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	'''Vocabulary of ancient Roman religion''' aims to list in a clear alphabetic order the lexical terms specific to this area of study or strictly related to it in ancient Roman culture. Its entries are in Latin, with an approximate English translation and a brief summary of context. The list can be linked from other Misplaced Pages articles, but most entries are expanded below.		'''Vocabulary of ancient Roman religion''' aims to list in a clear alphabetic order the lexical terms specific to this area of study or strictly related to it in ancient Roman culture. Its entries are in Latin, with an approximate English translation and a brief summary of context. The list can be linked from other Misplaced Pages articles, but most entries are expanded below.

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Vocabulary of ancient Roman religion aims to list in a clear alphabetic order the lexical terms specific to this area of study or strictly related to it in ancient Roman culture. Its entries are in Latin, with an approximate English translation and a brief summary of context. The list can be linked from other Misplaced Pages articles, but most entries are expanded below.

This list does not include theonyms (the names of gods).

This is an open end project.

bellum pium et iustum

pax divom, pax deorum

Main concepts

Castus

The word castus has preserved its connexion to the religious semantic field. However its meaning has changed from the Indoiranian original corradicals. Morani thinks that the etymology of the word can be traced to the coalescence of two different roots: the first from a IE stem *k'(e)stos ( cf. Skt. s'ista) meaning 'he who conforms to the prescriptions of rite', the second the stem *kas- of careo 'I care for'. Dumezil connects the word to Vedic root s'asti, 'he gives the instruction', and to Avestic saas-tu, 'that he educate'.

The usage among Latin authors seems to support this interpretation: "nihil rite, nihil caste, nihil more institutoque perficit" in Cicero Dom. 134. "Ut decet non esse a culpa castos" in Platus Poen. 1186. In both cases the word has a negative value and indicates what man should avoid in his relationship with the supernatural.

The original meaning of technician of the sacrifice is well clarified by the derivate noun castitas as employed by Gellius IV 9, 9: "templa ac delubra non vulgo ac temere, sed cum castitate caerimoniaque adeundum". Here too the respect for ritual form is stressed.

Huguette Fugier has remarked that castus and castitas are the attributes of the sacerdos, as it is apparent in Aen. Vi 661: "Sacerdotes casti dum vita manebat".

Fas

Fas is perhaps the most important concept in Roman religion. It refers to the invisible or mystical setting that allows man to live in peace on this world. This setting is the foundation on which all human behaviour and visible relationships rely upon as defined by the concept of ius. According to this interpretation the word fas should be rooted in IE *dhe- which has given in Latin verb "facio", here in fas in its original meaning of to set.

Thus fas does not indicate a law of the gods, but more appropriately the law that rules the relationship between man and the realm of the invisible or the gods. In such a perspective it is the corresponding term of ius as far as human interpersonal relationships are concerned.

Servius comments Georg. I, 269 "fas et iura sinunt" (the fas and the iura allow) with the words: "divina humanaque iura permittunt: nam ad religionem fas, ad hominem iura pertinunt" ("both the divine and the human law allow (this): the fas belongs to religion and the iura to man").

According to Benveniste Latin is the only IE language that has preserved a distinction between fas and ius. The root *dhe- has given in Latin the word fetialis (fetial), name of a magistrate who has the duty (among other) of making treaties and declaring war by calling the fas as a witness: Liv. I, 32, 6 "Audi, Juppiter, audite, fines, audiat, fas: ego sum publicus nuntius populi Romani, iuste pieque legatus venio verbisque meis fides sit", 'Hear Jupiter, hear borders, hear fas: I am the public ambassador of the Roman people, I come in a justly and piously as an appointee (envoy) and be faithfulness in my words'.

The enlarging in sibilant of the root though is peculiar to Italic languages and Latin: compare Pelignian fesnu, Oscan fiisnu, Umbrian fesnaf-e "in fano" (a sacred space or temple). In Latin it is part of a large group of derived words as fanum, festus, feriae, fasti.

It is noteworthy that to express this notion a root has been used in Latin which in many IE languages expresses concepts of a juridical nature: see Gr. themi, Skt. dhaman-, 'institution' and most importantly Avest. dat(e)m, 'religious rule, law'.

It seems that the relatioship between fas and ius can be compared to that existing in Vedic scriptures between two concepts of the order of the universe, that of the dhaman and that of the rta'. While there can be a dhaman of the rta' the opposite relationship is unconceivable.

The concept of fas thence cannot be analysed further and made the object of case study as it is possible for the ius, which can be discussed in details. It is fas or not fas (fas est, fas non est). A point in time or place are fas or nefas on the grounds that they offer or do not offer to human action (other than religious) the invisible setting that makes it safe and bestows on it likeliness of success.

Fas was interpreted by the ancient as connected to the verb fari (to speak) also because many words derived by it passed on to the religious sphere, as eg fatum, fandum . The use of fas for fatum is attested in Virgil (Aen.II, 779: Serv. "fas pro fato"). Fanum too has been connected to fari (Varr. LL VI, 54: "quod pontifices in sacrando fati sunt finem", "what the pontiffs in the consacration said to be the boundary"). The same interpretation is given for dies fasti (Varr. LL VI, 29: "dies fasti, per quos praetorem omnia verba sine piaculo licet fari", "the days in which the praetor can say all words without needing an act of expiation", here meaning the three ritual words of his office: "do, dico, addico").

There have been modern attempts at reconsidering this interpretation as valid, eg by Riccardo Orestano and Emil Benveniste.

The long 'a' in fas does not create a problem as it is common in monosyllabic words (compare daas, datis).

The concept of fas was widely applied in religious practices and also normal public and private life.

The most remarkable instances are the Roman Calendar that was charachterized by marking days as F(as) or N(efas) in the first place. Time was in fact regulated in accord to the knowledge of its quality in rspect to the fas. The word fastus referring to the fas quality of a day passed on to acquire the meaning of calendar in its plural form Fasti.

The choice of the place on which to perform a certain religious practice, found a city or camping the army should be chosen according to specific rules that enabled to determine its nature in relation to the fas. The word fanum (temple, fane) evolved from *fas-nom, locative case, literally a place situated in (under) the fas. See above parallels in other Italic languages.

Lex

The word lex had a primitive religious meaning, from which it quite early developed the meaning of law, ie a concept belonging to the purely juridical semantic area. Latin lex corresponds to Vedic word rajani (locative) 'under the law of ' and Avestic razan-, terms that both concern religious law.

The word is rooted in IE *leg from which derive Latin verbs ligo, lego (inf. legere) to gather, choose, select , lego (inf. legare) to appoint, to bequeath, and nouns legio a military grouping, band, lectio collection, gathering, reading. Compound forms include diligo, diligens; negligo, negligens; religio, religiosus.

The original meaning of the word should have thus been selected and binding words.

Compare also Gr. lego to collect, to gather, to enumerate, to expose minutely whence to speak, tell, order.

Here are some instances of the use of the word in different contexts:

Liv. 1, 24, 7 "Audi Juppiter, audi pater patrate populi Albani, audi tu, populus Albanus. Ut illa palam prima postrema ex illis tabulis cerave recitatae sunt sine dolo malo, utique ea his hodie rectissime intellecta sunt, illis legibus populus Romanus prior non deficiet". Here the word denotes the contents of the treaty as a binding formula put under the sanction of divine law.

