classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later period ...

, the epithet ''Indiges'', singular in form, is applied to Sol ''(Sol Indiges)'' and to

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

Lavinium Lavinium was a port city of Latium, to the south of Rome, midway between the Tiber river at Ostia and Antium. The coastline then, as now, was a long strip of beach. Lavinium was on a hill at the southernmost edge of the ''Silva Laurentina'', a ...

, later identified with

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

. One theory holds that it means the "speaker within", and stems from before the recognition of divine persons. Another, which the ''

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

'' holds more likely, is that it means " invoked" in the sense of "pointing at", as in the related word ''

indigitamenta In ancient Roman religion, the ''indigitamenta'' were lists of deities kept by the College of Pontiffs to assure that the correct divine names were invoked for public prayers. These lists or books probably described the nature of the various dei ...

''. In

Augustan literature Augustan literature (sometimes referred to misleadingly as Georgian literature) is a style of British literature produced during the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George II in the first half of the 18th century and ending in the 17 ...

, the ''di indigites'' are often associated with ''di patrii'' and appear in lists of local divinities (that is, divinities particular to a place).

Servius Servius is the name of: * Servius (praenomen), the personal name * Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian * Servius Tullius, the Roman king * Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist See ...

noted that

Praeneste Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

had its own ''indigetes''. Evidence pertaining to ''di indigites'' is rarely found outside Rome and

, but a fragmentary

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the w ...

from

Aletrium Alatri ( la, Aletrium) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. An ancient city of the Hernici,Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hernici". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed. ...

(modern

Alatri Alatri ( la, Aletrium) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. An ancient city of the Hernici,Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hernici". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed. ...

, north of

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

) records offerings to ''di Indicites'' including Fucinus, a local lake-god; Summanus, a god of nocturnal lightning; Fiscellus, otherwise unknown, but perhaps a local mountain god; and the Tempestates, weather deities. This inscription has been interpreted as a list of local or nature deities to whom

transhumant Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower val ...

shepherds should make propitiary offers.

Wissowa's indigetes

Georg Wissowa Georg Otto August Wissowa (17 June 1859 – 11 May 1931) was a German classical philologist born in Neudorf, near Breslau. Education and career Wissowa studied classical philology under August Reifferscheid at the University of Bresla ...

's terminology, the ''di indigetes'' or ''indigites'' were

Roman deities The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin lite ...

that were not adopted from other religions, as distinguished from the '' di novensides''. Wissowa thus regarded the ''indigetes'' as "indigenous gods", and the ''novensides'' as "newcomer gods". Ancient use, however, does not treat the two terms as a dichotomy, nor maintain a clear-cut distinction between ''indigetes'' and ''novensides''. Wissowa's interpretation is no longer widely accepted and the meaning remains uncertain. Wissowa listed 33 ''di indigetes'', including two collectives in the plural, 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 ...

of the estate and the

Lemures The lemures were shades or spirits of the restless or malignant dead in Roman religion, and are probably cognate with an extended sense of larvae (from Latin ''larva'', "mask") as disturbing or frightening. ''Lemures'' is the more common liter ...

of the dead. Any list of ''indigetes'', however, is conjectural; Raimo Anttila points out that "we do not know the list of the ''di indigetes''."

Ancient sources

Carl Koch compiled a list of Latin authors and inscriptions using the phrase ''di indigetes'' or ''Indiges'': *

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

, 1.2.6, on the end of the mortal life of

on the river

Numicus The Numicus was a river of ancient Latium which flowed into the sea between the towns of Lavinium and Ardea. According to the mythology of Livy, Aeneas lies buried on its banks (from the original: 'Situs est, quemcumque eum dici ius fasque est su ...

and his identification with or assimilation to ''Iovem Indigetem'' in that place. * Livy, 8.9.6, the formula of the ''

devotio In ancient Roman religion, the ''devotio'' was an extreme form of '' votum'' in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to chthonic gods in exchange for a victory. The most extended description of th ...

'' of Decius Mus * ''CIL'' I Elog. I from Pompeii: ''... apellatusque est Indige(n)s Pater et in deorum numero relatus''. *

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...

'' 12.794, as an epithet of Aeneas *

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

, ''Natural History'' 3.56, as an epithet of Sol * ''CIL'' 10.5779 from Sora, ''Iovi Airsii Dis Indigetibus cum aedicl(a) et base t aei? et porticu''. * Vergil, ''Georgics'' 1.498, ''Dii patrii Indigetes et Romule Vestaque Mater...'' . *

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, ''Metamporphoses'' 15.862, ''... di Indigetes genitorque Quirine ...,'' in the invocation that concludes the poem. * Silius Italicus, ''Punica'' 9.278, ''Di Indigetes Faunusque satorque Quirinus''; also 10.435 ff. * Lucan, ''Pharsalia'' 1.556, mentions the ''di indigetes'' along with the

. * Claudian, ''Bellum Gildonicum'' 1.131 * Macrobius, ''Ad Somnium Scipionis'' 1.9 * Symmachus, ''Relatio'' 3.10

Scholarship on the ''di indigetes''

C. Koch, A. Grenier, H. J. Rose,

Hendrik Wagenvoort Hendrik Wagenvoort (23 August 1886 – 15 January 1976) was a Dutch classical scholar. He was professor of Latin at the University of Groningen and Utrecht University and published extensively on subjects relating to the Latin language and ...

