DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0085
AREA SPLENIS—ARGEORUM SACRARIA
51
front of the temple or behind it, but probably behind, that is, on the
south, between the clivus Capitolinus and the vicus Iugarius. Bronze
tablets, on which laws were inscribed, were set up around this area
(CIL i2. 587, 589), and the offices of the aerarium probably opened on it.
At least one guild of merchants had its office here (Jord. i. 2. 363-5).
Area Splenis :* in the Regionary Catalogue (Reg. I) et Splenis occurs after
aream Apollinis, but whether this is a corruption due to dittography
from Apollinis, or conceals some genuine reading, was thought to be
uncertain (Jord. ii. 23, 542). The doubt as to the reading is, however,
it would seem, unnecessary. As Hulsen has pointed out, we must take
into consideration a hitherto unnoticed mediaeval legend quoted by
Torrigio (Historia della veneranda Imagine . . . nella chiesa ... di
SS. Domenico e Sisto (Rome, 1641), 5) and Martinelli (Imago B. Mariae
Virginis, quae apud moniales SS. Dominici et Sixti asservatur (Rome,
1642), 6 sqq.), according to which, under Pope Sergius I (687-701), some
robbers who had seized the picture were frightened by thunder and
lightning when on their way from S. Sisto Vecchio (on the via Appia)
to the Lateran they had come ad locum qui dicitur Spleni, which must
therefore be sought somewhere near the Porta Metrovia (q.v.).
Area Volcani (i) : see Volcanal.
Area Volcani (2) : mentioned only in the Regionary Catalogue in Region
IV, and situated perhaps in the neighbourhood of the Argiletum.
Argeorum Sacraria :* twenty-seven sacraria (cf. Ulpian, Dig. i. 8. 9. 2 :
sacrarium est locus in quo sacra reponuntur ; Jord. ii. 271-281) situated
at various points in the four Servian regions (Varro, LL v. 45-54) that
were visited in order on the Ides of May (Ov. Fast. v. 621-622 ; cf. 603)
by a solemn lustral procession in which the priests, the vestals, and
the city praetor took part. This procession afterwards halted on the
pons Sublicius and threw into the Tiber twenty-seven straw puppets,
called Argei (Varro, LL vii. 44, where xxvn not xxiiii is to be read ; Fest.
334; Plut. q. Rom. 32, 86; Dionys. i. 38, where the number 30 is an
error). The sacraria themselves, as well as the puppets, were called
Argei (Liv. i. 21. 5), or Argea (Fest. 19). On the sixteenth and seven-
teenth of March (Ov. Fast. iii. 791 ; cf. Gell. x. 15. 30) a similar procession
visited the sacraria, and may very probably have deposited in them the
puppets that were to be taken out in May.
As to the meaning and origin of Argei, and of the ceremony itself,
both ancient and modern writers have expressed the most diverse views,
and there is a voluminous literature on the subject. It is probable that
the institution was introduced into Rome from Greece between the
first and second Punic wars, in accordance with the instructions of the
Sibylline books ; perhaps the first celebration was actually carried out
with human victims for whom the straw puppets were afterwards sub-
stituted (for the Argei in general and the literature of the subject, see
51
front of the temple or behind it, but probably behind, that is, on the
south, between the clivus Capitolinus and the vicus Iugarius. Bronze
tablets, on which laws were inscribed, were set up around this area
(CIL i2. 587, 589), and the offices of the aerarium probably opened on it.
At least one guild of merchants had its office here (Jord. i. 2. 363-5).
Area Splenis :* in the Regionary Catalogue (Reg. I) et Splenis occurs after
aream Apollinis, but whether this is a corruption due to dittography
from Apollinis, or conceals some genuine reading, was thought to be
uncertain (Jord. ii. 23, 542). The doubt as to the reading is, however,
it would seem, unnecessary. As Hulsen has pointed out, we must take
into consideration a hitherto unnoticed mediaeval legend quoted by
Torrigio (Historia della veneranda Imagine . . . nella chiesa ... di
SS. Domenico e Sisto (Rome, 1641), 5) and Martinelli (Imago B. Mariae
Virginis, quae apud moniales SS. Dominici et Sixti asservatur (Rome,
1642), 6 sqq.), according to which, under Pope Sergius I (687-701), some
robbers who had seized the picture were frightened by thunder and
lightning when on their way from S. Sisto Vecchio (on the via Appia)
to the Lateran they had come ad locum qui dicitur Spleni, which must
therefore be sought somewhere near the Porta Metrovia (q.v.).
Area Volcani (i) : see Volcanal.
Area Volcani (2) : mentioned only in the Regionary Catalogue in Region
IV, and situated perhaps in the neighbourhood of the Argiletum.
Argeorum Sacraria :* twenty-seven sacraria (cf. Ulpian, Dig. i. 8. 9. 2 :
sacrarium est locus in quo sacra reponuntur ; Jord. ii. 271-281) situated
at various points in the four Servian regions (Varro, LL v. 45-54) that
were visited in order on the Ides of May (Ov. Fast. v. 621-622 ; cf. 603)
by a solemn lustral procession in which the priests, the vestals, and
the city praetor took part. This procession afterwards halted on the
pons Sublicius and threw into the Tiber twenty-seven straw puppets,
called Argei (Varro, LL vii. 44, where xxvn not xxiiii is to be read ; Fest.
334; Plut. q. Rom. 32, 86; Dionys. i. 38, where the number 30 is an
error). The sacraria themselves, as well as the puppets, were called
Argei (Liv. i. 21. 5), or Argea (Fest. 19). On the sixteenth and seven-
teenth of March (Ov. Fast. iii. 791 ; cf. Gell. x. 15. 30) a similar procession
visited the sacraria, and may very probably have deposited in them the
puppets that were to be taken out in May.
As to the meaning and origin of Argei, and of the ceremony itself,
both ancient and modern writers have expressed the most diverse views,
and there is a voluminous literature on the subject. It is probable that
the institution was introduced into Rome from Greece between the
first and second Punic wars, in accordance with the instructions of the
Sibylline books ; perhaps the first celebration was actually carried out
with human victims for whom the straw puppets were afterwards sub-
stituted (for the Argei in general and the literature of the subject, see