PREFACE In the following treatise the writer has had two objects, in pursuance of which the treatise falls into two parts. In Part I an attempt is made to classify the certain and probable deified abstractions besides those in doubt, and to set forth the most important facts about them. In this I have not aimed at an exhaustive or encyclopaedic treatment, or to serve the purpose already accomplished by the various dictionaries and manuals upon Roman religion. The main facts of each cult are briefly set forth and, for these, ancient and modern sources have been freely used; but the chief aim has been to discuss at length obscure and disputed points. For this reason more space has often been given to uncertain, though less prominent, examples than to well-known cults. In Part II, I have intended to give a general survey of the origin and position of these deities as a class among the Romans. The evidence of coins and plastic art has not been used, except incidentally in a few cases, since a thoroughgoing investigation in these branches would have been too extensive for the present work. It is to a study of Professor G. Wissowa's Religion und Kultus der Römer that the inception of this opusculum is due, as also its guidance in many respects. I am also greatly indebted to Professor Gordon J. Laing, of the University of Chicago, under whose constant supervision my work has been carried on. Professors F. F. Abbott, W. G. Hale, Paul Shorey, and Edward Capps, and Mr. B. L. Ullman have also given me valuable help and advice. UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO June, 1907 HAROLD L. AXTELL BIBLIOGRAPHY Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL.). L'année épigraphique (L'ann. épig.). Orelli-Henzen, Inscriptiones latinae (Orelli). Dessau, Inscriptiones latinae selectae (Dessau). Ruggiero, Dizionario epigrafico. Babelon, Monnaies consulaires (Babelon). Cohen, Médailles impériales. Eckhel, Doctrina numorum veterum (DNU). Roscher, Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Roscher). Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertums-Wissenschaft. Daremberg et Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquités. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung (Röm. S.V.). Preller, Römische Mythologie (Preller). Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer (R.-K.). Wissowa, Gesammelte Abhandlungen (Gesam. Abhandl.). Domaszewski, Die Religion des römischen Heeres. Carter, De deorum romanorum cognominibus. Engelhard, De personificationibus, quae in poesi atque arte romanorum inveni untur. Aust, De aedibus sacris populi romani conditis. Henzen, Acta fratrum Arvalium. Gilbert, Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom im Altertum. A. Literature of the Republic. B. Literature of the Early Empire PAGE PART I. THE DEIFIED ABSTRACTS AS INDIVIDUAL CULTS The cases of deification to be considered in this paper may be grouped merely for convenience according to Cicero's classification, De nat. deor. ii. 19. 28 (cf. Wissowa Religion und Kultus der Römer [R.-K.], p. 271), as (1) virtues, virtutes, and (2) desirable conditions, res expetendae. The latter class will be interpreted rather broadly to include such material concepts as connote a quality or condition; e. g., Annona, "abundance," and Pecunia, "wealth." On the other hand, an abstract idea specialized in a purely material way as Tranquillitas, “sea-calm," is practically as concrete as any natural object deified, e. g., Nympha, and is therefore excluded. In some cases the distinction is not easy to make, but in these cases considerations of general usage and relationship have been the determining factor in the selection. It is more difficult to define deification; for, apart from all metaphysical speculation as to the essence of deity, into which it is not my purpose to enter, it is impossible to set a sharp limit between personification and deification, so closely related are the two provinces. To personify is to give personality to an object or power; to deify is to ascribe superhuman attributes. Given the principle that certain qualities are actually deities, every quality is a potential god, and the circle is limited only by the number of abstractions which the mind is capable of making. And the circle is not the same for every mind. Qualities so rare and so important to one man as to seem sacred spirits at work in the universe are to another but mere notions. Many, therefore, of the qualities which we find embodied in personality in imaginative literature may have seemed to their authors true deities and not merely rhetorical figures; but, as there is no way of definitely determining this fact, they must be disregarded. We must rely, therefore, on external evidences of worship, which in order of importance may be classified somewhat as follows: first, temples, priests, and festivals; second, shrines, and altars; third, the use of the word sacrum in formulae and of the word deus or dea; fourth, statues, reliefs, and figures on coins. Temples, priests, and public festivals in Rome are evidence of 7 |