DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0335
I I JO
Appendix N
chthonian powers1, had a couch set for him and a table spread. The rite was
private rather than public, belonging" essentially to family worship2 and being in
effect a communion between the dead and the living3. A. Furtwangler4 justly
compares the lectisternia, which are commonly held to have been a Roman
adaptation of the Greek Theoxenia:'. Be that as it may, the comparison is of
interest. For it is possible, perhaps even probable, that at the Greek feast, as
at its Roman equivalent, the god was represented in visible shape. But in what
shape? Our only clue is the Roman custom. Livy mentions 'heads of gods'
placed on the couches6. Pompeius Festus (s. ii a.d.)—an excellent authority,
since he abridged the important, dictionary of Verrius Flaccus {c. 10 B.C.)7—
states that these ' heads of gods' were properly termed struppi and consisted in
bundles of verbenae or 'sacred plants8.' Elsewhere Festus, a propos of stroppus
in the sense of a priestly head-dress or wreath, informs us that at Tusculum an
1 Furtwangler Samml. Sabouroff Sculptures p. 28 f., A. Milchhofer in the fahrb. d.
kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1887 ii. 31 (with list of deities).
2 The fpaviaral (supra p. n6if.) formed a quasi-family, worshipping—we have con-
jectured—its deceased founder as its ancestor.
3 Supra p. 1162 n. 2. See also Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 419.
4 A. Furtwangler in the Sitzungsber. d. kais. bayr. Akad. d. Wiss. Phil.-hist. Classe
1897 i. 405.
5 F. Robiou ' Recherches sur l'origine des lectisternes' in the Rev. Arch. 1867 i.
403—415, F. Deneken De Theoxeniis Berolini 1881, (G.) Wackermann Ueber das Lecti-
sterriium Hanau 1888 pp. 1—28, G. E. Marindin in Smith—Wayte—Marindin Diet.
Ant. ii. 15—17, C. Pascal ' De lectisterniis apud Romanos' in the Rivista di filologia
1894 xxii. 272—280, id. Studi di antichita e mitologia Milano 1896 p. 19 ft., W. Warde
Fowler The Roman Festivals London 1899 pp. 200, 218, 273, id. The Religious Experi-
ence of the Roman People London 1911 pp. 263 ff., 268, 318 f., A. Bouche-Leclercq in
Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 1006—1012, Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 161 f., Wissowa Rel.
Kult. Rom? pp. 61, 269 f., 311, 315, 421 ff.
6 Liv. 40. 59 terra movi't : in foris (K. A. Duker cj. fanis) publicis, ubi lectisternium
erat, deorum capita, quae (K. A. Duker and J. N. Madvig cjj. qui) in lectis erant, avert-
erunt se, lanaque (J. Scheffer cj. laenaque, G. Cuypers and J. Marquardt cjj. lanxque)
cum integumentis (F. van Oudendorp cj. intrimentis), quae Iovi opposita (C. Sigone and
J. Scheffer cjj. apposita) fuit, decidit = Iul. Obseq. 61 in lectisternio Iovis terrae motu
deorum capita se converterunt. lana cum integumentis, quae Iovi erant apposita, decidit.
7 M. Schanz Geschichte der romischen Litteratur"1 Mtincben 1899 ii. 1. 319 m, Sir
J. E. Sandys A History of Classical Scholarship'1 Cambridge 1906 i. 200.
8 Fest. p. 347, 34 f. Muller, p. 472, 15 f. Lindsay struppi vocantur in pulvinaribus
<fasciculi de verbenis facti, qui pro de>orum capitibus ponuntur = Paul, ex Fest. p. 346,
3 Muller, p. 473, 4 f. Lindsay struppi vocabantur in pulvinaribus fasciculi de verbenis
facti, qui pro deorum capitibus ponebantur. Cp. Paul, ex Fest. p. 64, 5 Muller, p. 56, 12
Lindsay capita deorum appellabantur fasciculi facti ex verbenis.
Serv. in Verg. Aen. 12. 120 verbena proprie est herba sacra sumpta de loco sacro
Capitolii, qua coronabantur fetiales et paterpatratus foedera facturi vel bella indicturi.
abusive tamen verbenas iam vocamus omnes frondes sacratas, ut est laurus, oliva vel
myrtus. etc. Cp. Plin. nat. hist. 22. 5, 25. 105 ff., interp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 8. 65, Donat.
in Ter. Andr. 4. 3. 11.
S. Eitrem in the Class. Rev. 1921 xxxv. 20 finds an illustration of these struppi in a
painting of j. v B.c. in the Tomba del Letto funebre at Corneto (F. Poulsen Fra Ny Carls-
berg Glyptoteks Samlinger Copenhagen 1920 i fig. 34, F. Weege Etruskische Malerei
Halle (Saale) 1921 pis. 23, 24) : ' on a mighty lectus you see on the torus not two recumb-
ent defuncts, but two green crowns, surmounted by the Etruscan (and Roman) pointed
head-dress, the tutulus.'
