 Sasi Iuvepatre, ii b, 24 Iupater Sase (R. S. Conway The Italic Dialects Cam-
bridge 1897 i. 417, C. D. Buck A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian Boston, U.S.A. 1904
p. 297) and apparently to be identified with the Fisos Sattcios of i a, 15 Fise Sasi, \\b, 3
Fiso Sansie and the Fisovios Sancios of vi b, 5 Fisoui Sansi, 6 Fisoui Sansi, 8 Fisoui Sansi
(bis), 9 Fisouie Sansie, 10 Fisouie Sansie, 12 Fisouie Sansie (dis), 14 Fisouie Sansie,
15 Fisouie Sansie, vii a, 37 Fisoui Sansii (cp. also the Vesticios Sancios of ii a, 4 Vestise
Sase). But, although the historian of religion is strongly disposed to equate the Dius
Fidius of the Romans with the Fisos (or Fisovios) Sattcios of the Umbrians, the philologist
sees lions in the way. W. Schulze ' Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen ' in the Adh.
d. gb/t. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. Phil.-hist. Classe 1904 N.F. v. 2. 473 ff. concludes (p. 475 n. 2):
'Die Identificirung mit lat. Fidius...ist grammatisch unhaltbar, trotzdem sie sich sachlich
aufs Beste zu empfehlen scheint.' And Walde Lat. etym. Wbrterb. 2 p. 289 s.v. 'fido' says:
'fisus.. .ist mit o. Fiisiais, u. Fiso-, Fisiu, Fisovie usw. nur dann vergleichbar, wenn es
urit. fenthalt, was sehr unsicher ist, wie infolgedessen auch iiberhaupt (trotz lat. Fidius)
die etymologische Zugehorigkeit der o.-u. Gotternamen zu unserer Wz.' Abandoning,
then, the road that leads to Umbria and limiting our enquiry to Rome, we find that the
connexion of Fidius with fides, etc., has been almost universally assumed. For little
weight can be attached to the dissent of L. Aelius Stilo, who took Dius Fidius to be for
Diovis Ftlitis (L. Aelius Stilo frag. 9 Funaioli ap. Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 66 Aelius Dium
Fidium dicebat Diovis filium, ut Graeci AibaKopov Castorem, et putabat hunc esse Sancum
ab Sabina lingua et Herculem a Graeca, cp. Paul, ex Fest. p. 147, 8 ff. Midler, p. 133,
1 ff. Lindsay, interp. Serv. in Verg. Aen. 4. 204, 8. 301, H. Hagen anecdota Helvetica
Lipsiae 1870 pp. 212, 37 ff. and 260, 16 ff. ( = commentum Einsidlense in Don. artem
minorem de adverbio), G. Goetz—G. Gundermann in the Corpusglossariorum Latinorum
Lipsiae 188S ii. 54, 1 Diuus Alius dibcvioc • i)paK\-rjc). There are, however, some points
about the god and his ritual that provoke further investigation. He was, to begin with,
a sky-god, to whom appeal must be made only under the open sky. Any one who swore
by Dius Fidius stepped into the compluvium so as to have no roof over his head (Varr.
Cato vel de liberis educandis ap. Non. Marc. p. 793, 23 ff. Lindsay itaque domi rituis
nostri qui per Dium (so Scaliger for deum) Fidium iurare vult prodire solet in com-
pluvium). Varr. de ling. Lat. 5. 66 rightly connects this custom with the fact that
Iupiter's roof had a hole in it (supra i. 53). The sky-god was from of old the recipient of
open-air worship (supra i. 117 ff.), and his relatives took after him. The oath by Dionysos
must not be sworn beneath a roof, and boys who wanted to swear by Herakles were
turned out of doors for the purpose (Plout. quaestt. Rom. 28). The bronze disks or
wheels (aenei ordes) dedicated by the Romans to Semo Sangus out of the spoils of
Privernum (Liv. 8. 20) were perhaps solar symbols, as I conjectured in Folk-Lore 1905
xvi. 272 n. 9. At Iguvium the man who offered a calf to Iupater Sancius held a wheel