Lucus
Encyclopedia
In ancient Roman religion
, a lucus is a sacred grove
.
Lucus was one of four Latin
words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with nemus, silva, and saltus), but unlike the others it was primarily used as a religious designation. Servius defines the lucus as "a large number of trees with a religious significance," as distinguished from the silva, a natural forest, and a nemus, an arboretum
that is not consecrated. A saltus usually implied a wilderness area with varied topographical features.
A lucus was a cultivated place, more like a wooded park than a forest, and might contain an aedes, a building that housed the image of a god, or other landscaped features that facilitated or gave rise to ritual. It has been conjectured, for instance, that the Lupercal
, referred to as a "cave," was a small lucus with an artificial grotto, since archaeology has uncovered no natural cave in the area.
Apuleius
records that "when pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove (lucus) or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow (votum
), or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while." What the Romans understood by religion lay in these ritual gestures, and not in contemplation.
derive the word "from a letting in of light" (a lucendo); that is, the lucus was the clearing encompassed by trees. The Old High German
cognate
lôh also means "clearing, holy grove." Lucus appears to have been understood in this sense in early medieval literature
; until the 10th century, it is regularly translated into OHG as harug, a word never used for the secular silva. Servius, however, somewhat perversely says that a lucus is so called because non luceat, "it is not illuminated," perhaps implying that a proper sacred grove hosted only legitimate daytime ceremonies and not dubious nocturnal rites that required torchlight.
, Cato
records a Roman ritual lucum conlucare, "to clear a clearing." The officiant is instructed to offer a pig as a piaculum, a propitiation
or expiatory offering made in advance of the potential wrong committed against the grove through human agency. The following words are to be formulated (verba concipito) for the particular site:
The word piaculum is repeated three times in the prayer, emphasizing that the sacrifice of the pig is not a freewill offering, but something owed to the deity by right (ius
). The piaculum compensates the deity for a transgression or offense, and differs from a regular sacrifice offered in the hope of procuring favor in return (do ut des).
It is tempting, but misleading, to read ecological
principles into ritualized agriculture; for the early Romans, respect was the partner of fear in their regard for the divine forces in nature, and the open invocation with which this prayer begins is a contractual "out" or hedge. The piaculum was a guarantee that the action of clearing was valid. Thoreau nonetheless made admiring reference to Cato's prayer in Walden
: "I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which old Romans did when they came to thin, or let in the light to, a consecrated grove (lucum conlucare)."
("Grove Festival") was held on July 19 and 21, according to the Fasti Amiterni, a calendar
dating from the reign of Tiberius
found at Amiternum (now S. Vittorino) in Sabine
territory.
in Spain and the Lucus Feroniae
near Capena
. Lucus is therefore part of the Latin name of several different ancient places in the Roman Empire
from which the modern name derives, including:
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...
, a lucus is a sacred grove
Sacred grove
A sacred grove is a grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric Europe, but feature in various cultures throughout the world...
.
Lucus was one of four Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with nemus, silva, and saltus), but unlike the others it was primarily used as a religious designation. Servius defines the lucus as "a large number of trees with a religious significance," as distinguished from the silva, a natural forest, and a nemus, an arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
that is not consecrated. A saltus usually implied a wilderness area with varied topographical features.
A lucus was a cultivated place, more like a wooded park than a forest, and might contain an aedes, a building that housed the image of a god, or other landscaped features that facilitated or gave rise to ritual. It has been conjectured, for instance, that the Lupercal
Lupercal
The Lupercal is a cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome, between the Temple of Apollo Palatinus and the Basilica of Santa Anastasia. In the legend of Rome's foundation, Romulus and Remus were found there by the lactating female wolf who suckled them until they were found by Faustulus...
, referred to as a "cave," was a small lucus with an artificial grotto, since archaeology has uncovered no natural cave in the area.
Apuleius
Apuleius
Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
records that "when pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove (lucus) or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow (votum
Votum
In ancient Roman religion, a votum, plural vota, is a vow or promise made to a deity. The word comes from the past participle of the Latin verb voveo, vovere, "vow, promise." As the result of this verbal action, a votum is also that which fulfills a vow, that is, the thing promised, such as...
), or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while." What the Romans understood by religion lay in these ritual gestures, and not in contemplation.
Etymology
Some ancient sources as well as modern etymologistsEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
derive the word "from a letting in of light" (a lucendo); that is, the lucus was the clearing encompassed by trees. The Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
lôh also means "clearing, holy grove." Lucus appears to have been understood in this sense in early medieval literature
Early Medieval literature
See also: Ancient literature, 10th century in literature, list of years in literature.This is a list of literature dating to the 6th to 9th centuries...
; until the 10th century, it is regularly translated into OHG as harug, a word never used for the secular silva. Servius, however, somewhat perversely says that a lucus is so called because non luceat, "it is not illuminated," perhaps implying that a proper sacred grove hosted only legitimate daytime ceremonies and not dubious nocturnal rites that required torchlight.
To clear a clearing
In his book On AgricultureDe Agri Cultura
De Agri Cultura , written by Cato the Elder, is the oldest surviving work of Latin prose. Alexander Hugh McDonald, in his article for the Oxford Classical Dictionary, dated this essay's composition to about 160 BC and noted that "for all of its lack of form, its details of old custom and...
