Terminus

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In Roman religion, Terminus was the god who resided in and protected boundary markers, which were used to delineate the borders of properties and communities. This identification is so explicit that his name is, in fact, the Latin word for such a marker. As the installation of such stones was seen as religiously significant act, the Roman believers would perform sacrifice to memorialize and sanctify their placement. Further, landowners celebrated an annual festival called the Terminalia in the god's honor each year on the 23rd of February. In addition to the importance of these markers in public space, a small shrine to Terminus was also found in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill, as the temple was thought to have been built over a shrine to lesser god. Perhaps resulting from this, he was occasionally identified as an aspect of Jupiter under the name Jupiter Terminalis.

Ancient writers believed that the worship of Terminus had been introduced to Rome during the reign of the first king Romulus (ca. 753–717 B.C.E.) or his successor Numa (717–673 B.C.E.). Modern scholars have variously seen it as the survival of an early animistic reverence for the power inherent in the boundary marker, or as the Roman development of proto-Indo-European belief in a god concerned with the division of property. Parallels can also be seen with the Greek god Hermes, whose name and initial religious relevance were based upon the boundary markers revered in Hellenic society, which were called herms.[1]

Mythic Accounts

Though Terminus was likely too strongly associated with his corporeal manifestation (the boundary stone) to incur a significant body of mythology (much like Hestia in the Greek tradition, who represented the hearth), he is nonetheless referenced in several important mythic accounts.

This mythic tale was evidently of sufficient cultural currency that Lactantius, an early Christian writer (ca. 300 C.E.), called upon it to caricature the "backward" religious practices of the Roman people:

[Terminus] was the stone which Saturn swallowed thinking it was Jupiter. When Tarquin wished to build the Capitol and found these shrines of many ancient gods, he consulted them by augury whether they would yield to Jupiter. All agree to go save Terminus, who was suffered to remain. Hence the poet calls him the immovable rock of the Capitol. And what can I say of people who worship such stocks and stones (lapides et stipites) save that they are stocks and stones themselves? (Adversus Gentes, book i., chap. xx.)[2]

In addition, the potency of the god of boundaries was understood to reside within the rocky substrate that symbolized him. Indeed, the majority of these markers were inscribed with fervent curses that were understood to befall anyone foolish enough to tamper with them. As Leland summarizes, "fearful penalties were attached to the removal of such landmarks. The inscription of a terminus reads: Quisquis hoc sustulerit aut læserit, ultimus suorum moriatur ("Should any one remove or injure this stone, may he die the last of his race!")."[3]

Worship

The name of the god Terminus was the Latin word for a boundary stone,[4] and his worship as recorded in the late Republic and Empire centred on this stone, with which the god could be identified.[5] Siculus Flaccus, a writer on land surveying, records the ritual by which the stone was sanctified: the bones, ashes and blood of a sacrificial victim, along with crops, honeycombs and wine, were placed into a hole at a point where estates converged, and the stone was driven in on top.[6] On February 23 annually, a festival called the Terminalia was celebrated in Terminus' honor, involving practices which can be regarded as a reflection or "yearly renewal" of this foundational ritual.[7] Neighboring families would garland their respective sides of the marker and make offerings to Terminus at an altar – Ovid identifies these, again, as crops, honeycombs and wine. The marker itself would be drenched in the blood of a sacrificed lamb or pig. There followed a communal feast and hymns in praise of Terminus.[5][8]

These rites were practised by private landowners, but there were also related public ceremonies. Ovid refers to the sacrifice of a sheep on the day of the Terminalia at the sixth milestone from Rome along the Via Laurentina;[5] it is likely this was thought to have marked the boundary between the early Romans and their neighbors in Laurentum.[8] Also, a stone or altar of Terminus was located in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Because of a belief that this stone had to be exposed to the sky, there was a small hole in the ceiling directly above it.[5][9] On occasion Terminus' association with Jupiter extended to regarding Terminus as an aspect of that god; Dionysius of Halicarnassus refers to "Jupiter Terminalis",[10] and one inscription names a god "Juppiter Ter."[11]

There is some evidence that Terminus' associations could extend from property boundaries to limits more generally. Under the Republican calendar, when the intercalary month Mercedonius was added to a year, it was placed after February 23 or February 24,[12] and some ancient writers believed that the Terminalia on February 23 had once been the end of the year.[13] Diocletian's decision in 303 C.E. to initiate his persecution of Christians on February 23 has been seen as an attempt at enlisting Terminus "to put a limit to the progress of Christianity".[14]

History

Ancient views

Ancient authors agreed that the worship of Terminus was of Sabine origin, ascribing its introduction to Rome either to Titus Tatius, the Sabine colleague of Rome's founding king Romulus (traditional reign 753–717 B.C.E.),[15] or to Romulus' successor Numa Pompilius (717–673 B.C.E.).[10][16] Those authors who gave the credit to Numa explained his motivation as the prevention of violent disputes over property.[10][16] Plutarch further states that, in keeping with Terminus's character as a guarantor of peace, his earliest worship did not involve blood sacrifices.[16]

The stone in the Capitoline Temple was believed to have been among the altars located on the Capitoline Hill before construction of the Temple began under Tarquinius Priscus (traditional reign 616–579 B.C.E.). When the augurs took the auspices to discover whether each the god or goddess of each altar was content for it to be moved, Terminus refused permission, either alone or along with Juventas the goddess of youth. The stone was therefore included within the Capitoline Temple, and its immovability was regarded as a good omen for the permanence of the city's boundaries.[5][17]

Modern views

According to the dominant scholarly view during the late 19th and much of the 20th century, Roman religion was originally animistic, directed towards spirits associated with specific objects or activities which were only later perceived as gods with independent personal existence. Terminus, with his lack of mythology and his close association with a physical object, seemed a clear example of a deity who had developed little from such a stage.[7]

This view of Terminus retains some recent adherents,[8] but other scholars have argued from Indo-European parallels that the personalised gods of Roman religion must have preceded the city's foundation. Georges Dumézil regarded Jupiter, Juventas and Terminus as the Roman form of a proto-Indo-European triad, comparing the Roman deities respectively to the Vedic Mitra, Aryaman and Bhaga. In this view the sovereign god (Jupiter/Mitra) was associated with two minor deities, one concerned with the entry of men into society (Juventas/Aryaman) and the other with the fair division of their goods (Terminus/Bhaga).[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ After noting that the Greek and Roman milestones were both referred to using the same terminology, Farnell suggests that "in the aniconic age the pillar [herm or terminus] was full of the divinity; and therefore they could be regarded as objects of worship." (Vol. V, 18).
  2. ↑ Lactantius, quoted in Leland (63).
  3. ↑ Leland, 63.
  4. ↑ Herbert Jennings Rose.; and John Scheid (2003). "Terminus". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition, revised): 1485–1486. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Ovid, Fasti 2.639–684.
  6. ↑ Siculus Flaccus, De Condicionibus Agrorum 11.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 W. Warde Fowler (1899). The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic: An Introduction to the Study of the Religion of the Romans. London: Macmillan and Co., p. 324–327. Retrieved 2007-03-24. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 H. H. Scullard (1981). Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. London: Thames and Hudson, pp. 79–80. ISBN 0-500-40041-5. 
  9. ↑ Samuel Ball Platner.; and Thomas Ashby (1929). "Terminus, Fanum". A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome: 512. London: Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 2.74.2–5.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Georges Dumézil [1966] (1996). Archaic Roman Religion: Volume One, trans. Philip Krapp, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 200–203. ISBN 0-8018-5482-2 (hbk.); ISBN 0-8018-5480-6 (pbk.). 
  12. ↑ Herbert Jennings Rose.; and Simon R. F. Price (2003). "Calendar, Roman". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition, revised): 274. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
  13. ↑ Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.3; Ovid, Fasti 2.47–54.
  14. ↑ J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz (1979). Continuity and Change in Roman Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 247. ISBN 0-19-814822-4. 
  15. ↑ Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.10.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Plutarch, Roman Questions 15; Numa 16.
  17. ↑ Livy 1.55; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 3.69.3–6.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Primary Sources

  • Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities. Translated by Earnest Cary. Loeb Classical Library edition, 1937. Accessible online at uchicago.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  • Ovid. Fasti. Translated by A. S. Kline. Accessible online at tonykline.co.uk. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  • Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch). Roman Questions. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Loeb Classical Library edition, 1936. Accessible online at: uchicago.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  • Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch). "The Life of Numa" in The Parallel Lives (Various Works by Plutarch). Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library edition, 1917. Accessible online at uchicago.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  • Siculus Flaccus. De Condicionibus Agrorum. Latin version accessible online at intratext.com. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  • Varro, Marcus Terentius. De Lingua Latina. Italian text accessible online at thelatinlibrary.com. Retrieved June 19, 2007.

Secondary Sources

  • Buriss, Eli Edward. Taboo, Magic, Spirits: A Study of Primitive Elements in Roman Religion. New York: Macmillan Company, 1931. Accessible online at: sacred-texts.com. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
  • Dumézil, Georges. Archaic Roman Religion: Volume One. Translated by Philip Krapp. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, [1966] (1996). ISBN 0-8018-5482-2 (hbk.); ISBN 0-8018-5480-6 (pbk.).
  • Fowler, W. Warde. The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic: An Introduction to the Study of the Religion of the Romans. London: Macmillan and Co., 1899.
  • Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G. Continuity and Change in Roman Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. ISBN 0-19-814822-4.
  • Piccaluga, Giulia (1974). Terminus: I segni di confine nella religione romana (in Italian). Rome: Edizioni dell'Ateneo. OCLC 1989261. 
  • Platner, Samuel Ball and Ashby, Thomas. "Terminus, Fanum" in A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London: Oxford University Press, 1929.
  • Rose, Herbert Jennings and Price, Simon R. F. "Calendar, Roman" in The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd Edition, Revised). Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
  • Rose, Herbert Jennings and Scheid, John. "Terminus" in The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd Edition, Revised). Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2003). ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
  • Scullard, H. H. Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. London: Thames and Hudson, 1981. ISBN 0-500-40041-5.
  • Woodard, Roger D. (2006). Indo-European Sacred Space. Vedic and Roman Cult. Urbana-Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02988-7. 
    • Reviewed by Marco V. García-Quintela (2007), Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.02.36. Retrieved on June 13, 2007.

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