On This Day In Roman History, February 14
The 9-day festival of Parentalia or dies parentales would be celebrated, starting from February 13 and ending on February 22. Its main purpose was to honor the ancestors in one's own family, presenting sacrifices and offerings to their memory. The Roman state observed the holiday by having a Vestal conduct a rite and bringing some type of offering to the tomb of the fabled Tarpeia. Ovid's writing describes the scene of paterfamilias, or heads of the family, which includes offerings like wheat, wine-soaked bread, and flower garlands. This was given in honor of the Manes, which was the Roman-pagan idea of the deities representing the souls of their loved ones. These deities were chthonic in nature, and sometimes very misunderstood by later Christian writers in determining the different spiritual meanings. Marriages were forbidden on this day and all public temples were closed. Many individuals flocked to the graves of their loved ones found outside the pomerium, which was the religious boundary to the city of Rome.
Did you know?
The Tarpeia character I mentioned above is famous within Roman mythology for betraying the city of Rome to the Sabines, which was another rival Italic tribe living within pre-classical Italy. It is fabled she is the daughter of the Roman commander Spurius Tarpeius who was the commander of the citadel under King Romulus. In the myth, she traded many women for abduction in order to be rewarded a fair share of jewelry. After her betrayal was found, her punishment was being stoned to death and then thrown from the top of Rome's Capitoline Hill, which was also known as the Tarpeian Rock. This legend is depicted on two different sets of Denarii, one in 89 BCE and one in 19 BCE, both depicting the woman being crushed by rocks and stoned to death.
Tombstone of one of the most ancient Christian inscriptions ever found. The top line shows dedication to the Dis Manibus and Christian motto in Greek letters ΙΧΘΥC ΖΩΝΤΩΝ / Ikhthus zōntōn ("fish of the living") shown with the "D M". The middle line shows a depiction of fish and an anchor. The lowest line has the Latin inscription “LICINIAE AMIATI BE/NEMERENTI VIXIT” meaning "Licinia Amias well-deserving lived ...". Marble, early 3rd century CE. From the area of the Vatican necropolis, Rome. Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons.
These early Roman-Christian writings help us to understand not only how the new Christians were naming different aspects of Christianity in Latin, but also allows for some insight on what these spiritual words must have meant to Roman-Pagans.
Opinion
Welcome to my daily opinion! This holiday sure is cool, it's essentially the Roman "Day of the Dead". The importance of these early Christian-Latin writings cannot be stressed enough. It is difficult to decipher these more complex vocab words pertaining to Roman-Pagan spirituality. As I mentioned above, many Christian historians in Europe really got it wrong. The Romans believed in several different, and sometimes complex, versions of how their spirit would carry on after death. Even today our understanding is not incredibly concrete. The broad category of the dead was labeled under the Latin "di inferi" which can be translated as "those who dwell below." Whatever the Romans truly did believe, it is certain they believed in an after-life where one's spirit was judged, and the individual could pass over into other sections of the afterlife. All of these visions of the afterlife were chthonic in nature. I wonder how Tarpeia was judged as she crossed the spiritual River Styx in the Roman afterlife. Happy Valentines day!
Sources
Beard, M., North, J., & Price, S. R. (2013). Religions of Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Morford, M. P., & Lenardon, R. J. (1999). Classical mythology. New York, N.Y. ;Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Toynbee, J. M. (1996). Death and burial in the Roman world. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Further Reading:
Special Thanks: Joann Schatz
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