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BL813.07 C °T24 UniVerSi ' V Ubrary Cults of Ostia ... by Lily Ross Taylor. olin 3 1924 029 163 529 Bry;n Mawry Pennsylvania, December, 1912 -Published by BRYN-MAWR COLLEGE The Bryn Mawr College Monographs are issued in two series : the Monograph Series,, containing articles that appear hete for the first time, and the Reprint Series, containing reprints of articles that haye appeared in other journals; .■ The monographs are edited by a , committee of the Faculty of Bryn Mawr College, consisting" -of President M. Carey ThomaSj ex officio; Professor Tenney Prank, chairman; Pro- fessor Arthur Leslie Wheeler, and Professor Carleton Brown. Bryn Mawr College Monographs Monograph Series, Vol. XI THE CULTS OF OSTIA LILY ROSS TAYLOR Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, December, 1912 Published by BRYN MAWR COLLEGE A-zsw/n COPTEIGHT, 1913, BY BHYN MAWE COLLEGE PUKST COMPANY, PKIHTEES BALTIMORE PEEFAOE The present study was presented to the Faculty of Bryn Mawr College in May, 1912, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It was begun at the suggestion of Professor J. B. Carter while I was a student at the American School of Classical Studies in Pome, in 1909-1910. I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Carter, and also to Professor A. W. Van Buren of the School, and to Professor A. L. Wheeler of Bryn Mawr College, both of whom read my manuscript and made a number of helpful criticisms. To Professor Tenney Frank of Bryn Mawr College, who supervised my work, I am under obligations for constant advice and criticism through- out all stages of this study. L. R. T. Vassab College, December 1, 1912. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029163529 CONTENTS PAGE Inteoduction 1 I. GbEEK AM> KOMAN GoDS 14 Vulcan 14 Capitoline Triad 21 Castor and Pollux 22 Liber Pater 27 Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, Spes 31 Pater Tiberinus 34 Genius Coloniae Ostiensium 35 Hercules 36 Silvanus 37 Gods of Collegia 41 Minor Cults 42 II. The Cult of the Empeeoes 46 III. Obieutal Gods 57 Magna Mater 57 Egyptian Gods 66 Syrian Gods 76 Mithras 82 Other Solar Divinities 92 Sabazis 93 Caelestis 93 Conclusion 94 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Ann. dell'Inst. — Annali dell' Institute di corrispondenza ar- cheologica. Bull. dell'Inst. — Bulletino dell'Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica. CIG. — Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. OIL. 1 — Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. EE. — Ephemeris Epigraphica. IG. — Inscriptiones Graecae. Mel. — Melanges d'Archeologie et d'Histoire del'Ecole fran- caise de Rome. NS. — Notizie degli Scavi di Antichita. Pauly-Wissowa — Pauly-Wissowa, Real Encyclopaedie der classischen A Itertumswissenschaft. Roscher — Roscher, Ausfuhrliches Lexicon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie. Ruggiero — Ruggiero, Dizionario epigrafico di Antichita ro- mane. 1 Inscriptions cited by number only are from Vol. xiv. The inscrip- tions have been quoted without the indication of the divisions of the lines, and, in general, without the use of sic to show unusual or ungrammatical forms. Vll INTRODUCTION" Ostia, the port of Rome, was situated at the mouth of the Tiber about sixteen miles from the metropolis. Under the name Ostia I include not only the original settlement on the south bank of the Tiber, but also the city, known as Portus, which grew up about the harbors of Claudius and Trajan two miles north of the river's mouth. Ostia was a city of considerable size during the second and third centuries after Christ. In the extent of its ruins and in the number of its inscriptions it is surpassed only by Rome and Pompeii in Italy. And yet its history and topography have received a relatively small share of attention. This neglect is due, at least in part, to the desultory and unscientific character of most of the excavations, and to the fact that, even when the excavations have been carefully conducted, the results have often been inadequately published. 1 At present, how- ever, great interest is being aroused in this site by the more thorough work that is now in process there. Systematic excavations, begun in 1907 under the direction of the Italian Ministry of Public Instruction, bid fair to continue for 'The earliest excavations at Ostia, those of the Scotchman Gavin Hamilton and of the Englishman Robert Fagan at the end of the eighteenth century, were conducted simply in search of works of art and were never published. Excavations were carried on under various auspices intermittently throughout the nineteenth century, and accounts and discussions of them occurred in various journals, such as the Annali and Bulletino dell'Instituto di correspondenza archeologica. Since 1876 accounts of the work have appeared in the Notizie degli Scavi di Antichita. See Paschetto, Ostia, colonic/, romana, pp. 485 ff. 1 ^ THE CULTS OF OSTIA some years. 2 Very valuable results have already been o tained, and more may be expected in the future. A g rea service has been rendered archaeologists by the prompt pu lication of the finds by Professor Dante Vaglieri who is in charge of the work at Ostia. In addition to this, Signore L. Paschetto has recently published a comprehensive mono- graph dealing with the history and topography of the city. Important contributions to these subjects have also been made by M. Carcopino 4 of the French school in Kome. These recent discoveries and researches have provided new and valuable evidence for the history of the city, which is still, however, obscure in many important details. Before proceeding to a discussion of the various cults of Ostia, it is desirable to outline briefly those facts in the history of the city which are essential to the understanding of such a study. According to a tradition never questioned by Roman historians, Ostia, which was generally supposed to be the first colony of Rome, was founded by King Ancus Marcius. 6 Ennius (Ann. n. frg. 22 V 2 ) and Polybius (vi. 2, 9), whose 2 Vide NS. 1907 ff. 3 Ostia, colonia romana, storia e monumenti. Prefazione di Dante Vaglieri, in Dissertazioni della pont. aecad. rom. di arch. Ser. n, Tomo x, 1912, pp. 1-593. 3 plans. *On the port of Claudius, NS. 1907, pp. 734-740; on the mosaic of the barracks of the vigiles, Mil. 1907, pp. 227-241. A series of articles entitled Ostiensia by Carcopino is now appearing in the Melanges d'ArchSologie et d'Histoire de Vtlcole francaise de Rome. Thus far four have appeared: — I. Glanures Cpigraphiques , 1909, pp. 341-364; II. Le Quartier des docks, 1910, pp. 397-446; III. Les inscriptions gamaliennes, 1911, pp. 143-230; IV. Notes compUmentaires, 1911, pp. 365-368. Cf. also Les ricentes fouilles d'Ostie, Journal des Savants, 1911, pp. 448-468. °It is fortunate that the inscriptions have been published by so careful a scholar as Dessau. See OIL. xiv (1887), nos. 1-2085; 4127- 4175; EE. VII (1892), nos. 1190-1233; ibid. IX (1910), nos. 433-570. Another supplement containing inscriptions of Ostia is soon to appear. "Livy i. 33; xxvii. 38; Dionys. m. 44; Cic. De Rep. u. 18, 23. INTRODUCTION common source was probably Fabius Pictor, preserve the tradition of the early date, without mentioning a colony there. Fabius may have drawn upon a legend current in his day, or perhaps he found his information in the pontifi- cal records. But since the data for the regal period in these records had been composed entirely of legendary matter, 7 we must conclude that the story of the founding of Ostia is no more worthy of credence than the rest of the history of the kings, as reported by Fabius. The sum of our knowledge is that before the end of the third century b. c. a legend was current to the effect that the city of Ostia was founded several centuries before, though not certainly as a colony. In Cicero's day tradition held that Ancus Marcius had also established the colony, and Festus is the only writer who indicates that it was not established until after the founda- tion of the city by Ancus. Compare Festus, p. 197 M. Ostiam urbem ad exitum Tiberis in mare fluentis Ancus Marcius rex condidisse et feminino appellasse vocabulo fer- tur; quod sive ad urbem sive ad coloniam quae postea condita est refertur. This tradition of the early foundation of the colony at Ostia has not been questioned until recently. Vaglieri has noted 8 that so far the excavations in the tombs on the present site have brought to light no objects which can be dated before the third century, and that there are no refer- ences to the existence of a naval station at Ostia 9 before the ' Enmann, Rhemisches Museum, 1902, pp. 517 ff. ; Cichorius s. v. Annates Maximi, Pauly-Wissowa. "NS. 1910, p. 550 n. 1; Bull. Com. 1911, pp. 244 f. Introduction to Paschetto, op. cit. pp. xxiv f. Cf. also Carcopino, Journal des Savants, 1911, p. 467. 9 Vaglieri notes that the city must have been established before the institution of the quaestores classici in 267 B. 0. Cf. Mommsen, Romisches Btaatsrecht, II. p. 570; Herzog, Romische Staatsverfassung, I. pp. 823-825, shows that there is no good reason for calling the. quaestor stationed at Ostia a quaestor classicus. 4 THE CTTI/T8 OF OSTIA time of the Hannibalic War. 10 In attempting to date the colony, some aid may be obtained from considerations of an economic nature. The tract of land that belonged to Ostia was confined by the Tiber and the Laurentian territory to a very few square miles of marshy or sandy land which was quite unfit for cultivation. It could not, therefore, have served the pur- poses of an agricultural colony. There are, however, two reasons why the site might have been desirable to the Romans at an early period — first, the ease with which salt could be procured at this point, and second, the value of the locality for a port. Let us consider whether either of these reasons might have led Eome to plant a colony here early in her history. Salt works were said to have been established by Ancus Marcius at the time of the foundation of Ostia. 11 Since Rome must have procured her salt from the region about the mouth of the Tiber 12 from the earliest times, it is probable that Rome's object in seizing the region was to gain control of the Salinae. It is very likely that a village inhabited by laborers in the Salinae sprang up here very early. The salt industry, however, though not privately owned, was controlled in early times by contract and not directly by the state. 13 Furthermore Rome was very slow to adopt a policy of furnishing state protection even to quasi-public business interests. The existence of salt-works in the region cannot therefore explain the establishment of a colony of Roman citizens at Ostia. 10 Further evidence is supplied by a number of republican coins dis- covered in 1909. No coins were found which could be dated before 254 B. C. Cf. Carcopino, I. c. p. 467. "Livy I. 33; Pliny, H. N. xxxi. 41, 89. "The salt works on the north bank of the river seem to have been older. Cf. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, n. p. 543, 566. "Cf. Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, n. pp. 159ff. ; jj og _ towzew, Philol. Supp. rx. p. 411. INTBODUCTION O The need of a port for Rome's growing commerce is the reason generally assigned by both ancient and modern authorities for the early establishment of a colony at Ostia. 14 And yet the indications are that until the third century b. c. Rome had little interest in commerce. 15 There is slight evidence that the Greeks had met Roman traders before that time. Moreover, before 282 Rome had been bound by a treaty with Tarentum which prevented her ships from pass- ing the Lacinian headlands — a treaty which could not have been signed by any state that had the least real interest in maritime commerce. 16 Further indications of the same fact may be found in Rome's failure to build a navy before the First Punic War, in the relatively small amount of foreign ware dating from the early Republic as yet dis- covered in Roman excavations, and, finally, in the insignifi- cance of the coinage issued from the Roman mint before the year 268 b. c. In view of the facts, therefore, that very few Romans engaged in maritime commerce before the third century and that the state was always unwilling to incur public expense even for domestic, not to speak of foreign enterprises, it is difficult to believe that Rome for commercial reasons could have founded a colony of citizens at the Tiber's mouth long before the third century. The original settlement in the neighborhood of Ostia, then, was probably made up chiefly of people connected with the SaUnae. 17 Since the results of excavations indicate that the settlement on the present site is not of great antiquity, the suggestion that the original village may have been nearer to Rome than was the later city commends itself. 18 Perhaps "Dionys. ill. 44; Isidorus, Orig. XV. 1. 56; Jung, Geographie von Italien, p. 31; Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, II. pp. 566-567. 15 On Rome's commerce cf. Bliimner, Privatleben der Bomer, pp. 618 ff. "Polybius, in. 22. " This is the opinion of Vaglieri, I. o. " This suggestion was made first by Canina, Dissertazioni dell'aecad. pontif. di Archeologia, vn (1838), pp. 265 ff. Cf. Dessau OIL. xiv t> THE CULTS OF OSTIA Festus, in the passage quoted above, preserved the truth with regard to the subsequent foundation of the colony, even if he is too credulous in adopting the legend about Ancus Marcius. Although it is impossible to determine when the colony was established here, general considerations enable us to fix upon a probable date. The recent excavations have made it seem likely that the present site was not inhabited before the third century b. c. The bold appearance of Eoman ships at Tarentum in 282, in violation of the terms of the treaty, indicates that Eoman shipping was assuming important pro- portions in the early third century. So far as we know, the earliest maritime colonies were planted at Antium (338 b. c.) and at Tarracina (329), sea-coast towns which had fallen to Eome in the Latin War. 19 The fact that in 317 the Antiates complained to the Senate se sine legibus certis, sine magistratibus agere (Livy ix. 20) shows that Eome, still inexperienced in the management of colonies of citizens, had not yet evolved her later system under which duumviri and aediles were the regular magistrates of these colonies. 20 p. 3, n. 8. Recently it has received support from Vaglieri, I. c. But the theory of Canina that the city was gradually extended along the river as the coast line advanced has not been supported by the results of the excavations. The present site seems to have been laid out at the time of its occupation along lines that held throughout its history. Cf. Carcopino, Journal des Savants, 1911, pp. 466 f. u Cf . Kornemann, s. v. coloniae, Pauly-Wissowa, cola. 52Q S. M Beloch, Der italische Bund, 1880, p. 114, makes the statement: " Die Verfassung der See-colonien war im Allgemeinen der der Colonien lateinischen Eechts nachgebildet. Wie dort, so stehen auch hier 2 Praetoren an der Spitze der Stadt, die sich z. B. in Castrum Novum bis in die Kaiserzeit hinein erhalten haben. Die Praetores sacris Vol- cano (sic) faciundis, die wir spater in Ostia finden, scheinen zu be- weisen, dass einst auch dieser Stadt Praetoren vorstanden, wenn auch in Folge der augusteischen Colonisation hier die Duumviralverfassung eingefuhrt worden ist. Dagegen in den nach dem hannibalischen Kriege deducirten Seecolonien haben sich die obersten Magistrate nicht mehr Praetoren genannt, sondern Duumviri." Beloch's conclusion is IWTEODUCTION 7 In 296 Rome continued her policy of securing the sea-coast for herself by planting colonies of citizens at Minturnae and Sinuessa. Probably earlier than this, but not much earlier than 300 b. c, she saw the desirability of safeguarding her commerce and her natural harbor by placing a colony of citizens at the mouth of the Tiber, a locality that had long been her undisputed possession. At the time of the Second Punic War Ostia was already a walled town and a very important naval station. 21 When in 207 citizens of a number of maritime colonies petitioned for exemption from military service, the request was granted only to Ostia and Antium (Livy xxvii. 38). Citizens of these two places were, however, required not to be absent from their towns more than thirty days at a time when a foreign foe was in Italy. But when these two cities with several others requested exemption from service in the fleet in 191, the petition was not granted (Livy xxxvi. 3). During the period of the Republic, Ostia had no harbor, and so ships were forced to land in the mouth of the Tiber. 22 not supported by the facts. We shall consider later the question of the praetors of Vulcan of Ostia. The case of Castrum Novum in Picenum, which is known to have had praetors, is of very doubtful value as evidence, since it is by no means certain whether the colony of citizens of the third century was established there or at the city of the same name in Etruria. Of the citizen-colonies supposed to have been founded before the time of the Gracchi, the only one which is known to have had praetors is Auximum, and the evidence for the establishment of a colony there (Velleius I. 15, 3) is by no means certain. There seems no reason to believe that the citizen-colonies were ever governed as the Latin colonies were. They were probably governed by duumviri from the first. Moreover, there is no support for Beloch's supposition that Augustus reorganized Ostia or that he altered the administrative system of the colony. "Carcopino (Mil. 1911, p. 155, n. 2) calls attention to the reference to the wall of Ostia in Livy xxvii. 