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Calendrical Notes
#13
To-day is the fifth day before the Ides of January (ANTE DIEM V IDVS IANVARII), in modern reckoning the ninth day of the month. The Fasti Praenestini preserves a sadly much mutilated note:

''[No Business; Public Holiday.] Agonalia . . . Agonia . . . or because . . .''

Note that NP is interpreted by the translator as ''NEFASTVS PVBLICVS'', whereas Warde Fowler glosses it as the the festival of a god not of earthly character.

On account of fragmentary note, we must rely on literary sources, which are fortunately extremely detailed. Ovid's Fasti (the first book, line 317 et seq.) yields the following:

''Add four successive days to the Nones, and on the Agonal morn Janus must be appeased. The day may take its name from the attendant who, in garb succinct, fells at a blow the victim of the gods; for just before he dyes the brandished knife in the warm blood, he always asks if he is to proceed (agatne), and not until he is bidden does he proceed. Some believe that the day is named Agonal from the driving of the victims, because the sheep do not come but are driven (agantur) to the altar. Others think the ancients called this festival Agnalia (“festival of the lambs”), dropping a single letter from its proper place. Or perhaps, because the victim fears the knives mirrored in the water before they strike, the day may have been so styled from the brute’s agony. It may be also that he day took a Greek name from the games (agones) which were wont to be held in olden times. In the ancient tongue, too, agonia meant a sheep, and that last, in my judgement, is the true reason of the name. And though that is not certain, still the King of the Sacred Rites is bound to placate the divinities by sacrificing the mate of a woolly ewe. The victim is so called because it is felled by a victorious right hand; the hostia (sacrificial victim) takes its name from conquered hostes (foes).''

It should be noted that the abbreviation AGON., AGONIA, is found on March 17th (the LIBERALIA), May 21st (the AGONIA VEDIOVI) and on December 11th (AGONIA INDIGETI). The last case is perhaps doubtful, as Warde Fowler glosses AG[ONIA] IN[DIGETI] as merely a carver's error for AGON.

From Varro, we receive proof that AGONIA denotes the sacrifice of a ram to a particular god by the REX SACRORVM in the REGIA (''the traditional palace of Numa'', my commentator on Varro). See Book VI, Chapter Twelve:

''The dies agonales, on which the high-priest sacrifices a ram in the Regia, were named from ''agon'' for this reason, because the helper at the sacrifices asks ''agone'', ''shall I do my work? ; unless it is from the Greek, where ''agon'' means ''princeps'', leader, from the fact that the sacrificing is done by a leader of the state and the leader of the flock is sacrificed.''

The commentator upon Varro (the Loeb edition) notes that the answer to ''agone'' is ''HOC AGE'' (do thou this).

The ''attendant... in garb succinct'', the ''helper at the sacrifices'' of Varro is the POPA, who knocked down the sacrificial victim with a hammer, or the CVLTRARIVS, who slit the throat of the victim. Ovid seems rather to confuse the two, but from Suetonius' Caligula (32:3) we see that they were at least sometimes separate:

''Once when he stood by the altar dressed as a popa, and a victim was brought up, he raised his mallet on high and slew the cultrarius.''

The ''garb succinct'' is the CINCTVS GABINVS, which Mommsen derives from the lengthy wars with Gabii in the reign of the last of the Tarquins (Livy, 1 53 and 54) when the toga was still worn by soldiers:

''For this the sinus was drawn over the head and then the long end which usually hung down the back from the left shoulder was drawn under the left arm and around the waist behind to the front and tucked in there.'' (Private Life of the Romans, Chapter VII, 245, by H.W. and revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932))

It should be carefully observed that both arms are left free, and thus it was retained by priests offering sacrifice.

AGONALIA is a popular misinterpretation on the form of LIBERALIA, SATURNALIA and so on. The name of the festival does not derive from the name of a god, so the AGONIVS of Augustine is either a blunder or a misassociation (Warde Fowler quotes Ambrosch as giving a possibility that AGONIVS may be a god of the Colline city.)

The cult of Janus is exceedingly complex, and at present we will only discuss his aspect as the god of door-ways (a door-way is IANVA). Warde Fowler notes that it is ''well known'' that Janus is invoked at the beginning, and Vesta at the end, of all rituals, public and private, for which see the twenty-seventh chapter of the second book of Cicero's ''DE NATVRA DEORVM'':

''Also, as the beginning and the end are the most important parts of all affairs, they held that Janus is the leader in a sacrifice, the name being derived from ire (''to go''), hence the names jani for archways and januae for the front doors of secular buildings. Again, the name Vesta comes from the Greeks, for she is the goddess whom they call Hestia. Her power extends over altars and hearths, and therefore all prayers and all sacrifices end with this goddess, because she is the guardian of the innermost things.''

This agrees with the association of Janus with the door-way, or the first part of the house entered, and Vesta as the '' RERVM CVSTOS INTIMARVM'', the goddess who presides over the penetralia, the hearth and the inmost parts of the house, the last to which a stranger would be admitted.

The fact that the sacrifice was performed by the REX SACRORVM in the REGIA is most interesting, because it was the household of the old King, who stood in the role of PATERFAMILIAS to the entire Roman state. To quote Warde Fowler ''To the father, the defender of the family, belonged naturally the care of the entrance, the dangerous point, where both evil men and evil spirits might find a way in. And surely this must be the explanation of the fact that no priest is to be found for Janus...but the Rex sacrorum, the lineal representative of the ancient religious duties of the king, and therefore, we may infer with certainty, of those of the...head of the household.''
Patrick J. Gray

'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''

From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
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Messages In This Thread
Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-13-2018, 03:26 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-15-2018, 02:32 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Robert Vermaat - 01-16-2018, 01:13 AM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-16-2018, 01:19 AM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-16-2018, 04:02 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Gunthamund Hasding - 01-16-2018, 08:06 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-16-2018, 10:31 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-17-2018, 10:47 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-18-2018, 06:43 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-19-2018, 01:45 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-20-2018, 03:54 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-21-2018, 02:24 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-22-2018, 08:10 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-23-2018, 12:58 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-24-2018, 11:51 AM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-25-2018, 04:01 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-26-2018, 02:35 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-27-2018, 05:31 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-28-2018, 05:25 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-29-2018, 01:13 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-30-2018, 11:01 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 01-31-2018, 11:00 AM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 02-01-2018, 12:42 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 02-03-2018, 01:43 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 02-04-2018, 11:58 AM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Clavdivs - 02-05-2018, 06:52 PM
RE: Calendrical Notes - by Gunthamund Hasding - 02-27-2018, 12:25 PM

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