SEMELE LUCUS—SEMO SANCUS

469
containing an edict of Tarracius Bassus, prefect of the city shortly
after 368 a.d. (NS 1899, 335'; Klio ii. 270 ; HJ 338 ; cf. BC 1891, 345).
Semele Lucus : see Stimulae Lucus.
Semo Sancus : a statue of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius on the island in the
Tiber, where an inscription of the second century was found in 1574
(CIL vi. 567). The marble base on which this inscription is placed
supported a statue which, because of the similarity of names, the early
Christians mistook for one of Simon Magus (Justin Mart. Apol. pr. 25, 56 ;
Iren, contra haeres. i. 23 ; Tert. adv. gent. 13 ; Cyrill. Hierosol. Cate-
chesis 6 ; Euseb. Hist, eccles. ii. 13, 14). There is no evidence for the
existence of any shrine or altar here, and the cult of Semo Sancus may
well have been connected with that of Iupiter Iurarius (q.v.), and this
statue may have stood at or near his temple (FIJ 636 ; Besnier 273-279,
286-289; Rosch. iv. 318-319 ; RE i. A. 2255).
Semo Sancus, aedes : a temple on the Quirinal of this deity under his
full name, Semo Sancus Dius Fidius,1 or its variants, Semo Sancus Fidius,
Deus or Dius Fidius (Ov. Fast. Vi. 213-216 ; Varro, LL v. 52, 66). This
Sabine cult is said to have been introduced into Rome by Titus Tatius
(Tert, ad nat. ii. 9; Ov. Fast. vi. 217-218; Prop. iv. 9. 74), but the
construction of the temple is generally ascribed to the last Tarquin,
although it was dedicated by Sp. Postumius many years later, 5th June,
466 b.c. (Dionys. ix. 60; Ov. Fast. vi. 213 ; Fast. Ven. ad Non. Iun.,
CIL i2. p. 220, 319 ; Fast. Ant. ap. NS 1921, 98). It contained a bronze
statue of Tanaquil, her distaff and spindle (Plut. q. Rom. 30 ; Plin. NH
viii. 194), and a wooden shield covered with ox-hide, which was a memorial
of the league between Rome and Gabii (Dionys. iv. 58), and, after the
destruction of Privernum in 329 b.c., bronze wheels made of the proceeds
of the confiscated property of Vitruvius (Liv. viii. 20. 8).
Besides aedes (Grk. iepov), the temple was called templum (Pliny),
fanum (Tert.) and sacellum (Livy). Although small aedes were sometimes
called sacella, the use of this term by Livy may perhaps be explained on
the hypothesis that the shrine of this deity was open to the sky (cf. Varro
v. 66 ; Becker, Top. 576). It stood on the Collis Mucialis (p. 437), near
and probably a little north of the porta Sanqualis, which was named from
the temple (Fest. 345 : Sanqualis porta appellatur proxima aedi Sanci 2),
on the ridge of the hill (Ov. Fast. vi. 218 ; Liv. viii. 20. 8 : versus aedem
Quirini). This site lies in the angle between the modern Vie Nazionale
and Quirinale, where, in the gardens of S. Silvestro degli Arcioni, was
found in the sixteenth century a travertine base dedicated to Semo
Sancus (CIL vi. 568 ; cf. 30994, of unknown provenance ),3 and near by
1 WR cit. gives reasons for refusing to differentiate Semo Sancus from Dius Fidius :
and Warde Fowler (Roman Festivals, 135-142) agrees.
2 Sancus, Lindsay.
3 Loewy has pointed out that the statue which stands on this base does not belong to
it, and is really an archaic Apollo (DAP 2. xi. 199 ; SR ii. 148 : cf. HF 351).