Lectisternium
Encyclopedia
In ancient Roman religion
, the lectisternium was a propitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses. The word derives from lectum sternere, "to spread (or "drape") a couch." The deities were represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood, with heads of bronze, wax or marble, and covered with drapery. It has also been suggested that the divine images were bundles of sacred herbs tied together in the form of a head, covered by a waxen mask so as to resemble a kind of bust, rather like the straw figures called Argei
. These figures were laid upon a couch (lectus), the left arm resting on a cushion (pulvinus, whence the couch itself was often called pulvinar) in the attitude
of reclining. The couch was set out in the open street, and a meal placed before it on a table.
Livy
says that the ceremony took place "for the first time" in Rome in the year 399 BC, after a pestilence had caused the Sibylline Books
to be consulted by the duumviri sacris faciundis, the two priestly officials who maintained the archive. Three couches were prepared for three pairs of gods — Apollo
and Latona
, Hercules
and Diana
, Mercury
and Neptune
. The feast lasted for eight (or seven) days, and was also celebrated by private individuals. The citizens kept open house, quarrels were forgotten, debtors and prisoners were released, and everything done to banish sorrow.
Similar honors were paid to other divinities in subsequent times: Fortuna
, Saturnus
, Juno
Regina of the Aventine
, the three Capitoline
deities (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva
). In 217 BC, after the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene
, a lectisternium was held for three days to six pairs of gods, corresponding to the Twelve Olympians
of ancient Greek religion: Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Mars
, Venus
, Apollo, Diana, Vulcan
, Vesta
, Mercury, Ceres.
In 205 BC, alarmed by unfavorable prodigies, the Romans were ordered to fetch the Great Mother of the gods from Pessinus
in Phrygia
; in the following year the image was brought to Rome, and a lectisternium held. In later times, the lectisternium became a constant or even daily occurrence, celebrated in the different temples. Occasionally the "Draping of Couches" was part of Roman Triumph
celebrations. Aulus Hirtius
reports that Julius Caesar was greeted with "draped dining couches" following his victory in Gaul, in anticipation of a forthcoming triumph. Such celebrations must be distinguished from those which were ordered, like the earlier lectisternia, by the Sibylline Books in special emergencies.
Offerings of food were made to the gods in very early Roman times on such occasions as the ceremony of confarreatio
, and the epulum Jovis
(often confounded with the lectisternium). The lectisternia, however, are likely of Greek origin. The Greek theoxenia (Θεοξένια) is similar, except that the gods played the part of host. The gods associated with it were either previously unknown to Roman religion, though often concealed under Roman names, or were provided with a new cult. Thus Hercules was not worshipped as at the Ara Maxima, where, according to Servius
and Cornelius Balbus
a lectisternium was forbidden. The Sibylline Books, which decided whether a lectisternium was to be held or not, were of Greek origin; the custom of reclining at meals was Greek. The reception, feeding and foot washing in Genesis 18 by Abraham of the angelic visitors resembles both lectisternia and theoxenia.
Some, however, assign an Etruscan
origin to the ceremony, the Sibylline Books themselves being looked upon as old Italian "black books." It may be that as the lectisternia became an almost everyday occurrence in Rome, people forgot their foreign origin and the circumstances in which they were first introduced, and then the word pulvinar with its associations was transferred to times in which it had no existence.
In the Imperial era
, chairs were substituted for couches in the case of goddesses, and the lectisternium in their case became a sellisternium
. This was in accordance with Roman custom, since in the earliest times all the members of a family sat at meals, and in later times at least the women and children. This is a point of distinction between the original practice at the lectisternium and the epulum Jovis, the goddesses at the latter being provided with chairs, whereas in the lectisternium they reclined.
In Christian times the word was used for a feast in memory of the dead.
Religion in ancient Rome
Religion in ancient Rome encompassed the religious beliefs and cult practices regarded by the Romans as indigenous and central to their identity as a people, as well as the various and many cults imported from other peoples brought under Roman rule. Romans thus offered cult to innumerable deities...
, the lectisternium was a propitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses. The word derives from lectum sternere, "to spread (or "drape") a couch." The deities were represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood, with heads of bronze, wax or marble, and covered with drapery. It has also been suggested that the divine images were bundles of sacred herbs tied together in the form of a head, covered by a waxen mask so as to resemble a kind of bust, rather like the straw figures called Argei
Argei
Argei may refer to:* Argei , ritual figures in ancient Roman religion, and also their shrines* Argei - olive oil manufacturer...
. These figures were laid upon a couch (lectus), the left arm resting on a cushion (pulvinus, whence the couch itself was often called pulvinar) in the attitude
Attitude (art)
Attitude as a term of fine art refers to the posture or gesture given to a figure by a painter or sculptor. It applies to the body and not to a mental state, but the arrangement of the body is presumed to serve a communicative or expressive purpose...
of reclining. The couch was set out in the open street, and a meal placed before it on a table.
Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
says that the ceremony took place "for the first time" in Rome in the year 399 BC, after a pestilence had caused the Sibylline Books
Sibylline Books
The Sibylline Books or Libri Sibyllini were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Republic and the Empire...
to be consulted by the duumviri sacris faciundis, the two priestly officials who maintained the archive. Three couches were prepared for three pairs of gods — Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
and Latona
Leto
In Greek mythology, Leto is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. The island of Kos is claimed as her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus...
, Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
and Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
, Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
and Neptune
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
. The feast lasted for eight (or seven) days, and was also celebrated by private individuals. The citizens kept open house, quarrels were forgotten, debtors and prisoners were released, and everything done to banish sorrow.
Similar honors were paid to other divinities in subsequent times: Fortuna
Fortuna (mythology)
Fortuna was the goddess of fortune and personification of luck in Roman religion. She might bring good luck or bad: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Justice, and came to represent life's capriciousness...
, Saturnus
Saturn (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest time. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in...
, Juno
Juno (mythology)
Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera...
Regina of the Aventine
Aventine Hill
The Aventine Hill is one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the twelfth rione, or ward, of Rome.-Location and boundaries:The Aventine hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills...
, the three Capitoline
Capitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol...
deities (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
). In 217 BC, after the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene
Battle of Lake Trasimene
The Battle of Lake Trasimene was a Roman defeat in the Second Punic War between the Carthaginians under Hannibal and the Romans under the consul Gaius Flaminius...
, a lectisternium was held for three days to six pairs of gods, corresponding to the Twelve Olympians
Twelve Olympians
The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were siblings. Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis were children of Zeus...
of ancient Greek religion: Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
, Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
, Apollo, Diana, Vulcan
Vulcan (mythology)
Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
, Vesta
Vesta (mythology)
Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. Vesta's presence was symbolized by the sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples...
, Mercury, Ceres.
In 205 BC, alarmed by unfavorable prodigies, the Romans were ordered to fetch the Great Mother of the gods from Pessinus
Pessinus
Pessinus was a city in Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey on the upper course of the river Sakarya River , from which the mythological King Midas is said to have ruled a greater Phrygian realm...
in Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
; in the following year the image was brought to Rome, and a lectisternium held. In later times, the lectisternium became a constant or even daily occurrence, celebrated in the different temples. Occasionally the "Draping of Couches" was part of Roman Triumph
Roman triumph
The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...
celebrations. Aulus Hirtius
Aulus Hirtius
Aulus Hirtius was one of the consuls of the Roman Republic and a writer on military subjects.He was known to have been a legate of Julius Caesar's starting around 54 BC and served as an envoy to Pompey in 50. During the Roman Civil Wars he served in Spain, he might have been a tribune in 48, and...
reports that Julius Caesar was greeted with "draped dining couches" following his victory in Gaul, in anticipation of a forthcoming triumph. Such celebrations must be distinguished from those which were ordered, like the earlier lectisternia, by the Sibylline Books in special emergencies.
Offerings of food were made to the gods in very early Roman times on such occasions as the ceremony of confarreatio
Confarreatio
In ancient Rome, confarreatio was a traditional patrician form of marriage. The ceremony involved the bride and bridegroom sharing a cake of spelt, in Latin far or panis farreus, hence the rite's name. The Flamen Dialis and Pontifex Maximus presided over the wedding, and ten witnesses had to be...
, and the epulum Jovis
Epulum Jovis
In ancient Roman religion, the Epulum Jovis was a sumptuous ritual feast offered to Jove on the Ides of September and a smaller feast on the Ides of November . It was celebrated during the Ludi Romani and the Ludi Plebeii .The gods were formally invited, and attended in the form of statues...
(often confounded with the lectisternium). The lectisternia, however, are likely of Greek origin. The Greek theoxenia (Θεοξένια) is similar, except that the gods played the part of host. The gods associated with it were either previously unknown to Roman religion, though often concealed under Roman names, or were provided with a new cult. Thus Hercules was not worshipped as at the Ara Maxima, where, according to Servius
Maurus Servius Honoratius
Maurus Servius Honoratus was a late 4th-century grammarian, with the contemporary reputation of being the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he was the author of a set of commentaries on the works of Virgil...
and Cornelius Balbus
Lucius Cornelius Balbus (minor)
Lucius Cornelius Balbus , received Roman citizenship at the same time as his uncle....
a lectisternium was forbidden. The Sibylline Books, which decided whether a lectisternium was to be held or not, were of Greek origin; the custom of reclining at meals was Greek. The reception, feeding and foot washing in Genesis 18 by Abraham of the angelic visitors resembles both lectisternia and theoxenia.
Some, however, assign an Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
origin to the ceremony, the Sibylline Books themselves being looked upon as old Italian "black books." It may be that as the lectisternia became an almost everyday occurrence in Rome, people forgot their foreign origin and the circumstances in which they were first introduced, and then the word pulvinar with its associations was transferred to times in which it had no existence.
In the Imperial era
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, chairs were substituted for couches in the case of goddesses, and the lectisternium in their case became a sellisternium
Sellisternium
The sellisternium or solisternium was a ritual banquet for goddesses in the Ancient Roman religion. It differs from other goddess banquets in that the divinities were all seated on chairs, as opposed to reclining on couches, as in the lectisternium...
. This was in accordance with Roman custom, since in the earliest times all the members of a family sat at meals, and in later times at least the women and children. This is a point of distinction between the original practice at the lectisternium and the epulum Jovis, the goddesses at the latter being provided with chairs, whereas in the lectisternium they reclined.
In Christian times the word was used for a feast in memory of the dead.
Sources
- Article by A. Bouché-Leclercq in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquités;
- Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii. 45, 187 (1885);
- G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, p. 355 seq.;
- Monograph by Wackermann (Hanau, 1888);
- C. Pascal, Studii di antichità e mitologia (1896).
External links
- Lectisternium (article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities)