In the handbooks of Roman law the flamen Dialis, probably the most ancient priest of the Roman religion is mentioned in the corpus dedicated to marital law, namely in the description of the marriage creating manus effectuated by way of confarreatio. The confarreatio was the ceremony reserved for the patricians, generating the manus, the husband's power which was celebrated in the presence of the pontifex maximus and the flamen Dialis, together with ten witnesses.[1] It seems to be worth scrutinizing why the presence and cooperation of the flamen Dialis was required at the confarreatio. In the present paper we try to find an answer to this question from the structural analysis of the flamen Dialis's office.
The flamen Dialis, Iuppiter's priest is a specifically numinous phenomenon of Roman religion.[2] Among the ancient grammarians, Varro derives the expression flamen from the word filum,[3] but there is no universally accepted communis opinio doctorum concerning the etymology of the word even in the modern literature of the subject.[4] Similarly, the latest attempts at interpretation did not yield any solid and satisfying results. As further it will become evident - not so much from linguistic but rather from structural considerations - the hypothesis connecting the flamen to the brahman, proposed by Dumézil,[5] seems the most plausible. Fortunately, the attribute Dialis does not present so much difficulty,
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undoubtedly it derives from Diespiter, i.e. the archaic nominative of Iuppiter.[6] The descriptive treatment of the more general source material concerning the three flamines maiores (Dialis, Martialis, Quirinalis) was carried out by Samter,[7] and Dumézil called attention to the importance of the ancient Iuppiter - Mars - Quirinus triad, on the basis of which the importance of the three flamines can be explained, as well as to - besides various other aspects - the results of this in Roman history.[8] Our most important antique source treating the flamen Dialis, the prescriptions bestowing on him certain responsibilities, forbidding him various activities, constituting certain taboos, is Noctes Atticae by Gellius. In what follows, this locus will be the main object of scrutiny.
Before the minutious analysis of particular rules, it is perhaps useful to recapitulate Latte's statement, according to which most rules, taboos and prohibitions meant to defend the magical, numinous power posessed by the flamen Dialis.[9] The flamen Dialis was not allowed to ride a horse, to mount a horse (equo Dialem flaminem vehi religio est).[10] At first glance it would seem evident to consider this prohibition as placing under taboo the horse, the animal connected with death,[11] as this animal was also forbidden to enter Diana Nemorensis' grove, and as it is well-known this cult preserved many archaic elements for later historical periods as well.[12] However, this interpretation would exclude for the flamen Dialis, strictly obliged to refrain from the chtonic sphere, the possibility of travelling on a horse-drawn coach in Rome (ad id sacrarium flamines bigis curru arcuato vehi iussit),[13] as the flamen Dialis was forbidden not only to touch but also to see the things declared taboo for him. Though there is a considerable difference between riding a horse and travelling in a coach, the presence of the horse is essential in both cases.[14] It cannot be excluded that the prohibition of riding a horse may be interpreted on the basis of
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Meyer's finding, according to which although riding a horse was a widely spread form of transport in ancient Rome, it was not held in very high esteem.[15] On the contrary, travelling on a coach carried in itself a certain sacred element transcending the human sphere.[16] The flamen Dialis is forbidden to see a mobilised army or to make an oath (item religio est classem procinctam extra pomerium id est exercitum armatum videre ... item iurare Dialem fas numquam est).[17] The first prescription is easily understandable, as the fighting army is in constant mortal danger, it is potentially in the power of Death, so its sight is for the flamen Dialis a contangio enervans, a contact, diminishing his mana,[18] whereas in archaic law the oath contains certain elements of self-malediction,[19] thus carrying in itself the possibility of the decrease of the mana, the numinous force, which must be definitely avoided by the flamen Dialis)[20] Being tied or manacled is in some way characteristic of the slave, who is deprived of the right to dispose over his own life, thus being also a mana-diminishing factor. Therefore, the flamen Dialis is forbidden to wear any kind of knot or ring (item anulo uti nisi pervio cassoque fas non est ... nodum in apice neque in cinctu neque in allia parte ullum habet)[21], if a manacled person seeks refuge in his house, he should be untied (vinctum si aedes eius introierit, solvi necessum est et vincula per impluvium in tegulas subduci atque inde foras in viam demitti)[22], and if someone is being taken to be flogged and he imploringly puts his arms around the flamen's legs, then it is forbidden to punish him on that day (si quid as verberandum ducatur, si ad pedes eius supplex procubuerit, eo die verberari piaculum est)[23], in this last case the convict's bodily contact with the flamen Dialis presumably played some role too.[24]
