Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome 15

Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome 15

In his character as guardian of gates and doors, he was also regarded as a

protecting deity of the home, for which reason little shrines were erected

to him over the doors of houses, which contained an image of the god,

having two faces.

 

Janus possessed no temples in the ordinary acceptation of the word, but all

the gates of cities were dedicated to him. Close to the Forum of Rome stood

the so-called temple of Janus, which, however, was merely an arched

passage, closed by massive gates. This temple was open only in time of war,

as it was supposed that the god had then taken his departure with the Roman

army, over whose welfare he personally presided. It is worthy of notice, as

an evidence of the many wars in which the Romans were engaged, that the

gates of this sanctuary were only closed three times during 700 years.

 

As the god who ushers in the new year, the first month was called after

him, and on the 1st of January his most important festival was celebrated,

on which occasion all entrances of public and private buildings were

decorated with laurel branches and garlands of flowers.

 

His sacrifices, consisting of cakes, wine, and barley, were offered to him

at the beginning of every month; and before sacrificing to the other gods

his name was always invoked, and a libation poured out to him.

 

Janus is usually represented with two faces; in his special function as

door-keeper of heaven he stands erect, bearing a key in one hand, and a rod

or sceptre in the other.

 

It is supposed that Janus was the most ancient king of Italy, who, during

his life, governed his subjects with such wisdom and moderation that, in

gratitude for the benefits conferred upon them, his people deified him

after death and placed him in the foremost rank among their divinities. We

have already seen in the history of Cronus that Saturn, who was identified

with the Greek Cronus (god of time), was the friend and colleague of Janus.

Anxious to prove his gratitude to his benefactor, Cronus endowed him with

the knowledge of past and future {180} events, which enabled him to adopt

the wisest measures for the welfare of his subjects, and it is on this

account that Janus is represented with two faces looking in opposite

directions, the one to the past, the other to the future.

 

FLORA.

 

Flora was the goddess of flowers, and was regarded as a beneficent power,

who watched over and protected the early blossoms.

 

She was held in the highest estimation by the Romans, and a festival,

called the Floralia, was celebrated in her honour from the 28th of April to

the 1st of May. This festival was a season of universal merriment, in which

flowers were used profusely in adorning houses, streets, &c., and were worn

by young girls in their hair.

 

Flora, who typified the season of Spring, is generally represented as a

lovely maiden, garlanded with flowers.

 

ROBIGUS.

 

In opposition to Flora we find an antagonistic divinity, called Robigus, a

worker of evil, who delighted in the destruction of the tender herbs by

mildew, and whose wrath could only be averted by prayers and sacrifices,

when he was invoked under the title of Averuncus, or the Avertor.

 

The festival of Robigus (the Robigalia) was celebrated on the 25th of

April.

 

POMONA.

 

Pomona was the goddess of orchards and fruit-trees, who, according to Ovid,

cares not for woods or streams, but loves her gardens and the boughs that

bear the thriving fruit.

 

Pomona, who typifies Autumn, is represented as a lovely maiden, laden with

branches of fruit-trees.

 

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VERTUMNUS.

 

Vertumnus was the god of garden and field produce. He personifies the

change of seasons, and that process of transformation in nature by means of

which the leaf-buds become developed into blossoms, and the blossoms into

fruit.

 

The change of seasons is symbolized in a myth which represents Vertumnus as

metamorphosing himself into a variety of different forms in order to gain

the affection of Pomona, who so loved her vocation that she abjured all

thoughts of marriage. He first appears to her as a ploughman, typifying

Spring; then as a reaper, to represent Summer; afterwards as a

vine-gatherer, to indicate Autumn; and finally as a gray-haired old woman,

symbolical of the snows of Winter; but it was not until he assumed his true

form, that of a beautiful youth, that he succeeded in his suit.

 

Vertumnus is generally represented crowned with wheat-sheaves, and bearing

in his hand a cornucopia.

 

PALES.

 

Pales, a very ancient Italian divinity, is represented sometimes as a male,

sometimes as a female power.

 

As a male divinity he is more particularly the god of shepherds and flocks.

