Lucius Verus Frater Arvalis Louvre Ma1169

The ''Carmen Arvale'' is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or ''Fratres Arvales'' of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

. The Arval priests were devoted to the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes ...

Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Ferti ...

of ploughed fields (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''arvum''). There were twelve Arval priests, chosen from patrician families. During the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

was always an Arval priest. They retained the office for life, even if disgraced or exiled. Their most important festival, the

Ambarvalia Ambarvalia was a Roman agricultural fertility rite held on 29 May in honor of Ceres and Dea Dia. At these festivals they sacrificed a bull, a sow, and a sheep, which, before the sacrifice, were led in procession thrice around the fields; whence ...

, occurred during the month of May, in a grove dedicated to Dia. The ''Carmen Arvale'' is preserved in an inscription dating from 218 AD, which contains records of the meetings of the Arval Brethren. It is written in an archaic form of

Old Latin Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin (Classical la, prīsca Latīnitās, lit=ancient Latinity), was the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. It descends from a common Proto-Italic ...

, likely not fully understood any more at the time the inscription was made. One of its interpretations goes as follows: :''enos Lases iuuate'' :''enos Lases iuuate'' :''enos Lases iuuate'' :''neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores'' :''neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores'' :''neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores'' :''satur fu, fere Mars, limen sali, sta berber'' :''satur fu, fere Mars, limen sali, sta berber'' :''satur fu, fere Mars, limen sali, sta berber'' :''semunis alternei advocapit conctos'' :''semunis alternei advocapit conctos'' :''semunis alternei advocapit conctos'' :''enos Marmor iuuato'' :''enos Marmor iuuato'' :''enos Marmor iuuato'' :''triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe'' While passages of this text are obscure, the traditional interpretation makes the chant a prayer to seek aid of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

and the

Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lare ...

(''lases''), beseeching Mars not to let plagues or disasters overtake in the fields, asking him to be satiated, and dance, and call forth the "Semones", who may represent sacred sowers. (Cf. Semo Sancus, a god of good faith.) Semones are minor

tutelary deities A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

, in particular

Sancus In ancient Roman religion, Sancus (also known as Sangus or Semo Sancus) was a god of trust (), honesty, and oaths. His cult, one of the most ancient amongst the Romans, probably derived from Umbrian influences. Cato and Silius Italicus wrote tha ...

Priapus In Greek mythology, Priapus (; grc, Πρίαπος, ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical ter ...

, Faunus, all Vertumni, all Silvani, Bona Dea. The semones are probably the hidden life forces residing in seeds: they were presented as only offering milk in the earliest tradition. ''limen sali, sta'' means ''jump over the beam of the threshold/door/lintel, stand'' in standard Latin.A. Lubotsky, M. De Vaan ''Etymological Dictionary of Latin and The Other Italic Languages'' Leiden 2008, p. 342 s.v. limen.

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References

{{reflist Ancient Roman religion Roman religion inscriptions Old Latin literature 3rd-century inscriptions

See also

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