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The life of the flamen Dialis is pervaded by numerous other taboos too, which, although in a less concretely definable manner, are also meant to stop the diminishing of the mana, the numinous force: so, for example, he may not touch a goat, raw meat, ivy, or beans and he may not even utter these words, nor is he allowed to touch flour or batter made with leaven (capram et carnem inoctam et hederam et fabam neque tangere Diali mos est neque nominare ... farinam fermento imbutam adtingere ei fas non est)[25]. The goat, the beans, and the ivy are connected with the cult of the dead and as such,[26] they must be avoided by the flamen Dialis as he cannot step on a place where somebody was burried, nor can he touch a deceased person (locum, in quo bustum est, numquam ingreditur mortuum numquam attingit)[27]. This does not contradict the fact that he is allowed to take part in funerals (funus tamen exsequi non est religio)[28], as he does not get into contact with the deceased, thus he does not enter the chtonic sphere, on the contrary, he facilitates eternal departure from the world of the living. His refraining from raw meat, which is too closely related to the butchered animal is also understandable. The increasing, swelling action of the leaven in the batter permits association with the reluctance towards a new, unknown force and probably tries to keep the flamen Dialis within the circumstances of the epoch in which only unleavened bread was known.[29] The hair of the flamen Dialis can be cut only by a free person, his cut hair and nails can only be interred under a certain, fruit-yielding tree (capillum Dialis nisi qui liber homo est, non detonset... unguium Dialis et capilli subter felicem arbore terra operiuntur)[30] - the hair, according to antique views was the main container of life-force and if it is touched or cut by an unworthy person, then a substantial energy decrease ensues by way of contagio enervans.[31] The concept of arbor felix, the tree yielding edible fruit, and that of arbor infelix, the barren tree or the tree yielding inedible fruit is also known by archaic law, the citizen found guilty of perduellio being hanged on the latter as they did not want to diminish or injure the life force or numen of a fertile tree by bringing it into direct or indirect contact with a dead criminal.[32] It is not by chance that the cut hair and nails of the flamen Dialis, which even in this state were carrying mana, had to be burried in the ground under an arbor felix thus enhancing its
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fertility.[33] The hair had to be cut with a bronze instrument instead of one made of iron.[34] This harmonizes with the prohibition to ride, clearly showing the formal conservativism of the Romans. It can thus be assumed that this prohibition originates from very ancient times, when tools made of iron - due to their modernity - were considered taboo in religious rituals.[35] Taking out fire from the house of the flamen Dialis was only allowed for sacral purposes (ignem et flaminia, id est flaminis Dialis domo, nisi sacrum efferi ius non est)[36], which was meant to defend the fire pervaded by numen burning in the house of the flamen Dialis against abusus. The priviliged position of the flamen Dialis was emphasized by the prescription according to which in a company he could be preceded in the seating arrangement only by the rex sacrorum (super flaminem Dialem in convivio nisi rex sacrificulus, haut quisquam alius accumbi)[37]. It is difficult to interpret the prescription according to which he must not walk under the vine-shoots hanging down (propagines e vitibus altius praetentas non succedet)[38]. According to Pötscher's explanation, this might be due to the fact that the flamen Dialis always had to wear an apex on his head[39] and the shoots hanging too low could brush it down from his head.[40] Conversely, Kerényi in his interpretation refers to the Dionysian characteristic present in grapes which would have caused the decrease of the numinous force of the flamen Dialis[41]-this explanation would be satisfactory if there had been knowledge of a rule prohibiting the flamen Dialis s drinking wine.[42]
The prescriptions discussed so far were all meant to defend the flamen Dialis from the diminishing of the mana, the numinous force. The following rules can be organised according to a completely different aspect, namely on the basis of the aspect that flamen Dialis cotidie feriatus est[43], i. e. the flamen Dialis fulfills his cultic service every day. In Kerényi's wording: "Der zeitliche Ablauf seines Lebens war der Kultakt."[44] According to Dumézil "le flamen historique se présente comme une victime qui n 'est jamais immoléé."[45] Pötscher defines even more trenchantly the role of the flamen Dialis, a definition which served also as a starting point for the present analysis, according to which: "Der Fla-
