DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26205#0015
13
is also corroborated by Heiodotus mentioning (7, 113) that the magi of Xerxes
sacrificed white horses to the Strymon. He also adds (8, 13) that this river
bearing the nickname of Soter received divine worship, and an inscription
from the 4th century B. C. (CIG, II, 2008) containing a decree of exile states
that one-tenth of the convict’s property was offered to Apollon and the
Strymon, whose sanctuary was in Amphipolis.
A specific offering of cake was given to the Cephisus and Castaly spring:
‘‘I have also heard another story that a water was a gift to Castaly from the
river Cephisus; and so Alcaeus also had represented it in his hymn to Apollo.
This is especially confirmed by the evidence of the Libeans, who on certain
stated days throw cakes of the country, and other things prescribed by custom,
into the spring of the Cephisus, and they say they appear again in Castaly”
(Paus. 10, 8, 5, translated by J. G. Frazer)11.
Also the Romans, following the Greeks, worshipped Italic rivers, among
them particularly the Tiber, Pater Tiburinus, the Father and Lord of other
rivers, as he is named by Vergilius (Aen. 7.141 ff.). He had numerous sanctuaries
(among others, on Insula Tiberina) and special feast days in the Roman
calendar (Portunalia and later Tiburnalia)12. Also the Numic(i)us, a small
coastal river in Latium falling into the Mare Tyrrhenum near the city of
Ardea and frequently appearing in Latin literature (among others: Verg.
Aen. 7, 150; Serv. in Aen. 1, 259; Ovid. Fasti 3, 647; Ovid. Met. 14, 599)
received veneration. The consuls gave offerings to her (Sch. Yeron. 1, 259)
and her water was used in the offerings to Vesta (Serv. in Aen. 7, 150)13.
Moreover, the rivers from beyond Italy also received cult. Plutarch (Yitae,
Lucull. 24) imparts that Lucullus made a generous gift to the Euphrates.
The Danube was included among the gods. His cult had already existed
earlier, which is evidenced by literary sources (Aisch. frg 155 N; Max.
Tyr. 8, 1). From Roman times come abundant inscriptions confirming the
river’s “divinity”, and, according to Sidonius Apollinaris (car. 7, 43—44),
it had, together with the Rhine, a seat in the council of gods. Among other
things, an inscription has been found in Raetia bearing the text: In honorem
domus divinae [I[ovi] O[ptimo] M[aximo] et Danu [vie] dated 201 A. D. (CIL,
Ilf, 5863), whereas in the Historisches Museum in Vienna there is an altar
with an inscription dated 233 A. D.: [Iovi Optimo] Maximo, N[ept]u[no,
S]alaceae, Nim\phis, Danuv]io, Agauno, di\s deabusque omni]bus (CIL III,
1453927 and CSIR, Osterreich I, 1, No. 18, PI. 18). These are only selected
examples from among many others.
11 Cf. also Paus. 7, 24, 3 on cakes thrown into the Ajgion for Arethusa and appearing in Syracuse
tin Sicily.
12 The cult of the Tiber is exhaustively discussed by Le Gall, Tibre, pp. 40—111; id.,Le Tibre,
fleuve de Rome, dans VAntiquite, Paris 1952.
13 The Numicius appears in myths about the beginning of Rome, among others together with
Anna Perenna, Ascanius and lulus.
is also corroborated by Heiodotus mentioning (7, 113) that the magi of Xerxes
sacrificed white horses to the Strymon. He also adds (8, 13) that this river
bearing the nickname of Soter received divine worship, and an inscription
from the 4th century B. C. (CIG, II, 2008) containing a decree of exile states
that one-tenth of the convict’s property was offered to Apollon and the
Strymon, whose sanctuary was in Amphipolis.
A specific offering of cake was given to the Cephisus and Castaly spring:
‘‘I have also heard another story that a water was a gift to Castaly from the
river Cephisus; and so Alcaeus also had represented it in his hymn to Apollo.
This is especially confirmed by the evidence of the Libeans, who on certain
stated days throw cakes of the country, and other things prescribed by custom,
into the spring of the Cephisus, and they say they appear again in Castaly”
(Paus. 10, 8, 5, translated by J. G. Frazer)11.
Also the Romans, following the Greeks, worshipped Italic rivers, among
them particularly the Tiber, Pater Tiburinus, the Father and Lord of other
rivers, as he is named by Vergilius (Aen. 7.141 ff.). He had numerous sanctuaries
(among others, on Insula Tiberina) and special feast days in the Roman
calendar (Portunalia and later Tiburnalia)12. Also the Numic(i)us, a small
coastal river in Latium falling into the Mare Tyrrhenum near the city of
Ardea and frequently appearing in Latin literature (among others: Verg.
Aen. 7, 150; Serv. in Aen. 1, 259; Ovid. Fasti 3, 647; Ovid. Met. 14, 599)
received veneration. The consuls gave offerings to her (Sch. Yeron. 1, 259)
and her water was used in the offerings to Vesta (Serv. in Aen. 7, 150)13.
Moreover, the rivers from beyond Italy also received cult. Plutarch (Yitae,
Lucull. 24) imparts that Lucullus made a generous gift to the Euphrates.
The Danube was included among the gods. His cult had already existed
earlier, which is evidenced by literary sources (Aisch. frg 155 N; Max.
Tyr. 8, 1). From Roman times come abundant inscriptions confirming the
river’s “divinity”, and, according to Sidonius Apollinaris (car. 7, 43—44),
it had, together with the Rhine, a seat in the council of gods. Among other
things, an inscription has been found in Raetia bearing the text: In honorem
domus divinae [I[ovi] O[ptimo] M[aximo] et Danu [vie] dated 201 A. D. (CIL,
Ilf, 5863), whereas in the Historisches Museum in Vienna there is an altar
with an inscription dated 233 A. D.: [Iovi Optimo] Maximo, N[ept]u[no,
S]alaceae, Nim\phis, Danuv]io, Agauno, di\s deabusque omni]bus (CIL III,
1453927 and CSIR, Osterreich I, 1, No. 18, PI. 18). These are only selected
examples from among many others.
11 Cf. also Paus. 7, 24, 3 on cakes thrown into the Ajgion for Arethusa and appearing in Syracuse
tin Sicily.
12 The cult of the Tiber is exhaustively discussed by Le Gall, Tibre, pp. 40—111; id.,Le Tibre,
fleuve de Rome, dans VAntiquite, Paris 1952.
13 The Numicius appears in myths about the beginning of Rome, among others together with
Anna Perenna, Ascanius and lulus.