CLAS / PHIL 2610 Paganism to Christianity

Reading Handout 3. Ovid Fasti (For Thursday January 31, 2002)

Reading

Beard, North and Price pp. 30-41; 171-81

Norlin Reserve: Ovid Fasti bk 4

P. Ovidius Naso, whom we call Ovid, lived in Italy and Rome at the turn of the first millenium (43 BC - AD 17). He was a brilliant poet and quickly skyrocketed to fame for his prolific output. For reasons which remain unclear, however, he was exiled by the emperor Augustus to the territory of Scythia (modern Romania) in 8 BC. Even in this barbarian land, Ovid continued to produce poetry, including the poem we are reading today, the Fasti. Fasti means simply “list” but with reference to Ovid’s poem a better translation may be “calendar.” Ovid’s Fasti presents a list of all the days of religious significance in the Roman calendar. Though it is poetry and thus limited in the way it can convey information, it nevertheless contains important details for historians wishing to reconstruct Roman religious practice.

The Fasti was written for the heirs of Augustus, the first Roman emperor (31BC - AD 14). These heirs, Augustus’ stepson Tiberius and great grandson Germanicus, appear in the proem to the month of April which we are reading. They signal to us that the poem is in part an attempt to flatter Augustus and his dynasty. This becomes even more clear when Ovid describes April as the month of the goddess Venus. In Roman legend, Venus and her mortal lover Anchises were the parents of Aeneas, legendary founder of the Roman race. Through Aeneas’ son Iulus, Venus was actually linked to Augustus’ family: through Iulus, she was the ancestor of the entire clan of Iulius Caesar, Augustus’ adoptive father. By praising Venus, Ovid is thus praising the divine progenitor of the house of Augustus.

The month of April presents us with the sort of mixed bag of festivals and holy days which characterized Roman religion. The month begins with the festival of Venus Verticordia on April 1 and moves to the Ludi Megalenses (April 4-9). This second festival celebrated the entry of the foreign goddess Cybele (“The Great Mother of Ida”) into Rome with a series of games and sacrifices. From April 12-19 ran the Ludi Cereri, the games offered in honor of Ceres, the grain goddess and Roman equivalent of Greek Demeter. In the midst of this festival (April 15) the Romans celebrated a native sacrifice to Juppiter called the Fordicidia, or festival of the “brood cow.” April 21 was the Parilia, the festival of the god and goddess Pales who guarded flocks and herds. Because Rome’s first king Romulus was thought to have begun building the walls of Rome on this day, the Parilia was also celebrated as the birthday of Rome. The month closed with two more agricultural feasts, the Vinalia and Robigalia. The former was to protect the vines, the latter to protect grain crops from rot (rubigo = rust).

Questions

1. How do Rome’s agricultural roots show up in its festivals? How does Roman sacrifice work? Pay particular attention to April 15, 21, 25.

2. What role does time play in Roman religion? What sorts of things / events are celebrated and commemorated in the religious calendar? How much time did the Romans spend on religion?

3. How is myth used to expalin ritual in festivals and sacrifices? Think esp. of April 1, 4, 19, 21, 23. Which do you think came first in each instance, the ritual or the myth?

4. How does Ovid’s poetry portray the Augustan dynasty? Why might the members of Augustus’ dynasty be interested in a treatise on religion? How is their family goddess Venus portrayed?

5. In the Ludi Megalenses (the Megalensian Games) from April 14-16, the foreign goddess Cybele (the Great Mother) was celebrated. What seems strange about her festival in a Roman context? How did this goddess get imported? Why is Claudia Quinta, the chaste Virign who frees her ship from a sand bar, introduced into this account of a goddess of sexual power and ecstasy?

6. During the Ludi Cereri (Games of Ceres) from April 12-19 the grain giving goddess Ceres is celebrated. This is the second time we have encountered the myth of Ceres (Demeter) and Persephone. How does Ovid’s Roman version resemble and differ from that of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter? Pay particular attention to the travels of Ceres. Why might a Roman have made these changes?

Some helpful glosses:

Ceres = Gk. Demeter, goddess of grain, mother of Persephone

Dis = Gk. Hades, god of the underworld

Great Mother of Ida = Cybele, Phrygian goddess imported to Rome in c. 200 BC

Pales = god of shepherds and cattle

Rust = Rubigo, god of rust (crop rot and rust on iron)

Venus = Gk. Aphrodite, goddess of love

Venus Erycina = a version of Venus imported to Rome from Sicily c. 260 BC