23, 3. For other references to Ostia as » naval station cf. Livy xxn. 11 and 37; xxm. 38; xxv. 20; xxvii. 22. "Dionys. in. 44; Polyb. xxxi. 20, 11. 8 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Indeed the alluvial deposit made by the river, which has now built the land out three miles beyond ancient Ostia, had, as early as the latter part of the Kepublic, made it impossible for larger ships to cross the bar at the mouth of the river and reach the channel. Strabo (v. 3, 5, p. 231) described in very strong terms the disadvantages and dangers of the port in his day (ca. 20 b. c), and thought it surpris- ing that ships still came there. Caesar planned to remedy matters by constructing an artificial harbor, but his death prevented the fulfilment of the plan (Plutarch, Caes. 58). Long before the time of Caesar, Home had secured as a second port Puteoli, which, though about a hundred and fifty miles distant, co mm ended itself because of its excellent harbor. Puteoli had first been necessary to Kome for mili- tary purposes during the Punic Wars. But it was undoubt- edly her growing commerce that caused her to establish a custom house there in 199 and five years later a colony of Roman citizens. Since Southern Italy was already in far closer contact with the Orient than Pome was, it is not sur- prising that Puteoli became Rome's emporium for trade with the Orient and especially with Egypt. 23 Ostia remained, throughout the Republic and early Em- pire, the chief port for the grain supply, and seems also to have been in closer relationship with the Occident than was Puteoli. 24 But the superiority of Puteoli's facilities as a port is at least partially responsible for the fact that so few monuments and inscriptions of the Republic and early Em- pire have been found at Ostia. Though the excavations now in progress are bringing to light important remains of re- publican buildings, so far there is very little evidence for the history of the colony during that period and the early K Cf. Charles Dubois, Pouzzoles antique, Bibliotheque des tcoles fran- eaises d'Athines et de Rome, Vol. 98, Paris, 1907, pp. 65 fl. For a comparison of Ostia and Puteoli vide pp. 78 ff. M Dubois, op. cit. p. 79, is probably right in drawing this inference from Pliny, H. N. xix. 3. INTBODUCTION' » Empire. The city seems not to have become important before the time of Claudius. Caesar's plan of making a good harbor was finally carried out by Claudius, who did not attempt to make the port at Ostia; he chose a site two miles to the north, which he con- nected with the Tiber by means of a canal. Here he built an artificial basin and constructed a lighthouse. The work had already been begun in 42 a. d. 2B Representations of the port on coins of Nero indicate that it was not finally dedi- cated until the reign of that emperor 26 to whose jealousy is due the fact that it was called Portus Augusti rather than Portus Claudii. Even this harbor proved inadequate to the needs of the shipping, and accordingly it was enlarged by Trajan. An hexagonal basin was constructed inside the port of Claudius and was given the name Portus Traiani. Considerable remains of both basins may be seen today. A flourishing town with many important public buildings soon sprang up about the port, from which it received the name Portus. 27 Although Portus was two miles distant from the old town of Ostia and separated from it by the Tiber, until the fourth century the two cities were under the same municipal organi- zation and had the same magistrates and priests. 28 Ostia proper, far from decreasing in importance after the new port was built, became a large commercial city, with perhaps 50,000 inhabitants. 29 The remains of .the city, which date "Cassius Dio, lx. 11. Cf. GIL. xrv 85. M Cohen, Me'dailles impe'riales, I. Nero, 33-41. "The best discussion of the remains of Portus is that of Lanciani, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, pp. 144 ft. Lanciani's plan of the harbor of Trajan is given in Mon. dell'Inst. vnx PI. xlix. The excavations at Portus, which have not been continued since 1870, have been incomplete and unscientific. The most fruitful work has been that on the Torlonia estate. On the port of Claudius cf. Carcopino, NS. 1907, pp. 734 ft". " Cf. Dessau, op. cit. p. 6. " See Paschetto, op. cit. p. 187. 10 THE CULTS OF OSTIA chiefly from the second and third centuries after Christ, seem to show that it was almost entirely rebuilt after the construction of the port. Inscriptions furnish much valu- able evidence for the history of the colony during this period. The emperors of the second century seem to have been particularly zealous in adorning the city. The population of Ostia during this period was largely of the middle and lower classes. Aristocratic Komans, although they owned villas along the neighboring coast, seem not to have been attracted to Ostia. The commercial char- acter of the population is well shown by the large number of professional collegia attested in the inscriptions. Traders from the East who had hitherto flocked to Puteoli began to come to Ostia after the construction of the port of Claudius. When later Trajan's port afforded still greater facilities for landing near Rome, the Campanian city declined markedly in importance, as her northern rival rose. 30 Most of our evidence for the religious history of Ostia falls within the two centuries following the establishment of the new port. This was the period when Oriental re- ligions were everywhere undermining the old Roman beliefs and religious forms. At Ostia, where there was more con- stant contact with the East than elsewhere, the old cults had a particularly difficult and often an unsuccessful struggle to hold their own. The most important Oriental worships were firmly established here in the second century. Christi- anity early gained a strong foothold, and the later history of Ostia and Portus is closely bound up with the history of the Church. 31 80 Cf. Dubois, op. cit. p. 81. In 172 A. D. the Tyrians of Puteoli complained of the decrease in numbers and wealth of their colony. 31 The later history of Ostia and Portus is in many details obscure. See Vaglieri's interesting comments (NS. 1910, p. 106) on a recently discovered inscription of Ragonius Vincentius Celsus vir clarissimus, who seems to have erected a statue to Urbs which was paid for by the inhabitants of Ostia. INTRODUCTION 11 The present study is, however, concerned only with the pagan cults of Ostia. The evidence for these cults is, of course, mainly epigraphical, and, as we have indicated, dates chiefly from the second and third centuries after Christ. Inscriptions of religious significance, while they are rare in the first century of the Empire, are, with one possible excep- tion, entirely lacking for the Republic. 32 In that period our only direct evidence for the religion of the city is found in one of the rare literary references which give information about the cults of Ostia (Livy xxxn. 1, 10). Finds of statues and reliefs supplement our knowledge of the cults of the city. 33 Especially important is the bas-relief found at Portus, now in the Museo Torlonia, which gives a view of the harbor of Claudius. 34 The most important evidence for the history of the Church at Ostia is summarized by Dessau, OIL. xiv p. 5. See Paschetto, op. cit. pp. 177 ff. Evidence for the presence of Jews has been found at Portus. Cf. ibid. pp. 175 ff. " While further excavations will doubtless add to the list of shrines, it is hardly probable that new cults of importance will be discovered. The list of the priests of the colony must be practically complete. M It is doubtful how far one may venture to use the statues, reliefs, etc. found at Ostia and Portus as evidence for the cults of these cities. Statues of Venus and Bacchus, for instance, were used so much by the Romans for ornamental purposes, that it is doubtful whether one may attach any religious significance to such statues discovered at Ostia. If the interesting winged female statue recently discovered at Ostia represents Athena Victrix, as Savignoni believes it does (Ausonia, 1910, pp. 69 ff. ) , it cannot be regarded as evidence for the cult of that goddess in the port. The case is different with representations of Oriental gods. Many of the statues found in the excavations of the eighteenth century are in private collections in England (cf. Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, index s. v. Ostia) ; others are in the Vatican. Since 1800 the finds, except for a few which have been placed in the small museum at Ostia, have gone to museums in Rome, the Vatican, the Lateran, and, more recently, the National Museum. Objects found at Portus have gone chiefly to the Lateran and the Museo Torlonia. I have not attempted in this study to make a complete list of statues of the gods found in Ostia and Portus. 84 Cf. Guglielmotti, Delle due navi romane seolpite sul bassorilievo del 12 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Remains of no less than eleven temples and of several small shrines have been discovered at Ostia and Portus. Only the shrines of Mithras, the form of which is unmistak- able, a shrine of the emperors, and the temple of Magna Mater at Ostia can be identified beyond a doubt. Various suggestions for the identification of the other temples have been made. Sometimes, as in the case of the so-called temple of Portunus at Portus, 36 the identification has been Museo Torlonia, Atti delta pont. Accad. di Archeologia, Serie n. vol. 1, pp. 1-81; Cavedoni, Bull. dell'Inst. 1864, pp. 219 ff.; Henzen, Arm. dell'Inst. 1864, pp. 12 ff. ; C. L. Visconti, Catalogo del Museo Torlonia, no. 430; Inscription 2033. m The most important temple of Ostia is the large one on a high podium which was long the chief landmark of the city. It has been variously attributed to Vulcan, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and Castor and Pollux. A temple in the centre of the so-called Forum has been identified as that of Ceres or of Roma and Augustus. Four small temples near the theatre are perhaps to be identified as those of Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, and Spes. At Portus the only ruins of temples which may be seen today are those of the large round temple to the east of the port of Trajan, which was identified as that of Portunus on the basis of a forged inscription. Within the estate of the Torlonia family another round temple, supposed to be that of Bacchus, was found. Altmann, Die Rundbauten in Latium, p. 69, says of these temples : " Heute zeigt keine Spur mehr, wo beide gelegen haben." Then he gives a summary of Nibby's description of the so-called temple of Portunus, which fits excellently the temple now standing. Another small temple, of which some architectural fragments may be seen today, was unearthed to the south of the port of Trajan. This has not been identified. Within the so-called Palazzo Imperiale were found remains of still another temple which was believed to be that of Hercules. ""Ligorio forged several inscriptions to Portunus which he claimed to have found in the round temple at Portus discussed above. Cf. CIL. xiv *16, *17, *18. Portunus, who was the god of harbors, might naturally have been expected to have a temple in Ostia or Portus and the words of Varro, L. L. VI. 19, have been thought to prove the exist- ence of such a temple: Portunalia dicta a Portuno cui eo die aedes in Portu Tiberino facta et feriae institutae. If the words of Varro are to be referred to Rome's harbor, we must look for the temple in Ostia since there was no settlement at Portus until after the time of Varro It is very likely, however, that Varro refers to a temple in Rome INTEODTJCTIOH 13 based on spurious inscriptions, but in other cases, as for instance that of the supposed temple of Jupiter at Ostia, the evidence for the identification is very good. No attempt to solve the problems connected with these temples has been made in the present investigation for which independent topographical study has been impossible. itself — and probably to the small circular one in the Forum Boarium which is now known as Santa Maria del Sole. Ci. Huelsen, Disserta- ssioni della pont. Accad. romuna di Archeologia, Series H. 1897, pp. 262 ff. CHAPTER I Greek and Roman Gods The evidence for the cults of Ostia is so late that it is useless to try to distinguish between Greek and Roman gods. The various cults have therefore been taken up so far as possible in order of the probable date of their estab- lishment and, when this has not been possible, in order of importance. VULCAN Probably the oldest cult of Ostia was that of Vulcan whose temple was first in the list of those restored by P. Lucilius Gamala. 1 Compare 375, 1. 21. [I]dem aedem Volcani 1 Inscriptions 375 and 376 which record the benefactions of P. Lu- cilius Gamala to the city of Ostia have given rise to extended discussion. 375, which is not extant but rests on excellent manuscript authority, came from Portus. The provenance of 376, which is now in the Vati- can, is not known. The latter inscription is approximately dated by the mention of a restoration by Gamala of baths constructed by divus Pius (after 161). The differences in the benefactions recorded and in the cursus of Gamala as given in the two inscriptions are as baffling as are the similarities, and have led to various explanations. The most recent is that of Carcopino: Les inscriptions gamaliennes, Mel. 1911, pp. 143-230, cf. bibliography cited p. 143. Carcopino takes the view held originally by Mommsen and later by Homolle, that these inscriptions refer to two different men. The later view of Mommsen, which agrees with the opinion of Dessau, is that the two refer to the same man, who lived in the time of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Carcopino thinks that the first Gamala (375) died in the reign of Claudius (44 B. c.) and the second (376) under Marcus Aurelius (between 166 and 180). Although Carcopino's dating of 375 in 44 B. c. is not altogether convincing, his explanation of the two inscriptions has much in its favor. In the following pages we shall refer to 375 as the inscription of the first Gamala, and to 376 14 GBEEK AND EOMATT GODS 15 sua pecunia restituit. The chief evidence for the cult is found in the titles, peculiar to Ostia, pontifex Volcani et aedium sacrarum, 2 praetor 3 and aedilis 4 sacris Volcani faci- undis. These titles occur frequently in the inscriptions of Ostia, sometimes as a man's only title, and again in the cursus of an important member of the community. The pontifex Volcani et aedium sacrarum was the chief religious officer of Ostia. 5 There seems to have been no pontifical college in the colony. 6 The title of the pontifex apparently indicates that at the time when the pontificate was instituted Vulcan was the most important god of Ostia. This pontifex was in charge of all the temples of Ostia and Portus; his permission seems to have been necessary before statues could be erected in sacred precincts or gifts of impor- tance could be dedicated in sanctuaries. Compare 47 which records gifts made in the Sarapeum of Portus and ends as that of the second Gamala. It may be well to quote here the portions of the two inscriptions which refer to the temples restored by the Gamalas: 375, 11. 21-33. [i]dem aedem Volcani sua pecunia restituit. [i]dem aedem Veneris sua pecunia constituit. [id]em aed. Fortunae sua pecunia constituit. [id]em aed. Cereris sua pecunia constituit. [id] em pondera ad macellum cum M. Turranio sua pecunia fecit, [idem] aedem Spei sua pecunia [cons]tituit. 376. 11. 13-22. idem aedem Castoris et Pollucis rest, idem curator pecuniae publicae exigendae et attribuendae in comitiis factus cellam patri Tiberino restituit. idem thermas quas divus Pius aedif[i]caverat vi ignis con- sumptas refecit, porticum reparavit. idem aedem Veneris impensa sua restituit. 2 47, 72, 132, 324, 325, 352, 4145. Differences in the abbreviations and spellings of these and the following titles are given in Dessau's lists, CIL. xiv p. 573. 8 3, 349, 390, 391, 402, 412, 415, NS. 1911, p. 286. For praetor pri- mus, secundus, tertius, see below. * 3, 351, 375, 376, 390, 391. The inscription quoted N8. 1910, p. 107 refers either to an aedile or to a praetor. 6 Cf. Dessau, CIL. xiv p. 5. •The simple title pontifex which occurs only in the inscriptions of the two Gamalas, in 354, and in 4128 is probably identical with the longer title. 16 THE CULTS 01" OSTIA with the words: Permissu C. Nasenni Maroelli pontificis Volcani et aedium sacrarum et Q. Lolli Rufi Chrysidiani et M. Aemili Vitalis Crepereiani II. vir(um). 324 records the permission of the pontifex for the erection of a statue in the Campus Matris Deum: 7 M. Antius Orescens Cal- purnianus pontif. Volk. et aedium sacrar. statuam poni in campo Matris Deum infantilem permisi (consular date 203 a. d.). 352 refers to the erection of a statue of a priest of Isis, probably in sacred precincts, as is indicated by the words : locus datus a Iulio Faustino pont. Vulk. aed. sacrar. The importance of the office pontifex Volcani et aedium sacrarum is proved by the fact that in two cases it is held by Romans of senatorial rank (324, 325 of the same man, 72). The question of the origin and duties of the praetores and aediles sacris Volcani faciundis presents greater difficulties. There must have been at times as many as three praetors, for the titles praetor primus (306, 373, 432), secundus (341), tertius (376), apparently referring to the rank of the officers, are found. One occurrence of the title aedilis secundus (EE. ix 448) proves that more than one aedile existed. In three cases one man is both aedile and praetor. 