Appendix N
chthonian powers1, had a couch set for him and a table spread. The rite was
private rather than public, belonging" essentially to family worship2 and being in
effect a communion between the dead and the living3. A. Furtwangler4 justly
compares the lectisternia, which are commonly held to have been a Roman
adaptation of the Greek Theoxenia:'. Be that as it may, the comparison is of
interest. For it is possible, perhaps even probable, that at the Greek feast, as
at its Roman equivalent, the god was represented in visible shape. But in what
shape? Our only clue is the Roman custom. Livy mentions 'heads of gods'
placed on the couches6. Pompeius Festus (s. ii a.d.)—an excellent authority,
since he abridged the important, dictionary of Verrius Flaccus {c. 10 B.C.)7—
states that these ' heads of gods' were properly termed struppi and consisted in
bundles of verbenae or 'sacred plants8.' Elsewhere Festus, a propos of stroppus
in the sense of a priestly head-dress or wreath, informs us that at Tusculum an
1 Furtwangler Samml. Sabouroff Sculptures p. 28 f., A. Milchhofer in the fahrb. d.
kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1887 ii. 31 (with list of deities).
2 The fpaviaral (supra p. n6if.) formed a quasi-family, worshipping—we have con-
jectured—its deceased founder as its ancestor.
3 Supra p. 1162 n. 2. See also Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 419.
4 A. Furtwangler in the Sitzungsber. d. kais. bayr. Akad. d. Wiss. Phil.-hist. Classe
1897 i. 405.
5 F. Robiou ' Recherches sur l'origine des lectisternes' in the Rev. Arch. 1867 i.
403—415, F. Deneken De Theoxeniis Berolini 1881, (G.) Wackermann Ueber das Lecti-
sterriium Hanau 1888 pp. 1—28, G. E. Marindin in Smith—Wayte—Marindin Diet.
Ant. ii. 15—17, C. Pascal ' De lectisterniis apud Romanos' in the Rivista di filologia
1894 xxii. 272—280, id. Studi di antichita e mitologia Milano 1896 p. 19 ft., W. Warde
Fowler The Roman Festivals London 1899 pp. 200, 218, 273, id. The Religious Experi-
ence of the Roman People London 1911 pp. 263 ff., 268, 318 f., A. Bouche-Leclercq in
Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iii. 1006—1012, Nilsson Gr. Feste p. 161 f., Wissowa Rel.
Kult. Rom? pp. 61, 269 f., 311, 315, 421 ff.
6 Liv. 40. 59 terra movi't : in foris (K. A. Duker cj. fanis) publicis, ubi lectisternium
erat, deorum capita, quae (K. A. Duker and J. N. Madvig cjj. qui) in lectis erant, avert-
erunt se, lanaque (J. Scheffer cj. laenaque, G. Cuypers and J. Marquardt cjj. lanxque)
cum integumentis (F. van Oudendorp cj. intrimentis), quae Iovi opposita (C. Sigone and
J. Scheffer cjj. apposita) fuit, decidit = Iul. Obseq. 61 in lectisternio Iovis terrae motu
deorum capita se converterunt. lana cum integumentis, quae Iovi erant apposita, decidit.
7 M. Schanz Geschichte der romischen Litteratur"1 Mtincben 1899 ii. 1. 319 m, Sir
J. E. Sandys A History of Classical Scholarship'1 Cambridge 1906 i. 200.
8 Fest. p. 347, 34 f. Muller, p. 472, 15 f. Lindsay struppi vocantur in pulvinaribus
<fasciculi de verbenis facti, qui pro de>orum capitibus ponuntur = Paul, ex Fest. p. 346,
3 Muller, p. 473, 4 f. Lindsay struppi vocabantur in pulvinaribus fasciculi de verbenis
facti, qui pro deorum capitibus ponebantur. Cp. Paul, ex Fest. p. 64, 5 Muller, p. 56, 12
Lindsay capita deorum appellabantur fasciculi facti ex verbenis.
Serv. in Verg. Aen. 12. 120 verbena proprie est herba sacra sumpta de loco sacro
Capitolii, qua coronabantur fetiales et paterpatratus foedera facturi vel bella indicturi.
abusive tamen verbenas iam vocamus omnes frondes sacratas, ut est laurus, oliva vel
myrtus. etc. Cp. Plin. nat. hist. 22. 5, 25. 105 ff., interp. Serv. in Verg. eel. 8. 65, Donat.
in Ter. Andr. 4. 3. 11.
S. Eitrem in the Class. Rev. 1921 xxxv. 20 finds an illustration of these struppi in a
painting of j. v B.c. in the Tomba del Letto funebre at Corneto (F. Poulsen Fra Ny Carls-
berg Glyptoteks Samlinger Copenhagen 1920 i fig. 34, F. Weege Etruskische Malerei
Halle (Saale) 1921 pis. 23, 24) : ' on a mighty lectus you see on the torus not two recumb-
ent defuncts, but two green crowns, surmounted by the Etruscan (and Roman) pointed
head-dress, the tutulus.'