Tutilina (also Tutelina, Tutulina) was in
Roman religion
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule.
The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...
a
tutelary goddess
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 ...
, apparently responsible for protecting crops brought in during harvest time.
Etymology
The meaning of the name is sometimes given as 'protectress',
[Georges Dumézil, ''Camillus: A Study of Indo-European Religion as Roman History'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), p. 248 (citing ''De spectaculis'' ch. 8.3), .] but uncertainty as to the vowel-lengths (which may moreover have been different in different writers' usages) leaves the etymology of the name subject to debate.
Role in Republican Roman belief
Marcus Terentius Varro's fragmentary text ''De lingua Latina'' mentions that one
Porcius said that the earlier Roman poet
Ennius
Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabria, ...
'coluisse Tutilinae loca' ('dwelt in the locality of Tutilina'). This indicates that Tutilina gave her name to part of Rome;
Otto Skutsch
Otto Skutsch (6 December 1906 – 8 December 1990) was a German-born British classicist and academic, specialising in classical philosophy. He was Professor of Latin at University College London from 1951 to 1972.
Early life
Skutsch was born on ...
argued specifically through a close analysis of the passage that there was a ''Porta Tutilinae'' ('Gate of Tutilina') in Rome's walls,
[O. Skutsch,]
On Three Fragments of Porcius Licinus and on the Tutiline Gate
, ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'', 17 (1970), 120–23. and that this name was perhaps an earlier name for the
Porta Capena. Another work by Varro, the fragmentary ''Satirae Menippeae'', mentions that Tutilina could also be invoked during a siege.
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
's ''
Naturalis historia'',
Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
's ''
De spectaculis
''De Spectaculis'', also known as ''On the Spectacles'' or ''The Shows'', is a surviving moral and ascetic treatise by Tertullian. Written somewhere between 197 and 202, the work looks at the moral legitimacy and consequences of Christians attendi ...
'', and
Macrobius
Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...
's ''
Saturnalia
Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple ...
'' all attest to statues of three goddesses, including Tutilina, in the
Circus Maximus. Tertullian (c. 155–c. 220 CE) was a Christian, and his ''De spectaculis'' explored whether Christians should attend such spectacles and the circus or theatre. His description of the Circus Maximus says:
Every ornament of the circus is a temple by itself. The eggs are regarded as sacred to Castor and Pollux by people who do not feel ashamed to believe the story of their origin from the egg made fertile by the swan, Jupiter. The dolphins spout water in honor of Neptune; the columns bear aloft images of Seia, so called from ''sementatio'' sowing' of Messia, so called as a deity of ''messis'' reaping' and of Tutulina, so called as "tutelary spirit" of the crops.
Reception
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
's ''
De civitate Dei'' mentions Tutilina alongside other gods and goddesses in a passage complaining about the number of pagan deities:
how is it possible in one passage of this book to record all the names of the gods and goddesses that they were scarcely able to find room for in the huge volumes in which they divided up the services of the deities among the departments, assigning each to his own? They did not reach the conclusion that they should put some god in charge of all their land, but assigned fields to the goddess Rusina, mountain peaks to the god Jugatinus, hills to the goddess Collatina, and valleys to Vallonia. Nor could they even find a single Segetia who was worthy to be entrusted once for all with the grain in the fields (segetes), but as long as the seed was under ground they chose to have the goddess Seia in charge, then when it was above ground and moving toward harvest, the goddess Segetia, and when the grain was harvested and stored away, they gave the goddess Tutulina the job of guarding it safely.
In his ''Summa predicantium'', composed in the 1360s,
John Bromyard
John Bromyard (d. c. 1352) was an influential English Dominican friar and prolific compiler of preaching aids.
Life
Little is known of his personal life. Two dates can be cited: in 1326, he was granted a licence to hear confessions in the dioce ...
named a demon who had since the thirteenth century been reputed to introduce mistakes into people's psalm-singing as ''
Titivillus
Titivillus was a demon said to work on behalf of Belphegor, Lucifer or Satan to introduce errors into the work of scribes. The first reference to Titivillus by name occurred in , c. 1285, by Johannes Galensis (John of Wales). Attribution has als ...
'' (and who later came to be seen as a demon who causes
scribal errors
A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling mistake) made in the typing of printed (or electronic) material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual type-setting (typography). ...
). Other sources include such spellings as ''Tintillus'', ''Tantillus'', ''Tintinillus'', ''Titivilarius'' and ''Titivilitarius''.
André Vernet
André Vernet (18 April 1910 – 7 March 1999) was a French historian, specialising in medieval literature, and a member of the Institut de France.''Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes'', 1999, 157-2 (pp. 669-71.
Life
Born in born Yzeure, André ...
argued that this name originated as a masculine variant, ''Tutilinus'', of ''Tutilina'', invented by medieval scholars on the basis of their knowledge of this pagan goddess through Augustine's ''City of God''.
[André Vernet,]
Titvillus, "Démon des copistes"
, ''Bulletin de la Société nationale des Antiquaires de France'' (1958-59), 155-157.
Tutelina Mill, Great Welnetham
Tutelina Mill, also known as Clarke's Mill, is a Grade II listed tower mill at Great Welnetham, Suffolk, England which has been conserved.
History
Tutelina Mill was built in 1865 and shares its name with a Roman harvest goddess (now usually kno ...
, built in the nineteenth century, shares its name with the goddess.
See also
*
Ceres (mythology)
References
{{reflist
External links
Myth Index - Tutelina
Roman goddesses
Agricultural goddesses