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men Dialis darf Priester im engeren Sinne des Wortes genannt werden, nicht so, wie man gelegentlich auch die Pontifices Priester zu nennen pflegt. Er repräsentiert den Gott, er macht den Gott in einer Form präsent."[46] One must bear this in mind when interpreting the rule that the flamen Dialis is not allowed to stay outdoors without wearing the apex (sine apice sub divo licitum non est)[47], originally he even had to wear it in the house,[48] which presumably refers back to the age when he was not allowed to stay in a house, or under any roof at all. The constant wearing of the apex appears in Roman legal thinking as a result of the fiction that the flamen Dialis permanently lives outdoors.[49] It is possibly the remanant of this stage when the ritual was not performed in the church but in the open air in the sacred grove,[50] that the legs of his bed had to be smeared with clay in order to assure direct contact with the earth (pedes lecti, in quo cubat, luto tenui circumlitos esse oportet)[51]. The significance of this prescription becomes evident when analysed together with two further rules connected with the bed of the flamen Dialis: it is prohibited that the flamen Dialis should not sleep in his own bed for three consecutive days, no other person can sleep in his bed, and beside the clay leg of the table there should be a pot with sacrificial milk loaf and sacrificial honey grist scones (de eo lecto trinoctium continuum non decubat neque in eo lecto cubare alium fas est ... apud eius lecti fulcrum capsulam esse cum strue atque ferto oportet)[52]. Based on these, it can be conjectured that the bed of the flamen Dialis is of certain cultic importance, constituting an integral element of his sacral function. Although Latte did not fail to observe the parallel that can be drawn between this phenomenon and the Dodonian cult of Zeus,[53] its further-reaching conclusions can be found again in Pötscher.[54] The basis of the Dodonian cult is the hieros gamos taking place between Zeus Naios and Dione, the sacred communion of the Sky and the Earth, which is meant to ensure the fertility of the area surrounding Dodona -which in this case can be interpreted as the Person-Bereicheinheit of Dione -with the help of the rain falling on it, which in this case can be interpreted as the Person-Bereicheinheit of Zeus,[55] who fulfills here the function of the god of rain, or generally the god of weather.[56] The priests in the service of this cult,
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the hypophetai were not allowed to wash their feet, and they were not allowed to sleep in bed all their life so that their direct contact with the earth should never be broken (hypophetai aniptopodes khamaieynai)[57]. Thus several parallels can be pointed out between the elements of the two cults: at the Greeks the hypophetai are the priests of Zeus Naios, whereas the flamen Dialis is the priest of Iuppiter i.e. the priest of the Roman equivalent of the same god, the hypophetai may not wash their feet and they have to sleep on the ground all their life, the flamen Dialis sleeps in a bed whose legs are covered with clay so that the direct contact with the earth should be assured, the priests of Zeus Naios continually stay in the sacred grove,[58] the flamen Dialis fulfils unceasing divine service all his life, always wears the apex, thus being de iure always in the open air, and he cannot leave his bed which ensures constant contact with the earth for more than three consecutive nights. In the Dodonian cult woman-priests (promanties) also take part,[59] and the wife of the flamen Dialis, the flaminica Dialis plays such an important role in his life that if she dies, the flamen Dialis must also resign from his office (uxorem si amisit, flamonio decedit)[60] - whereas the promanties serve as priestesses of Dione, the flaminica is present only as the feminine component of the same priestly function.[61] Taking all these into account it can be safely stated that the fact that the flamen Dialis nearly every night of his life sleeps in his bed with clay-covered legs which make its connection with the earth tighter, and near the bed there should be sacrificial milk-loaf - as if enhancing its sanctity - can be counted as a cultic event. The obligation of the flamen Dialis, who is present in his office essentially as a husband - as he has to resign from the flamonium if the flaminica dies - to sleep on the ground night after night should be interpreted as a hierogamic act with the Earth.[62] The hierogamic view[63] need not necessarily be connected with a concrete myth - this would indeed be surprising in the case of Roman religion, which is so short of mythical stories and so prone to historicizing the common Indo-European mythic thesaurus[64] - it suffices to transpose the image of the earth's fertilisation with rain to the level of the cult.[65] Much less is known about the prescriptions concerning the flaminica Dialis, roughly the same rules apply to her as to the flamen Dialis (eadem ferme caeremoniae
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sunt flaminicae Dialis)[66], the colour red predominated in her clothing which again cannot be accidental, it rather becomes emphatic because it corresponds to the Roman wedding dress, which also accentuates the hierogamic concept and also the fact that the flamen Dialis had important ritual duties at the most ancient and solemn form of the Roman marriage ceremony, the confarreatio -naturally, the flamen and flaminica also had to live in a marriage,[67] bound according to this sacral ceremony of the highest order as their marriage constituted an integral part of the flamen's office.[68]
The tabooistic prescriptions and prohibitions governing the flamen's life destined to stop the diminishing of the mana, the numinous force, become intelligible in their structure if approached from this aspect of the priesthood of the flamen Dialis, i.e. his cultic connection with the Earth, symbolizing the Earth's fertilisation by the Sky as well as from other acts of his life meant to represent Iuppiter. His taking part in the confarreatio marriage ceremony clearly fits into the line of these prescriptions, bringing the ceremony closer to its purpose merely by his praesentia Iovialis.