The request of the augures to the gods about the auspices they wanted to see as a token of divine approval in an augural rite (augurium), or in the ritual inauguration of magistrates and some sacerdotes is named legum dictio.Here the word means the enumeration of a set of fixed, binding conditions that make up the essential part of the rite.

The expression quaqua lege volet, by which the offerer is allowed the freedom of performing the cerimonial sacred action as he likes best is another relic of the primitive religious use of the word.

We can see the evolution from the religious semantic area to the legal one by comparing the instance in Livy, which is still heavily tainted with a religious connotation in the ritual formula pronounced by the fetial pater patratus and the formula of the will here below from Gaius 2, 104:

"Haec ita, ut in his tabulis cerisque scripta sunt, ita do, ita lego, ita testor, itaque vos, Quirites, testimonium mihi perhibetote".

In the formula the verb legare has almost completely lost the religious implications of the word lex shifting to the sheerly juridical sense of making a legatum bequeath, legacy. However the parallelism of this formula with that of the pater patratus allows an insight into the meaning of the word lex as related to the notion of legare to bind, bequest.

The leges actionis which belong to the jurical domain are very primitive instances of the development of civil law from the sacral: they were sets of fixed gestures and words considered to be effective in themselves, that were to be performed and pronounced ritually by the actor in order to achieve a definite legal result. They were regulated by the mos maiorum and besides the legal effect they possessed a religious one too as they were supposed to guard the actor from evil occult influences.

There is another case of the use of the word lex which is at the border between the legal and the religious, the leges templi: these were sets of regulations emanated by the pontiffs that ruled and sanctioned religious actions to be performed at a temple. In such an instance the word while concerning religious behaviour has a predominantly legal connotation. Here is an instance from the temple of Jupiter Liber at Furfo (Sabellic territory) dated 58 B.C.: "sei quei ad huc templum rem deivi(a)m fecerit Jovi Libero aut Jovi Genio, pelleis coria fanei sunto"

Pax

Pax is in Roman religion a concept that denotes the idea of a harmonic, balanced relatioship between man and god, as expressed in the formula pax divom. It is testified in texts of any period.

Pax preserves almost always the etymological meaning of 'treaty, pact' and its connexion to pactus, pactio.

The original meaning of pax is a compact, pactum meaning a bargain, agreement. The noun derives from past partiple of verb pacisci to agree, to come to an agreement, inceptive form of old Latin pacere to agree. It is allied to pactus past participle of verb pangere to fasten, tie. Compare Skt. pac to bind, Greek peegnumi I fasten.

In some context though it assumes the sense of benevolence of god toward man.

Man expects or hopes to receive from god the grace of normal and benevolent relationships.

Nonetheless the pax divom depends to a great extent on man. Man must pay the highest degree of attention at not perturbing his relationship with gods or forgetting gods's prerogatives. When in the course of life matters, sometimes inevitably or even inadvertently, a fault of this sort on the part of man happens, in man's own interst it is necessary to be prompt and take appropriate action in order to restore the original balance in the relationship between the two parties.

Obviously this initiative can only be undertaken by man himself and in Roman religion this action takes always the form of some rites as cerimonies, sacrifices and vows aimed at the achievement of the stipulation of a new treaty with the gods.

Man may ask for the benevolence of gods in general or for some specific purpose: for their propitious attitude to the interests and wishes of the community (or of individuals), or for placating them if he has become aware that the original equilibrium has been broken.

The establishment of the perfect equilibrium in the relationship between man and god expressed in the concept of pax divom has an explicit correspondence among Italic people as it is testified in the Umbrian ritual of the Iguvine Tables: VI b 61 records the following formula: "fututo foner pacrer pashe vestra pople totar iiovinar" 'be favourable and pacific (willing to make peace, be in agreement, accord with) through your own peace (accord) to the town of Iguvium.' Else in VI a 23 we read this invocation to Jupiter Grabovius: "fos sei, pacer sei ocre fisei" 'be favourable, be pacific (willing be in accord) with the arx fisia (of god Fisius).'

Prex

Prex, the term designating prayer is connected to IE root *pre-, originally not related with the area of religion. This is a spy of the innovative linguistic attitude of the Italic people to the sphere of religion. The word usually appears in the plural, preces. The meaning proper of the word is "I try and obtain by uttering appropriate words what is my right to obtain". It has a correspondent in Umbrian persklu meaning supplication. It is used often in association with quaeso in expressions such te precor quaesoque or prece quaesit (eg Lucr. V 1229). According to Benveniste quaeso would mean "I use the appropriate means to obtain" or according to Morani "I wish to obtain, try and obtain" while precor designates the utterance of the adequate words to achieve one's aim.

Prodigium

Prodigium is a word that denotes an event which manifests the disruption of the normal, ordinary course of nature and has the value of a sign that manifests a rupture in the pax divom. It is the word most commonly employed to express concepts of this sort. As a rule prodigium has a negative connotation in Roman thought, as all other words related to the same semantic area, ie portentum, ostentum, miraculum. Being a sign that the pax divom has been broken, it manifests man is under the threat of divine wrath.

The etymology of the second part of pro-digium is uncertain. It is considered possible that it be related to verb aio I say, as in the composite ad-agium a saying, proverb.

For the Roman mind "the prodigium is as a rule an unforeseen, awesome and contrary to nature phenomenon expressing the wrath of gods on Earth. Contrary to what was the case in Greece and Etruria, originally among Latins the idea of a beneficient prodigium did not exist."

In Roman political life the procuatio prodigiorum was of extreme importance. In the view of ancient Latins phenomena deemed to be contrary to natural order were seen as prodigia, terrific signs of the wrath of deities. Their appearence was ascribed to supposed ritual unproprieties or negligences on the part of man in the discharge of his duties toward the gods, causing the breaking of the ancient pact. The dangers may only disappear after the correct relationship with gods has been restored through the adequate expiation.

Raymond Bloch remarks that in discussing the problem of prodigia it must be born in mind that their notion and attitude to them varied greatly in the course of Roman history. The considerations formulated here reflect the situation of the origins of rome tilthe end of the second Punic war. Afterward the attitude to prodigia of the Romans started to change for a complex of cultural and political changes.

The vocabulary connected to this area includes different words the meaning of which may vary slightly: prodigium, ostentum, portentum, monstrum, miraculum. The use of such words though is similar or identical. Prodigium is the most widely used; ostentum, portentum usually but not always denote an extraordinary phenomenon in inanimate nature. Mostrum, miraculum often denote an awesome feature in humans. All these words according to Cicero, Varro, Festus express an announcement of the future: "Quia enim ostendunt, portendunt, monstrant, praedicunt, ostenta, portenta, monstra, prodigia dicuntur". Strictly speaking portentum,ostentumm both hint to the presentation, exposition of something thence sign, signal: it is clear that the sense of intimation was not the original meaning. monstrum is reklated to verb moneo and thus means admonition. Miraculum is related to mirus thence it means marvellous, astonishing, which evokes the surprise of the observer in front of a rare phenomenon sent by the deity. It is noteworthy that none of these words etymologially means anything connected with the prediction of the future, wheras they show the attitude of horror and fear engendered in man (given that the etymology of prodigiumis debated.