, E. Vetter, K. Latte, G. Radke, R. Schilling, and more recently, R. Anttila have made contributions to the enquiry into the meaning of the word ''Indiges'' and on the original nature of the ''di indigetes''.

Koch

Carl Koch's analysis is particularly complete, and centers mainly on the question of ''Sol Indiges'': Koch has argued that ''Sol Indiges'' is the god to which the ''Agonium'' of December 11 is devoted. Koch remarks too that the festival of December 11 is in correspondence with the ''Matralia'' of June 11, dedicated to Mater Matuta, considered the goddess of dawn and, in the ritual, the aunt of the sun, who is the son of the night. Koch was the first to advance the hypothesis of the ''Sol Indiges'' as the forefather (''Stammvater'') of the Roman nation.

Grenier

Albert Grenier contributed a paperA. Grenier "Indigetes et Novensiles" in ''Boletim de Filologia'' Bd. 11 (1950) supplem. pp. 192–205. in which he expands on the results obtained by Koch and pays more attention to the original nature of the ''di Indigetes''. He acknowledges similar conclusions have been reached by

. As Koch did, Grenier cites the formula of the oath of loyalty to M. Livius Drusus in 91 BCE by a Latin chief, preserved by Diodorus Siculus, in which are mentioned, after Iuppiter Capitolinus, Vesta, and Mars Pater, ''Helios genarchees'', and ''euergetin zooin te kai phytoon Geen'' (‘''the mother Earth which benefits animals and plants''’). Grenier thinks that ''Sol Indiges'' and the ''Good Mother Earth'' (whom he interprets to be the ''Mater Matuta'' of the ''Matralia'') would be the ''di Indigetes'' of the ''devotio'' of Decius Mus. He goes on to analyse the other testimonies related to the cult of the ''di indigetes'' found in Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The first is the inscription on the monument on the

, which was thought to be dedicated to ''Aeneas Iuppiter Indiges,'' which reads: "Of the Father God chthonios who rules the flow of the Numicius." Grenier remarks that the inscription does not mention Aeneas, and is in fact just a small sanctuary of the god of the river. In this same region, Pliny (see prev. section) mentions a ''Sol Indiges,'' and Dionysius describes a monument called the ''Sanctuary of the Sun'' in his time, made up by two altars on an East–West line by a marsh: It was believed to have been erected by Aeneas as a token of thanksgiving for the miracle of the spring. On this evidence, Grenier concludes that ''Sol Indiges'' is connected to Lavinium and to the cult of the ''Penates publici'' of Rome. This fact is supported by

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

: ''Lavinium ibi dii penates nostri''. This identification is further supported by the tradition that the new consuls, upon entering office, sacrificed on this ''sanctuary of the Sun'' to Iuppiter Indiges and by the fact that the formulae of the oaths never mention the ''di indigetes'' along with ''Iuppiter''. Grenier concludes from such evidence that the ''Penates'' were included within the ''indigetes''. The Roman ''Penates publici'' were represented as two young men or boys, similar to the Dioscures, and identified as gods brought by Aeneas from Troy, as the true identity of the Indigetes was secret to avoid exauguration. Grenier considers the identification with Aeneas and Romulus a later development, and thinks the original ''indigetes'' were naturalistic gods: forces like the sun, the earth, and the waters, which make the wheat and the children grow. Finally, he concludes that they should have been the ''turba deorum'' of the ''indigitamenta,'' which expressed the animistic nature of the most ancient Roman religion.

Latte

Kurt Latte has supported Carl Koch's thesis that the most ancient Roman religious concepts were based on the natural forces of the sun, moon and waters. He cites and quotes the invocations to the goddess of the Moon at the beginning of every month by the ''

pontifex minor The College of Pontiffs ( la, Collegium Pontificum; see ''collegium'') was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the state religion. The college consisted of the '' pontifex maximus'' and the other ...

