Sancus is also a genus of the Tetragnathidae family of spiders.

In ancient Roman religion

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...

, Sancus (also known as Sangus or Semo Sancus) was the god

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

 of trust (fides), honesty, and oaths. His cult

Cult

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

 is one of the most ancient of the Romans, probably derived from Umbrian influences.

Oaths

Sancus was also the god who protected oaths of marriage, hospitality, law, commerce

Commerce

While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

, and contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

s in particular. Some forms of swearings were used in his name and honour at the moment of the signing of contracts and other important civil acts. Some words (like "sanctity" and "sanction" - for the case of disrespect of pacts) have their etymology in the name of this god, whose name is connected with sancire "to hallow" (hence sanctus, "hallowed").

Worship

The temple dedicated to Sancus stood on the Quirinal Hill, under the name Semo Sancus Dius Fidus. Dionysius of Halicarnassus writes the worship of Semo Sancus was imported into Rome at a very early time by the Sabines who occupied the Quirinal Hill. According to tradition his cult was said to have been introduced by the Sabines and perhaps king Titus Tatius

Titus Tatius

The traditions of ancient Rome held that Titus Tatius was the Sabine king of Cures, who, after the rape of the Sabine women, attacked Rome and captured the Capitol with the treachery of Tarpeia. The Sabine women, however, convinced Tatius and the Roman king, Romulus, to reconcile and subsequently...

 dedicated a small shrine. The actual construction of the temple is generally ascribed to Tarquin the Proud, although it was dedicated by Spurius Postumius

Spurius Postumius

Spurius Postumius can refer to a number of different people from Roman history:*Spurius Postumius Albus Regillensis *Spurius Postumius Albus Regillensis *Spurius Postumius Albinus Regillensis, consular tribune in 394 BC...

 on June 5th 466 B.C.

Sancus was considered the son of Iupiter, an opinion recorded by Varro and attributed to his teacher Aelius Stilo. He was the god of heavenly light, the avenger of dishonesty, the upholder of truth and good faith, the sanctifier of agreements. Hence his identification with Hercules, who was likewise the guardian of the sanctity of oaths. His festival day occurred on the nonae of June, i.e. June 5th.

The shrine on the Quirinal was described by XIX century archeologist R.A. Lanciani. It was located near the Porta Sanqualis of the Servian walls, not far from the modern church of S. Silvestro, precisely on the Collis Mucialis. It was described by classical writers as having no roof so as oaths could be taken under the sky.

It had a chapel containing relics of the regal period: a bronze statue of Tanaquil

Tanaquil

Tanaquil was the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome.-History:She had four children, two daughters and two sons. One of the daughters became the wife to Servius Tullius, when he became the successor....

 or Gaia Caecilia, her belt containing remedies that people came to collect, her distaff, spindle and slippers,and after the capture of Privernum in 329 B.C., brass medallions or bronze wheels (discs) made of the money confiscated from Vitruvius Vaccus.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus records that the treaty between Rome and Gabii was preserved in this temple. This treaty was perhaps the first international treaty to be recorded and preserved in written form in ancient Rome. It was written on the skin of the ox sacrificed to the god upon its agreement and fixed onto a wooden frame or a shield.

According to Lanciani the foundations of the temple were discovered in March 1881, under what was formerly the convent of S. Silvestro al Quirinale (or degli Arcioni), later the headquarters of the (former) Royal Engineers. Lanciani relates the monument was a parallelogram in shape, thirty-five feet long by nineteen wide, with walls of travertine and decorations in white marble. It was surrounded by votive altars and the pedestal of statues. In Latin literature it is sometimes called aedes

Aedes

Aedes is a genus of mosquito originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but now found on all continents excluding Antarctica. Some species have been spread by human activity. Aedes albopictus, a most invasive species was recently spread to the New World, including the U.S., by the used...

, sometimes sacellum

Sacellum

In ancient Roman religion, a sacellum is a small shrine. The word is a diminutive from sacer . The numerous sacella of ancient Rome included both shrines maintained on private properties by families, and public shrines...

, this last appellation probably connected to the fact it was a sacred space in the open air. Platner though writes its foundations had already been detected in the XVI century.