The original definiton of roman religious construction is traditionally attributed to Numa Pompilius, a sabin from Cures. Here is what Livy writes about the question of prodiges. The first pontifex maximus (Numa Marcius,Marci filius) since the time of the creation of the office had supreme powers in roman religious life had to indicate, among many other duties, which of the prodiges requested an examination and expiation: "...Quae prodigia fulminibus aliove quo missu visa susciperentur atque curarentur" I, 20,7. It is noteworthy that is the inception and the foundation of all the systemof procedure and rites involved in the cura,procuration and expiation of prodiges. To this aim the first duty wa to ascertain whether a particular prodige was real or fabricated and concerned the state or only privates.

Livy's narration of the state prodiges at the end of the first decade and at the beginning of the third provides a long list of phenomena that Romans considered extraordinary, not in accord with the laws of nature, followed by the record of the terrror they caused and the mention of the expiatory cerimonies performed to fend off the announced threat. They include speaking animals (eg cows), speaking and dancing small children, rains of blood, milk, stones or flesh, sweat or blood on gods's statues, cows or oxen walking up to the upper floors in builidings, spontaneous movement of sacred objects as spears or shields on the statues of deities, birth of monstrous animal or human children.

The job of gathering information and evaluating the prodiges was named procuratio prodigiorum. It was carried out through a complex but efficient process discharged by local and central magistrates,in which the pontiffs and lastly the senate made the ultimate decisions as whether to accept the prodigium as valid, suscipere. The appearence of a prodigium was a sign of a state of impurity for the community and it asked for adequate measures to atone the wrath of the involved deities. as a rule the senate and the pontiffs decided the necessary expiations which could include sacrifices to the offended gods and ritual acts of purifications such as prayers and lustrationes at their temples.For particularly serious cases the decemviri sacris faciundis were asked to consult the collection of the Sybilline books to have more exact information on the nature of the problem and its most adapt, effective way of expiation.

Religio, religiones

The word religio, more often used in the plural religiones, indicates the actions undertaken as a service to gods or godly things aimed at achieving or restoring the pax divom. It denotes an obligation on the part of man toward the sphere of the fas or sacer and the due diligence in performing the ritual acts requested by it. The word itself hints to the attitude of hesitation, fear, and scruple in trying and understanding the signa of the divine will and in enacting effective behaviours in order to adapting to it.It can be considered close to pietas, meaning fear of the gods. It must be born in mind that Latin religio does not correspond or translate the notion of religion in modern European languages.

The word is rooted in verb lego (inf. legere) to gather, choose, select from IE stem *leg. It is allied to adjective religens fearing the gods, pious, diligens sedolous and opposite to adjective negligens negligent, all present participles of corresponding verbs diligo, negligo, religo.

The etymological meaning of the word reflects quite adequately the attitude of the Roman people to the area of the sacred. It was the first duty of a good citizen and of all magistrates to ensure that the correct relationship with the invisible would guarantee a safe and propitious environment for public and private activities.

Here are some instances of its use: "Mos maiorum est institutum patrium, id est memoria veterum pertinens ad religiones caerimoniasque antiquorum" Fest. p.146 L. "mos maiorum, customs of the ancestors, are an institution of our forefathers, ie the memory of the elder ones concerning religiones and cerimonies of the ancient'. This use is quite vague, implying a similarity to cerimonies and thence the idea of rites.

The word could designate both public and private cultual practices as we can understand from the following passage in Festus: Gallus Aelius ait sacrum esse quod quocumque modo instituto civitatis consecratum est, sive aedis...quod dis dedicatum atque consecratum sit; quod autem privati suae religionis causa aliquid earum rerum deo dedicent, id pontifices Romanos non existimare sacrum.

The common expression denoting the passage of something from the sacred back to the profane is known as solvere religionem: it makes clear that religio means a kind of bond that obliges man. An instance of the use is provided by the episode of consul Marcellus who during the second Punic war vowed a temple to gods Honos and Virtus but was refused the permit to 'solve' it by the pontiffs on the grounds that a temple could not be dedicated to two gods together when they were not dii certi, ie whose sphere of competence was provenly clearcut. Livy relates this episode and Marcellus's embarassment at being caught in the dilemma between "aliae atque aliae religiones"Here too the word means a bond, an obligation. An instance of the same sort is provided by the tradition that the gens Claudia had a special kind of victim named propedalis porcus which served as piamentum and exsolutio omnis contractae religionis. Here again the word religio means bond, obligation and is used in parallel with piamentum, an expiatory act.

Roman attitude to religious matters is marked by a strong streak of formalim and a collective approach. The basic attitude is an attention at not offending or perturbing the susceptibilty of gods. Thus the formula in a prayer must be unambiguous and must be recited in a loud voice so that the god can hear it, it must not forget other gods: for this reason the name of the god is often left unspecified or the generalis invocatio is used, which allows not to forget any deity.

Many aspects of this mentality are ancient: it has a correspondence in an analogous formalism in the Indian and Iranic world. The Romans however have accentuated this tendency in the religious procedure under the influence of their strong inclination for the ius right, law.

It is noteworthy that the first acts of the supreme magistrates at the moment of their inauguration was the ritual ascension to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitolium (processus consularis), where the new consuls held a public session with the senate and as a rule discussed religious matter consulere de religione, meaning the discussion of the auspicia and the procuratio of prodigia. It was the first duty of a pious magistrate to pay homage to the supreme gods of Rome and to fend off the threats to the community announced by the supernatural.

It is understandable that such an attitude led to a negative connotation of the word religio and especially its derivate adjective religiosus. Religiosus in fact came to mean that which is appropriated by gods, as death and (thence) graveyards, places hit by lightning, both loci religiosi, days marked by bad past experiences dies religiosi, eg July 18, anniversary of the battles of Cremera and Allia.

Thus religion as a rule designed the cerimonies, sacrifices and vows undertaken to deal with and appease the signs of the wrath of gods. The collective character of religion in Rome is well made clear in Livy's passage on the plague of 461 B.C.: being left without any other possible means of averting the disaster the state obliges the citizen to resort to prayer: inopsque senatus auxilii humani ad deos populum ac vota vertit: iussi cum coniugibus ac liberis supplicatum ire pacemque exposcere divum Liv. III 7.

A positive development in the connotation of the word is on the contrary testified in the authors of the classical period. Cicero always used the word as meaning cult of gods. Here are some instances.

De nat. deor. 1,117: "...religionem, quae deorum cultu pio continetur";

De Leg. 1, 160: "...cum suis, omnesque natura coniunctos suos duxerit, cultumque deorum et pura religione susciperit";

2, 30: "...non solum ad religionem pertinet sed etiam ad civitatis statum, ut sine iis, qui sacris publice praesint, religioni privatae satis facere non possint; ...Discriptioque sacerdotum nullum iustae religionis genus praetermittit. Nam sunt ad placandos deos allii constituti, qui sacris praesint sollemnibus, ad interpretanda alii praedicta vatium ...neque ut ea ipsa quae suscepta publice essent, quisquam extra collegium nosset."