8 The fact that in one instance a boy who died at the age of four years was pr(aetor) pr(imus) sacr(is) Volha{ni faci- undis) 9 leads to the belief that the offices were sometimes honorary during the Empire at least. These praetors and aediles were frequently men of prominence in the colony, decuriones, 10 holders of important priesthoods, 11 and, in two instances, Roman knights. 12 'Cf. 325. 8 3, 376; 390 and 391 of the same man. • 306. Cf. also 341 in which a boy of twelve years is praetor secun- dus, and is also a decurion and a Eoman knight. "375, 376, 349, 412, 415. N8. 1911, p. 286. "373, 391. NS. 1910, p. 107. u 341, 390 and 391. GBEEK AND EOMAU GODS 17 There are two main theories as to the origin of these praetors and aediles. Henzen, 13 who is followed by Be- loch 14 and by Paschetto, 15 believed that they were the original magistrates of the colony and that, after they were replaced by duumviri and aediles, the former magistrates survived and were connected with the religions rites of Vulcan, the chief god of the city. Mommsen, 16 on the other hand, held the theory that these officers were from the first religious, that Ostia had no independent government of her own for a long time, but was governed directly by Rome, who permitted her to have magistrates ad sacra." Both these explanations assume that the magistrates in question performed the priestly offices of the colony from the earliest times, and that they persisted in this function after the duumviral system was instituted for the civil magistrates. This assumption is quite impossible, however, if Ostia did not become a colony until late in the fourth century b. c. If one remembers that the praetorship was established at Rome in 366 purely as a judicial and military magistracy, one can hardly believe that a colony of Roman citizens founded afterwards, so near Rome, should have employed the praetor's title for the priestly office, or for the combined civil and sacred magistracy. Moreover, it is probable that the duumviral system of magistracies existed at Ostia from its foundation as a colony. 18 It is necessary, therefore, to find some explanation for these priesthoods which will more satisfactorily fit the con- ditions that we now believe to have existed in the region in early times. 13 Aim. dell'Inst. 1859, p. 197. 14 Der italische Bund, p. 114. 15 Op. cit. p. 117. "EE. in. p. 326; Staatsrecht, m. p. 777. " Dessau, GIL. xrv p. 4, and Ruggiero s. v. aediUs p. 270, state both theories, and come to no definite conclusion in the matter. 18 See introduction. 2 18 THE CULTS OF OSTIA It is very likely that Vulcan was the chief god of the small village which, as we have seen, probably existed in this neighborhood prior to the foundation of the colony. This village, established as it was on ager Romanus, could have had no independent municipal organization; yet like every pagus or vicus, 19 it must have centred about a common cult. The suggestion may be offered that the praetors and aediles of Vulcan were originally officials of that village, devoted primarily to the worship of Vulcan, though perhaps possessing certain supplementary duties. Parallels may be found in officials of other pagi and vici. The aediles of the vicus of Furfo, elective officers who were in charge of the temple of Jupiter Liber, had command of the sacred funds, and were allowed to impose certain fines at will and to dispose of temple property. 20 A reference to aedilitas ad deam Pelinam in a pagus near Superaequum {OIL. ix 3314) is significant because here, as at Ostia, the name of the god is attached to the title of the officer of the pagus. The usual officers of pagi and vici were magistri; 21 aediles are found occasionally, 22 and an archaic inscription records queistores (CIL. ix 3849). It is true that the epigraphical evidence, which dates chiefly from the Empire, contains no reference to a praetor as an official of a pagus or a vicus. But many of the Latin towns had praetors as chief magistrates, in historical times, and if, as seems likely, the Latin tribe lived originally according to the village-community system, several of these towns must have sprung from vici. The use of the title praetor for the chief officer of a small village near Rome would then have been natural. 23 10 On pagi and vici cf. A. Schulten, Die Landgemeinden im romischen Reich, Philol. 53, pp. 629-686. 20 GIL. ix 3513. In Campania during the first century B. C. the various pagi under their magistri even gave games under the care of the magistri fani. Cf. GIL. x 3772 ff. 21 Cf. Schulten, I. c. pp. 641, 665. 22 Cf. s. v. aedilis, Ruggiero, p. 266. * The closest parallel to these officers of Ostia is to be found in GBEEK AND BOMAN GODS 19 After the establishment of the colony the praetores and aediles sacris Volcani faciundis probably retained their priestly offices, though the titles were sometimes purely hono- rary during the Empire. The pontifices Volcani et aedium sacrarum were perhaps instituted only after the colony was founded. It is impossible to determine the nature of the cult of Vulcan at Ostia. Wissowa 2i says, " In Ostia genoss Vol- canus eine sehr hohe Verehrung, weil fur die Docks und Speicher der Hafenstadt die Feuersgefahr ganz besonders zu fiirchten war." But there are no dedications which prove that the god was so worshiped at Ostia, and, furthermore, it is probable that his cult existed before any docks and granaries were constructed. Carcopino 25 sees in the worship " un culte qui plonge par de profondes racines dans le plus lointain passe des origines latines, un culte aussi vieux, aussi etendu, aussi venerable que celui des Penates de Lavinium, de la Diane d'Aricie, de Juno Sospita a. Lanuvium, un culte, enfin, que Home conquerante evoqua dans les murs en meme temps qu'elle le maintenait en son nom, au mieux de ses interets et de son prestige, au pays dont il etait originaire." Carcopino is doubtless correct in his view of the antiquity of the worship of Vulcan. 26 It is not impossible that the. the praetor, aediUs, and sacerdos Etruriae, mentioned in a few inscrip- tions of the Empire. The sacerdos was certainly an old office, but Bormann {Archaol. Epigr. Mitth. aus Oesterreich-Ungam, 1887, pp. 1 12 ff . ) advanced the theory that the aediles and perhaps the praetors were instituted under Augustus. The Etruscan magistrates seem to have officiated at a festival at Volsinii. Unfortunately very little ia known of the magistrates. Cf. Ruggiero, s. v. aedilis, pp. 269-270. 21 Religion und Kultus der Romer? p. 230. 25 MSI. 1911, p. 188. 28 Carcopino's most recent statement is less convincing. Cf. Oomptes Rendus, 1912, p. 104 (report of the meeting of the Acadimie des in- scriptions et belles lettres of April 12, 1912). In speaking of the role of Ostia in the Aeneid, Carcopino stated that Lavinium really had nothing to do with the story of Aeneas; it was the city of the Laurentes 20 THE CULTS OF OSTIA cult was connected with Ficana, 27 a city at the eleventh mile stone of the Via Ostiensis, said to have been destroyed by Ancus Marcius before he founded Ostia. 28 During the Empire the cult of Vulcan seems to have declined in importance. Though the praetors, aediles, and pontifices are frequently mentioned, 29 we hear of his temple only once. 30 ISTo dedications to him are known, unless we are to identify with Vulcan the deus patrius 31 of 3 : Deo patrio Cn. Turpilius Cn. f. Turpilianus aedil. et pr. sac. Volk. fac. sigill. Volkani ex voto posuit. Arg(enti) p(ondo) XV. scr(i)p(tula) IX. 32 and of Latinus. The city founded by Aeneas was Troy, which was situated at the mouth of the Tiber, the site later occupied by Ostia. The cult which was connected with this city must, he thinks, have been, not that of the Penates of Lavinium, but that of Vulcan, as later worshiped at Ostia. 27 Cf. Livy I. 33 ; Cf . also the title magister ad Martem Ficanum in CIL. xrv 309. See p. 43. 28 The view of Paschetto (op. cit. pp. 48 ff.) that the importance of Vulcan at Ostia is to be explained by the fact that he was the most important god of Rome at the time of the establishment of the colony can hardly be proved. " There is no evidence to show how these magistrates were elected. Carcopino (MSI. 1911, p. 188) believes that the pontifex was chosen by the pontifex maximus of Rome. 80 The frequent mention of Vulcan in the inscriptions of Ostia led to the identification of the large temple on the high podium as that of Vulcan — an identification which Paschetto is as yet unwilling to relin- quish. It is however to be noted that according to Vitruvius I. 7, 1, the temple of Vulcan should be outside the city walls — extra murum Veneris Tolcani Martis ideo fana conlocari . . . Volcani vi e moenibus religionibus et sacrificiis evocata ao timore incendiorum aedificia vide- antur liberari. Vaglieri (N8. 1910, p. 13) believes that the temple of Vulcan is to be looked for in the region to the east where the older «ity probably lay. 81 Cf. mention of deus patrius in inscriptions of Puteoli, Misenum, and Cumae (CIL. x 1553, 1881, 3704), which Mommsen refers to the genius of the colony of Puteoli, and Dubois (op. cit. p. 40, n. 1) connects with the genius of the colony of Misenum. The genius of the colony of Ostia may be referred to here. 83 No statues of Vulcan have been found at Ostia. A bas-relief from GBEEK AND BOMAN" GODS 21 THE CAPITOLINE TRIAD Ostia, like many other Roman colonies, imitated the mother city by building a temple to Jupiter Optimus Maxi- mus, Juno, and Minerva, the great Etruscan triad who were worshiped on the Capitoline Hill in Eome. The existence of such a temple in Ostia is proved by the inscription (32) : Pro salutem . . . Aug. ... A. Ostiensis Asclepiades aeditus Capitoli x signum Martis corpori f amiliae publice liberto- rum et servorum d. d. This temple was probably identical with the temple of Jupiter which Livy (xxxn. 1, 10) tells us was struck by lightning in 199 b. c. One dedication to Jupiter Optimus Maximus was found at Ostia. Compare 23. Iovi optumo maximo ex viso aram aedificavit P. Cor- nelius P. 1. Trupo mesor. prec(ario). 2 The Capitolium at Ostia is probably to be identified with the temple whose high podium renders it conspicuous among the ruins of the city. 3 This temple has long been popu- there, now in the Vatican, representing Vulcan, Cerea, and perhaps Neptune, probably had no relation with the cult of Vulcan at Ostia. Cf. Paschetto, op. cit. p. 147. 1 Paschetto's doubts (op. cit. pp. 148, 363) as to whether this in- scription is originally from Ostia are hardly justified. Dessau notes that the name Ostiensis Asclepiades is mentioned twice in the album f amiliae publicae (no. 255). Asclepiades was a libertus of the colony who belonged to the familia publica libertorum et servorum, and pre- sented a statue to that body. It is noteworthy that Q. Ostiensis Felix (73), another freedman of the colony, was aedituus of the temple of Roma and Augustus. 2 Mommsen included this inscription in Vol. 1 of GIL. (1109), but he says of it there, fortasse rudis potius quam antiqua. 'This identification is favored by Nissen, Rhein. Mus. 1873, p. 541; Kuhfeldt, De Capitoliis imperii Romani, 1882, pp. 26-27, Van Buren, Amer. Jour, of Arch. 1907, pp. 55-56, Carcopino, M41. 1910, p. 403. (Here Carcopino states his intention to publish a study of this im- portant temple ) . On the construction of the temple see Borsari, N8. 1893, pp. 191-193; Paschetto, op. cit. pp. 363-364. 22 THE CULTS OF OSTIA larly known as ' tempio di Giove ' or ' tempio di Vulcano.' It has recently been pointed out by Van Buren 4 that the long base at the rear of the temple was apparently intended for three cult statues, and that the high -podium, found also in the Capitolia of Pompeii, Timgad, and Lambaesis, seems to have been employed in places where the Capitolium could not be placed on a hill as at Kome. Paschetto 5 notes that the distinctive feature of the Capitolium was not the high podium, but the division of the cella into three parts, of which there is no trace in the temple at Ostia. But the curious form of the Capitolium of Lambaesis, the cella of which is divided into two parts, 6 is conclusive proof that there was no definitely established form for the Capitolium. CASTOR AND POLLUX The temple of Castor and Pollux was restored by the second P. Lucilius Gamala: 376 13 idem aedem Castoris et Pollucis rest. An hexameter inscription set up by Catius Sabinus records the dedication in front of this temple of a relief or a painting representing games which had been held in honor of Neptune and Castor and Pollux: 1. Litoribus vestris quoniam certamin[a] laetum Exhibuisse iuvat, Castor venerandeque Pollux, Munere pro tanto faciem certaminis ipsam, Magna Iovis proles, vestra pro sede locavi Urbanis Catius gaudens me fascibus auctum Neptunoque patri ludos fecisse Sabinus. Catius Sabinus was consul II ordinarius in 216 a. d. He celebrated these games as urban praetor {urbanis fascibus l L. c. ' Op. cit. p. 363 and n. 3. • Cf. Gsell, Monuments antiques de I'Algirie, I. p. 144. GREEK AND EOMAN GODS 23 auctum), an office which he is known to have held from CIL. vi 864. 1 There is also literary evidence for this festival of Castor and Pollux at Ostia. 2 In the Fasti Silvii for January 27th — and it is significant that this is the dedication day of the famous temple of Castor and Pollux in the Eoman Forum 3 — are the words : ludi Castorum Ostiis quae prima facta colonia est* The games are not mentioned in any other calendar, though it is probable that they would have been given in the Fasti Philocali if the scribe had not neg- lected to fill in the data for the last days of January. 5 More definite information is supplied by the Oosmographia Iulii Caesaris: 6 [Tiberis~\ in duobus ex uno ejfectus insulam facit inter portum urbis et Ostiam civitatem, ubi populus Romanus cum urbis praefecto vel consule Castorum cele- brandorum causa egreditur sollemnitate iucunda. 1 We have seen that on one occasion the urban praetor Catius Sabinus was in charge of these games. It is therefore probable that in the Oosmographia consul is a mistake for praetor, and that the games were regularly directed by the urban praetor until the late Empire when the city prefect took charge of them. But it was not only on the occasion of these annual games that honor was paid to Castor and Pollux at Ostia. Ammi- 1 Cf. Dessau on CIL. XIV 1 ; Albert, he Culte de Castor et Pollux en Italie, Paris, 1883, p. 45, wished to identify the large temple on the high podium as that of Castor and Pollux. He thought its size and prominent position in favor of the identification. * This inscription is the only evidence that Neptune shared with Castor and Pollux in this festival. 8 Ovid, Fasti, I. 706. Cf. Fasti Praenestini for Jan. 27, CIL. I ' p. 232 : aefdis Castoris et Po]llucis dedicafta est. * CIL. I * p. 257, 308. "Ibid. p. 308. 6 Often quoted as Aethicus. Riese, Geographi Latini Minores, p. 83. * This statement seems to mean that the games were celebrated at Ostia rather than on the island. 24 THE CULTS OF OSTIA anus Marcellinus xix. 10 tells of a sacrifice made in their temple by Tertullus, the city prefect, in the year 359, when storms had prevented the grain-ships from entering the port and Eome was threatened with famine : dum Tertullus apud Ostia in aede sacrificat Qastorum, tranquillitas mare molluit, mutatoque in austrum placidum vento, velificatione plena portum naves ingressae frumentis horrea referserunt. Such sacrifices were probably not infrequent and seem to have con- tinued until a very late period. Perhaps Pope Gelasius was referring to similar sacrifices within his own memory when he said: Castor es vestri certe a quorum cultu desistere nolu- istis cur vobis opportuna maria minime praebuerunt ? 8 It is not improbable that it was for such a sacrifice that Clau- dius went to Ostia in 48. Tacitus says that he went sacrir ficii gratia, 9 while Cassius Dio explains his purpose as 7r^o? kirLcricetyiv airov. 10 This combined evidence suggests that he may have gone to Ostia in circumstances similar to those of the year 359. However, since it is known that Claudius remained at Ostia for some time on this occasion, it is quite possible that his long stay and his sacrifices were connected with the new port which was then in process of construction. 11 It is apparent from the evidence quoted that the games in honor of Castor and Pollux at Ostia were not a local cele- bration, but were under official direction from Rome. Furthermore, it is clear that their temple was at times the scene of sacrifices directed by important Roman dignitaries. Even if the fact that the games were celebrated at the port is not enough to reveal the nature of the worship, the circumstances of the sacrifice described by Ammianus Marcellinus make it clear that Castor and Pollux were here 8 Thiel, Epist. Pontif. Bom. i. p. 603, quoted by Wissowa, Religion und Kultus' p. 271, ii. 1. Gelasius was pope 492-496. "Ann. XI. 26. Cf. Furneaux's note ad loo. 10 Cassius Dio, lx. 31. u Cf. Dessau, GIL. sxy p. 9. GBEEK AND EOMAN GODS 25 worshiped as gods who had power to calm the winds and allay storms at sea. Such a conception of the Dioskuri is familiar in Greek literature where the twin gods often appear as the special protectors of mariners. 12 Similar passages in Eoman literature seem to be a reflection of Greek rather than of Eoman feeling. 