Lanciani supposes the statue depicted in this article might have been found on the site of the shrine on the Quirinal as it appeared in the antiquarian market of Rome at the time of the excavations at S.Silvestro.

There was possibly another shrine or altar (ara) dedicated to Semo Sancus on the Isle of the Tiber, near the temple of Iupiter Iurarius. This altar bears the inscription seen and misread by S. Justin (Semoni Sanco Deo read as Simoni Deo Sancto) and was discovered on the island in July, 1574. It is preserved in the Galleria Lapidaria of the Vatican Museum, first compartment (Dii). Lanciani advances the hypothesis that while the shrine on the Quirinal was of Sabine origin that on the Tiber island was Latin.

According to another source the statue of Sancus (as Semo Sancus Dius Fidus) was found on the Tiber Island

Tiber Island

The Tiber Island , is a boat-shaped island which has long been associated with healing. It is an ait, and is one of the two islands in the Tiber river, which runs through Rome; the other one, much larger, is near the mouth. The island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber. It is...

.

The statue is life-sized and is of the archaic Apollo type. The expression of the face and the modelling of the body however are realistic. Both hands are missing, so that it is impossible to say what were the attributes of the god, one being perhaps the club of Hercules and/or the oxifraga, the augural bird proper to the god (avis sanqualis), hypotheses made by archaeologist Visconti and reported by Lanciani. Other scholars think he should have hold lightningbolts in his left hand.

The inscription on the pedestal mentions a decuria sacerdot[um] bidentalium. Lanciani makes reference to a glossa of Festus

Festus

Festus is a Latin word meaning "festive, festal, joyful, merry" and may refer to:* Festus, Missouri, a town in the United States*Festus, a poem by the English poet Philip James Bailey*Drew Hankinson, professional wrestler...

 s.v. bidentalia which states these were small shrines of lesser divinities, to whom hostiae bidentes, i.e. lambs two years old, were sacrificed. William Warde Fowler

William Warde Fowler

William Warde Fowler was an English historian and ornithologist, and tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford. He was best known for his works on ancient Roman religion....

 says these priests should have been concerned with lightningbolts, bidental being both the technical term for the puteal, the hole resembling a well left by strikes onto the ground and for the victims used to placate the god and purify the site. For this reason the priests of Semo Sancus were called sacerdotes bidentales. They were organised, like a lay corporation, in a decuria under the presidency of a magister quinquennalis.

Their residence at the shrine on the Quirinal was located adjoining the chapel: it was ample and commodious, provided with a supply of water by means of a lead pipe.

The pipes have been removed to the Capitolin Museum. They bear the same inscription found on the base of the statue.

The statue is now housed in the Galleria dei Candelabri of the Vatican Palace.
The foundations of the shrine on the Quirinal have been destroyed.

Semo Sancus had a large sanctuary at Velitrae, now Velletri, in Volscian territory.

Simon Magus

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....

 records that Simon Magus

Simon Magus

Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Apostle, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in . The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is...

, a gnostic mentioned in the Christian Bible, performed such miracles by magic acts during the reign of Claudius

Claudius

Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...

 that he was regarded as a god and honored with a statue on the island in the Tiber which the two bridges cross, with the inscription Simoni Deo Sancto, "To Simon the Holy God".The First Apology, Chapter XXVI.—Magicians not trusted by Christians, Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....

. However, in 1574, the Semo Sancus statue was unearthed on the island in question, leading most scholars to believe that Justin Martyr confused Semoni Sanco with Simon.

Family

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...

  and Silius Italicus

Silius Italicus

Silius Italicus, in full Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus , was a Roman consul, orator, and Latin epic poet of the 1st century CE,...

 wrote that Sancus was a 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...

 god and father of the eponym

Eponym

An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...

ous Sabine hero Sabus

Sabus

Sabus is a character in the mythology of the Sabines of Italy, the son of the god Sancus . The Sabines were said to have taken their name from his....

. He is thus sometimes considered a founder-deity

Founding myth

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values. A national myth may sometimes take the form of a national epic...

.