De har. resp. 18: "Ego primum habeo auctores ac magistros religionum colendarum maiores nostros quorum mihi tanta fuisse sapientia videtur ut satis superque prudentes sint qui illorum prudentiam non dicam adsequi, sed quanta fuerit perspicere possint: qui statas sollemnisque caerimonias pontificatu, rerum bene gerendarum auctoritates augurio, fatorum veteres praedictionis Apollinis vatum libris, portentorum expiationes Etrusca disciplina contineri putaverunt".

In Cicero's view religio is the theologic and juridical justification of Roman political hegemony, attributed traditonally to the favour of the gods, but not without merit on the part of the Romans, since for their sensitivity and cautiousness towards religio they greatly surpassed all other people.

Here are two relevant passages of the his De natura deorum: 2,8 "C. Flaminium Coelius religione neglecta cecidisse apud Trasimenum scribit cum magno reipublicae vulnere. Quorum exitio intelligi potest eorum imperiis rem publicam amplificatam qui religionibus paruissent. Et si conferre volumus nostra cum externis, ceteris rebus aut pares aut etiam inferiores reperiemur; religione, id est cultu deorum, multo superiores". Here it is stated that negligere religio has always caused heavy damages to the Roman people as the defeat of the Trasimene; wheras its observance cannot but bring about, in the dynamics of history, the constant amplification of the res publica as long as the the Romans shall continue to be in matters of religion, ie the cult of the gods, much superior to others. In 3,5 Cicero has pontifex maximus C. Aurelius Cotta outline the main fields of religio theorising that they it should be divided into sacra and auspicia: "Cumque omnis populi Romani religio in sacra et in auspicia divisa sit si qiud praedictionis causa ex potrtentis et monstris Sybilae interpretes haruspicesve monuerunt, harum ego religionum nullam umquam contemnendam putavi mihique ita persuasi Romulum auspiciis, Numan sacris constitutis fundamenta iecisse nostrae civitatis, quae numquam profecto sine summa placatione deorum immortalium tanta esse potuisse". This is a clear statement of the deep beliefs of the sacerdotal tradition on the theological and juridical foundations of the Roman state. Sacra and auspicia not only are the main fields of religio, but should more appropriately be considered the original foundations, as dating back to Romulus and Numa, of the res publica. Both the high degree of political power reached by Romans and the boundless extension of their imperium would be utterly unexplicable without the highest placation of the immortal gods. This providential view of the civitas Romana is to be be found also elsewhere, eg in the De haruspicum responso 19 and Pro Milone 83.

Sallust too underlines the religiosity and piety of the ancestorsby comparing the religiosussimi viri of old to the present corruption and depravity of Romans in Cat. 1`2 1-5.

As for Livy he has charachterized Rome as a place extremely devoted to religion.

Eg V, 52, 2: "Urbem auspicato inauguratoque conditam habemus; nullus locus in ea non religionum deorumque est plenus; sacrificiis solemnibus non dies magis stati quam loca sunt in quibus fiant". In his work he states over again that the history of Rome is the most unrefutable proof that omnia prospera evenisse sequentibus deos:

V, 51, 4-5 "...si nobis cum urbe simul positae traditaeque per manus religiones nullae essent, tamen tam evidens numen hac tempestate rebus adfuit Romanis, ut omnem negligentiam divini cultus exemptam hominbus putem. Intuemini enim horum deinceps annorum vel secundas res vel adversas; invenietis omnia prospera evenisse sequentibus deos, adversa spernentibus". He consideres pietas and fides as essential for the divine legitimacy of the Roman imperium: "favere enim pietati fideique deos, per quae populus Romanus ad tantum fastigii venerit".

Another testimony is provided by Valerius Maximus who underlined as the founding and charachterising feature of Rome the principle that omnia post religionem ponenda semper nostra civitas duxit:

I, 1 9 "Qui praetor a patre suo collegit Saliorum magistro iussus sex lictoribus praecedentibus arma ancilia tulit, quamvis vacationem huis officii honoris beneficio haberet. Omnia namque post religionem ponenda semper nostra civitas duxit, etiam in quibus summae maiestatis conspici decus vcoluit. Quapropter non dubitaverunt sacris imperia servire, ita se humanarum rerum futura regimen existimantia, si divinae potentiae bene atque constanter fuissent formulata". The holders of the summa maiestas never hesitated to put themselves at the disposition of the civitas for the discharge of the sacred rites because they deemed they would obtain the rule on the world if they had served well and constantly the power of the gods.

A different view on the value of religio, in accord with the negative connotation outlined above at the beginning is expressed in Servius Aen. 8, 349: "religio id est metus, ab eo quod mentem religet dicta religio". Ie it is fear for what shall bind the mind of man. This attitude is in line with the negative interpretation of the original value of the term.

The original ambiguity of the value of the word in its ancient usage is reflected in modern scholars's division about the original connotation of the word. While Georges Dumezil supports a negative original meaning Huguette Fugier(as well as many other eg Robert Turcan) takes an opposite view arguing that the origin of Roman religious attitude is to be traced in the auspiciousness of the foundation of Rome which provided the grounding of its future. Ie it was this special quality of the setting that allowed the preservation of the pax divom providing the necessary fit frame for the religiones, sacrifices on which it relied. This attitude can be traced back to Ennius's phrase Augusto augurio postquam inclita condita Roma est

Formalism in religion is reflected in the prerequisite that the person who asks for the help of the gods be formally pure: only he who neither did ever betray the given word nor did ever offend the gods can ask for their favour. It is the statement of a strict correlation between the human and the divine spheres, by which men and gods act within the space of meticulously fixed rules and their mutual relationships are for ever scrupulously determined thereby. Proper religio is thus a measured, rational activity, a virtue and cornerstone of mos maiorum. Excessive committment to deities and over-enthusiasm for their cults may be counterproductive or destructive, and are classed as superstitio.

Sacer

Sacer is one of the main concepts in Roman religion. It designates specifically throughout its history as a religious term that which belongs to gods for human definition or decision. It has an exact opposite in the word profanum. The sphere of that which belongs to gods for gods's own sanction or action is denoted by the adjective religiosus.

The word is rooted in IE Sak- which is attested mostly in Italy. See Oscan sakoro 'sacred' (nom. sing. fem.), sacrid abl., sakrim 'sacrificial victim', sakaraklum 'sacellum, small shrine', sakarater 'sacratur, consacrate' (indicative pres. tense).

In Latin this root has given two forms, one in -ro-, sakros present in the first attested document of the Latin language, the stone of the Forum or Lapis Niger and a form in -ri- survived only in the expression porci sakres.

Among the composite forms the most noteworthy are perhaps sacerdos, word created with the addition to sacer of a word rooted in IE dhe- (as for Gr. tithemi, I pose) properly he who enacts sacral actions and sacrificium sacral rite, or more precisely the action by which something is rendered sacred. Other noteworthy composites are sacrarium, sacramentum, sacellum.

The derivate verbs sacrare is more recent as well as its composite forms consecro, resecro, obsecro I supplicate, however obsecro is to be found in ancient texts. It has substituted the more ancient pollucere of unknown origin.

Outside Italy the use of this IE root is attested with certainty only in Hittite saklai 'usage, rite, law'However glottologist Giacomo Devoto has indicated a relationship with Tocarian sakaer, eminent

The discussion of the connotations of the word sacer takes us to the heart of the history of Roman religious thought.