Es ist aus des Institutiones des Gaius bekannt (1, 112), daß bei der confarreatio der flamen Dialis anwesend sein mußte, bzw. daß bei der Erfüllung des Amtes des flamen Dialis die Eheschließung durch confarreatio unerläßliche Voraussetzung war. Im vorliegenden Aufsatz versucht der Verfasser der Frage nachzugehen, welche Erklärung dieser äußerst engen Beziehung zwischen der für die Patrizier vorbehaltenen Eheschließungszeremonie und dem Amt des Iuppiterpriesters zugrunde liegt. Bei der Beantwortung dieser Frage ist in erster Linie von jener Gelliusstelle (Noctes Atticae 10, 15) auszugehen, die sich mit den für das Leben und Wirken des flamen Dialis geltenden Vorschriften befaßt; bei der Analyse dieser Quelle können die Ergebnisse von Georges Dumézil, Kurt Latte, Hendrik Wagenvoort, Karl Kerényi und Walter Pötscher reichlich herangezogen werden.
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Ein Teil dieser Normen sind als Tabus aufzufassen, die dazu berufen sind die mana, dh. die numinose, dem flamen Dialis eigene Kraft vor jeder contagio enervans zu schützen. Der andere, für unsere Untersuchung wichtigere Teil der Vorschriften läßt sich mit jener Rolle des flamen Dialis in Verbindung setzen, daß er gleichsam als irdischer Repräsentant des Himmel- und Wettergottes Iuppiter unter den Römern weilte. Durch eine Paralle mit dem dodonischen Zeus Naios-Kult kann die hierogamische Funktion des Amtes des flames Dialis klarer beleuchtet werden, und wenn noch die Rolle der flaminica Dialis näher betrachtet wird, bei deren Tod der flamen Dialis von seinem Amt zurücktreten muß, kann daraus jener Schluß gezogen werden, daß das Dasein des flamen Dialis als Ehegatte, dh. als irdischer Repräsentant des sich mit der Erde im hieros gamos vereinenden Iuppiter den wichtigsten Wirkungsbereich seines Amtes bildet, womit auch seine enge Verbindung zur confarreatio, diesem höchst sakralisierten Hochzeitsritus erklärt werden kann. ■
NOTES
[1] Földi A. - Hamza G.: A római jog története és institúciói. (History and Institutions of Roman Law.) Budapest 2004[9]. 251. sq.; F. Benedek: Die conventio in manum und die Förmlichkeiten der Eheschließung im römischen Recht. PTE Dolg. Pécs 1978. 3. sqq.; S. Treggiari: Roman Marriage. Iusti Coniuges From the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian. Oxford 1991. 21. sqq.
[2] Cf. Nótári T.: Numen és numinozitás - a római tekintélyfogalom vallási aspektusai. (Numen ad Numinousity - The Religious Aspects of the Roman Concept of Authority) Aetas 2003. 3-4. 33. sqq. (also in: Nótári T.: Iuridicophilologica. Budapest 2004. 141. sqq.)
[3] Varro ling. 5, 84. flamen quasi filamen
[4] A. Walde-J. B. Hofmann: Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch I-II. Heidelberg 1938. I. 512; A. Ernout - A. Meillet: Dictionnaire étimologique de la langue latine. Paris 1959. 239.
[5] G. Dumézil: Flamen - Brahman. Annales de Musée Guimet 51. Paris 1935.
[6] Walde - Hofmann op. cit. I. 347.
[7] E. Samter: Flamines. RE VI. 1909. 2484. sqq.
[8] G. Dumézil: Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus: essai sur la conception indo-européenne de la société et sur les origines de Rome. Paris 1941; G. Dumézil: Sur quelques expressions sympoliques de la structure religiueuse tripartie à Rome. Journal de Psychologie et Pathologique 45. 1951. 145. sqq.; G. Dumézil: Mythe et epopée. I. L'idéologie des trois functions dans les epopées des peuples indo-européens. Paris 1968; G. Dumézil: Archaic Roman Religion. Chicago 1970.