Origins and significance

Even in the ancient world, confusion surrounded this deity, as evidenced by the multiple and unstable forms of his name. Aelius Stilo

Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus

Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus , of Lanuvium, is the earliest philologist of the Roman Republic. He came from a distinguished family and belonged to the equestrian order....

 identified him with Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

, but also, because he explained the Dius Fidius as Dioskouros, with Castor

Castor and Pollux

In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...

. In late antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

, Martianus Capella

Martianus Capella

Martianus Minneus Felix Capella was a pagan writer of Late Antiquity, one of the earliest developers of the system of the seven liberal arts that structured early medieval education...

 places Sancus in region 12 of his cosomological system, which draws on Etruscan tradition in associating gods with specific parts of the sky. On the Piacenza Liver the corresponding case bears the theonym Tluscv.
The complexity of the theonym and the multiple relationships of the god with other divine figures shall be better examined in a systematic wise here below.

Sancus as Semo

The first part of the theonym defines the god as belonging to the category of the Semones or Semunes, divine entities of the ancient Romans and Italics. In a fragment of Marcus Porcius Cato

Marcus Porcius Cato

Marcus Porcius Cato may refer to:*Cato the Elder , born Marcus Porcius Priscus and then nicknamed Cato*Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus , son of Cato the elder by his first wife...

, preserved in Dionysius of Halicarnassus (II 49 1-2), Sancus is referred to as δαίμων and not θεός.

In Rome this theonym is attested in the carmen Arvale

Carmen Arvale

The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility of ploughed fields . There were twelve Arval priests, chosen from patrician families. ...

 and in a fragmentary inscription. Outside Rome in Sabine, Umbrian and Pelignan territory. An inscription from Corfinium

Corfinium

Corfinium was a city in Ancient Italy, on the eastern side of the Apennines, due east of Rome. It is now near the modern Corfinio, in the province of L'Aquila .-History:...

 reads: Çerfom sacaracicer Semunes sua[d, "priest of the Çerfi and the Semones", placing side by side the two entities çerfi and semunes. The çerfi are mentioned in the Iguvine Tables

Iguvine Tables

The Iguvine Tablets are a series of seven bronze tablets discovered at Iguvium , Italy, in the year 1444. They are also known as Eugubian tablets...

 in association with Mars e.g. in expressions as Çerfer Martier. Their interpretation remains obscure: an etymological and semantic relation to IE root *cer, meaning growth, is possible though problematic and debated.

According to ancient Latin sources the meaning of the term semones would denote semihomines (also explained as se-homines, men separated from ordinary ones, who have left their human condition: prefix se- both in Latin and Greek may denote segregation), or the dii medioxumi, i.e. gods of the second rank, or semigods, entities that belong to the intermediate sphere between gods and men. The relationship of these entities to Semo Sancus is comparable to that of the genii to Genius Iovialis: as among the genii there is a Genius Iovialis, thus similarly among the the semones there is a Semo Sancus. The semones would then be a class of semigods, i.e. people who did not share the destiny of ordinary mortals even though they were not admitted to Heaven, such as Faunus

Faunus

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Faunus was the horned god of the forest, plains and fields; when he made cattle fertile he was called Inuus. He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god Pan....

, Priapus

Priapus

In Greek mythology, Priapus or Priapos , was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his absurdly oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism...

, Picus

Picus

In Roman mythology, Picus was the first king of Latium. He was known for his skill at augury and horsemanship. The witch Circe turned him into a woodpecker for scorning her love. Picus' wife was Canens, a nymph who killed herself after his transformation. They had one son, Faunus.According to...

, the Silvani

Silvani

Silvani is a surname of Italian origin. The name refers to:*Al Silvani , American boxing trainer, actor, and stunt man*Aldo Silvani , Italian film actor*Gherardo Silvani , Florentine architect and sculptor of the Baroque era...

. However some scholars opine such a definition is wrong and the semones are spirits of nature, representing the generative power hidden in seeds.

