DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0258
208 FICUS, OLEA, VITIS—FICUS RUMINALIS
Tac. Ann. xiii. 58). It was surrounded by a bronze grating (Conon, Narr.
48 : epiveo? lepa), and thereby marked a spot that had been struck by
lightning (Plin. loc. cit.: sacra fulguribus ibi conditis). It was regarded as
a symbol of Rome’s power, and any sign of withering as an unfavourable
omen which must be averted by the priests (Plin. loc. cit. ; Fest. 169).
This happened in 58 a.d., according to Tacitus (loc. cit.), who calls the
tree ruminalis arbor (see below), and says that it had sheltered the twins
840 years before. The probable explanation of this tree on the Comitium
is, that it had grown in a spot which had been struck by lightning and
therefore was left unpaved and sacred ; and, as this spot was close to the
statue of Navius, the legend had developed that the augur had brought
it over from the Lupercal (Jord. i. 2. 264, 356-7 ; RE vi. 2147-8).
Ficus, Olea, Vitis : a fig tree, olive tree and vine, that stood in the
middle of the forum, near the lacus Curtius in the time of Pliny (NH
xv. 78). The fig tree is represented on the reliefs, and with the vine
and olive may perhaps have grown in an open space about 4 metres
square (where the Statua Marsyae (q.v.) also stood), between the
inscription of Naevius and the reliefs, where there are no traces of
pavement (RE vi. 2148; Hiilsen, Forum, Nachtrag 15-19; HC 150).
See Rostra.
Ficus Ruminalis : the fig tree that stood close to the Lupercal, where
Romulus and Remus were washed ashore and suckled by the she-wolf
(Varro, LL v. 54 ; Serv. Aen. viii. 90 ; Fest. 270, 271 ; Plin. NH xv. 77 ;
Plut. Rom. 4). Tradition said (see above) that this tree was removed
by the augur Attus Navius and thenceforth stood on the Comitium.
Ovid (Fast. ii. 411 ff.) states that only vestigia remained on the original
spot in his day, but Livy, in telling the story of the twins, writes
(i. 4) : ubi nunc ficus Ruminalis est. Elsewhere (x. 23. 12) he says
that the Ogulnii, aediles in 296 b.c., erected a monument that represented
the twins and wolf, ad ficum ruminalem. It is possible that the site
continued to be called ficus Ruminalis, after the tree itself had dis-
appeared (HJ 38 ; RE vi. 2147-2148). Ruminalis, according to one view,
is to be connected with RzLrna.1 the Etruscan gentile name from which
Rome and Romulus are derived (Schulze, L'at. Eigenn. 580-581 ; WR 242 ;
RE i. A. 1225). The Romans themselves, however, derived it from
raww, rumis, breast (Fest. loc. cit. ; cf. Rumina, the goddess of nursing,
and Varro, RR ii. 11. 5 : mamma enim rumis sive ruminare) ; and
Herbig has put forward the view that Roma is the Latinised form, and
as a proper name means ‘ large-breasted,’ i.e. strong or powerful (BPW
1916, 1440 ff., 1472 ff. ; summarised by Nogara in DAP 2. xiii. 279 and
BC 1916, 141).
1 The evidence, however, is insufficient: for the late brick-stamp (CIL ix. 6083. 30) is
susceptible of another interpretation—C. Sext(ili) Romaei Tusci. Corssen, followed by
Guidi (BC 1881, 63, 73 ; cf. Serv. Aen. viii. 63) connected it with Rumon, river (see Tiber).
Cf. also RAP iv. 167-177.
Tac. Ann. xiii. 58). It was surrounded by a bronze grating (Conon, Narr.
48 : epiveo? lepa), and thereby marked a spot that had been struck by
lightning (Plin. loc. cit.: sacra fulguribus ibi conditis). It was regarded as
a symbol of Rome’s power, and any sign of withering as an unfavourable
omen which must be averted by the priests (Plin. loc. cit. ; Fest. 169).
This happened in 58 a.d., according to Tacitus (loc. cit.), who calls the
tree ruminalis arbor (see below), and says that it had sheltered the twins
840 years before. The probable explanation of this tree on the Comitium
is, that it had grown in a spot which had been struck by lightning and
therefore was left unpaved and sacred ; and, as this spot was close to the
statue of Navius, the legend had developed that the augur had brought
it over from the Lupercal (Jord. i. 2. 264, 356-7 ; RE vi. 2147-8).
Ficus, Olea, Vitis : a fig tree, olive tree and vine, that stood in the
middle of the forum, near the lacus Curtius in the time of Pliny (NH
xv. 78). The fig tree is represented on the reliefs, and with the vine
and olive may perhaps have grown in an open space about 4 metres
square (where the Statua Marsyae (q.v.) also stood), between the
inscription of Naevius and the reliefs, where there are no traces of
pavement (RE vi. 2148; Hiilsen, Forum, Nachtrag 15-19; HC 150).
See Rostra.
Ficus Ruminalis : the fig tree that stood close to the Lupercal, where
Romulus and Remus were washed ashore and suckled by the she-wolf
(Varro, LL v. 54 ; Serv. Aen. viii. 90 ; Fest. 270, 271 ; Plin. NH xv. 77 ;
Plut. Rom. 4). Tradition said (see above) that this tree was removed
by the augur Attus Navius and thenceforth stood on the Comitium.
Ovid (Fast. ii. 411 ff.) states that only vestigia remained on the original
spot in his day, but Livy, in telling the story of the twins, writes
(i. 4) : ubi nunc ficus Ruminalis est. Elsewhere (x. 23. 12) he says
that the Ogulnii, aediles in 296 b.c., erected a monument that represented
the twins and wolf, ad ficum ruminalem. It is possible that the site
continued to be called ficus Ruminalis, after the tree itself had dis-
appeared (HJ 38 ; RE vi. 2147-2148). Ruminalis, according to one view,
is to be connected with RzLrna.1 the Etruscan gentile name from which
Rome and Romulus are derived (Schulze, L'at. Eigenn. 580-581 ; WR 242 ;
RE i. A. 1225). The Romans themselves, however, derived it from
raww, rumis, breast (Fest. loc. cit. ; cf. Rumina, the goddess of nursing,
and Varro, RR ii. 11. 5 : mamma enim rumis sive ruminare) ; and
Herbig has put forward the view that Roma is the Latinised form, and
as a proper name means ‘ large-breasted,’ i.e. strong or powerful (BPW
1916, 1440 ff., 1472 ff. ; summarised by Nogara in DAP 2. xiii. 279 and
BC 1916, 141).
1 The evidence, however, is insufficient: for the late brick-stamp (CIL ix. 6083. 30) is
susceptible of another interpretation—C. Sext(ili) Romaei Tusci. Corssen, followed by
Guidi (BC 1881, 63, 73 ; cf. Serv. Aen. viii. 63) connected it with Rumon, river (see Tiber).
Cf. also RAP iv. 167-177.