13 In the cult of Castor and Pollux at Rome where these gods were primarily the patrons of the knights, they were never, so far as we know, worshiped as gods of the sea. Throughout the Empire dedications to them are rare ; 14 not once are they addressed as gods who calmed storms or res- cued mariners. 15 They are not known to have had a temple in any other port town. 16 It is true that their statues seem to have stood in prominent places in the harbors of An- 12 Cf. passages cited by K. Jaisle, Die Dioskuren als Better zur See bei Griechen und Romern und ihr Fortleben in christlichen Legenden. Dissertation, Tubingen, 1907, pp. 6 ff. 18 Cf. passages cited by Jaisle, op. cit. pp. 27 ft*. One may well hesi- tate to be as positive as Jaisle in explaining all these passages as representing Greek beliefs. To be sure the invocations of the Dioskuri in the propempticon of Horace C. 1. 3, in Prop. 1. 17, 15 ff. etc. are most probably based upon Greek precedent. On the other hand, when Horace in C. 1. 12 — a poem permeated with Eoman sentiment — dwells upon the services of the sons of Leda as rescuers of the Roman ship of state (cf. Kiessling-Heinze ad loo., Hiemer, Bheinisches Mus. 1907, p. 240 ) , it seems probable that he is using a mode of speech that would awaken associations with Eoman rather than Greek worship. Nor is there anything unreasonable in supposing that Catullus C. 4 dedicated the pinnace to Castor and Pollux according to Eoman pre- cedent. The worship at Ostia, as we have seen, was a state cult and could hardly have escaped the notice of these poets. Inscriptions may yet be found to prove that the Eoman cult of the Dioskuri as sea-gods was not confined to Ostia. " Cf . Vaglieri s. v. Castores, Euggiero. "The Greek hexameter inscription of the third century from Mar- seilles, IG. xrv 2461 (quoted by Jaisle, op. cit. p. 15), in which the Dioskuri are referred to as irXwriiptav . 2 1 Cf. Lanciani, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, p. 181. " Anche il tempio di Bacco 6 stato rinvenuto nei recenti scavi al N. del casino Torlonia, la dove vedemmo avere esistito i magazzini vinarii. Esso apparve rotondo, perittero corinzio, rilevato su d'un alto stilobate e risareito in periodo di massima decadenza. In un frammento dell'architrave eurvilineo era scritto a pessimi caratteri: Aur. Kutilius Caeoiliafnus." (OIL. xiv 666.) The location of the temple is indicated on Lanciani's plan of the harbor of Trajan, Mon. dell'Inst. vm. PI. xlix. Cf. Altmann, Die italischen Rundbauten, p. 69. * Inscr. Gr. ad res Rom. pert. I 385; cf. OIL. xiv 4. It is not known where this inscription was found, but the fact that it is ia the 28 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Another priest of Liber Pater, mentioned in an inscription from Portus, is believed by Carcopino to have been connected with a shrine of the god in Rome. Compare Mel. 1909, p. 342. S]il[va]n[o] sa[cr.J P. Luscius R . . . lanus sacer- dos Dei Liberis (sic) Patris Bonadiensium Silbano sancto cui magnas gratias ago conducto aucupiorum. Carcopino 3 compares with Bonadienses, which is an aval; Xeyopevov, the similar forms Epictetinses, Tellurenses, Orfienses, Gaelimon- tienses, etc., used in inscriptions of Eome, with reference to the inhabitants of vici in the city. 4 Bonadienses are, he believes, inhabitants of a vicus which took its name from a shrine or statue of Bona Dea within its limits, and Luscius was the priest of a shrine of Liber Pater in that vicus. Since the organization of vici is attested only by one inscription from Ostia which gives the names of magistri vicorum (EE. ix 470), and since the cult of Bona Dea is unknown at Ostia and Portus, Carcopino thinks that this vicus was more pro- bably at Rome than at Portus. Luscius, he believes, came to Portus because of the hunting, 5 and, after he was suc- cessful, recorded his thanks to Silvanus, possibly in the temple of Liber Pater at Portus. The argument of Carcopino is by no means convincing. There is evidence, not mentioned by him, supporting the natural inference that Portus, as well as Ostia, was organized into vici. Two inscriptions, referring to a airelpa Tpaiavrjcrtcov (IG. siv 925), Iub. Traianensium (4), prove the existence of Traianenses in the port. It is significant that Traianenses are also mentioned in the same fragmentary inscriptions of the city-prefect Bassus in which Epictetinses, Tellurenses, etc., are named ; they were the inhabitants of a vicus of Rome Villa Albani makes it seem probable that it came from excavations of the Torlonias. 'L. c. pp. 343-348. *Cf. the inscription of the city-prefect Bassus, CIL. vi 31893, 31894, 31899. 6 See discussion of Silvanus. GBEEK AND SOMAN GODS 29 which was perhaps in the neighborhood of the Baths of Trajan. 6 Similarly, in the inscriptions of Portus, the Tra- ianenses were probably the inhabitants of a vicus near the port of Trajan. Since magistri vicorum are already known from Ostia, the division of the inhabitants of the port into vici can hardly be doubted. Moreover the absence of evi- dence for the cult of Bona Dea at Ostia and Portus need not deter us from believing that a statue or a shrine of that goddess existed there and gave a name to a vicus. In Pome, where excavations have been far more complete than in Portus, it is not possible to explain the origin of all the names of vici. Therefore it is not improbable that Luscius was a priest of the temple of Liber Pater at Portus, and that the temple of the god was in a vicus of the city, the inhabitants of which were called Bonadienses. A religious association known as a spira Traianensium was connected with the cult of Liber Pater at Portus, as is evi- dent from the Greek inscription quoted above. The trapaataa there mentioned is perhaps a magistrate of the body. Many such associations, called spirae or thiasi, were formed during the Empire. 7 At Puteoli there was a tiiiasus Placidianus, 8 with which a parastata 9 seems to have been connected. The association at Portus, like one of the spirae at Pome, appar- ently worshiped Diana as well as Liber Pater. 10 Compare 4 (also found in the excavations of the Prince Torlonia) : Diana Tobens. Iub. 11 Traianensium. A statue of Liber Pater stood in a prominent place in the port of Claudius, if the bas-relief of the Museo Torlonia 6 Cf. Richter, Topographie der Stadt Rom, p. 328. 7 Cf. Wissowa s. v. Liber, Roscher. 'GIL. x 1583-1585; Dubois, op. cit. p. 134. ' CIL. X 1584. 10 CIL. vt 261. "Mommsen (quoted by Dessau) conjectured tub(icen). The con- nection of the inscription with the spira does not seem absolutely certain. 30 THE CULTS OF OSTIA faithfully pictures that harbor. The bas-relief shows, on the right, a high pedestal upon which stands a nude statue of Dionysus of a familiar Hellenistic type. 12 The god is crowned with the vine and holds the thyrsus and a wine vessel. Beside him is a panther. Another Dionysus of exactly the same type is represented on the prow of the larger boat in the foreground of the bas-relief, while a head of the same god adorns the prow of the smaller boat. Guglielmotti, ex- plaining the enigmatical letters on the sail of the larger boat as V(otum) L(ibero) (2033), believed that the bas-relief was a dedication to Liber Pater. The suggestion, though tempt- ing, lacks support. A statue of Liber was destroyed in Portus in the sixteenth century. According to Volpi (Vetus Latium, xi. c. 2) : hanc statuam Bessarion Trapezuntius cardinalis Nicaenus, cum sui iuris fecisset, profani cultus impietatem detestatus in mare demergi iussit. The cult of Liber Pater was evidently very prominent at Portus in the time of Commodus, for in the pro salute in- scription to that emperor Liber Pater bears the epithet Com- modianus which is given elsewhere only to the emperor's favorite Hercules. 13 We may infer from the statue figured on the bas-relief of the Museo Torlonia, which dates from the time of the Severi, that the cult remained important during the years following the reign of Commodus. Indeed we should expect the cult of Liber Pater to receive special support from Septimius Severus who built at Kome a great temple to Hercules and Liber, 14 the gods of his native Leptis, 12 Carcopino, I. c. p. 349, disregarding the evidence for the identification of the temple of Liber discussed above, sees in the position of the statue of the god in the bas-relief an indication of the location of his temple. The statue seems to be represented as standing on the east mole of the Claudian harbor which, it is now agreed, passed over the summit of Monte Giulio. Cf. Carcopino, N8. 1907, p. 736. The dedication to Silvanus by Luscius was found on Monte Giulio. 13 Cf. a. v. Commodus, Ruggiero. 14 Cf. Cassius Dio, lxxvi. 16, 3. GBEEK AND B0MAN GODS 31 and had representations of them with the inscriptions Dis Auspicibus, Dis Patriis, struck on his coins. 15 Wissowa 16 has shown that Liber as worshiped at Portus was probably an orgiastic Oriental god who appropriated the name of the established Eoman deity. The cult of this god was prominent also at Eome and Puteoli. With it were associated spirae and thiasi which celebrated mysteries of the god, perhaps not unlike those suppressed in 186 b. c. The importance of this cult in Roman ports and the use of Greek in inscriptions of these spirae are further evidence for the foreign origin of the worship. VENUS, EOKTUNA, CEBES, SPES The first P. Lucilius Gamala, who, as we have seen, restored (restituit) the temple of Vulcan, also built (con- stituit) temples of Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, and Spes. 1 The temple of Venus was restored by the second Gamala (the word restituit is used). There is very little other evidence for these four cults from Ostia — none at all, indeed, for that of Spes. Other dedications to Fortuna from Ostia seem to have no connection with the temple of the goddess. She is grouped with a number of other deities, among them, Invictus deus Sol, in a dedication discovered recently. 2 From Portus comes the inscription (6) : Fortunae domesticae sanctae 15 Cf. R. Peter 8. v. Hercules, Roscher, 1. col. 2992-2993; Cohen, Midailles Impiriales? Septimius Severus, 112-122. 18 L. c. Cf . also Religion und Kultus? p. 303 ; Dubois, op. cit. p. 137 ; Mil. 1902, p. 27. Dubois attempts to date the revival of these Diony- siac mysteries at Portus from the term Traiamenses, which he thinks indicates that the inscriptions are of the time of Trajan. 1 375, 376. See p. 14, n. 1. *EE. rx. 440. Quoted p. 92. 32 THE CULTS OF OSTIA ara pro salute et reditu L. Septimi Severi Pertinacis Aug. [etD. Clodi] Septi[mi Albini Caesaris] L. Valerius Fronti- nus o coh. II. vigil, sua pecunia posuit cum suis etc. In the latrina of the barracks of the vigiles a small shrine of Fortuna Sancta was discovered. On a marble cippus which was affixed to the pavement of the room was the inscription (N8. 1911, p. 209) : C. Valerius Myron b(ene)f (iciarius) pr(aefecti) coh(ortis) III. vig(ilum) Fortunae Sanctae v. s. 1. a. Here too on an aedicula which was affixed to the wall was found the inscription (ibid. p. 210), Fortunae sanct. Vaglieri has noted that this discovery proves that a pas- sage in Clement of Alexandria is to be taken literally. (Protrept. iv. 51). 3 Ceres, who was naturally looked to as the protectress of the grain industry, was worshiped by several of the collegia. The measurers of grain were called mensores frumentarii Cereris Aug. (409). Quinquennales of three related col- leges dedicated a marble well-head to Ceres and the Nymphs : 2. Monitu sanctissimae Cereris et Nympharum hie puteus factus omni sumptu. C. Caecili Onesimi patro. et qq. p(er)p(etui) c(orporis) m(ensorum) adiutor. et L. Hor- tensi Galli qq. nauticariorum et N. Treboni Eutychetis qq. II. acceptorum. (consular date 197 a. d.). Lanciani 4 suggested that, since the Forum seems to have been sur- rounded with the offices of corporations devoted to the grain industry, the temple in the centre of the Forum may have " Three statues of Fortuna have been found at Ostia. One, discovered by Fagan near the Torre Bovacciana, is now in the Vatican. Cf. Ame- lung, 8c. des Vat. Mus. Vol. I. p. 101, Braccio Nuovo 86. For the second cf. NS. 1888, p. 739 and Paschetto, op. cit. p. 153, Fig. 26. Another statue is cited p. 152. On one of the walls in the so-called headquarters of mensores near the large temple is a small aedicula in which there is a representation of Fortuna, who was doubtless looked to as the protectress of the grain merchants. Cf. Paschetto, op. cit. p. 316, Fig. 77; Carcopino, Mil. 1910, p. 426. 1 NS. 1881, p. 114. Excavations now in progress at this temple may settle its identity. GREEK AND SOMAN GODS 33 been that of Ceres. There seems, however, little ground for the identification. 5 Inscriptions record the dedication of a statue of Venus to Isis and Bubastis (21 add.), and the erection of a statue of the goddess on the sarcophagus of a young girl, Arria Maximina (610). Several statues of Venus have been found at Ostia, among which may be mentioned the beautiful Townley Venus of the British Museum. 6 But there is evidence for the identification of the temple of Venus which the first Gamala constituit and the second restituit. A marble altar bearing the inscription (4127) Veneri sacrum was found in a small temple near the theatre. This temple is on the same base with three other temples of almost equal size. 7 Van Buren 8 and, more recently, Carcopino 9 have suggested that these three shrines are to be identified as those of Bortuna, Ceres, and Spes which are mentioned in the same terms as the temple of Venus in the inscription of the first B. Lucilius Gamala. Van Buren, who follows Mommsen in believing that 375 and 376 refer to one man who lived in the time of Hadrian, thinks that constituit of 375 is equivalent to restituit of 376. From the style of the construction of the temples he comes to the conclusion that they were built in the first century b. c. and restored in the second century after Christ. Carco- pino, who dates the Gamala of 375 in the first century after Christ and the Gamala of 376 in the second century, would distinguish between constituit and restituit in the two inscriptions; he believes that the temples were built by one man and restored by the other. To his mind the 5 GIL. xiv 4146 can hardly be related to the cult of Ceres. * Found by Gavin Hamilton in 1775. Cf. Jour, of Hellenic Studies, XXI. p. 316; A. H. Smith, Catalogue of Sculpture in British Museum, Vol. m. no. 1574. 7 NS. 1886, pp. 127 and 164; Rom. Mitth. i. p. 194. " Amer. Jour, of Arch. 1907, pp. 55-56. 'MM. 1911, pp. 224-230. 3 34 THE CULTS OF OSTIA style of the construction is in accord with the view that the temples were built in the time of Augustus and re- stored under Hadrian. He notes that the temples adjoined a private house, which, he suggests, may have belonged to Gamala. Since the publication of Carcopino's article, ex- cavations have laid bare a tufa foundation of republican date under these temples. 10 This discovery supports Van Buren's dating rather than Carcopino's. Carcopino's suggestion, however, that the house may have belonged to Gamala is favored by a fragmentary inscription found behind the temples: Paren . . . Lucil[i]us G[ama]la films . . . f . This identification does not seem improbable. The cults of Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, and Spes were not prominent in the colony, and the four temples could not have been dedi- cated to any of the more important gods of Ostia. Yet if these shrines are referred to in 375, it is strange that the list of temples is interrupted by the statement that Gamala fecit pondera ad macellum. The excavations at the temples are being continued, and further evidence for their identifi- cation may be forthcoming. PATER TIBEEINUS It is fitting that there should have been a shrine of Father Tiber at the river's mouth where the god appeared to Aeneas and foretold the greatness of Borne. 1 The sanctuary is men- tioned in the inscription of the second Gamala: 376, 11. 14-17. Idem curator pecuniae publicae exigendae et attri- buendae in comitiis factus cellam Patri Tiberino restituit. Gamala restored this shrine not at his own expense, but 10 NS. 1911, pp. 198-199. Carcopino published some additional notes regarding these discoveries in Mel. 1911, p. 368. x Aen. vm. 11. 31 ff. Cf. Carcopino, Mil. 1911, p. 155; Wissowa, Religion und Kultus, 2 p. 225. GREEK AND ROMAN GODS 35 from the public moneys. The god is represented in relief on the altar of Silvanus from Ostia, which may have been intended originally as a dedication to Pater Tiberimis. 2 On the coins of ISTero which represent the harbor of Claudius a statue of the god stands at the point where the canal flows into the harbor. 3 GENIUS COLONIAE OSTIENSIUM Two dedications to the genius of the colony are known from Ostia: 8. Genio Coloniae Ostiensium M. Cornelius Epagathus curat. Augustal. etc. 9. [Ge]nio [col. J Ostien- sis [sa]crum [Ti]motheus . . . domus . . . posuit. A priest of the cult was a Roman knight: 373. L. Licinio L. fil. Pal. Herodi equit. Rom. decuriali decuriae viatoriae equestris cos. decurioni quinquennali duumviro sacerdoti geni col. flam. Rom. et Aug. curat, oper. pub[L] quaestori aer. aedili flam, divi Severi sodali Arulensi praet. prim. sac. Volk. faciu. ordo Augustal. optimo civi ob merita. Another Roman knight, mentioned in the fragmentary inscription EE. vn 1227, was probably also a priest of the genius. Compare 11. 6 ff. Eutyche[ti] Iun. eq. R. [sac. gen.? 1 ] col. Ost. flam, divi Ma[rci] . . sodal. A[rul] etc. The genius of the colony is perhaps to be recognized in the male figure which is represented standing on a pedestal in the centre of the bas-relief of the Museo Torlonia. 