The deity Semonia

Semonia

In Roman mythology, Semonia was the goddess of sowing. She belonged to a group of agricultural deities which also comprised Setia and Segetia. Their names are derived from the same stem as the Latin verb sero "to sow"....

 bears characters that link her to the group of the Semones, as is shown by Festus s.v. supplicium: when a citizen was put to death the custom was to sacrifice a lamb of two years (bidentis) to Semonia to appease her and purify the community. Only thereafter could the head and property of the culprit be vowed to the appropriate god. That Semo Sancus received the same kind of cult and sacrifice is shewn in the inscription (see figure in this article) now under the statue of the god reading: decuria sacerdotum bidentalium.

The relationship between Sancus and the semones of the carmen Arvale remains obscure, even though some scholars opine that Semo Sancus and Salus Semonia or Dia Semonia would represent the core significance of this archaic theology. It has also been proposed to understand this relationship in the light of that between Vedic god Indra

Indra

' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

 or his companion Trita Āpya and the Maruts

Maruts

In Hinduism the Marutas , also known as the Marutagana and sometimes identified with Rudras, are storm deities and sons of Rudra and Diti and attendants of Indra. The number of Maruts varies from two to sixty . They are very violent and aggressive, described as armed with golden weapons i.e...

. Norden has proposed a Greek origin.

Sancus and Salus

The two gods were related in several ways. Their shrines (aedes) were very close to each other on two adjacent hilltops of the Quirinal, the Collis Mucialis and Salutaris respectively. Some scholars also claim some inscriptions to Sancus have been found on the Collis Salutaris. Moreover Salus is the first of the series of deities mentioned by Macrobius as related in their sacrality: Salus, Semonia, Seia, Segetia, Tutilina, who required the observance of a dies feriatus of the person who happened to utter their name. These deities were connected to the ancient agrarian cults of the valley of the Circus Maximus

Circus Maximus

The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...

 that remain quite mysteruious.

The statue of Tanaquil placed in the shrine of Sancus was famed for containing remedies in its girdle which people came to collect, named praebia.
As numerous statues of boys wear the apotropaic golden bulla, bubble or locket, which contained remedies against envy, or the evil eye, Robert E. A. Palmer has remarked a connexion between these and the praebia of the statue of Tanaquil in the sacellum of Sancus.

German scholars Georg Wissowa

Georg Wissowa

Georg Otto August Wissowa was a German classical philologist who was born in Neudorf, near Breslau.Wissowa studied at the University of Breslau, and in 1886 became a professor at the University of Marburg, and in 1895 a professor at the University of Halle.Wissowa was a specialist in the study of...

, Eduard Norden and Kurt Latte

Kurt Latte

Kurt Latte was a German philologist and classical scholar known for his work on ancient Roman religion.His major work is Römische Religionsgeschichte , which was intended to replace the work of Georg Wissowa that by then was nearly 60 years old. Although widely referenced, Latte's work has not...

 write of a deity named Salus Semonia which is though attested only in one inscription of year 1 A.D., which mentions a Salus Semonia in its last line (line seventeen). There is consensus among scholars that this line is a later addition and cannot be dated with certainty. In other inscriptions Salus is never connected to Semonia.

Sancus Dius Fidius and Jupiter

The relationship between the two gods is certain as both are in charge of oath, are connected with clear daylight sky and can wield lightning bolts. This overlap of functional characters has generated confusion about the identity of Sancus Dius Fidius either among ancient and modern scholars, as Dius Fidius has sometimes been considered another theonym for Iupiter.
The autonomy of Semo Sancus from Jupiter and the fact that Dius Fidius is an alternate theonym designating Semo Sancus (and not Jupiter) is shewn by the name of the correspondent Umbrian god Fisus Sancius which compounds the two constituent parts of Sancus and Dius Fidius: in Umbrian and Sabine Fisus is the exact correspont of Fidius, as e.g. Sabine Clausus of Latin Claudius.
The fact that Sancus as Iupiter is in charge of the observance of oaths, of the laws of hospitality and of loyalty (Fides) makes him a deity connected with the sphere and values of sovereignty, i.e. in Dumezil's terminology of the first function.

G. Wissowa advanced the hypothesis that Semo Sancus is the genius

Genius

Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....

 of Jupiter. W. W. Fowler has cautioned that this interpretation looks to be an anachronism and it would only be acceptable to say that Sancus is a Genius Iovius, as it appears from the Iguvine Tables. The concept of a genius of a deity is attested only in the imperial period.