 

As a female deity, Pales presides over husbandry and the fruitfulness of

herds. Her festivals, the Palilia, were celebrated on the 21st of April,

the day on which the city of Rome was founded. During this festival it was

customary for shepherds to ignite a mass of straw, through which they

rushed with their flocks, believing that this ordeal would purify them from

sin.

 

The name Palatine, which originally signified a pastoral colony, is derived

from this divinity. Her offerings were cakes and milk.

 

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PICUS.

 

Picus, the son of Saturn and father of Faunus, was a woodland divinity,

gifted with prophetic powers.

 

An ancient myth relates that Picus was a beautiful youth, united to a nymph

called Canens. The sorceress Circe, infatuated by his beauty, endeavoured

to secure his love, but he rejected her advances, and she, in revenge,

changed him into a woodpecker, under which form he still retained his

powers of prophecy.

 

Picus is represented as a youth, with a woodpecker perched upon his head,

which bird became henceforth regarded as possessed of the power of

prophecy.

 

PICUMNUS AND PILUMNUS.

 

Picumnus and Pilumnus were two household divinities of the Romans, who were

the special presiding deities of new-born infants.

 

SILVANUS.

 

Silvanus was a woodland divinity, who, like Faunus, greatly resembled the

Greek Pan. He was the presiding deity of plantations and forests, and

specially protected the boundaries of fields.

 

Silvanus is represented as a hale old man, carrying a cypress-tree, for,

according to Roman mythology, the transformation of the youth Cyparissus

into the tree which bears his name was attributed to him.

 

His sacrifices consisted of milk, meat, wine, grapes, wheat-ears, and pigs.

 

TERMINUS.

 

Terminus was the god who presided over all boundaries and landmarks.

 

He was originally represented by a simple block of stone, which in later

times became surmounted by a {183} head of this divinity. Numa Pompilius,

the great benefactor of his people, anxious to inculcate respect for the

rights of property, specially enjoined the erection of these blocks of

stone, as a durable monument to mark the line dividing one property from

another. He also caused altars to be raised to Terminus, and instituted his

festival (the Terminalia), which was celebrated on the 23rd of February.

 

Upon one occasion, when Tarquin wished to remove the altars of several

deities, in order to build a new temple, it is said that Terminus and

Juventas alone objected to being displaced. This obstinate refusal on their

part was interpreted as a good omen, signifying that the city of Rome would

never lose her boundaries, and would remain ever young and vigorous.

 

CONSUS.

 

Consus was the god of secret counsel.

 

The Romans believed that when an idea developed itself spontaneously within

the mind of an individual, it was Consus who had prompted the suggestion.

This applied, however, more particularly to plans which resulted

satisfactorily.

 

An altar was erected to this divinity on the Circus Maximus, which was kept

always covered, except during his festival, the Consualia, which was

celebrated on the 18th of August.

 

LIBITINA.

 

Libitina was the goddess who presided over funerals. This divinity was

identified with Venus, possibly because the ancients considered that the

power of love extended even to the realms of death.

 

Her temple in Rome, which was erected by Servius Tullius, contained all the

requisites for funerals, and these could either be bought or hired there. A

register of all deaths which occurred in the city of Rome was kept in {184}

this temple, and in order to ascertain the rate of mortality, a piece of

money was paid by command of Servius Tullius, on the demise of each person.

 

LAVERNA.

 

Laverna was the presiding goddess of thieves, and of all artifice and

fraud. There was an altar erected to her near the Porta Lavernalis, which

was called after her, and she possessed a sacred grove on the Via Salavia.

 

COMUS.

 

Comus was the presiding genius of banquets, festive scenes, revelry, and

all joyous pleasures and reckless gaiety.

 

He is represented as a young man crowned with flowers, his face heated and

flushed with wine, leaning against a post in a half-sleepy and drunken

attitude, with a torch falling from his hand.

 

THE CAMENÆ.

 

The Camenæ were prophetic nymphs held in high veneration by the ancient

Italians. They were four in number, the best known of whom are Carmenta and

Egeria.

 

Carmenta was celebrated as being the mother of Evander, who led an Arcadian

colony into Italy, and founded a town on the river Tiber, which became

afterwards incorporated with the city of Rome. Evander is said to have been

the first who introduced Greek art and civilization into Italy, and also

the worship of Greek divinities.

