DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0141
CARMENTIS—CASA ROMULI
IOI
Carmentis : a shrine of Carmentis (or Carmenta), originally a fountain
nymph, to whom were afterwards attributed functions of prophecy and
assistance in child-birth. The shrine was at the foot of the Capitoline
hill, near the Porta Carmentalis (q.v.), which was named from the
shrine, and probably within the limits of the forum Holitorium (Solin.
i. 13 : pars etiam infima Capitolini montis habitaculum Carmentae
fuit, ubi Carmentis nunc fanum est, a qua Carmentali portae nomen
datum ; Serv. Aen. viii. 337 : (ara Carmentis) est iuxta portam quae
primo a Carmente Carmentalis dicta est; Dionys. i. 32 : βωμούς εθεασάμην
ιδρυμένους Ίζ,αρμεντη μεν υπό τω καΧουμενω Καπιτωλίω παρά ταϊςΙ\_αρμεντίσι
πνλαις). Once it is referred to as sacellum (Ov. Fast. i. 629 ; cf.
Liv. v. 47, ad Carmentis, and Plut. q. R. 56, ίεοόν) ; twice as fanum
(Gell. xviii. 7. 2 ; Solin. i. 13) ; as ara in Vergil (Aen. viii. 337) and in
Servius’ note, ad loc. ; as βωμοί once (Dionys. loc. cit.) ; and finally as
arae in Varro (ap. Gell. xvi. 16. 4 : huius periculi (i.e. the danger of being
born feet first) deprecandi gratia arae statutae sunt Romae duabus
Carmentibus quarum altera Postverta cognominatast, Prorsa altera, a
recti perversique partus et potestate et nomine). Ovid (Fast. i. 633-636)
and Servius (Aen. viii. 336) explain these two Carmentes Postverta and
Prorsa (under the form Porrima) as sisters or companions of the Arcadian
goddess, Evander’s mother, who derived their names from the knowledge
of the past and power to foretell the future, and it may be that besides
the original altar of Carmenta other altars were erected in process of
time to Postverta and Prorsa representing either other aspects of Carmenta
herself or her companions. In this way the use of varying terms to
designate their shrine might be explained. For Carmenta and this
question of terminology, see Gilb. i. 258-259, 264-265; WR 219-220;
Rosch. i. 851-854; RE iii. I594-I596, and literature cited; BC 1913,
154-184 ; CIL i2. p. 307 (11, 15 Jan.).
Casa Romuli : the house of Romulus on the south-west corner of the
Palatine hill, near the top of the scalae Caci, represented by a hut of
straw with a thatched roof, that was regarded with great veneration
and restored, whenever injured by fire, in the same style (Dionys. i. 79 ;
Plut. Rom. 20 ; Cass. Dio xlviii. 43 ; liv. 29 ; JRS 1914, 196; TF
105). No exact identification with any existing remains is possible.1 It was
perhaps the same as the tugurium Faustuli that is mentioned once (Solin.
i. 18), and was preserved at least to the fourth century (Not. Reg. X ;
Hieron. praef. in libr. Didymi de Spiritu Sancto ii. 105, ed. Vallars.).
An ‘ aedes Romuli ’ occurs in the list of the Argei (Varro v. 54 : Cermalense
quinticeps apud aedem Romuli), which evidently stood in some relation
to the casa, and it has been conjectured that the casa may have stood
1 It is suggested (ZA 174) that it may have perpetuated the memory of the existence
of actual huts, traces of which were found in the excavations of 1907 (see p. 377). TF 104,
105 identifies it with what is more generally believed to be the fifth sacrarium of the Aigei
(see p. 53).
IOI
Carmentis : a shrine of Carmentis (or Carmenta), originally a fountain
nymph, to whom were afterwards attributed functions of prophecy and
assistance in child-birth. The shrine was at the foot of the Capitoline
hill, near the Porta Carmentalis (q.v.), which was named from the
shrine, and probably within the limits of the forum Holitorium (Solin.
i. 13 : pars etiam infima Capitolini montis habitaculum Carmentae
fuit, ubi Carmentis nunc fanum est, a qua Carmentali portae nomen
datum ; Serv. Aen. viii. 337 : (ara Carmentis) est iuxta portam quae
primo a Carmente Carmentalis dicta est; Dionys. i. 32 : βωμούς εθεασάμην
ιδρυμένους Ίζ,αρμεντη μεν υπό τω καΧουμενω Καπιτωλίω παρά ταϊςΙ\_αρμεντίσι
πνλαις). Once it is referred to as sacellum (Ov. Fast. i. 629 ; cf.
Liv. v. 47, ad Carmentis, and Plut. q. R. 56, ίεοόν) ; twice as fanum
(Gell. xviii. 7. 2 ; Solin. i. 13) ; as ara in Vergil (Aen. viii. 337) and in
Servius’ note, ad loc. ; as βωμοί once (Dionys. loc. cit.) ; and finally as
arae in Varro (ap. Gell. xvi. 16. 4 : huius periculi (i.e. the danger of being
born feet first) deprecandi gratia arae statutae sunt Romae duabus
Carmentibus quarum altera Postverta cognominatast, Prorsa altera, a
recti perversique partus et potestate et nomine). Ovid (Fast. i. 633-636)
and Servius (Aen. viii. 336) explain these two Carmentes Postverta and
Prorsa (under the form Porrima) as sisters or companions of the Arcadian
goddess, Evander’s mother, who derived their names from the knowledge
of the past and power to foretell the future, and it may be that besides
the original altar of Carmenta other altars were erected in process of
time to Postverta and Prorsa representing either other aspects of Carmenta
herself or her companions. In this way the use of varying terms to
designate their shrine might be explained. For Carmenta and this
question of terminology, see Gilb. i. 258-259, 264-265; WR 219-220;
Rosch. i. 851-854; RE iii. I594-I596, and literature cited; BC 1913,
154-184 ; CIL i2. p. 307 (11, 15 Jan.).
Casa Romuli : the house of Romulus on the south-west corner of the
Palatine hill, near the top of the scalae Caci, represented by a hut of
straw with a thatched roof, that was regarded with great veneration
and restored, whenever injured by fire, in the same style (Dionys. i. 79 ;
Plut. Rom. 20 ; Cass. Dio xlviii. 43 ; liv. 29 ; JRS 1914, 196; TF
105). No exact identification with any existing remains is possible.1 It was
perhaps the same as the tugurium Faustuli that is mentioned once (Solin.
i. 18), and was preserved at least to the fourth century (Not. Reg. X ;
Hieron. praef. in libr. Didymi de Spiritu Sancto ii. 105, ed. Vallars.).
An ‘ aedes Romuli ’ occurs in the list of the Argei (Varro v. 54 : Cermalense
quinticeps apud aedem Romuli), which evidently stood in some relation
to the casa, and it has been conjectured that the casa may have stood
1 It is suggested (ZA 174) that it may have perpetuated the memory of the existence
of actual huts, traces of which were found in the excavations of 1907 (see p. 377). TF 104,
105 identifies it with what is more generally believed to be the fifth sacrarium of the Aigei
(see p. 53).