2 This 2 See discussion of Silvanus. 3 Cf . Cohen, Nero 33-38; Van Buren, Journal of Roman Studies, 1911, p. 194, n. 2. 1 Lanciani, who first published this inscription, and Dessau do not fill out this line. Though it is impossible to tell how many letters are missing, there are certainly enough to make this reading possible. Moreover there seems to be a marked similarity in the order of the priesthoods in tliis inscription and in that of Herodes. 2 See p. 11. There have been various interpretations of this figure and of the other male figure on a pedestal to the extreme left of the 36 THE CULTS OF OSTIA figure, which is clad in an himation and holds a wreath and a cornucopia, is very similar to that on the coins of P. Cor- nelius Lentulus Marcellinus, 3 representing the Genius of the Eoman people crowning the goddess Koma. HEBCUXES Hercules is represented by two inscriptions from Ostia. In one of these he is invoked with Silvanus (17). The other inscription, [Her]c. August., is on a relief which represents a head of Hercules. 1 It was unearthed between the Via della Fontana and the theatre in the excavations of 1909. At Portus the cult of Hercules may have been more im- portant, for a pro salute inscription to Septimius Severus whose name is in an erasure, probably of that of Commodus, was discovered there. Compare 16: Pro [salute?] imp. . . . Caes. Aug. Nostri L. Septimi Severi Pertinacis Herculi numini sancto cum basi marmorata acceptatoribus et terraris C. Sentius Portesis s. p. d. d. Another dedication was made by a soldier: 13. ... Herculi [Cjassius Ligus trib. coh. IIII. vigil, d. d. curam agenti[bus] Valerio Frontin[o o co]h. II. vigil, et Vario Fuficiano . . . . rio Leone Aemilio Catullino . . o agentibus. According to Pea, a temple which was identified as that of Hercules, apparently by the discovery of a fragmentary bas-relief. This second figure is clad in a toga and also holds a wreath and a cornucopia. On his head is » crown which is a small model of the pharus represented in the relief. Henzen suggests that the figure in the tunic may represent the genius of the port, and the other one Bonus Eventus (cf. Bull. dell'Inst. 1864, p. 221), and Guglielmotti proposes the Annona and the Genius Abundantiae (op. cit. p. 16). The figure in the tunic may very well be the genius of the port. 3 Cf. Babelon, Monnaies de la Rtpublique romaine, I. p. 401. 1 NB. 1910, p. 100, Fig. 7. GREEK AND BO MAN GODS 37 statue of the god in its ruins, was unearthed in Portus in 1794. 2 It was covered up, but was excavated a second time in 1867. 3 Since, however, the inscriptions furnish no proof of the existence of a temple of Hercules, the identification seems very doubtful. 4 SILVANUS At Ostia as elsewhere there was no public temple of Silvanus, but small private shrines in his honor were nu- merous. Altars were dedicated to him by men from the lower classes who were often members of the familia Caesaris. 1 Compare 49 (Portus). Silvano sac. T. Flavius Aug. lib. Primigenius tabularius adiutor. 52. Silvano sane, sac. Dorotheus Aug. lib. proc. massae Marian, s. d. d. 50. Silvano s[ac(rum)] Successus Agathemer[i] imp. T. Cae- 1 Cf. Fea, Viaggio ad Ostia, p. 39. " Gli avanzi d'un tempio d'Ercole furono trovati nel sudetto anno 1794, a piccola distanza dall'orlo del porto, colla statua di lui frantumata, e molti residui di cornici, e altri membri di architettura." Cf. Nibby, Gontorni di Roma, II. p. 656. 3 Cf. Lanciani, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, p. 172. " Anche il tempio di Ercole chiuso nel perimetro del palazzo fu nuovamente sterrato nel passato marzo, ritraendone rocchi di colonne, capitelli di fino intaglio, e tre basi di m. 0, 90 di diametro." The temple is not indicated on Lanciani's plan of the harbor, Mon. dell'Inst. vm. Tav. xlix. * Four groups, representing Hercules with the Thracian Diomedes, with the Erymanthian boar, with Geryon, and with Cerberus, dis- covered in the excavations of Gavin Hamilton at Ostia, are now in the Sala degli animali of the Vatican. Cf. Amelung, So. d. Vat. Mus. n. Sala degli animali, nos. 137, 141, 208, 213, Taf. 34. Another group representing Hercules and Telephus is in the Museo Torlonia (no. 388). Cf. Eeinach, R6pertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine, n. p. 233. A fragmentary statue of the god is in the Lateran. Cf. Benndorf and Schoene, Die antiken Bildwerke des Lateran. Museums, No. 582. However, the frequency of representations of Hercules in Roman art makes it impossible to attach any special religious significance to these finds. 1 Cf. E. Peter s. v. Silvanus, Eoscher, col. 863. 38 THE CULTS OF OSTIA saris Aug. ser. [pjaterni vicarius [v]otum posuit. Perhaps the same Agathemerus made the dedication (48) : Sil[vano] sac [rum] Agat[hemerus ?] fe[cit ?]. A freedman of a f reed- man of the imperial household dedicated to Silvanus the beautiful altar in the National Museum in Kome, which was found behind the stage of the theatre at Ostia. 2 On the narrow upper projection of the front face of the altar is the inscription (51): [A]ram sac[omari ad Anno?] nam Aug. genio [eollegii ?] sacomar ; lower down on this face : P. Aelius Trophimi Aug. 1. proc. prov. Cretae lib. Syneros et Trophi- mus et Aelianus fili; on the lower projection: decurionum decreto. The dedication, votum Silvano, is on the narrow upper projection of the left face of the altar ; on the right face is the consular date 124. Excellent reliefs representing Eomulus and Kemus suckled by the wolf, shepherds and Pater Tiberinus, Mars and Venus, winged genii, etc., adorn the four sides of the altar. Since these reliefs have nothing to do with Silvanus, and since the inscriptions obviously occupy spaces which are not suited to them, 3 it seems pro- bable that the altar was originally intended as a dedication to some other god, perhaps to Mars or to Pater Tiberinus, who, as we know, had a shrine at Ostia. The words decreto decurionum suggest that the altar probably stood in some very prominent place. 4 Silvanus is grouped with other gods in dedications from Ostia. An altar to Hercules and Silvanus, who are often invoked together elsewhere, 5 was found there: 17. Herculi 2 Of. EE. IX p. 334. Laneiani, NS. 1881, pp. Ill ff . ; Lucas, Rom. Mitth. 1899, p. 220; Ducati, M61. 1906, pp. 483-512; Strong, Roman Sculpture, pp. 241-243, PI. 73, 74. s Ducati, I. o., thinks that all the inscriptions were cut at the time that the altar was made except the one to Silvanus which was added later. * Borsari, Ostia e il Porto di Roma antica, Rome, 1904, p. 12, thinks that the altar may have stood in the temple in the Forum which he identifies as the temple of Roma and Augustus. 1 Cf. Peter, I. c. col. 853. GBEEK AND EOMAN GODS 39 et Silvano sa[c.J Ti. Claudius Diadumenus cellarius fe[c.J Unique is the combination of gods in 20 (Ostia)". Pro salute et reditu imp. Antonini Aug. Faustinae Aug. liberorumque eorum aram sanctae Isdi numini Sarapis sancto Silvano Larib. 0. Pomponius Turpilianus proc. ad oleum in Galbae Ostiae portus utriusque d. d. 6 In one dedication recently found at Portus the god is addressed in his capacity of special guardian of hunters. 7 A fragmentary dedication to Silvanus was discovered "Von Domazewski (Silvanus auf lateinischen Inschriften, PMlol. 1902, p. 7 = Abhandlungen zur romischen Religion, 1909, pp. 65 f.) cites these two inscriptions with nine others to Silvanus which were set up by men connected with granaries or other buildings. He thinks that just as Silvanus was regarded as tutor fimium in the country, so when his cult found its way into the cities: — " Hier wird er zum Beschutzer jener Raume, deren unbefugtes Betreten oder Verlassen er hindern soil." To us the evidence seems far from convincing, since in seven of the eleven cases cited by von Domazewski Silvanus is united with other gods. At any rate the pro salute inscription from Ostia, in which Silvanus is grouped with Isis, Sarapis, and the Lares, cannot be used as evidence that Silvanus was regarded by the pro- curator ad oleum in Galbae (so. horreis) as the special protector of the granaries of which he was in charge. The dedication comes natu- rally from a member of the civil service closely connected with the imperial administration. Cf. Peter, I. c. col. 863-864. 'Quoted in discussion of Liber Pater. Peter, I. c. col. 843, in his discussion of Silvanus as god of hunters overlooks this inscription. The other dedications known seem to have been made by hunters of wild animals. Carcopino, Mel. 1909, pp. 346 f. explains the words conducto aucupiorum of this inscription as ' pour la ferme des aucupia ' ; that is, P. Luscius had for a certain period the right to farm out bird-hunting in » district which probably included Portus, and, having been successful in his venture, he expressed his gratitude to Silvanus. The fact that the dedication is made by a priest of Liber Pater is not convincing evidence for the assumption of Carcopino that the altar stood in the temple of Liber Pater at Portus; moreover, Carcopino's statement that dedications to Silvanus from Ostia stood in the temple of Isis and in the Metroum will not bear close examination. No. 20 may have stood in the temple of Isis, but there is no proof that it did, and No. 53 comes not from the Metroum but from the scJiola of the dendrophori. 40 THE CULTS OF OSTIA recently in one of the tombs. Compare NS. 1910, p. 23. Silva . . . sac . . . s . . . There was a statue of Silvanus among the dedications to the dendrophori of Ostia. Compare 53. C. Atilius Bassi sacerdotis lib. Felix apparator M. d. m. sigmim Silvani dendrophoris Ostiensibus d. d. Silvanus, who was regularly represented as holding a pine-branch in his hand, is probably to be regarded as the prototype of the dendrophori who carried the sacred pine. 8 It is significant that in a dedication from Home made by a quinquennalis perpetuus to the dendrophori Magnae Matris Silvanus is addressed with the epithet den- drophorus? In a niche of the vestibule of the Mithreum near the baths a mosaic representation of Silvanus was discovered. 10 The god is represented standing, clad in a short tunic, with the skin of an animal over his arm. He is bearded and has long hair; a blue-green nimbus encircles his head. In his left hand he holds a branch, in his right a hatchet. On either side of him are trees; on the left there is a dog and on the right an altar. Another mosaic figure, first interpreted as 8 This is the explanation of the connection of Silvanus with the dendrophori which was proposed by C. L. Visconti, Bull. com. 1890, pp. 21-23. Domazewski, Philol. 1902, p. 15, Anm. 146 (= Abhand- lungen, p. 74, Amn. 11), and Peter, I. c. col. 866, accept it. But Cumont s. v. Dendrophorus, Pauly-Wissowa and Waltzing, tltude historique sur les corporations professionelles, I. pp. 251 f., are of the opinion that the dendrophori worshiped Silvanus in the first place and became at- tached to the cult of Magna Mater at a later period. Aurigemma, s. v. dendrophori, Ruggiero, p. 1678, thinks that the dendrophori were at- tached to both cults, and makes no suggestion as to which they wor- shiped first. 9 GIL. vr 641, cf. 642. 10 Now in the Lateran Museum. Cf. C. L. Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1864, pp. 174 f. Tav. d'Agg. L. M., n. 3; F. Cumont, Tecotes et Monu- ments, II. p. 241, fig. 73; The Mysteries of Mithra, Fig. 17; Benndorf and Schoene, Die antiken Bildwerke des Lateran. Mus. n. 551; Peter, I. c. col. 837; Nogara, / Mosaici dei Palazzi Vaticano e Laterano, 1910, PI. LXVIII. GBEEK AND EOMAN GODS 41 Saturn, but which is more probably Silvanus, is found in the pavement of the Mithreum near the Metroum. 11 Here the god holds a scythe in his left hand and a spade in his right. The scythe is frequently an attribute of this god, and, though no representation of him with a spade is known, there is enough variety in his attributes to make it seem quite possible that he might sometimes have been portrayed with an emblem so well suited to his agricultural character. 12 Silvanus was especially honored by devotees of Mithras, 13 in whose cult he was identified with Drvaspa. 14 A collegium Silvani existed at Ostia. Cf. 309. Dis mani- bus L. Calpurnius Chius sevir Aug. et quinquennalis idem quinquennal. collegi Silvani Aug. maioris quod est Hilarionis functus sacomari, etc. This inscription to- gether with the inscription on the altar of Silvanus in the National Museum discussed above makes it seem probable that the Collegium Silvani may have been connected with the sacomarium or public weighing place. 15 GODS OF COLLEGIA In addition to the religious collegia discussed elsewhere — the Augustales, the dendrophori and cannophori, the colle- u Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, pp. 402 ff.; Cumont, Textes et Monu- ments, n. n. 295, pp. 414-418. u Cf. list of representations of Silvanus given by Peter, I. c. cols. 825-842. This mosaic is not mentioned. a Cf. Cumont, Textes et Monuments, I. pp. 147-148. 14 A painting representing Silvanus is said by P. H. Visconti (quoted by De Rossi, Bull. Crist. 1870, p. 78; 1876, p. 40, n. 1) to have been found in the excavations of 1867-1870 at the entrance to a house in Ostia. Dessau on 54 suggests that the report may be a mistake, since neither the younger Visconti nor Lanciani knew anything of the painting. 15 Cf. Dessau's note on 309; von Domazewski, op. cit. p. 8 = p. 66. 42 THE CULTS OF OSTIA gium Silvani Aug. and the mensores frumentarii Gereris Aug. may be mentioned the cultores Iovis Tutoris( ?). Com- pare 25. Iovi tutori Q. Veturius Secundus A. Libius Hila- riamis quaglator et curator donu daeder. cultoribus. 1 430 mentions a quinquennalis of the collegium geni fori vinarii. The venders of oakum were devoted to the cult of Minerva : 44. IsTumini evidentissimo Minervae Aug. sacrum conserva- trici et antistiti splendidissimi corporis stuppatorum ornatam omni cultu d. d. etc. Two dedications to genii of collegia come from Ostia. One of them was on the base of a statue of the genius, clad in a toga and holding a cornucopia: 10. Genio corporis pell. Ost. qui [bus ex. s. c. coire licet?] M. Aurel. Lamprocles Aug. lib. pat. . . . s. p. d. d. d. The other is a pro salute inscrip- tion: EE. ix 434. Pro salute impp. Severi et Antonini Augg. et Gretae nobilissimi Caes. et Iuliae Aug. m. Augg. et castr. genio saccariorum salarior. totius urbis camp. sal. Rom. Restitutianus etc. 2 MINOR CULTS Mars. Statues of Mars were presented to the dendro- phori (33), to the familia publica (32), and to Isis {EE. vn 1194). Fea reports the discovery at Ostia of a statue of Mars on which was the inscription (31), Marti. 1 The statue has disappeared. A dedication to Ma. Victori Patri, made by worshipers of Mithras, perhaps refers to a god of the Persian Pantheon who was identified with Mars (NS. 1910, pp. 186 f.). 2 1 This inscription was found about five miles from Ostia, but pro- bably came originally from there. 2 Cf. also 51. genio sacomar. 1 Viaggio ad Ostia, p. 53. 2 Quoted p. 91. GEEEK AND ROMAN GODS 43 Among the titles of L. Calpurnius Chius, a prominent citizen of Ostia (309), is magister ad Martem Ficanum. No satisfactory explanation of the title has been found. Borghesi suggested that it might be connected with the ancient Latin city Ficana which was situated on the eleventh milestone of the Via Ostiensis and was supposedly destroyed by Ancus Marcius. 3 A good suggestion, which does not, however, account for the meaning of Ficanus, is that of G-atti * — that ad Martem Ficanum is the name of a vicus of which Chius was magister. 5 Neptune. Strange to say, there is no evidence for a temple of Neptune at Ostia. The god is mentioned only in the inscription of Catius Sabinus from which it appears that he shared with Castor and Pollux the honor of the national games. 6 His statue appears, however, on the Pharus on coins representing the port of Claudius, 7 and in a prominent place in the bas-reliefs of that harbor in the Museo Torlonia. The well-known Poseidon of the Lateran was discovered at Portus. 8 But these statues do not suffice to prove the exist- ence of a cult of Neptune at Portus. Apollo. A small statue of the god was recently found at Ostia. On its base was the inscription (NS. 1910, p. 23), Varenus Augg. lib. adiut. tabul. f. deo Apollini Vip. 3 Vide Dessau on 309. Paschetto seems to think Borghesi's suggestion probable, cf. op. cit. p. 55. This explanation is certainly more satis- factory than that of Roscher (s. v. Mars, col. 2428), who thinks that the epithet ficanus may imply that the fig tree was sacred to Mars. 'Bull. com. 1892, p. 372. Gatti makes this suggestion in publishing the inscription BE. rx 470, which proves the existence of magistri vicorum at Ostia. 5 The famous altar of the National Museum which is dedicated to Silvanus may have been intended originally as a dedication to Mars, to whom some of the reliefs relate. See discussion of Silvanus. c Cf. 1 and see discussion of Castor and Pollux. ' Cf. Cohen, MSdailles impe'riales, I. Nero 33-41. "The statue was found in the remainB of a large building, supposed to be Baths. Cf. Benndorf and Schoene, Die antihen Bildwerke des Lateran. Museums, p. 182, no. 287. 