'', who repeated for five or seven times the invocation: "''Dies te quinque calo Iuno Covella''" or when the Nonae were on the seventh day: "''Septem dies te calo Iuno Covella''". The invocation to the god of the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

during the summer drought: "''Adesto Tiberine, cum tuis undis''". Latte supposes that these invocations were justified by a faith in the magic power of words. ''Pater Indiges'' is attested by Solinus (II 15) as referred to Aeneas after his disappearance on the Numicius and Dionysius also makes reference to the Numicius. Latte thinks that it must be the same cult and the question is whether in Augustan times, the original ''Pater Indiges'' was transformed into ''Iuppiter Indiges''. Whereas Dionysius's text may imply the latter interpretation to be the right one, Latte thinks the material is insufficient to decide. The other occurrence of ''indiges'' in the singular is that of ''Sol Indiges,'' of which two festivals are known as well as the location of his cult on the Quirinal (from the Fasti) one of which is the " gN IND geti. Latte argues that the date of this latter festival does not correspond with the yearly course of the sun, but could perhaps be the day on which sowing should be completed, citing Columella, thus the sacrifice should refer to the power of the sun on vegetation. Latte concludes that, by putting all the above elements together, it could be argued that ''indiges'' might be traced to a representation in which man requests the god to ensure the safety of his sowing. As ''Numicus'' has its parallel with ''Tiber'', so ''Sol'' has its own parallel in the goddess of the Moon. The naive faith in the influence of celestial bodies has countless parallels, even in Athens. Latte goes on to say that besides these two, there are only instances in the plural which were already not understood by Varro's times. The poets of the Augustan era were without any clear idea of its original meaning, having only a vague idea that ''indiges' was an archaism that had a strong ancient Roman flavor when calling on the gods. Latte refutes Wissowa's assertion that it was a central concept in Roman theology, also on the grounds of its irrelevance in the Roman calendar, which reflects the most ancient known historical religious document. The inscription from Sora, dating to 4 BCE, could be the issue of Augustan restoration and not proof of an original ''Iuppiter indiges''. Another inscription from Ardea mentions ''novem deivo'' and the context clearly does not allow the interpretation of ''newly imported'', disproving Wissowa's assumption. Latte has also inquired into the etymology of the word ''indiges''. He recalls the attempt by Krestchmer to explain it with ''digitus'' (finger) which is problematic. In Rome, one did not use fingers when invoking the gods, and in the common original exit of the ancient singular. The most ancient connection with ''ag-ye'', ''aio'' by Corssen is based on ''indigitare'' (frequentative as ''agitare'' for ''agere''). However, more recent discussions have called this interpretation into question, as such formations are usually found only for monosyllabic verbal themes showing a vocalic shift with a preverbal, such as ''comes'', ''superstes'', ''trames'', which ''aio'' excludes; moreover they have an active meaning in Latin. In addition, the hypothesis of a retrograde formation from ''indigitare'' has both linguistic and semantic difficulties: the construction with ''agere,'' meaning "rendering oneself present," implies an impossible formation from a consonantic shift and the semantics of this translation is highly unlikely for ancient times. Another relevant remark by Latte concerns the belief in the efficacy of the divine appellates, which are sometimes the same for different gods like ''Heries Iunonis'' and ''Heres Martea''. The

Iguvine Tablets The Iguvine Tablets, also known as the Eugubian Tablets or Eugubine Tables, are a series of seven bronze tablets from ancient Iguvium (modern Gubbio), Italy, written in the ancient Italic language Umbrian. The earliest tablets, written in the na ...

mention a ''ahtu iuvio'' and a ''ahtu marti,'' interpreted as ''Actui Iovio'' and ''Actui Martio,'' to which sacrifices are offered. Latte remarks that here, the offer is made to the abstract concept of the virtue or power of the god, and not to the god himself. Other gods had special entities representing their power as in Rome, including ''Salacia Neptuni'' and ''Lua Saturni''. Latte finally refuses the interpretation ''indigetes divi'' for Greek '' daimones'' found in the translation by Macrobius of Hesiod ''Opera'' 121, considering it influenced by late time speculations. The connection of the Gentilician cult of the sun of the

Aurelii The gens Aurelia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which flourished from the third century BC to the latest period of the Empire. The first of the Aurelian gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 252 BC. From then to th ...

with that of ''Sol Indiges'' is impossible to prove.

Anttila

Most recently, glottologist Raimo Anttila has made renewed attempts into the inquiry of the original meaning of the word ''indiges'' in his book on protoindoeuropean root *ag. Anttila thinks that all the etymological and formal impasses mentioned by Latte could be overcome, if one interprets the basis of the word ''indiges'' to be the verb ''ago'' in the sense of to impel, to drive, to drive from within (''*endo agentes''), instead of the verb ''aio'' (I say). The action of the gods would be that of driving man just as man drives cattle e.g. also in sacrifice (agonium, etymology already cited by Ovid in his ''Fasti'' I 319 ff). Anttila bases his analysis on the results of Latte, Radke, Schilling, and Ancellotti and Cerri. He agrees with Schilling's view that the concept underwent changes and its original meaning should be kept different from its later history. Anttila starts considering the coincidence of ''Indiges'' with an ''Agonium'' on December 11 and its concurrence with the festival of ''Mater Matuta'' on June 11. He thinks there is sufficient evidence to say that it has to do with a solar cult centered on Lavinium, connecting the sun with water and earth. ''Sol Indiges'' is ''Pater Indiges'', ''divus pater,'' i.e. ''Iuppiter Indiges'', the highest divine power, the one which makes nature produce food. This impelling action seems close to ''Aja Ekapad'' and