 

A temple was erected to Carmenta on the Capitoline Hill, and a festival,

called the Carmentalia, was celebrated in her honour on the 11th of

January.

 

Egeria is said to have initiated Numa Pompilius in the forms of religious

worship, which he introduced among his people. She was regarded as the

giver of {185} life, and was therefore invoked by women before the birth of

their children.

 

The Camenæ are frequently identified by Roman writers with the Muses.

 

GENII.

 

A comforting and assuring belief existed among the Romans, that each

individual was accompanied through life, from the hour of his birth to that

of his death, by a protecting spirit, called his genius, who prompted him

to good and noble deeds, and acted towards him as a guardian angel,

comforting him in sorrow, and guiding him throughout his earthly career.

 

In the course of time a second genius was believed to exist, of an evil

nature, who, as the instigator of all wrong-doing, was ever at war with the

beneficent genius; and on the issue of the conflict between these

antagonistic influences, depended the fate of the individual. The genii

were depicted as winged beings, greatly resembling our modern

representations of guardian angels.

 

Every state, town, or city, (as well as every man), possessed its special

genius. The sacrifices to the genii consisted of wine, cakes, and incense,

which were offered to them on birthdays.

 

The genius which guided a woman was called, after the queen of heaven,

Juno.

 

Among the Greeks, beings called Dæmons were regarded as exercising similar

functions to those of the Roman genii. They were believed to be the spirits

of the righteous race which existed in the Golden Age, who watched over

mankind, carrying their prayers to the gods, and the gifts of the gods to

them.

 

MANES.

 

LEMURES (LARVÆ) AND LARES.

 

The Manes were the spirits of the departed, and were of two kinds, viz.,

Lemures (or Larvæ) and Lares. {186}

 

The Lemures were those Manes who haunted their former abodes on earth as

evil spirits, appearing at night under awful forms and hideous shapes,

greatly to the alarm of their friends and relatives. They were so feared

that a festival, called the Lemuralia, was celebrated in order to

propitiate them.

 

It appears extremely probable that the superstitions with regard to ghosts,

haunted houses, &c., which exist even at the present day, owe their origin

to this very ancient pagan source.

 

The Lares Familiares were a much more pleasing conception. They were the

spirits of the ancestors of each family, who exercised after death a

protecting power over the well-being and prosperity of the family to which

they had in life belonged. The place of honour beside the hearth was

occupied by the statue of the Lar of the house, who was supposed to have

been the founder of the family. This statue was the object of profound

veneration, and was honoured on all occasions by every member of the

family; a portion of each meal was laid before it, and it was believed to

take an active part in all family affairs and domestic events, whether of a

sad or joyful nature. Before starting on any expedition the master of the

house saluted the statue of the Lar, and, on his return, a solemn

thanksgiving was offered to this, the presiding deity of his hearth and

home, in grateful acknowledgment of his protection; whereupon the statue

was crowned with garlands of flowers, these being the favourite offerings

to the Lares on all occasions of especial family rejoicing.

 

The first act of a bride on entering her new abode was to do homage to the

Lar, in the belief that he would exercise over her a protecting influence

and shield her from evil.

 

In addition to those above enumerated there were also public Lares, who

were guardians of the state, highroads, country, and sea. Their temples

were always open for any pious worshipper to enter, and on their altars

public sacrifices were offered for the welfare of the state or city. {187}

 

PENATES.

 

The Penates were deities selected by each family, and frequently by its

individual members, as a special protector. Various causes led to this

selection. If, for instance, a child were born on the festival of Vesta, it

was thought that that deity would henceforward act as its special guardian.

If a youth possessed great business talents he adopted Mercury as his

tutelary deity; should he, on the other hand, develop a passion for music,

Apollo was selected as his patron god, and so forth. These became regarded

as the special divinities of the household, small images of them adorned

the surroundings of the hearth, and honours similar to those paid to the

Lares were accorded to them.

 

Just as there were public Lares so there were public Penates, which were

worshipped by the Roman people under the form of two youthful warriors,

who, in later times, were regarded as identical with Castor and Pollux.

They are generally represented on horseback, with conical caps on their

heads, and bearing long spears in their hands.

 

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[Illustration]

 

PUBLIC WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS.

 

TEMPLES.