It has been argued that Italic as well as Celtic religious cultures preserved ancient common IE heritage, this fact being testified by the existence of a body of sacral lore handed down traditionally by a sacerdotal class. This lore conferred sacrality to the position of the ruler or king (Lat. rex (regs), Celt. rig, corresponding to Vedic rajahn). These facts would be homologous to what happened in India with the Vedic tradition and in Iran with the Avestan. This theory was expounded first by Joseph Vendryes in 1918.Such correspondences concerned the semantic sphere of religion and from it spread over the ethical-religious, political-religious and juridical-religious areas, as religion was the foundation of every sphere of human culture in those early stages of human civilization.

The theory has been further developed by Georges Dumezil in various works. Dumezil sees an etymological correspondence between the words designating the sacerdotal function in Latin and Vedic (flamen and brahman) and in many words connected to religion, such as ius, credo, ritus, purus, castus, voveo . However Dumezil had already noted that: "many words of the religious lexic had at a very early time shifted in Latin to the juridical field, this too being coloured with religion, preserving down to slight details the nuances and acceptions of Indoiranic: ius, right, properly speaking denotes all the area or measure of action which is permitted or due, and corresponds to Ved. yos' 'prosperity', Avest. yaosh 'integrity, mystic perfection'". However in Latin ius has a purely legal sense.

Even though such correspondences are undeniable the situation in ancient Latium had undergone deep changes as the boundaries between the functions of the rex and those of the sacerdotes had become blurred. Certainly the rex, contrary to what was the case in Vedic India, had assumed directly sacerdotal functions. At the same time common citizens could become sacerdotes as long they were patricians: this situation was markedly different from that of India and also of Celtic tribes which both had a sacerdotal class or caste.

The fact that in ancient Latium the king was primarily a warrior marks a blurring between the warring and the sacral functions. In Rome the rex was on the other hand invested of his authority by the will of the people and not directly by the gods, hence being a primus inter pares from a legal standpoint. But most importantly the king in ancient Rome was also the highest sacerdos, celebrated religious rites himself, differently from what happened both in Vedic India with the purohita and among Celt tribes with the druids. The hierarchy of the sacerdotal positons is stated by Festus. as follows: rex, flamen dialis, flamen martialis, flamen quirinalis, pontifex maximus. The first terms preserve remarkable elements of antiquity and the tripartiton of the flamines hints to the ancient tripartition of functions of Indoeuropean society. However in Rome the relics of this tripartition are very limited as it has been shewn above. Later during the Republic the rex sacrorum is just a figurehead and real religious power is in the hands of the pontifex maximus.

Such a blurring of functions affected (and then reflected) the essence itself of religion in Roman culture. The idea of sacer was affected too as it became a concept connected essentially to the sphere of political life, the publicum. According to Festus's definition nothing is sacer without a public legal sanction:"Gallus Aelius says that it is sacer what is in any way or by any institution of the community rendered sacred (consecratum), be it either a building or an altar or a sign, a place or money, or anything that else can be dedicated to the gods; any of these things that privates for their own practices of cult may dedicate to a god, that the Roman pontiffs do not consider it sacer". The passage from the condition of profanum to that of sacer requires fixed ritual actions including formulae, solemnia verba: the rite is performed by the state through the competent magistrate but the formula is uttered by the pontiff; even the duplicity of the terminology dedicatum-consecratum hints to the duplicity of the authorities that perform the rite: the sacerdos consecrat (consacrates), the state dedicat (dedicates). The reverse passage from the conditon of sacer to that of profanum, is named resecratio. It too needs precise ritual formulae and is defined by Festus as solvere religione.

The notion of sacer always implies a unilateral initiative: it is sacer only that which has been declared to be such by man. Fist of all gods: see sacer Janus in Ovid's Fasti. The consecratio implies a renounciation on the part of man to something that becomes property of the god.

Whenever it is the god that actively takes possess of something belonging to man, the term religiosus is always used instead of sacer. Death is such a case and thus the graveyard is named locus religiosus. Another instance is a place or object hit by lightning, the access to or contact with which were strictly forbidden.Festus states explicitly: "A place was once considered to become religiosus which looked to have been dedicated to himself by a god".

The word sacer does only design the existence or creation of a positive relationship with gods on the part of man. The content of such a relationship is then specified by a complex of norms or rules that make up the fas. Fowler has speculated that "sacer may have meant simply taboo, ie removed from the profanum without any special reference to a deity, but holy or accursed according to circumstances".

The meaning of sacer as belonging to gods is usual. Even in the expression porci sacres it stands for animals reserved to the gods. The idea of perfecton attributed to it by Varro is not correct, though it shows the way by which the idea of perfection and purity overlapped onto the original meaning because of the perfection required of animals chosen for sacrifice. It is noteworthy that animals not yet consecrati but reserved to this aim were considered sacres. The semantic evolution toward the idea of perfection of which Varro's text is testimony shows the reason why in time sacer will take on a connotation of moral or inner value: sacer perfect, thence sacred, untouchable, unviolable.

Often sacer has a negative meaning: instead of meaning 'in the possession of the god' it means 'not belonging to man', 'foreign to normal human interaction modality'. The dies sacri are nefasti or quieti, while the dies profani are fasti or negotiosi. This negative connotation of sacer explains why the word has no negative form such *insecer: Latin shows its peculiar attitude and difference from Greek that does have negative forms for words related to the sacred. The oppositon sacer profanus too provides a confirmation of this quality: profanus is what is outside the sacer, pro- fano before the fane, but it does imply a radical negation of the sacred. It can be invested of this quality at any time the community might feel the need for its declaration of sacrality. Nothing is sacred in itself and nothing is profane in itself: but everything can become sacred or profane according to circumstances, provided that the community declare it such by the relevant rites.

This fact bears a trace of the IE origin of the word as the Hittite saklai means rite. The restitution of the profane charachter to an object previously declared sacred is well documented: in the band of the ver sacrum of 217 BC we read: si id moritur...profanum esto "if the animal dies ...it shall be profane"

The first document of Latin literature, the stone of the Forum, bears the expression sakros esed, showing that the rite which is recorded thereon implies a provision for the possible accident that would make it invalid

Benveniste states that Latin has best shewn the distinction between sacred and profane.

In general it can be said that it is sacer everything that does not fall within the sphere of the ius. Instances in Hor. Serm. II 3 , 181: 'is intestabilis et sacer esto' for a person who cannot be witness in court; Prop. III 16 , 11: 'nec tamen sacros qui laedat amantis': ie lovers are set aside from the sphere of the ius in their relationship by the peculiar psychologic experience of love.

Even in the cases in which sacer takes up a meaning close to that of taboo when referred to people the same idea of separation is present. This is Festus's definiton: "It is considered sacer the man who has been judged by the people for a henious action: it is not fas to execute him, but he who shall kill him cannot be condemned of parricide".'homo sacer is est quem populus iudicavit ob maleficium; neque fas est eum imolari, sed qui occidit, parricidii non damnatur'

Human law cannot judge the man who has been declared sacred. The fas, ie the superior invisible setting on which the ius lies and is founded, forbids the revenge on the sacer person by the courts. Nothing else can better prove the foreigness to the ius of the sacer.