44 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Diana seems to have been worshiped by the spira Traia- nensium, which was devoted primarily to the cult of Liber Pater (4). Nymphs. Two dedications to the Nymphs come from Ostia : 46a. Nymphis divinis sacravit D. Hostius Heraclida. EE. ix 438. ISTumfabus (sic) Titus Aminnericus donum fecit. A marble well-head was dedicated to Ceres and the Nymphs — a combination not found elsewhere (2). Deified Abstractions. A statue of Fides was presented, apparently, to the collegium fabrum tignuariorum : 5. P. Cornelius Thallus P. Corneli Architecti fil. mag. quinq. coll. fabr. tignar. lustri XXVII. nomine P. Corneli Architecti- ani fil. sui allecti in ordinem decurion. Fidei signum dono dedit. Tutela is one of the deities addressed in a dedica- tion 9 found at Ostia. 10 Dedications to Genii : 7. Genio kastrorum peregrinor. Optatianus et Pudens frumm. fratres ministerio vota solverunt. 11. Genio loci. On a travertine block recently found is the inscription (NS. 1910, p. 31), G(enio) p(opuli) R(omani) f (eliciter). 11 Domina. It is not known what goddess is addressed in the inscription (74) : Thiasus Acili Glabrion. inperatu aram fecit dominae. 12 Sodalis Arulensis. Four inscriptions of Ostia mention this priesthood, which is not known elsewhere: 341. Me- moriae M. Corneli M. f. Pal. Valeriani Epagathiani eq. [K.J decurioni splendidissimae coloniae Os[tiensis] ftamini praetori II. sacra Volkani [fac. eijdemque sodale Arulen[si] etc. 373. L. Licinio L. fil. Pal. Herodi equit. Rom. decu- "EE. ix 440. Quoted p. 92. 10 Under the cult of the emperors will be discussed dedications to Victoria Augustor ( um ) , Salus Caesaris Aug. and a possible reference to Annona Aug. 11 For other cases of this inscription see Cesano in Ruggiero s. v. genius, p. 468. u Cf. Peter s. v. Domina, Roscher. GBEEK AND ROMAN GODS 45 riali decuriae viatoriae equestris cos. decurioni quinquennali duumviro sacerdoti geni col. flam. Rom. et Aug. curat, oper. publ. quaestori aer. aedili flam, divi Severi sodali Arulensi praet. prim. sac. Volk. faciu. ordo Augustal. optimo civi ob merita. 432. [D.J m. [Q. Vetujrio Firmio [Felici] So- crati [qq. c. p. d]ecurioni [praet. pr]imo sac. [Volk. fa]ci- undis [sodali AJrulesium vix. etc. EE. vii 1227, 11. 6fl. Eutyche[ti] Iun. Eq. R. [sac. gen. ?] col. Ost. flam, divi Ma[rci . . . ] sodal. A[rul] etc. Three of these sodales were Roman Knights. The origin and duties of the priest- hood are not known. Carcopino 13 compares the title sodalis Cabensis, which is probably a survival of a city Cabe or Oabum which disappeared, 14 and suggests that sodalis Aru- lensis may be evidence for the existence of a city Arula, " une Ostie pre Ostienne." He thinks it may be significant that all of these sodales except one are praetors of Vulcan. a M4l. 1911, p. 189, n. 2. 14 Cf. Wissowa s. v. Cabenses sacerdotes, Pauly-Wissowa. CHAPTEE II The Cult of the Empeeoes Contact with the Orient, where worship of the emperors had its origin, was probably responsible for the early intro- duction of the imperial cult at Ostia and at Puteoli. 1 The latter city, Eome's chief port at the beginning of the Empire, had a temple of Augustus built during the lifetime of the first emperor. Ostia, too, though far less important at that time, had a temple of Roma and Augustus which was estab- lished before the death of Augustus. 2 This temple must 1 Dubois, op. cit. p. 145. Dubois goes too far when he says of the imperial cult at Puteoli, " L'extension qu'il prit trSs vite, a cause du caractere oriental de la ville, est confirmee par les nationality des Augustales . . presque tous portent des noms grecs et orientaux." The Augustales were usually freedmen, and Greek and Oriental names are very common among them. It is doubtful whether there are any more such names at Puteoli than elsewhere. 2 Cf. Hubert Heinen, Zur Begriindung des romischen Kaiserhultes, Klio, 1911, pp. 129 ff. especially the list of " Priester, Altare und Tem- pel des lebenden Augustus in Italien," p. 175. This list includes places where the cult of Augustus alone or the cult of the emperor with the goddess Roma is known to have existed, and Heinen does not distin- guish between the two. Inscriptions show that in the lifetime of Augustus Roma and Augustus were worshiped together in Cisalpine Gaul at Pola, Verona, and Tridentum (not mentioned by Heinen, cf. GIL. v 5036, cf. also OIL. v 5511 sacerdos Romae et Augusti from an unknown place) ; in Italy proper this cult is known only at Ostia, Tarracina, Luna, and Ulubrae (omitted by Heinen, cf. CIL. x 6485 which records the restoration of the temple of Eoma and Augustus there in 132 A. D.). It is noteworthy that three of these places are ports, where the worship was probably introduced directly from the Orient. A number of the cities in which the cult of Augustus alone was known were also ports — Cumae, Puteoli, Pompeii, Neapolis, Pisae. The lists of places given by Franz Richter s. v. Roma, Roscher, col. 144-145 where there were flamines of Roma and Augustus, Roma and divus Augustus, etc. are unreliable. Cf. also W. S. Ferguson, Legalized Absolutism en route from Greece to Rome, Am. Hist. Review, Vol. xvin 1912, pp. 28 ff. 46 THE CULT OF THE EMPEEOES 47 have been of considerable size, for the decuriones sometimes held their sessions there. 3 Flamines 4 were in charge of the worship, and an aedituus (73), who seems to have been a f reedman of the colony, is mentioned in an inscription. 'Bor- sari 5 proposes to identify the temple in the Forum, commonly known as that of Ceres, 6 as the temple of Roma and Au- gustus. Its size and prominent position support the sug- gestion, but the date of its construction can hardly be placed before the second century. If it were the temple of Roma and Augustus, we should be forced to suppose that it was destroyed at some time and completely rebuilt, an assump- tion for which there is, as yet, no evidence. 7 Livia must have had a shrine at Ostia, for a flaminica divae Aug{ustae) is known (399, compare 455). There is evidence for flamines of the divi Vespasian (292, 298, NS. 1910, p. 107), Titus (400, 4142), Hadrian (390, 391, 353, NS. 1910, p. 13), Marcus Aurelius (EE. vn 1227), and Septimius Severus (373). Flamen 8 alone, which occurs three times in the inscriptions of Ostia, is probably the same as flamen divorum, which occurs once (444). These fla- mines were among the most important men of the colony, 3 See 353 (inscription of Fabius Hermogenes). Cf. a very similar inscription of the same man found recently, NS. 1910, p. 13. * 373, 400, 4142; a flamen perpetuus is recorded in an inscription published recently, Bull. com. 1910, p. 332. 5 Ostia e il Porto di Roma antica, 1904, p. 12. "Cf. Lanciani, NS. 1881, p. 114. Excavations now in progress in the vicinity of this temple may decide its identity, as well as the question of whether it is situated in the main Forum of the city. 7 There is no evidence for the independent worship of Roma at Ostia. Cf., however, the inscription given by Vaglieri, NS. 1910, pp. 104 ff., which records the erection, apparently at Rome, of a statue dedicated to Urbs at the expense of the inhabitants of Ostia. The statue was set up by Ragonius Vincentius Celsus v. c. praefectus annonae urbis Romae. Cf. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus? p. 341, n. 1. 8 301, 332, 341 and p. 5. Beurlier, Le eulte imperial, Paris, 1891, pp. 168-172, seems to believe that the simple flamines were priests of the reigning emperor. 48 THE CULTS OF OSTIA often municipal magistrates, and sometimes Koman knights (353, 390). Especially interesting is the dedication which is on the base of an equestrian statue of Fabius Hermogenes : 353 (restored from the similar inscription, N8. 1910, p. 13) [C. Domitio C. Fil. Pal. J Fabio Hermog[eni] equo publ. scribae aedil[i.J dec. adlect. flam, divi Hadri[ani] in cuius sacerdotio solus ac p[rimus ludos] scaenicos sua pecunia fecit, [aedili]. Hunc splendidissimus ordo dec[urionum f (unere) p(ublico)] honoravit eique statuam equestre[m cum in] scriptione ob amorem et industria[m omne]m in foro ponendam pecun. publ. decr[evit], etc. Shrines of the individual emperors who had flamines pro- bably existed at Ostia. 9 Indeed, remains have been found of a shrine of several emperors in the heart of the barracks of the vigiles/ but this seems to have been a private sanc- tuary of the vigiles, not accessible to the inhabitants of the city. At the rear of the atrium of the barracks, in the place occupied by the tablinum of a private house, a narrow vestibule opens into a large room. Along the rear wall of this room is a platform on which are five bases for statues with inscriptions of the emperors: — (in order from right to left) Marcus Aurelius before he was emperor (EE. vn 1199, 140 a. d.), Marcus as emperor (ibid. 1200, 162 a. d.), Sep- timius Severus (ibid. 1203, 195 a. d.), Lucius Verus (ibid. 1201, 162 a. d.), Antoninus Pius (ibid. 1198, 138 a. d.). The inscription to Severus which occupies the centre of the platform is written over an erasure where, as Lanciani has shown, there was an inscription to Hadrian, in whose reign the small Augusteum was constructed. In the reign of An- toninus, statues of that emperor and of his adopted son Mar- cus Aurelius were erected, and later, when Marcus was "Perhaps evidence for a shrine of Trajan is to be found in the in- scription NS. 1911, p. 283. Divo Traiano colleg. fabr. tig. "Lanciani, NS. 1889, pp. 72-78. For a view of the shrine cf. p. 74, plan, p. 78; Mil. 1889, pp. 174-179; Andr6, ibid. pp. 180-183. THE CULT OF THE EMPEEOES 49 emperor, another statue of him and one of his co-regent Lucius Verus were added. On one side of the room is a base with an inscription to L. Aelius Caesar (ibid. 1197, 137 a. d.). 11 Traces of the sacrificial altar can be seen in the centre of the room. On the floor of the vestibule there is a mosaic representing the sacrifice of" bulls, which Carcopino 12 has interpreted as a group of soldiers sacri- ficing to a living emperor. In addition to the worship of individual emperors, the imperial cult existed in other forms at Ostia. When the schola of the dendrophori was repaired, it was dedicated to Numen domus Augustae. Compare 45. Numini domus Aug. D[endrophori Ostienjses scolara quam sua pecunia consti- t[uerant novis sumjptibus a solo [restituerunt. 46. Numini domus Augusti op. pi. p. 13 EE. ix 437 JSTumini domus Augusti Victor et Hedistus vern. disp. cum Traiano Aug. lib. a. X. m. u A fragmentary inscription (26) seems to refer to a sanctuary of the imperial Lares. Compare also 367. P. Horatio Chryseroti seviro Augustal. idem quinq. et immuni Larum Aug. etc. 15 Two dedications to Lares may "Statues of Severus, Caracalla, Greta, and Julia Domna and of Dia- dumenianus, Gordian and Furia Sabinia were later placed in the court outside the Augusteum. Cf. EE. vn 1204-1211. a M6l. 1907, pp. 227-241, PI. v-vi. Andre, Mil. 1889, p. 182, had suggested that the name might refer to the cult of Mithras, but Car- copino shows very convincingly that it is far better to explain it as representing the sort of sacrifice that was probably often made in the shrine. The acta fratrum Arvalium tell us that a bull was the proper sacrifice for a living emperor. All the figures in the mosaic, except two who are identified as the drover and the popa, wear the tunic with or without the short mantle, and may very well be soldiers. M Non intelligitur (Dessau). 14 Aeris decern . . ? ( Dessau ) . 15 The connection of this sevir Augustalis with the cult of the Lares is interesting. His position as immunis Larum Aug. seems to be quite apart from his rank as sevir, though Porphyrio on Horace, Sat. n. 3, 281 says that the cult of the Lares was cared for by freedmen called Augustales. The evidence seems to show that this statement is wrong. Cf. Mourlot, Histoire de VAugustalitS, Paris, 1895, p. 78. 4 50 THE CULTS OF OSTIA refer to the imperial Lares. 16 A marble base bears the dedi- cation (68), Victoriae Augustor. Yet another base, found recently just outside the city gates, has the inscription: Saluti Caesaris August. Glabrio patronus coloniae d. d. f. c. 17 Vaglieri thinks that the inscription dates from the coming of some emperor to Ostia in the early part of the second century. Carcopino tries to date the dedication more defi- nitely. 18 He notes that a M\ Acilius Glabrio was consul with Commodus in 186 a. d. 19 In that year there was a dreadful plague at Home, and Commodus, at the advice of his physi- cians, retired to his Laurentian villa. Prayers were offered for the emperor's safety in Ostia, and Carcopino believes that the statue of Salus may have been set up on this occasion. The letters of the inscription certainly indicate a second century date, though perhaps hardly so late a date as the time of Commodus. Moreover the base is in close relation- ship with the second century gate. But the name Caesar Augustus should refer to the first emperor, 20 and the simple " 20, EE. ix 440. " NS. 1910, p. 60. Vaglieri suggests that the base supported a statue of Salus Augusta, a standing woman about to feed a serpent, of a type found on the reverse of denarii of M'. Acilius Glabrio of 54 B. C. Yale- tudinis is inscribed on the reverse of these coins, and salutis on the obverse. Cf. Babelon, Monnaies de la ripublique romaine, I. p. 106, Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum, i. nos. 3943-3946. 18 Cf. Carcopino, Journal des Savants, 1911, pp. 459 ff. 10 Carcopino states that the father, and probably the mother, of this M'. Acilius Glabrio were from Ostia. But his father, who seems to have been M'. Acilius Glabrio Cn. Cornelius Severus who was consul in 152, was apparently a, native of Tibur. Cf. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, n. 57. =°This is the opinion of A. W. Van Buren, Berl. Phil. Woch. 1911, cols. 1390-1391. For the simple title Caesar used for Hadrian, Car- copino cites the inscription on a brick stamp, CIL. xv 4, but the use of such a title in the limited space of a brick stamp is hardly a parallel for the use of Caesar Augustus on a large monumental inscription. THE CULT OE THE EMPEBOES 51 form of the inscription in which the full cursus of Grlabrio is not given is an indication of an early date. It is pos- sible that the inscription is a second century restoration of a dedication from the time of Augustus. In only a few instances is the epithet Augustus added to the name of a god, and in no case is it given to one of the more important gods of the city. Compare 51 [Ann]onam Aug. NS. 1910, p. 100. Here. August, (found with a head of Hercules). The collegia sometimes gave the epi- thet to their patron deities. Thus we hear of the collegium Silvani Aug., mensores frumentarii Cereris Aug. A patron and members of the corpus stuppatorum made a dedication to Minerva Aug. (44). Augustales and seviri Augustales are known in large num- bers from the inscriptions of Ostia. 21 Here, as was usually the case elsewhere, these offices were held by freedmen who were ineligible to the priesthoods and municipal magistra- cies. They formed an ordo Augustalium 22 which must have been a very important body in the town. Its officers were curatores and quinquennales. The order seems to have held slaves who were known as the familia Augustalium (367 14 ), and to have had a treasury or area Augustalium to which members sometimes made gifts (367, 431). There was pro- bably a shrine of the genius sevirum Augustalium at their meeting place. 23 Compare 12. Gr[enio] sevirum [Augusta- lium] Ost[iensium] A. Livius . . . sevir Augu[stalis cu- ra]tor annis [continuis . . . nom]ine Liviae. Von Premerstein, 24 who is followed by Neumann, 25 thinks that it is possible to make a distinction between the seviri "Lists are given in GIL. XIV pp. 573-574. Additional inscriptions are: Augustalis, NS. 1910, p. 187; sevir Aug. EE. ix 436; sevir Aug. idem quinquennalis, ibid. VII 1225, 1227; ix 466; NS. 1910, p. 107. 22 367, 373, 421, 4140. 28 Cf. von Premerstein s. v. Augustales, Ruggiero, p. 853. " L. c. p. 851. 25 Cf. s. v. Augustales, Pauly-Wissowa. 52 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Augustales and the Augustales. Belying chiefly upon the inscriptions of Ostia for his evidence, he holds that about the year 142 a. d. the seviri Augustales throughout the Empire were organized into colleges ; that in places like Ostia, Aquileia, and Puteoli, where hitherto only Augustales seem to have been known, seviri appear and are organized into bodies called ordines, collegia, or corpora, which succeed the Augustales. He dates this organization from evidence which he claims to find in the two following inscriptions of Ostia : 8. Genio coloniae Ostiensium M. Cornelius Epagathus, curat. Augustal. etc. (consular date, 141 a. d.). 