Savitr Savitṛ (Sanskrit: stem ', nominative singular '), also rendered as Savitur, in Vedic scriptures is an Aditya i.e. off-spring of the Vedic primeval mother goddess Aditi. His name in Vedic Sanskrit connotes "impeller, rouser, vivifier." ...

as variant terms for the sun in connection with other natural phenomena. A similar tint is in Indra as Samaja gathering booty, the warrior aspect of economy. It is noteworthy that AGON IND repeat the same root *ag. The Italic evidence for sacrificial and divine power under *ag is plentiful. Umbrian divinities of action, ''ahtu'', dative singular (from *ag-t-eu) are part of the sacrificial actions of Iuppiter and Mars, whereas with Cerfe, the growth action (genitive singular of *ker-s-o-) is assigned to the other gods, e.g. Cerfus Martius 'the principle of vegetative growth in the sphere of Mars' the equivalent of Ares Aphneios in Arcadia. The god of creation

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

is called

ajana Ajana is a townsite within the Shire of Northampton in Western Australia. It is located at the junction of Ajana-Kalbarri Road and Ajana Back Road, by road north of Northampton, by road southwest of Kalbarri, and west-northwest of Perth in t ...

, i.e. driver, instigator. It is a general human religious concept that men drive animals and god drives men. Since ''Indiges'' as driver-in makes sense, from this would also stem the meaning of ''indigitare'', ''indigitamenta''. Carrying out a ritual action results in driving, here ''agere'' and ''agonalis''. On the basis of this big picture, Anttila attempts to draw a more precise conclusion and overcome the remaining formal difficulties. He argues that holding to the old interpretation of ''indiges'' as 'the caller (forth)' and interpreting the uncertain Umbrian consonant-stem dative plural ''acetus'' 'to the callers forth' as Ancellotti and Cerri do is doubtful and the etymology would be better represented by an *ag- drive than by an *ag-ye say, as the supposed root *kei/*ki is a moving root too and not a calling root. Radke has also proposed the possibility of *en-dhigh-et- grade 0 as in ''figulus'' (from IE stem DHEIG) as a nomen agentis meaning 'forming, shaping, generating from within', close to impelling. To support his analysis, Anttila cites a medical term ''indigo/indigere'' meaning to drive bodily fluids, which is not attested in ancient texts. A hard tumor (scirosis) ''fit ex glutinoso et spisso humore quod confluendo ita membris indigitur ut insitus locis ubi considerit unum esse videatur'': the tumor is formed by humours that run together to a certain location by pushing the limbs from the inside so that it looks like one thing with the limb where they set. So tumors are pushed in as tubers and plants. Although the lexicographic evidence is flimsy, Anttila thinks it is important, owing to the close relation between medicine and religion. ''Indiges, indigere'' would hint to something coming out and bringing forth an end result (pushing into a state). To drive in results in something coming out. The richness of nature deities or their epithets (ahtu) brings about the beneficial result of life / food. The coordinator would be ''Iuppiter Indiges'', the Impeller corresponding to ''Zeus Ageetoor'' at Sparta. Finally, Anttila considers the worst formal difficulty left, that of the suffix -et- and its vowel not rising in indigetes, as remarked by Radke. Similar formations are merges/mergitis (sheaf), ales/alitis (winged), mansues/mansuetis (tame), seges/segetis (cornfield, harvest, produce), two of which pertain to the growing and reaping domain; Anttila thinks that in archaic religious language, peculiar forms are often preserved. ''Indigitare'' evoking gods would be to drive them in for our needs and ''Sol Indiges'' would be the force that drives all of nature, particularly food. Radke, and Ancellotti and Cerri, interpret the -t- form as a kind of active participle or agent noun and this would be the only possibility. Latte too gives as a background for ''indiges'' the general appeal to natural forces in Roman religion, e.g. the summoning of the Moon goddess and other instances.

Archeological finds

In 1958, an inscription was uncovered in Lavinium dating to the 3rd century BCE, reading ''Lare Aineia.'' In 1971, a temple built over a princely

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

in the Oriental style of the 7th century BCE was also discovered, probably on the site of a '' heroon'' described by

Dionysius Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary styl ...

Wissowa's indigetes

Ancient sources

Scholarship on the ''di indigetes''

Koch

Grenier

Latte

Anttila

Archeological finds

See also

Footnotes

References

Works cited