, Cato
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
records a Roman ritual lucum conlucare, "to clear a clearing." The officiant is instructed to offer a pig as a piaculum, a propitiation
Propitiation
Propitiation is appeasing or making well disposed , especially a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding Divine retribution.-Christian theology:...
or expiatory offering made in advance of the potential wrong committed against the grove through human agency. The following words are to be formulated (verba concipito) for the particular site:
Whether thou be god or goddess (si deus, si deaSi deus si deaSi deus si dea is an Archaic Latin phrase meaning "whether god or goddess", used to address a deity of unknown gender. It was also written sive deus sive dea, sei deus sei dea, or sive mas sive femina ....
) to whom this grove is dedicated, as it is thy right to receive a sacrifice of a pig for the thinning of this sacred grove, and to this intent, whether I or one at my bidding do it, may it be rightly done. To this end, in offering this pig to thee I humbly beg that thou wilt be gracious and merciful to me, to my house and household, and to my children. Wilt thou deign to receive this pig which I offer thee to this end.
The word piaculum is repeated three times in the prayer, emphasizing that the sacrifice of the pig is not a freewill offering, but something owed to the deity by right (ius
Ius
Ius or Jus etymologically means "that which is binding" and comes from the same root as iungere, "to join." In ancient Rome it was used primarily to mean a right to which a citizen was entitled by virtue of his citizenship...
). The piaculum compensates the deity for a transgression or offense, and differs from a regular sacrifice offered in the hope of procuring favor in return (do ut des).
It is tempting, but misleading, to read ecological
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
principles into ritualized agriculture; for the early Romans, respect was the partner of fear in their regard for the divine forces in nature, and the open invocation with which this prayer begins is a contractual "out" or hedge. The piaculum was a guarantee that the action of clearing was valid. Thoreau nonetheless made admiring reference to Cato's prayer in Walden
Walden
Walden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
: "I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which old Romans did when they came to thin, or let in the light to, a consecrated grove (lucum conlucare)."
Festival of the grove
The LucariaLucaria
In ancient Roman religion, the Lucaria was a festival of the grove held July 19 and 21. The original meaning of the ritual was obscure by the time of Varro , who omits it in his list of festivals...
("Grove Festival") was held on July 19 and 21, according to the Fasti Amiterni, a calendar
Fasti
In ancient Rome, the fasti were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events...
dating from the reign of Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
found at Amiternum (now S. Vittorino) in Sabine
Sabine
The Sabines were an Italic tribe that lived in the central Appennines of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome...
territory.
Place names
A lucus might become such a focus of activity that a community grew up around it, as was the case with the Lucus Augusti that is now LugoLugo
Lugo is a city in northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 97,635 in 2010, which makes is the fourth most populated city in Galicia.-Population:...
in Spain and the Lucus Feroniae
Lucus Feroniae
Lucus Feroniae was an ancient sacred grove dedicated to the Sabine goddess Feronia. It was located in Etruria, across the ancient Via Tiberina, in what is now the territory of the modern commune of Capena, Lazio, next to the border with the neighbouring commune of Fiano Romano.It was visited both...
near Capena
Capena
Capena is a town and comune in the province of Rome, Lazio region . The town has borrowed its modern name from a pre-Roman and Roman settlement that was located three kilometres to its north....
. Lucus is therefore part of the Latin name of several different ancient places in the Roman Empire
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....
from which the modern name derives, including:
- Lucus Angitiae ("Sacred Grove of AngitiaAngitiaAngitia was a goddess among the Marsi, the Paeligni and other Oscan-Umbrian populations of central Italy. She was associated in antiquity as snake-charmers who claimed her as their ancestor. Roman interpretations probably obscure her Marsian significance.Her myths vary...
"), now Luco dei MarsiLuco dei MarsiLuco dei Marsi is a comune and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is part of the Marsica.The town was probably founded by the Roman Emperor Claudius to house workers in the drying of the Lacus Fucinus...
, a town in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... - Lucus AugustiLucus AugustiLucus Augusti is the Latin name of two different ancient places in the Roman Empire:*Lugo, a city in Spain*Luc-en-Diois, a city in France...
, the name of multiple sites, such as:- LugoLugoLugo is a city in northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 97,635 in 2010, which makes is the fourth most populated city in Galicia.-Population:...
, the city in SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... - Luc-en-DioisLuc-en-DioisLuc-en-Diois is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. It is situated on the Drôme River.-History:...
, in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- Lugo
- Lucus FeroniaeLucus FeroniaeLucus Feroniae was an ancient sacred grove dedicated to the Sabine goddess Feronia. It was located in Etruria, across the ancient Via Tiberina, in what is now the territory of the modern commune of Capena, Lazio, next to the border with the neighbouring commune of Fiano Romano.It was visited both...
("Sacred Grove of FeroniaFeronia (mythology)In ancient Roman religion, Feronia was a goddess broadly associated with fertility and abundance. She was especially honored among plebeians and freedmen...
") or FeroniaFeronia (Etruria)Feronia or Lucus Feroniae was an ancient town of southern Etruria, at the foot of Mount Soracte, within the territory of Capena, with a celebrated temple or shrine of the goddess from whom it derived its name, and a sacred grove, attached to it...
, a now-disappeared city in EtruriaEtruriaEtruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria. A particularly noteworthy work dealing with Etruscan locations is D. H...
, Italy; see Torre di Terracina, Italy