According to a lex regia: si parentem puer verberit, ast olle plorassit parens, puer divis parentum sacer esto. "if a child hits his parent to the point that the parent should cry, the child shall be sacred to the gods of the parents". The condition that the parent must be made cry is a necessary condition for the declaration of sacrality. The order that has been breached belongs to a higher sphere than that with which the rules proper to the ius are concerned. The culprit has offended besides his parent his parent's gods. It is up to them to take the just revenge.

Any action that can put at risk the foundations of the structure of communal organisation makes the perpetrator sacer, such the patronus that does not observes his obligations to his clientes, the man who moves the signs marking the boundaries fines of fields along with all his cattle, by Numa's disposition,fact that reveals once more the charachter of absolute objectivity of the declaration.

Similar is the situation of the person who has voted himself to the gods but has not died. The devotion puts him for ever outside to the sphere of the profane world. He cannot sacrifice and the community must offer an expiatory victim in his stead.

It is thence clear how the notion of sacer may have taken up the sense of 'accursed', as in Virgil's auri sacra fames, "the accursed hunger of gold" or in Plautus's sacerrumum domicilium for the brothel.

In use other than religious and legal the semantic limits of sacer are sometimes blurred. In Vergil it may take up the value of eeroj (eg Ideae sacer vertex Aen. 10, 230) and the lack of a clear distinction between prayer and incantation may give to sacer the value of 'magic', as in Horace Ep. 17, 6: Canidia parce voci tandem sacri.

According to Fugier sacer may also mean 'numinous'. This semantic value is attested only among authors of augustan times and there too it is doubtful that it may be regarded as autonomous from the justification of religious practices. In the same instances made by Fugier: eg Ov. Fas. III, 264 ff. est lacus, antica religione sacer.

It is a common feature of IE languages to distinguish the sphere of the sacred into two areas marked by a different terminology: on the one hand that of which is sacred for its inherent, intimate nature or mystical force and on the other hand that which is so for separation, ie which is so for being forbidden to human contact . Emil Benveniste has analysed these two series thoroughly:

Avestic: sp(e)nta-/yaoz-data-; Gr.: eeroj/-gioj; Goth.: hails/weihs.

The first term implies an idea of an exuberance of force, sign of the divine presence or of its effect.

In Latin this topic has given rise to debate among scholars as the correspondence of terms is unclear.

While it can be assumed that the use of the word sacer seems to hint clearly to an idea of separation (that which belongs to god(s) by official, public definition) it is difficult to identify a Latin word that designs that which is divine for its inherent nature. There are two other words attested as connected to the sphere of the sacred: sanctus and religiosus. Another, augustus has been proposed by Dumezil, but its use is not significantly attested in documents. We have though Ovid 's testimony of such a use in Fas. I, 608-9:

"Sancta vocant augusta patres, augusta vocantur

templa sacerdotum rite dicata manu..."

'The ancient name sancta the augusta, augusta are named the temples dedicated ritually by the hand of the sacerdotes.

Huguette Fugier has given to the root *sak of sacer, sacratio the meaning of existant, reel (Dumezil disagrees on this interpretation), and to the verb sancire the meaning rendre reel, whence rendre effectif, garanti: sanctus would thus mean garanti par une sanctio by means of a sacer act. Benveniste gives to the verb sancire the meaning of surrounded and protected by a defense, interpretation based on Gaius and Marcianus's definitions of sanctus as something which is defended militarily, as the city wall. On these grounds the two authors consider Lat. sanctus to denote the sacred by separation and sacer the sacred for internal force.

The preceding analysis of the usage of the word sacer shows that this view is arbitrary and untenable. While the two words might share the same etymology (being perhaps both rooted in *sak), it would be more appropriate to reverse this interpretation and see in sanctus the equivalent of the sacred for internal force or inherent nature (see sanctus). The connexion between sanctus and augustus is supported by Ovid's passage quoted above and by Dumezil's observation about the expressions sancti viri, sanctissimi viri as close to this notion.

In conclusion the use of sacer is tainted with an ancient inherent ambiguity that seems to be one of the most remarkable features of the notion itself. On the contrary sanctus has always a positive connotation.

Sanctus

Sanctus is an adjective derived from the past participle of the verb sancio. Sancio is supposed to share the same root *sak with sacer. It was formed by the insertion of the nasal 'n' and adding the ending in -yo instead of -o. According to linguists these are both marks of a more recent origin. The root *sak is perhaps to be found also in the theonim Sancus, an Umbrian or Sabin deity known also as Semo or Fidius Sancus, Fisius Sansius (Iguvine Tables Fisie Sansie, dative case).

It is noteworthy that Sancus was one of the three names of Dius Fidius along with Semo according to Ovid Fas. VI, 213-216:

Quaerebam Nonas Sanco Fidione referram,

an tibi, Semo pater; tum mihi Sancus ait:

"Cuicumque ex istis dederis, ego munus habeo:

nomina terna fero: sic voluere Cures".

Hunc igitur veteres donarunt aede Sabini,

inque Quirinali constituere iugo.

'I was asking whether I should connect the Nonae to Sancus or Fidius or to you father Semo; "Never mind to whom of those you shall make your offer, I will get the gift: I have a triple name: thus wanted the people of Cures". The ancient Sabins presented him with a shrine on the summit of the Quirinal'.

The Sabins, who dedicated the shrine on the Quirinal, considered Semo (Sancus, Dius Fidius) as their primogenitor or first forefather.

The original past paticiple sanctus at a very early date became autonomous toward the verb sancio as is testified by the appearence since classical times of a new past participle of this verb, sancitus, to convey meanings related to the legal semantic area.

According to Fugier who gives to root *sak the original meaning of existant, reel, sancire would mean rendre reel, effectif, garanti. Sanctus would thus stand for 'garanti par une sanctio generally 'a l'aide d'une act sacer'. Benveniste gives the verb the meaning of 'surrounded by a defense' (on the grounds of Gaius 2, 3-8 and Marcianus's definition in the Digesta 1, 8, 8), while noun sanctio would denote the punishment 'applied by the gods themselves who intervened as vangers'.

According to Moranithe belonging of sancio to the root of sacer and its position in the sphere of the notion of fas is made clear by many instances. In Aen. XII 200 the praying charachter says the following words to Jupiter: "audiat haec genitor qui foedera fulmine sancit". The god renders sacred the pacts between the contenders, underlining the adherence of ius to the fas with lightning. The instances show that to make something pass from the profane to the sacred a precise rite, gesture or formula is needed. The verb sancio is thus used governing the ablative of means.

Sancio though lost its religious meaning of rendering sacer very early, owing to the competition of words more directly connected to the root one, such as consecro. As many other Latin words originally concerning the religious sphere its meaning shifted toward the juridical field, and is said mostly of laws, pacts and treaties, sancire iura, pacta, foedera. However originally it must have pointed out the action which gave a religious guarantee to the legal act as explained above, underlining that the violation of the norm not only did imply an outrage to the ius but was an offense to gods.

The sanctio is integral part of the law however the process by which both lex and sanctio progressively left the religious sphere since historic times has changed their sense. This change is proved by a historical fact of the V century BC, when a group of laws were defined leges sacratae and not sanctae to indicate their insertion into the religious sphere of the fas.

