Aius Locutius
From Free net encyclopedia
Aius Locutius, also called Loquens, was a Roman mythology spirit from an ancient legend.
In 390 BC, the Gauls moved in the direction of Rome, the capital of the Roman Republic. According to Roman folklore, a Roman named Caedicius kept hearing a disembodied nocturnal voice at the base of the Palatine hill in the Forum Romanum. The voice warned Caedicius of the oncoming attack and recommended that the walls of Rome be fortified. The authorities did not believe his story and the Gauls entered the city without difficulty and burned it. The Romans eventually drove the Gauls away.
Ara Aius Locutius
Image:Ara Aius Locutius.JPG In 1820, an altar was discovered on the Palatine Hill with the inscription,
- Sei deo sei deivae / sac(rum) C. Sextius / C.F. Calvinus pr(aetor) / de senati sententia / restituit.
- Whether to a god or goddess / sacred, C. Sextius, / son of Praetor C.F. Calvinus, / by order of the Senate, / has restored it.
The altar has been dated as a late Roman Republic restoration of an Archaic original. Most archaeologists believe it is an altar to Aius Locutius, but the real identity of the divinity cannot be known, as it is not even specified whether it is a god or a goddess. Archaic Roman inscriptions such as this might have written to protect the identity of the god if Rome were ever captured by an enemy. However, historian Edward Courtney believes it was "intended to cover all bases as an acknowledgement of the limitations of human knowledge about divine powers."
Close to the site, four inscribed columns were found dating to the Julio-Claudian period. Column A (now missing) read "Marspiter," or "Father Mars" in Archaic. Column B reads "Remureine," which possibly means "In Memory of Remus." Column C reads "anabestas," possibly related to the Greek anabasio ("to go up") and interpreted as a reference to Remus' scaling of the Roman walls. Column D, the longest inscription, reads:
- Ferter Resius / rex Aequeicolus / is preimus / ius fetiale paravit / inde p(opulus) R(omanus) discipleinam excepit.
- Ferter Resius / Aequielan king / he who first / introduced the pax fetiale / from which the Roman people / learned the disciplina.
The meaning of this is unclear. Amateur historian Mauk Haemers has proposed an alternative reading, which hints at some sort of sacrifice:
- Ferter Resium / rexae qui colus / is premius / ius fetiale paravit / inde p(opulus) R(omanus) disciplemam excepit.
- It is said that they turned up the Kings of Distaff. Under the authority of the Fetiales, in the name of the Roman people, they were sealed.
External links and references
- Rodolfo Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, 1892
- Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome 1929
- Description of the altar at University of Texas at Austin' Digital Archive Services
- Description of the column, found at the Palatine Hill Museum.
- De Numinibus, essay by Mauk Haemers
- Human sacrifice in Ancient Rome, essay by Mauk Haemers
| Roman mythology series |
|---|
| Major deities |
| Apollo | Ceres | Diana | Juno | Jupiter | Mars | Mercury | Minerva | Venus | Vulcan Divus Augustus | Divus Julius | Fortuna | Lares | Pluto | Quirinus | Sol | Vesta |
| Personified concepts |
| Aius Locutius | Angerona | Concordia | Copia | Fides | Fortuna | Spes |