Theodor Mommsen

Theodor Mommsen

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...

, William W. Fowler and Georges Dumezil

Georges Dumézil

Georges Dumézil was a French comparative philologist best known for his analysis of sovereignty and power in Proto-Indo-European religion and society...

 among others rejected the accountability of the tradition that ascribes a Sabine origin to the Roman cult of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius, partly on linguistic grounds since the theonym is Latin and no mention or evidence of a Sabine Semo is found near Rome, while the Semones are attested in Latin in the carmen Arvale

Carmen Arvale

The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility of ploughed fields . There were twelve Arval priests, chosen from patrician families. ...

. In their view Sancus would be a deity who was shared by all ancient Italic peoples, whether Osco-Umbrian or Latino-Faliscan.

The details of the cult of Fisus Sancius at Iguvium and those of Fides at Rome, such as the use of the mandraculum, a piece of linen fabric covering the right hand of the officiant, and of the urfeta (orbita) or orbes ahenei, sort of small bronze disc brought in the right hand by the offerant at Iguvium and also deposed in the temple of Semo Sancus in 329 B.C. after an affair of treason confirm the parallelism.

Some aspects of the ritual of the oath for Dius Fidius, such as the proceedings under the open sky and/or in the compluvium of private residences and the fact the temple of Sancus had no roof, have suggested to romanist O. Sacchi the idea that the oath by Dius Fidius predated that for Iuppiter Lapis or Iuppiter Feretrius, and should have its origin in prehistoric time rituals, when the templum was in the open air and defined by natural landmarks as e.g. the highest nearby tree. Supporting this interpretation is the explanation of the theonym Sancus as meaning sky in Sabine given by Johannes Lydus, etymology that however is rejected by Dumezil and Briquel among others.

All the known details concerning Sancus connect him to the sphere of the fides, of oaths, of the respect of compacts and of their sanction, i. e. divine guarantee against their breach. These values are all proper to sovereign gods and common with Iuppiter (and with Mitra

Mitra

*Mitra was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indo-Aryan and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:...

 in Vedic religion

Vedic religion

Vedic religion may refer to:*the historical Vedic religion- Vedic Hinduism **Vedic mythology*Shrauta, surviving conservative traditions within HinduismIn wider meanings of the term "Vedic"*Vedanta*Hinduism in general...

).

Sancus and Hercules

Aelius Stilo's interpretation of the theonym as Dius Filius is based partly on the interchangeability and alternance of letters d and l in Sabine, which might have rendered possible the reading of Dius Fidius as Dius Filius, i.e. Dios Kouros, partly on the function of guarantor of oaths that Sancus shared with Hercules: Georg Wissowa

Georg Wissowa

Georg Otto August Wissowa was a German classical philologist who was born in Neudorf, near Breslau.Wissowa studied at the University of Breslau, and in 1886 became a professor at the University of Marburg, and in 1895 a professor at the University of Halle.Wissowa was a specialist in the study of...

 called it a gelehrte Kombination, while interpreting him as the genius

Genius

Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....

, (semo) of Iupiter. Stilo's interpretration in its linguistic aspect looks to be unsupported by the form of the theonym in the Iguvine Tables

Iguvine Tables

The Iguvine Tablets are a series of seven bronze tablets discovered at Iguvium , Italy, in the year 1444. They are also known as Eugubian tablets...

, where it appears as Fisus or Fisovius Sancius, formula that includes the two component parts of the theonym. This theonym is rooted in an ancient IE *bh(e)idh-tos and is formed on the rootstem *bheidh- which is common to Latin Fides

Fides

In Roman religion, Fides was the goddess of trust.Her temple on the Capitol was where the Roman Senate signed and kept state treaties with foreign countries, and where Fides protected them....

.

The connexion to Hercules looks to be much more substantial on theological grounds. Hercules, especially in ancient Italy, retained many archaic features of a founder deity and of a guarantor of good faith and loyalty. The relationship with Jupiter of the two characters could be considered analogous. Hence both some ancient scholars such as Varro and Macrobius and modern ones as R. D. Woodard considers them as one.