Sanctus is defined by grammarians and jurists as distinguished both from sacer and from profanus. Ulpian writes: dicimus sancta, quae neque sacra neque profana sunt, 'we call sancta things that are neither sacred nor profane'. It is debated whether Gaius's definition, who quotes and comments Aelius Gallus, might be appropriate and relevant: inter sacrum autem et sanctum et religiosum differentias bellissime refert : sacrum aedificium, consecrato deo; sanctum murum, qui sit circa oppidum; religiosum sepulcrum, ubi mortuus sepultus aut humatus sit, 'the difference between sacer, sanctus and religiosus are very well explained by Gallus: sacer is a building consacated to a god; sanctus is a wall that surrounds a town; religiosus is grave where a deceased is buried'. Gaius comments: res sacrae quae diis superis consecratae sunt; res religiosae quae diis manibus relictae sunt; sancta quoque res, velut muri et portae, quommodo divini iuris sunt, 'sacrae are things consacrated to the heavenly gods; religiosae are things left to the gods Manes; sanctae too are things, like walls and gates, that in some way belong to the divine law'. Marcianus supports this last interpretation: sanctum est quod ab iniuria hominum defensum atque munitum est, 'sanctum is something that is defended and protected from the attack of men'.Ovid calls Terminus, the god presiding and guarding the limit of land properties, sanctus: "...cantant laudes, Termine sancte, tuas".

Sanctus has a wider use than verb sancio even though it too extends its value to the juridical semantic area: it allows for the clear indication of the time, person, reason or act which makes something pass from the profane to the sacred and thus get to belong to the fas.

Sanctus can be said of things (walls, laws), of people (sancti are universally called the rex, the senate and magistrates). The amsancti valles of Vergil Aen. VII, 565 are glossed by Servius as undique sancti 'wherever holy' places.

Benveniste thinks that sanctus should mean the sacred for separation while sacer the sacred for internal force, drawing on Digest. 1, 8, 8 quoted here above. However such an interpretation is proved untenable by the analysis of the meaning of sacer and by the further connotations of sanctus below.

According to Morani sanctus can take on an active value: vir ...foederum sanctus et diligens. It can indicate that which belongs to the god, both for renounciation of man and for its own nature (eg ter quatuor corpora sancta avium Ennius fr. 43 Valm.), that which is ritual and numinous.

However it can take on a great number of nuances which are precluded to the other term. In Livius Andronicus (Od.IV, 513) it is applied to deities themselves sancta puer Saturni regina translating potnia. In Ennius sancta dearum renders the homeric dia theaoon. The epithet sanctus is given to many gods, especially those of fertility: Apollo Pithius by Nevius, Venus and Tiberinus pater tuo cum flumine sancto by Ennius and Livy I (in the words of Horatius Cocles). Sancta are said to be called the augusta by the ancient, ie religious rites or temples, by Ovid Fas. I, 608-9 (see under sacer). Dumezil notes that the use of sanctus as referred to people is of the best Latin usage and close to the sense of augustus. Fugier cites the instances of Quinta Claudia femina sanctissima who underwent a chastity ordeal in the incident of the arrival of the ship bringing the statue of Cybeles to Rome and of Cato Uticensis named by Romans sanctus civis for his refusal to live on within an impious community. Morani thinks that it is perhaps under the influence of the Greek -gioj that sanctus invades the semantic area of castus: (Quint. V, 12, 20) iudicium masculi et incorrupti, ne dicam gravis et sancti, viri, 'the judgment of a manly and uncorrupt, let alone serious and sanctus, man'; (Iuv. XIII, 64) sanctum egregiumque virum si cerno, 'if I see a sanctus and extraordinary man'; (Plaut. Rudr. 1234) isto tu pauper es, quom nimis sancte pius, 'for this you are poor, because you are too sancte pious'. In this last instance the adverb goes beyond both sacer and castus.

Remarkable in this same line of semantic development is Cicero's passage (Nat. deor. I, 116) in which sanctitas is defined as scientia colendorum deorum, 'science of worshipping gods', as opposite to pietas which is iustitia adveros deos, 'justice toward gods'.

Whatever its semantic extension it must be remarked that, contrary to the ambiguity of the term sacer, sanctus has always only a positive connotation.

Templum

Templum can be defined as a piece of ground cut off, a sacred enclosure created for ritual and cultual purposes. Cf. Greek temenos, from temnein to cut. Roman temples are quadrangular or rectangular in form because they must be inaugurated. Inauguration requires a spacial orientation defined by the four directions of heaven: the first gestures of the augur consist in delimiting the regions of the sky regiones caeli: antica (before), postica (behind), dextra (right), sinistra (left). The site of the temple is delimited by the augurs and fixed witha solemn declaration (quibusdam conceptis verbis). It is then called locus effatus and shall determine the shape of the building that is going to be erected. It is a quadrangle or a rectangle the four sides of which correspond to the four cardinal points. In Roman custom the front shall face West so that the sacrificer standing at the altar before the temple must face East.

On the altar either isolated or set before a sacred building the offering is burnt and thereby conveyed to the god. Beside the altar or ara there must be another small fire foculus("nec licere vel privata vel publica sacra sine foco fieri" 'neither private nor public religious rites can take place without a fire' Serv. Aen.3, 134). This small fire represent the hearth, ie the fire of the landlord in Vedic sacrificial ritual. The hearth is put to use only before sacrifice to receive the incense an wine in the praefatio. Since the place of cult has become fixed in Rome the hearth is only symbolic, a foculus. Therefore it is situated nearby the fixed point represented by the main fire, that of the ara. In Hittite hassha too means altar, the place where victims are burnt. The question whether the inauguration of Numa Pompilius (and after him or other kings and later magistrates) took place in a templum is generally accepted by scholars as documented by many passages in Livy. The episode of Numa's inauguration is narrated in I 18, 5-10. Dumezil writes that the elicitation and of the signs (auspicia impetrativa) could only take place on a clearly delimited terrain templum For its inherent interesat to the topic Varro's passage is worth quoting and discussing: "In terris dictum templumlocus augurii aut auspicii caus quibusdam conceptis verbis finitus. Concipitur verbis non isdem usque quaque

Templa must be quadrangular, either with or without a visible framework, have only one entry and the terrain should be exorcized and freed in advance by all evil , impure or hostile forces with adequate formulae (effari, liberare)

cultual purposes. Cf. Greek temenos, from temnein to cut.

Roman temples are quadrangular or rectangular in form because they must be inaugurated. Inauguration requires a spacial orientation defined by the four directions of heaven: the first gestures of the augur consist in delimiting the regions of the sky regiones caeli: antica (before), postica (behind), dextra (right), sinistra (left). The site of the temple is delimited by the augurs and fixed witha solemn declaration (quibusdam conceptis verbis). It is then called locus effatus and shall determine the shape of the building that is going to be erected. It is a quadrangle or a rectangle the four sides of which correspond to the four cardinal points. In Roman custom the front shall face West so that the sacrificer standing at the altar before the temple must face East.