[9] K. Latte: Römische Religionsgeschichte. München 1967. 402.
[10] Gell. 10, 15, 3. Cf. Plin. nat. 28, 146; Serv. in Verg. Aen. 8, 552.
[11] Cf. L. Malten: Das Pferd im Totenglauben. Arch. Jb 29. 1914.
[12] Verg. Aen. 7, 774. sqq. At Trivia Hippolytum secretis alma recondit sedibus et nymphae Egeriae nemorique relegat, solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevom exigeret versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset. Unde etiam templo Triviae lucisque sacratis cornipedes arcentur equi, quod litore currum et iuvenem monstris pavidi effudere marinis. W. Pötscher: Flamen Dialis. In: W. Pötscher: Hellas und Rom. Hildesheim 1988. 422.
[13] Liv. 1, 21, 4.
[14] Pötscher op. cit. 422.
[15] E. Meyer: Römischer Staat und Staatsgedanke. Zürich-Stuttgart 1961. 42.
[16] A. Brelich: Il mito nella storia di Cecilio Metello. SMSR 15. 1939. 33. "L' uso del carro, nell' antichitá romana, rientra sempre e senza eccezione in una sfera sacrale, super-umana. "
[17] Gell. 10, 15, 4.
[18] H. Wagenvoort: Wesenszüge altrömischer Religion. ANRW 1972. I. 2. 371. sq.
[19] Cf. Liv. 1, 24, 8. Si prior defexit publico consilio dolo malo, tum tu ille Diespiter populum Romanum sic ferito ut ego hunc porcum hic hodie feriam; tantoque magis ferito quanto magis potespollesque. 1, 32, 7. Inde Iovem testem facit: "Si iniuste impieque illos homines illasque res exposco, tum patriae compotem me nunquam siris esse."
[20] Pötscher op. cit. 423.
[21] Gell. 10, 15, 6. 8.
[22] Gell. 10, 15, 8.
[23] Gell. 10, 15, 9.
[24] Wagenvoort op. cit. 1972. 372.
[25] Gell. 10, 15, 12. 19.
[26] G. Wissowa: Religion und Kultus der Römer. München 1912. 191.
[27] Gell. 10, 15, 24. [28] Gell. 10, 15, 25.
[29] Pötscher op. cit. 425.
[30] Gell. 10, 15, 11. 15.
[31] Cf. H. Wagenvoort: Roman Dynamism. Studies in Roman Literature, Culture and Religion. Leiden 1955. 143.
[32] K. Latte: Religiöse Begriffe im frührömischen Recht. ZSS 57. 1950. 52.
[33] Pötscher op. cit. 427.
[34] Serv. in Verg. Aen. 1, 448.
[35] Latte op. cit. 1967. 203.
[36] Gell. 10, 15, 7.
[37] Gell. 10, 15, 21.
[38] Gell. 10, 15, 13.
[39] Gell. 10, 15, 17.
[40] Pötscher op. cit. 429.
[41] K. Kerényi: Antike Religion. München - Wien 1971. 190.
[42] Pötscher op. cit. 429. [43] Gell. 10, 15, 16.
[44] Kerényi op. cit. 198.
[45] Dumézil op. cit. 1935. 44.
[46] Pötscher op. cit. 431.
[47] Gell. 10, 15, 17.
[48] Gell. 10, 15, 16.
[49] Latte. op. cit. 1967. 203.
[50] ibid. 203.
[51] Gell. 10, 15, 14.
[52] Gell. 10, 15, 14.
[53] Latte op. cit. 1967. 203.
[54] W. Pötscher: Zeus Naios und Dione in Dodona. In: Walter Pötscher: Hellas und Rom. Hildesheim 1988. 173-208.
[55] ibid. 181. sqq.
[56] Wissowa op. cit. 121.
[57] Hom. Il. 16, 235.
[58] Hom. Il. 16, 234. sq.
[59] Hdt. 2, 55.
[60] Gell. 10, 15, 22.
[61] Pötscher op. cit. 434. sqq.
[62] ibid. 436.
[63] Cf. Hom. Il. 14, 312. sqq.
[64] Latte op. cit. 1967. 7.
[65] Pötscher op. cit. 439.
[66] Gell. 10, 15, 26.
[67] Gai. inst. 1, 112.
[68] Cf. Ov. fast. 6, 232; Pötscher op. cit. 441.
Lábjegyzetek:
[1] Károli Gáspár Reformed University, Department of Roman Law, Telephon number: (36-1) 370-8601, e-mail: tamasnotari@yahoo.de
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