Sancus and Mars

At Iguvium Fisus Sancius is associated to Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

 in the ritual of the sacrifice at the Porta (Gate) Tesenaca as one of the gods of the minor triad and this fact proves his military connection in Umbria. This might be explained by the military nature of the concept of sanction which implies the use of repression. The term sanctus too has in Roman law military implications: the walls of the city are sancti.

The martial aspect of Sancus is highlighted also in the instance of the Samnite legio linteata, a selected part of the army formed by noble soldiers bound by a set of particularly compelling oaths and put under the special protection of Iupiter. While ordinary soldiers dressed in a purple red paludamentum

Paludamentum

In Republican and Imperial Rome, the paludamentum was a cloak or cape fastened at one shoulder, worn by military commanders and by their troops. As supreme commander of the whole Roman army, Roman emperors were often portrayed wearing it in their statues and on their coinage...

 with golden paraphernalia, those of the legio dressed in white with silver paraphernalia, as an apparent show of their different allegiance and protector. This strict association of the ritual to Iupiter underlines the military aspect of the sovereign god that comes in to supplement the usual role of Mars on special occasions, i. e. when there is the need for the support of his power.

A prodigy related by Livy concerning an avis sanqualis who broke a rainstone or meteorite fallen into a grove sacred to Mars at Crustumerium

Crustumerium

Crustumerium was an ancient town of Latium, on the edge of the Sabine territory, near the headwaters of the Allia, not far from the Tiber....

 in 177 B. C. has also been seen by some scholars as a sign of a martial aspect of Sancus. Roger D. Woodard has interpreted Sancus as the Roman equivalent of Vedic god Indra

Indra

' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

, who has to rely on the help of the Marut

Marut

-Geography:* Măruţ River, a tributary of the lara river in Romania.* Lusik and Marut are villages located on the absolute shoreline some 57 kilometres north of Madang on the northwest coast of Papua New Guinea....

s, in his view corresponding to the twelf Roman semones of the carmen Arvale

Carmen Arvale

The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility of ploughed fields . There were twelve Arval priests, chosen from patrician families. ...

, in his task of killing the dragon Vrtra thus freeing the waters and averting draught. He traces the etymology of Semo to IE stemroot *seh(w) bearing the meanings of to pour, ladle, flow, drop related to rain and sowing. In Roman myth Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

 would represent this mythic character in his killing of the monstre Cacus

Cacus

In Roman mythology, Cacus was a fire-breathing giant monster and the son of Vulcan.-Mythology:Cacus lived in a cave in the Palatine Hill in Italy, the future site of Rome. To the horror of nearby inhabitants, Cacus lived on human flesh and would nail the heads of victims to the doors of his cave...

. Sancus would be identical to Hercules and strictly related, though not identical, to Mars as purported by the old cults of the Salii

Salii

In ancient Roman religion, the Salii were the "leaping priests" of Mars supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve patrician youths, dressed as archaic warriors: an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak , a sword, and a spiked headdress called an apex...

 of Tibur related by Varro and other ancient authors cited by Macrobius. The tricephalous deity represented near Hercules in Etruscan tombs and reflected in the wise of the killing of Cacus

Cacus

In Roman mythology, Cacus was a fire-breathing giant monster and the son of Vulcan.-Mythology:Cacus lived in a cave in the Palatine Hill in Italy, the future site of Rome. To the horror of nearby inhabitants, Cacus lived on human flesh and would nail the heads of victims to the doors of his cave...

 would correspond to the features of the monster killed by Indra in association with Trita Āpya.

Sancus in Etruria

As for Etruscan religion N. Thomas De Grummond has suggested to identify Sancus in the inscription Selvans Sanchuneta found on a cippus unearthed near Bolsena, however other scholars connect this epithet to a local family gentilicium. The theonym Tec Sans found on bronze statues (one of a boy and that of the arringatore, public speaker) from the area near Cortona

Cortona

Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...

has been seen as an Etruscan form of the same theonym.

Legacy

The English words sanction and saint are directly derived from Sancus.
The toponym Sanguineto is related to the theonym, through the proper name Sanquinius.