For its inherent interest to the topic Varro's passage is worth quoting and discussing: "In terris dictum templum locus augurii aut auspicii causa quibusdam conceptis verbis finitus. Concipitur verbis non isdem usque quaque; in arce sic: "Item<pla> tescaque me ita sunto quoad ego eas te linguam nuncupavero. Ullaber arbos quirquir est, quam me sentio dixisse, templum tescumquem + festo in sinistrum. Olaner arbos quirquir est, quod me sentio dixisse templum tescumquem +festo dextrum. Inter ea conregione conspicione cortumione utique ea erectissime sensi"".

References

M. Morani"Lat. 'sacer' ..." Aevum LV 1981 p. 38
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaique Paris, 1974, Considerations preliminaires IX
H. FugierRecherches... cit. p.18 ff.
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaique Paris, 1974, Considerations preliminaires XV
H. Fugier Recherches sur l'expression du sacre' dans la langue latine Paris, 1963, pp. 127-151
G. Dumezil ibidem
M. Morani "Lat. "sacer" e il rapporto uomo dio nel lessico religioso latino" Aevum LV, 1981, pp.30-46
G. Dumezil ibidem p.128
R. Orestano "Dal ius al fas. Rapporto tra diritto divino e umano in Roma dall'eta' primitiva all'eta' classica" BIDR, NS, V, 1939, pp.194-273
Le Vocabulaire des Institutions Indoeuropeennes 1953 pp. 386 sqq.
M. Morani ibidem p.45
W.W. Skeat Etymolgical Dictionary of the English Language New York, 1963, sv Fane
M. Morani "Lat. 'sacer'..." Aevum LV 1981 p. 33
W.W. Skeat Etymological dictionary of the English Language s.v. legal, legion, diligent, negligent, religion
L. Rocci Dizionario Greco Italiano Firenze, 1941
Serv. in Aen. III, 89
M. Morani "Lat. 'sacer'..." Aevum LV 1981 p. 38
CIL IX 3513
G. Dumezil la religion romaine archaic Paris, 1974,
eg Pl. Merc. 678; Lucr. V, 1227; Liv. III 5, 14
M.Morani "Lat. sacer'..." Aevum LV 1981 p. 35
W. W. Skeat Etymological Dictionary of the English Language s.v. peace, pact
eg Pl. Trin. 836 sqq.
G. Dumezil La religion Romaine archaique It. transl.1977 p.128
see the episode of Dido and her sister Anna in Aen. IV, 50-56:"delubra adeunt pacemque per aras exquirunt" seeking the benign consent of gods to Dido's love for Aeneas
M. Morani ibidem p. 35
E. Benveniste Le vocabulaire... p. 404
W. W. Skeat Etymological Dictionary of the English Language New York 1964 sv prodige
R. Bloch Prodiges dans l'antiquite classique Part 3 Rome p.79
Cic. De div. I, 93
A. Ernout, A.Meillet Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine sv
C. O. Thulin "Synonima quaedam latina" in Commemorationes philologicae in honorem Johannes Paulson Goeteborg, 1905
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaique Paris, 1974, Considerations preliminaires IV
C. Koch Religio 1960 p.100 and note 1
W.W.Skeat Etymological Dictionary of the English Language s.v. Religion
Fest. p. 253 L
Liv. 27, 5, 7
Fest. p. 345 L2
Liv. X 36, 11
si deus si dea es Cat. Agr. 139; si si divus si diva esset Liv. VII 26,4; Juppiter OM, sive qua alio nomine te appellare volueris Serv. in Aen. II 251
H. Fugier Recherches sur les expressions du sacre'... Paris, 1963, p. 207 on Livy V, 57, 2
R. Turcan Religion romaine. 2. Le culte. Leiden-New York 1988, pp.5 ff.
apud Svet. August.7
Catullus "Carm. 76
Beard, North, Price, Religions of Rome: a History, Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1998, 217.
M. Morani ibidem p. 40
J. Friedrich Heithitisches Woerterbuch Heidelberg, 1952, 1954; E. H. Sturtevant A Comparative grammar of the Hittite language Philadelphia, 1951 (2nd), p.159; IEW p. 878
G. Devoto Origini Indoeuropee Firenze, 1962,p. 468
J. Vendryes "Les correspondences de vocabulaire entre l'indo-iranien et l'italo-celtique" MSL, XX, 1918, pp. 265-285
Flamen brahman;Works collected in Idees romaines
G. Dunezil La religion romaine archaique 1974, pp83 sqq.
Fest. p. 198 L
Fest. p. 414 L2: "Gallus Aelius ait sacrum esse quodcumque modo atque instituto civitatis consecratum est, sive aedis sive ara sive signum, locum sive pecunia, sive aliud quod dis dedicatum atque consecratum sit; quod autem privati suae religionis causa aliquid earum rerum deo dedicent, id pontifices Romanos non existimare sacrum".
Fest. p.253 L
Fas. I, 95
F. De Visscher "Locus religiosus" Atti del Congresoo internazionale di Diritto Romano, 3, 1951
Var. LL V, 150
Fest.253 L: "locus statim fieri putabatur religiosus, quod eum deus dicasse videbatur".
W. W. Fowler "The Original Meaning of the Word Sacer" Journal of Roman Studies, I, 1911, p.57-63
Varro De re rustica II, 1: porci puri ad sacrificium
M. Morani "Lat. sacer...cit. p. 41
Liv.XXII, 10
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaique Paris, 1974, Considerations preliminaires
Fest. p.424L
PF p. 260L
H. Bennet Sacer esto.. thinks that the person declared sacred was originally sacrificed tot he gods. This hypothesis seems to be supported by Plut. Rom. 22, 3 and Macr. Sat.III, 7, 5, who compares the homo sacer to the victim in a sacrifice. The prerogative of declaring somebody sacer was first of the rex, afterwards it became of the pontiff on the grounds of a court ruling.
Serv. Aen.VI, 609; Dion. Hal. II 10, 3
PF 505 L; Dion. Hal. II 10, 3
Liv. VIII 9, 4 sqq.
Verg. Aen. III 57; Plaut. Non.397, 20
M. Morani "Lat. "sacer" ...nel lessico religioso latino" Aevum LV, 1981, p. 43
F. Bernini Ovidio Fasti Bologna, 1983 Traduz. ital. e note
H. Fugier Recherches... cit., pp. 125 ff.
E. Benveniste Le vocabulaire... cit., pp. 427 ff.
M. Morani Lat. "sacer"... cit., p. 41
Ulpian 1, 1 sqq.
Ulpian Digest. 1, 8, 9
Digest. 1, 8, 8
Fas. II, 658
Cic. Verr. VII, 19, 49
W. W. Skeat Etymological Dictionary of the English Language New York 1963 sv temple
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaique Paris, 1974 p.510
J. Marquardt "Le cult chez les romaines" Manuel des antiquites romaines XII 1 French Tranl. 1889 pp. 187-188
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archiaque Paris, 1974, part V, ch. 5
Var. LL 7, 8
Cic. Leg.2, 2; Serv. Aen. 4, 200
W. W. Skeat Etymological Dictionary of the English Language New York 1963 sv temple
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaique Paris, 1974 p.510
J. Marquardt "Le cult chez les romaines" Manuel des antiquites romaines XII 1 French Tranl. 1889 pp. 187-188
G. Dumezil La religion romaine archiaque Paris, 1974, part V, ch. 5
Var. LL 7, 8
Cic. Leg.2, 2; Serv. Aen. 4, 200

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