 

In very remote times the Greeks had no shrines or sanctuaries devoted to

public worship, but performed their devotions beneath the vast and

boundless canopy of heaven, in the great temple of nature itself. Believing

that their divinities throned above the clouds, pious worshippers naturally

sought the highest available points, in order to place themselves in the

closest communion possible with their gods; hence the summits of high

mountains were selected for devotional purposes, and the more exalted the

rank and importance of the divinity invoked, the more elevated was the site

selected for his or her worship. But the inconvenience attending this mode

of worship gradually suggested the idea of erecting edifices which would

afford means of shelter from the inclemency of the weather.

 

These structures were, in the first instance, of the most simple form, and

without decoration; but when, with the progress of civilization, the Greeks

became a {189} wealthy and powerful people, temples were built and adorned

with the greatest splendour and magnificence, talent, labour, and wealth

being lavished unsparingly on their erection and decoration; indeed so

massively were they constructed, that some of them have, to a certain

extent, withstood the ravages of time. The city of Athens especially

contains numerous remains of these buildings of antiquity. On the Acropolis

we may still behold, among other monuments of ancient art, the temple of

Athene-Polias, and that of Theseus, the latter of which is the most entire

ancient edifice in the world. In the island of Delos, also, are to be seen

the ruins of the temples of Apollo and Artemis, both of which are in a

wonderful state of preservation. These ruins are most valuable, being

sufficiently complete to enable us to study, by their aid, the plan and

character of the original structure.

 

Among the Lacedæmonians, however, we find no vestiges of these stately

temples, for they were specially enjoined by a law of Lycurgus to serve the

gods with as little outlay as possible. When the great lawgiver was asked

the reason of this injunction, he replied that the Lacedæmonians, being a

poor nation, might otherwise abstain altogether from the observance of

their religious duties, and wisely added that magnificent edifices and

costly sacrifices were not so pleasing to the gods, as the true piety and

unfeigned devotion of their worshippers.

 

The most ancient temples known to us served a double purpose: they were not

only consecrated to the service of the gods, but were at the same time

venerable monuments in honour of the dead. Thus, for instance, the temple

of Pallas-Athene, in the tower of the city of Larissa, served as the

sepulchre of Acrisius, and the Acropolis at Athens received the ashes of

Cecrops, founder of the city.

 

A temple was frequently dedicated to two or more gods, and was always built

after the manner considered most acceptable to the particular divinities to

whom it was consecrated; for just as trees, birds, and animals of {190}

every description were held to be sacred to certain deities, so almost

every god had a form of building peculiar to himself, which was deemed more

acceptable to him than any other. Thus the Doric style of architecture was

sacred to Zeus, Ares, and Heracles; the Ionic to Apollo, Artemis, and

Dionysus; and the Corinthian to Hestia.

 

In the porch of the temple stood a vessel of stone or brass, containing

holy water (which had been consecrated by putting into it a burning torch,

taken from the altar), with which all those admitted to take part in the

sacrifices were besprinkled. In the inmost recess of the sanctuary was the

most holy place, into which none but the priests were suffered to enter.

 

Temples in the country were usually surrounded with groves of trees. The

solitude of these shady retreats naturally tended to inspire the worshipper

with awe and reverence, added to which the delightful shade and coolness

afforded by tall leafy trees is peculiarly grateful in hot countries.

Indeed so general did this custom of building temples in groves become,

that all places devoted to sacred purposes, even where no trees existed,

were called groves. That this practice must be of very remote antiquity is

proved by the Biblical injunction, having for its object the separation of

the Jews from all idolatrous practices: "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove

of trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God."

 

STATUES.

 

The Greeks worshipped their gods without any visible representations of

them until the time of Cecrops. The most ancient of these representations

consisted of square blocks of stone, upon which the name of the deity

intended to be represented was engraved. The first attempts at sculpture

were rude stocks, with a head at one end and a shapeless trunk at the

other, tapering slightly down to the feet, which, however, were not

divided, the limbs being in no way defined. But the artists of later times

devoted all their genius to the {191} successful production of the highest

ideals of their gods, some of which are preserved to this day, and are

regarded as examples of purest art.

 

On a pedestal in the centre of the edifice stood the statue of the divinity

to whom the temple was dedicated, surrounded by images of other gods, all of which were fenced off by rails.