33. T. Annius Lucullus VIvir Aug. idem qq. honoratus 2S signum Martis dendrophor. Ostiensium d. d. dedicavit (consular date, 143). He infers from the first inscription that the Augustales were still in existence in 141, from the second that the seviri were organized by 143. He finds further evidence for this reorganization in the inscription (360) : Dis manibus A. Grani Attici seviri Augustali (sic) adlectus inter primos, quinquennalis curator perpetus. Rejecting the view of Dessau, who read inter primos quinquennales, and supposed that there were different ranks among the quin- quennales, von Premerstein thinks that Atticus became one of the first members of the order when the seviri were insti- tuted about 142. An examination of the inscriptions of Ostia reveals a weak point in the argument of von Premerstein. He assumes that the phrase curator Augustalium in no. 8 could have been used only before the organization of the seviri, after which time the curatores were called curatores ordinis Augusta- M Von Premerstein, I. c, expands this as VIvir Aug(ustalis) idem q ( uin ) q ( uennalitate ) honoratus ; curiously enough, on p. 858 where he cites this inscription among the inscriptions of the Augustales and seviri of Ostia, he follows the reading of Dessau, sevir Aug(ustalis) idem quinquennalis. The frequency of this phrase in inscriptions of Ostia distinctly favors the latter reading. Eonoratus, then, probably refers to the c " e of the dendrophori, as Dessau has suggested. THE CULT OF THE EMPEE0BS 53 Hum. 2 '' Although there is no other occurrence of curator Augustalium in the inscriptions of Ostia, it is significant that in an inscription recently discovered there a sevir Au- gustalis is called curator eorum, not curator ordinis eorum (NS. 1910, p. 107). Moreover, von Premerstein, though believing that the reorganization extended throughout the Empire, makes no attempt to account for the occurrence of the term curator Augustalium in an inscription of Puteoli of the year 165 (OIL. x 1881). In assuming that in the phrase curator Augustalium the plural Augustales cannot refer to the organized body, von Premerstein is overlooking the same usage in the phrases familia Augustalium, area Augustalium, both of which occur in inscriptions of Ostia later than 143. 28 Furthermore he neglects the evidence fur- nished by inscriptions like 367 (182 a. d.) and 431 (about 240), both of wheh record gifts of seviri Augustales to the decuriones et Augustales, who are immediately referred to again as ordo Augustalium. 29 An examination of the in- scriptions brought together in von Premerstein's lists 30 shows that Augustales is frequently used elsewhere to refer to the whole body, especially in such phrases as decuriones et Augustales, 31 area Augustalium. 32 In view of these facts we must conclude that von Premerstein is not justified in " Cf. 421, 431. The latter inscription is to be dated about 240. 28 367 (182 A. D.), 431 (ca. 240). M In no. 367 the body is referred to as seviri Augustales at the beginning (1. 3), as Augustales when combined with the decuriones (1. 18), and finally as ordo Augustalium (1. 20). 80 L. c. pp. 857-877. 31 This phrase is very frequent, though in many places where it is found, e. g. Vibo, Volceii, Atina, Croto, Petelia, the few inscriptions show no cas s of seviri. However at Auximum a sevir et Augustalis makes a gift to the decuriones, Augustales, and coloni. Cf. OIL. rs 5823. Cf. also CIL. v 985 (Aquileia), gift to the Augustales. 82 Cf. CIL. rx 491 (Reate). Cf. also qumquennalis Augustalium, CIL. rx 2678, 2685 (Aesemia). A sevir Augustalis is mentioned in the first inscription, but no Augustales are known from Aesemia. 64 THE CULTS OF OSTIA taking 141 as a terminus post quern for the organization of the seviri throughout the Empire. On the other hand the inscriptions of Ostia seem to sup- port von Premerstein's terminus ante quern. Several of the inscriptions of Augustales and seviri may be dated approxi- mately by the numbers of the lustra of the collegium fabrum tignuariorum. Dessau has shown that the thirty-third lus- trum of this college probably fell between 200 and 240 a. d. 33 By this and other means we are enabled to date the following inscriptions that bear upon this problem: 299. Augustalis, before 90 a. d. (2 nd lustrum) 33. sevir Augustalis, 143 (consular date) 367. " " 182 " " 297. " " 160-200 (25 th lustrum) EE. vn 1227 sevir Augustalis, after 179 (dated from a flamen divi Marci) 418. sevir Augustalis, 215-255 (36 th lustrum) 431. " " about 240 (dated from comparison with 352,432, and 461). From this list it is clear that Augustalis as the title for an individual occurs on no inscription of Ostia which can be dated after the end of the first century, and that sevir Augustalis is first found in a datable inscription in 143, and occurs frequently after that. The indications are then that the seviri were instituted and formed into colleges between 100 and 143. The fact that seviri are far more numerous than Augustales 34 is in accord with this con- clusion, inasmuch as the number of inscriptions of the first century from Ostia is naturally far smaller than the number for the suceeding centuries. Moreover, quinquennales are always seviri/ 5 that is, they were not known, so far as we "Cf. Dessau on 128. "Augustalis occurs in 19 inscriptions, sevir Augustalis in 64. "The quinquennales at Ostia are usually designated by the phrase sevir Aug(ustalis) idem quinquennalis. THE CULT OF THE EMPERORS 55 can tell, before the institution of the seviri. Von Premer- stein is probably right in believing that A. Granius Atticus of 360 was one of the first seviri elected. 30 About half of the seviri Augustales of the inscriptions of Ostia are also quinquennales. The frequent occurrence of the quinquennales makes it seem probable that the office became purely honorary, and that the curatores, of whom many are known, were the real officers of the order. 37 This view is supported by 316. D. m. L. Carullius Epaphroditus VIvir Aug. idem q. q. Huic VIviri Aug. post curam quinquennalitatem optuler(unt) qui egit annis continuis IIII. That is, Epaphroditus was made quinquennalis be- cause he had been a good curator. Two seviri of Ostia held the same position at Tusculum (372, 421). L. Antonius Epitynchanus, quinquennalis col- legi fabrum tignuariorum of Ostia, was sevir Augustalis in Aquae Sextiae (296). On the other hand, L. JSTumisius Agathemerus, a negotiator from Eispania citerior, became sevir Augustalis at Ostia (397). Special public honors to members of the order at Ostia are recorded: 318 D. m. L. Oarulli Felicissimi bis(elliarii) VI [viri] Aug. idem qq. L(aurentis) L(avinatis) qq. cor- [p]or(is) vin(ariorum) urb(anorum) et Ost(iensium) etc.; 415. C. Silio Epaphrae L. Eelici Miori Augustali hunc d. f. p. efferundum cens. ISTerva Alius honore usus impensam remisit etc. 367. P. Horatio Chryseroti seviro Augustal. 88 A further sign of the union of Augustales and seviri Augustales at Ostia is found in the fact that in 318 and possibly in 431 seviri Augustales are also Mselliarii, i. e. they are entitled to the bisellium which is in general the special prerogative of the Augustales. The only other records of seviri as Mselliarii are in CIL. ix 3524, 2682. 87 This is the view of Dessau, CIL. xiv p. 5, and of Mourlot, Eistovre de VAugustalite', pp. 117-118. Von Premerstein, however, (I. c. p. 852) takes the view of Schmidt (De seviris Augustalibus, 1878, p. 85) that the office of quimguennalis at Ostia was held not for five years but for one. It is doubtful whether the term quinquennalis is susceptible of such an interpretation. 56 THE CULTS OF OSTIA idem quinq. et immuni Larum Aug. ex s. c. seviri Augustales statuam ei ponendam decreverunt quod is arcae eorum etc. Members of the order held office in the collegia: 309. Dis manibus L. Calpurnius Chius sevir Aug. et quinquennalis idem quinq. corporis mensor. frumentarior. Ostiens. et curat, bis idem codicar. curat Ostis, et III honor., idem quin- quennal. collegi Silvani Aug. maioris quod est Hilarionis functus sacomari idem magistro ad Marte(m) Ficanum Aug. idem in collegio dendrofor. fecit sibi et Corneliae etc. Among the members were quinquennales of the collegium fabrum tignuariorum 38 corpus vinariorum urbanorum et Ostiensium (318), corpus fabrum navalium Ostiensium 39 corpus treiectus marmorariorum, 40 corpus mensorum fru- mentariorum adiutorum (4140). In the order was a stipu- lator argentarius (405), and, if one may judge from the reliefs on the sarcophagus of P. Nonius Zetheus, a pistor (393). In the case of at least one sevir we have evidence of an interest in literature — that is if we may suppose that Epaph- roditus wrote his own epitaph in which a line of Vergil is quoted : — et quern mi dederat cursum fortuna peregit. 41 One is reminded of Trimalchio, the famous sevir of Petronius. 88 297, 419 ; quinquennalis magister, 418 ; magister quinquennalis, 299, 407. 8 " quinquennalis perpetuus, 372. " patronus and quinquennalis, 425. This is the only patronus known among the Augustales at Ostia. "316. Buechler, Garm. Epig. 1105, cf. Verg. Aen. IV. 653, vixi et quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi. Cf. Mourlot, op. cit. p. 123. CHAPTER III Oriental Gods magna matee In 204 b. c. the ship which brought the sacred stone of the Great Mother from Pessinus was met at Ostia by P. Scipio Nasica, who had been chosen as the best man of the state, and by the foremost Eoman matrons. 1 Here, accord- ing to tradition, occurred the dramatic vindication of the noble Claudia Quinta. 2 The ship had grounded at the river's mouth and all efforts to dislodge it were of no avail until Claudia Quinta, with a prayer to the goddess to free her from the false charges that had been made against her, came forward and drew the boat up into the stream. Although the arrival of the sacred stone must have made a deep impression on the inhabitants of Ostia, there is no reason to believe that the worship of the Great Mother was established at Ostia at that time. Her cult, introduced at Rome by order of the Sibylline Books in order to rid Italy of the foreign foe, was fostered chiefly by the state. It was not until the time of the Empire, when the full Phrygian ritual was adopted, that the goddess made a strong appeal to individual worshipers. At Ostia there is no evidence for the existence of the cult before the second century after Christ. It is possible, however, that it was established there as early as the reign of Claudius when Magna Mater seems 1 Showerman, The Great Mother of the Gods, Bulletin of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, Philology and Literature Series, I. Madison, 1901, pp. 225 ff.; Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, Chicago, 1911, p. 47. ' Ovid, Fasti, iv. 305-330. 57 58 THE CULTS OF OSTIA to have been especially favored at Eome. 3 There must cer- tainly have been many votaries of the Phrygian goddess among the merchants who began to come to Ostia .after the construction of the Port of Claudius, and especially after Trajan's harbor was completed. The cult of Magna Mater and of Attis who was worshiped with her became one of the most important of the city. She is the only deity except Mithras who is known to have had temples both at Ostia and at Portus. Taurobolia were per- formed at both places. Inscriptions give the names of numerous priests and devotees of the goddess. The sacred colleges which were attached to her cult, the dendrophori and the cannophori, had a very prominent place in the life of the colony. From no other city outside of Pome is there so much valuable material, both epigraphical and archaeo- logical, for the study of the Phrygian cults under the Eoman Empire. The temple of Magna Mater or the Metroum was dis- covered in the excavations of 1867. 4 It is situated about 200 yards to the south of the ' Capitolium ' and just south of the Via Laurentina. It is a small tetrastyle prostyle structure, with a cella that is almost quadrangular. Though no inscriptions were found in it, the finds in the neighbor- hood identify it beyond a doubt. Adjoining it was the 3 The March festival of the goddess seems to have been recognized then, and the cult may have come under the direction of the quin- decimviri at this time. Cf. Rapp a. v. Kybele, Roscher, col. 1669; Cumont, op. cit. p. 55. Cf. however, von Domazewski, Journal of Roman Studies, 1911, p. 56, who thinks that this March festival was intro- duced by Claudius Gothicus. Wissowa, Religion und Eultus,' p. 322, doubts whether the festival was introduced before the end of the second century. *Cf. C. L. Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, pp. 362-413, 1869, pp. 208- 245; Mon. dell'Inst. vm. Tav. lx. The complete publication of the buildings which was promised by Visconti never appeared. A small Mithreum found near by was thought by Visconti to have been » place for initiations into the cult of Magna Mater. See also Paschetto, op. cit. pp. 370-384. ORIENTAL GODS 59 schola of the dendrophori, identified by an inscription ; here there were two altars, dedicated undoubtedly to Cybele and to Attis. In a niche in the schola was found a seated statue of Cybele of about half life size. The head and fore-arms were lacking. 5 In front of the temple was a large quad- rangular area, open toward the temple, and shut in on the other sides by a portico and by rooms opening on the area. 6 The space was never paved; the ancient level showed a stratum of fine yellow sand. The fragmentary inscriptions (40, 41) found there suggest that the taurobolia were per- formed in this area, which must have been well adapted to these sacrifices. There can be little doubt that this was the campus Matris deum where P. Clodius Abascantus erected a statue of his son. Compare 324. P. CI. P. f. Horat. Aba- scantiano fil. dulcissimo P. CI. Abascantus pater qq. II. corp. dendrophorum Ostiens; (on another side) M. Antius Crescens Calpurnianus pontif. Volk. et aedium sacrar. sta- tuam poni in campo Matris deum infantilem permisi VIII. Kal. April. [Plautiano] II. et Geta II. cos. (203 a. d.). In this area was found the well-known reclining statue of Attis, now in the Lateran Museum, the best statue of the god in existence. 7 On its plinth is the inscription (38) : Kumini Attis C. Cartilius Euplus ex monitu deae. Here too a bronze statue of Venus, also in the Lateran Museum, came to light. 8 Probably this statue was originally either * Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, p. 390; Paschetto, op. cit. p. 372. This statue does not seem to be in the Lateran now. It cannot be identical with a colossal statue of Cybele in the Villa Palca, which is said to have come from Ostia. Cf. Matz and von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Bom, 1. p. 241, no. 903. " Visconti, I. e. pp. 209 ff . 'Reproduced Mon. dell'Inst. ix. Tav. vni. a; Showerman, op. cit. opposite p. 288. Cf. Helbig, Fiihrer, I. no. 721. The statue is par- ticularly interesting because Attis is represented holding a half-moon, an attribute of Men, who was often identified with Attis in the Roman cult. Cf. Cumont, op. cit. p. 62. 1 Helbig, op. cit. I. no. 720 ; Mon. dell'Inst. rx. Tav. vm. 60 THE CULTS OF OSTIA in the temple, where it may have been dedicated to Magna Mater, or in the schola of the dendrophori, where statues of Terra Mater, Silvanus, and Mars were placed. 9 Aside from the inscription on the statue of Attis, only one dedicatory inscription to the Phrygian gods has come to light: I. G. xiv. 913 [OeolaC] aOavaTois ['Petr/ re icai "Arret] firjvor [ypdvvaj . 10 A great many names of priests, devotees, and temple atten- dants of the cult occur in the inscriptions. Both men and women were sacerdotes of the goddess. The sarcophagus of one priestess, which is now in the Vatican, 11 has the inscription (371 add.): D. m. C. Iunius Pal. Euhodus magister qq. collegi fabr. tign. Ostis. lustri XXI. fecit sibi et Metiliae Acte sacerdoti M. d. m. colon. Ost. coiug. sanc- tissime. The inscribed tablet is on the front of the cover of the sarcophagus. On either side of it lighted torches are represented in relief; on the left are a tympanon and a lagobolon, on the right, cymbals and a double flute, all objects which were used in the worship of Magna Mater. Two sacerdotes of the shrine of the goddess at Portus are known from a cippus which bears the inscription (429) : L. Valerius L. fil. Fyrmus saeerdos Isidis Ostens et M(atris) d(eum) Trastib. 12 fee. sibi. The reliefs on this small cippus, representing a pitcher, two small boxes, a cock, an hydria, and lotus flowers refer to the cults of both Isis and • Cf. 21 add., which records the dedication of a statue of Venus to Isis and Bubastis. 10 Omitted by Cagnat, Inscr. Gr. ad res Bom. pert. Cf . Drexler s. v. Meter, Eoscher, col. 2919; Hepding, Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult, Giessen, 1903, p. 82. "Museo Chiaramonti, 179; Amelung, 8c. des. Vat. Mus. I. p. 429, Taf . 45 ; Altmann, Architectur und Ornamentik der antiken Sarkophage, p. 104. The reliefs on the sarcophagus represent the myth of Alcestis. u M(ater) d(eum) Tra(n)stib(erina) est eadem atque M(ater) d(eum) m(agna) Port (us) Augusti et Traiani Felicis (n. 408), ita appellata ab Ostiensibus quod Tiberis inter moenia coloniae et Portum interfluebat. ( Dessau. ) ORIENTAL GODS 61 Magna Mater. 13 Compare also 408(a) Salonia Carpime Saloniae Euterpe sacerdoti M. d. m. Port. Aug. et Traiani Felicis patronae suae optimae bene merenti fecit et sibi et Salonio Hermeti Salonio Dorae Saloniae Tertiae et eor. filis pars dimidia intrantib. laeva. (b) M. Cutius Eusticus tibico (sic) M. d. m. Portus Aug. et Traiani Felicis fecit sibi et Cutiae Tbeodote et libertis libertabusq. posterisq. eorum pars dimidia ad dextra. Archigalli of the colony are mentioned in tbree inscrip- tions: 34 elicis Q. Caecilius Fuscus archi- gallus coloniae Ostensis imaginem Matris deum argenteam p. i. cum si. gno (sic) Nemesem 14 kannophris Ostiensibus d.d. 35. Q. Caecilius Fuscus archigallus c. O. imaginem Attis argentiam p. i. cum sigillo frugem aereo 15 cannopboris 13 Cf. Benndorf and Schoene, op. cit. pp. 52-53, Taf. xvn. 2; Altmann, Die rbmischen Grabaltare der Kaiserzeit, p. 237, Fig. 191. 14 Cum signo Nemesem (for Nemesis) indicates that Cybele in the statue presented was represented holding a statuette of Nemesis in her hand. Similarly, medallions of Smyrna of the time of Septimius Severus show Cybele holding in her right hand two figurines which represent the two Nemeses whose cult there was perhaps associated with hers. Cf. Decharme s. v. Cybele, Daremberg and Saglio, p. 1687. 15 Cum sigillo frugem aereo obviously corresponds to cum signo Nemesem of the preceding inscription. C. L. Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, p. 393 says " Debbe intendersi che Atti avea, forse in mano, un fascio di spighe, lavorato in bronzo, probabilmente dorato." Dessau finds this explanation unsatisfactory. Cumont s. v. Attis, Ruggiero, points out that sigillum must mean a statuette, in contrast to imago, the large statue, and thinks it probable that frugem is written for frugis or Phrygis, i. e. a. priest of Attis. Cf. Dionys. n. 19; Propertius n. 22, 16. The scene would then represent the priest worshiping Attis, a scene similar to that of the woman of the Venetian Bas-relief. Cf. Roscher, I. p. 726. It seems to me more probable that Frugem is here a personification — a view suggested by Dessau, CIL. xrv p. 565. Attis, who was often represented holding flowers, fruit, and grain as in the statue from Ostia, could very well have been portrayed holding a statuette of Frux. However, I know of no such representation of the god. Unfortunately the second volume of Hepding's work on Attis, containing the complete collection of the monuments for the cult, has not appeared. Though there is no evidence for the personification of 62 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Ostiensibus donum dedit. 385 (Small marble cista found in the area described above) 16 M. Modius Maxximus archi- gallus coloniae Ostiensis. On top of the cista there is a cock. To the right of the inscription are reliefs of a curved flute and a pedum; a representation of a reed pipe breaks up the letters of the latter part of the inscription. Especially- interesting because of its bearing on the Attis myth is the relief to the left of the inscription, in which Attis and the lion of Cybele are represented among reeds. 17 An apparitor of the goddess at Ostia who was the freed- man of a priest (probably of Magna Mater) is mentioned in 53 : C. Atilius Bassi sacerdotis lib. Felix apparator M. d. m. signum Silvani dendrophoris Ostiensibus d.d. The inscription of a tibicen of the shrine in Portus has been cited. The title pater,, which is frequently used to denote an initiate in the cult of Mithras, occurs at Ostia as the name of an initiate of the Phrygian cult. With it is found also the title mater. 18 Compare 37. Q. Domitius Aterianus pat(er) et Domitia Civitas mat(er) signum Attis cann. Ost. d. d. (On this base are represented a syrinx, a lituus, the singular Frux, the plural Fruges, which is more frequently used, is personified in CIL. v 3227 .... elia sacr. Frugibus et Feminis. In view of the large number of deified abstractions known in later Roman Religion the deification of Frux seems natural. 10 C. L. Viseonti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1869, pp. 240-245; Mon. dell'Inst. IX. Tav. vni a. 1. "Viseonti, I. c, finds in this relief important evidence for the Attis myth. He thinks that Cybele finally found Attis hiding in thick reeds on the banks of the Gallos. This would then throw light on the words canna intrat found in the Fasti Philocali for March 15th (cf. CIL. i' p. 260 ) , and on the institution of the cannophori; Cumont s. v. Canno- phori, Pauly-Wissowa, says : " Die Cista aus Ostia . . . giebt keinen sicheren Anhaltspunkt. Es scheint jedoch, dass das Cannophorenfest an die Aussetzung und Entdeckung des Attis am Ufer des Gallos erinnerte." 18 Hepding (op. cit. p. 154, p. 187) notes that pater and mater refer here to rank among the worshipers of the goddess, rather than to offices among the cannophori or dendrophori. ORIENTAL GODS 63 and a Phrygian cap.) 69. Virtutem dendrop(horis) ex arg(enti) p(ondo duobus) Iunia Zosime mat(er) d. d. Taurobolia were performed both at Ostia and at Portus, and there is evidence for the criobolium also at the former place. One inscription, which comes either from Ostia or from Portus, records the performance of the taurobolium for an individual: 39. Aemilia Serapias taurobolium fecit et aram taurobolatam posuit per sacerdotes Valerio Pan- carpo Idib. Mais. Anullino II. et Frontone cos. (199 a. d.). Three fragmentary inscriptions record taurobolia made pub- licly, probably in every case by the cannophori for the emperor and his household, the senate, equestrian order, army, decuriones of Ostia etc: 19 40. Taurob[olium factum Matri deum magn. Idaeae pro salute] Im[p. Caesaris] M. Aurel[i Antonini Aug. et] L. Aureli [Commodi Caes et] Faustina [e Aug. Matris castro]rum libe [rorumque eorum senatus XVvir s. f. equestr.J ordin. ex[ercituum . . . ] navi- gan[tium . . . ] decurio [num 20 col. Ost. . . . ] canno[phori . . . ] nat. . .in. . . 42. Taurob[olium factum Matri deum] magnae Id[aeae pro salute et victoria] Imp. Caes. C. V[ibi Treboniani Galli Pii] Fel. Aug. et [imp. Caes. C. Vibi Afini Galli] Veldum[niani Vol]usiani P[ii Fel.] Aug. tot[iu]sq. domus divin. eor. [et] sen[atus X]V vir s. f. equestr. ordin. ex[ercituum . . . . ] navigantiums . . . 43. Taurobolium fac- tum Matr. deum magn. Idaeae pro salut. et redit. et victor, imp. . . . The criobolium seems to have been performed under the same auspices. Cf. 41. Crinobolium factum [Matri] deum magn. Ideae pr[o salute] imp. Caes. La . . . etc. These sacrifices made by the cannophori may be com- pared with Apuleius' report of the prayers offered by the pastophori at the time of the festival of Isis in Kenchreai. 21 13 Cf. Dessau, s. 40-43. On the taurobolium see Wissowa, Religion und Kultus, 2 pp. 323-325. 20 Sacra f aciunt cannophori . . . . ; fortasse decurionum quoque mentio eo, non ad formulam voti, pertinet (Dessau). 21 Apuleius, Metam. xi. 17. See p. 71, n. 20. 64 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Tauroholia at Portus, on the other hand, seem to have been performed under the direction of the archigallus of Eome, probably on the occasion of the departure of an em- peror from there. 22 Cf. Ulpian, De Excusationihus. 2S Is qui in portu pro salute imperatoris sacrum facit ex vatt- cinatione archigalli a tutelis excusatur. We have seen that Magna Mater is the only deity except Mithras who is known to have had temples both at Ostia and at Portus. It is possible that her shrine at Portus, with which an area like the campus at Ostia for the performance of tauroholia was probably connected, was established as a place for sacrifices in honor of the emperors. The finds at Ostia show clearly the close relation of the dendrophori and the cannophori with the cult of Magna Mater. 24 Immediately adjoining the rear of the temple of the goddess there is a large irregular room of almost trape- zoidal shape which is identified as the schola of the dendro- phori by the inscription of late third century date, (45) : Numini domus Aug. d[endrophori Ostienjses scolam quam sua pecunia constit [uerant novis sumjptibus a solo [resti- tuerunt]. 25 Along the walls of the room, except on the side toward the Metroum, is a stone bench spacious enough to provide seating capacity for fifty members of the college. In the centre of the room there were two altars, used, no doubt, for sacrifices to Attis and Cybele. 26 This schola must have been adorned with the statues of various gods 22 Cf. Dessau, I. o. 18 Fragmenta Taticana, 148. 24 Cf. Cumont s. v. cannophori, dendrophori, Pauly-Wissowa, and s. v. cannophorus, Ruggiero; Aurigemma o. v. dendrophorus, ibid. For a new theory of the origin of the dendrophori see von Domazewski, I. c. p. 53. 25 Cf. Hepding, op. cit. p. 154, on the connection of the dendrophori with the imperial cult in the later period. Cf. also Aurigemma, I. o. p. 1704. 26 Cf. Visconti, I. c. pp. 385 ff. ; Aurigemma, I. c. p. 1679. For plan see Mon. dell'Inst. vni. Tav. lx. B; De Marchi, II culto privato di Roma antica, n. Tav. vi. ORIENTAL GODS 65 which are known to have been presented to the dendrophori by members of their body and by devotees of Cybele. Inscriptions record gifts of statues of Silvamis (53), Terra Mater (67), Mars (33), and Virtus (69), to the college. It is not fair, however, to assume from the fact that these statues were presented to the dendrophori that all these gods were worshiped by the college. Although Terra Mater, who was sometimes identified with Cybele, 27 and Silvanus were certainly worshiped by them, there is no reason to believe that such was the case with Mars and Virtus. Aurigemma 28 suggests that these gods may have been the special protectors of the persons who dedicated statues of them, or that the statues may have been given simply to adorn the schola. Statues of the emperors seem also to have stood there. The bases of statues of Antoninus Pius (97) and Lucius Verus (107) have been found. Seven inscriptions of the cannophori came to light in a niche of this schola in the substructures of the temple. Since the cannophori are known from an inscription 29 to have had a schola of their own, it seems probable that these inscriptions had been removed from it. Two of them are on bases made for statues of emperors. 30 Two others record the presentation to the cannophori of statues of Magna Mater and Attis by Q. Caecilius Fuscus, archigallus of the colony. 31 A second statue of Attis was presented by two devotees of the Phrygian gods who bore the titles pater and mater (37). A gift of another statue of Cybele is recorded in 36: Calpurnia Chelido typum Matris deum argenti p. 27 Cf. Graillot, Melanges Perrot, p. 142, n. 7-9. Aurigemma, I. c. p. 1678, seems not to know of this identification. 28 Kuggiero, I. c. "Cf. 285. Dessau suspects the authenticity of this inscription. M 116, 117. Cf. 118, 119. "34, 35. Cumont s. v. cannophorus, Ruggiero, suggests that the priests of Cybele and Attis may have held a place among the cannophori. 66 THE CULTS OF OSTIA II. cantnoforis Ost. d. d. et dedicabit. 32 We have already seen that public taurobolia were performed at Ostia by the cannophori. In studying the evidence for these two colleges, one is impressed by the fact that statues of the Phrygian gods only were presented to the cannophori, while the dendrophori received statues of other gods. Perhaps the explanation lies in the difference between the two colleges; the dendrophori seem to have been a college that combined professional with religious purposes, while the cannophori had a purely religious organization. EGYPTIAN GODS The earliest known shrines of Egyptian gods in Italy, the Sarapeum of Puteoli and the Iseum of Pompeii, date from the second century b. c. 1 The worship was probably introduced at Rome from ports of Southern Italy. As early as 59 b. c. there were many devotees of Isis in Pome, 2 and the sacred college of the pastophori traced its origin to the time of Sulla. 3 But merchants from Egypt seem not to have been attracted to Ostia in large numbers before the port of Claudius was built. Indeed the fleet which brought grain from Egypt to Italy (classis Alexandrina) probably docked regularly at Puteoli until the port of Trajan was completed. 4 Later this fleet, which, at least in the early third century, was manned by Alexandrians, brought many ^Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, p. 395, notes that typus is used to refer to the sacred stone of the goddess which was brought from Pessinus (cf. Vita Heliogab. 3, 4), and suggests that Calpurnia gave a facsimile of the sacred stone to the cannophori. 1 Cf. Dubois, op. cit. pp. 148 f. 2 Cf. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus? p. 351. 3 Cf. Apuleius, Meiam. xi. 30. 4 Cf. Seneca, Ep. 77, 1 ; Marquardt, Privatleben der Romer, p. 406. OEIENTAI, GODS 67 worshipers of Isis and Sarapis to Portus. A Sarapeum was established at Portus by Alexandrians, and modelled after the great sanctuary of the god at Alexandria. Its datable monuments belong to the early third century after Christ. Isis, on the other hand, had a temple at Ostia where she may have been worshiped as a goddess of the sea before there was much direct intercourse between Ostia and Egypt. The worship of Isis and Sarapis was, as always, closely related at Ostia and Portus. We find at Ostia dedications to Sarapis, and evidence for the existence of a small shrine of Isis at Portus. Bubastis, another Egyptian goddess, shares with Isis one dedication from Ostia. The monu- ments indicate that the Egyptian gods were most important at the port during the late second and early third centuries, just when their worship was at its height at Pome. Isis. That the Iseum, which has not been definitely lo- cated, 5 was at Ostia is proved by the title of the priests of the goddess — sacerdos Isidis Ostiensis. Compare 429. L. Valerius L. fil. Eyrmus sacerdos Isidis Ostens. et M. D. Trastib. fee. sibi. 6 437. D. [m.J M. Ulpi Faed[imi sacer]- dotis Isi[dis Ost?] etc. EE. rx 474. D] m tiani decur. Ost. [omnib. hon]or. funct Sal. L. L lie maioris [sacerdo]s Isidis Ost. [incomp]arabilissimo. Com- pare also EE. ix 471. Another priest, probably of the same temple, has the title sacerdos sanctae reginae: 352 a. D. Fabio D. filio Pal. Eloro Veraiio sacerdot. sanct. reg[in] "Pasehetto (op. cit. p. 401) notes that a number of objects having to do with the cult of Isis were found in the region between the so-called temple of Vulcan and the river, and suggests that the temple of the goddess is to be sought in that vicinity. He enumerates two inscriptions (20, 21), a statue of a kneeling pastophoros (present whereabouts unknown), a sculptured pilaster with lotus leaves on it, now in the Lateran (Benndorf and Schoene, op. cit. no. 546), and some small fragments of sculpture of Egyptian style. 6 It is noteworthy that Fyrmus was priest of Magna Mater at Portus. The reliefs on his monuments represent objects connected with the cults of both Cybele and Isis. Cf. Drexler s. v. Isis, Roscher, col. 443. 68 THE CULTS OF OSTIA iudicio maiestatis eius elect. Anubiaco prima dec. Laur. vie. Aug. Quattervi naviculario V. corpor. lenuneulariorum Ost. honorib. ac munerib. omnib. funct. sodali corp. V. region, col. Ost., buic statuam Flavius Moschylus v. c. Isiacus huius loci memor eius sanctimoniae castitat. testament, suo costi- •tui ab beredib. suis iussit patrono munditiario etc. It was probably a priest of tbe main sanctuary wbo with some initiates restored a megaron in Portus. Lanciani has shown that the megaron, known only here in the cult of Isis, was probably an underground sanctuary designed for the celebrations of the mysteries of the goddess. 7 Compare 18. [Pr]o salute imp. Caes p. f. Aug. Camurenius verv. sac. deae Isidis cap. ced. et ceteri [Isi]aci magar. de suo restitu. 19. Voto succe[pto] Calventia Severina et Au- relia Severa nepos megarum ampliaverunt. From no other place are there so many inscriptions of devotees and initiates of the cult of Isis and other Egyptian gods. Most frequent are the Isiaci who, though known from numerous references in Latin literature, 8 are rarely men- tioned in inscriptions elsewhere. 9 They were initiates of the cult who were sometimes in charge of a small shrine. Thus Flavius Moschylus v. c. mentioned in 352 is Isiacus Jiuius loci. The name of one Isiaca is known. 10 The reliefs on the sepulchral inscription of Flavia Caecilia seem to indicate that she too was an Isiaca, or, at any rate, that ' Bull. dell'Inst. 1868, pp. 228 ff. Lanciani points out that the word megaron is frequently used to denote an underground sanctuary where the mysteries of Demeter and Persephone were performed. The use of the word megaron here in the cult of Isis furnishes additional evidence for the familiar identification of Isis with Demeter. Cf. Drexler, I. c. 8 Cf. Suet. Dom. 1; Val. Max. vn. 3, 8; Pliny, E. N. xxvii. 53; Min. Felix 22. 1. "Isiaci at Ostia: 18, 343, 352, EE. vn 1194. They are known alao at Pompeii. Cf. CIL. rv 787, 1011. M 302. Other Isiacae, CIL. VI 1780; n 1611. ORIENTAL GODS 69 she made sacrifices to Isis. 11 Anubiacij or attendants who carried the image of the dog-headed Anubis in festivals of the Egyptian gods, also very rarely mentioned in inscrip- tions, 12 are found at Ostia. A Bubastiaca, 13 or initiate of the cult of Bubastis, completes the list of these devotees of the Egyptian gods. The entire absence of evidence for pastophori is strange. In view of the prominence of the sacred colleges connected with the worship of Magna Mater, we should expect to find similar organizations in the cult of Isis. It is possible that the discovery of the temple of the goddess will prove the existence of this college. Dedications from Ostia give further evidence for the cult of Isis. In a pro salute inscription (20), she is invoked together with Sarapis, Silvanus, and the Lares. 14 A frag- mentary inscription groups her with Sarapis: EE. ix 435 Duo v[ir] Isi et S[erapi ta]bernas. In another case she is grouped with Bubastis: 21 add. Isidi Bubas[ti] Ve- ner(em) arg(enteam) p(ondo unum semissem) cor(onam) aur(eam) p(ondo uncias tres scriptula tria), cor(onam) anal(empsiacam) p(ondo uncias quinque scriptula octo) Caltil(ia) Diodora Bubastiaca testamento dedit. 15 Compare also EE. vn 1194. P. Cornelius P. f. Victorinus Isiacus et Anubiacus et decurialis scriba librarius col. Ost. signum Martis cum equiliolo Isidi reginae restitutrici salutis suae d. d. a 1044. Flaviae Caeciliae et Q. [M]aeci Iuve[n]alis. The inscrip- tion is written on a terra cotta epistyle. To the left of the name of Flavia Caecilia are reliefs of a bull, a, sistrum, and a basket of fruit; to the right, a bull, a sistrum, and a situla on which there is a bust, probably of Harpocration. Cf. Benndorf and Schoene, op. cit. p. 386. u 352. EE. vii 1194. Found also at Nemausus, OIL. xn 3043. The title is equivalent to Anuhoforus, which occurs at Vienna, GIL. xn 1919. Anubis seems to have had no separate worship here, but to have been honored with the other Egyptian gods, 18 21. Found also at Rome, OIL. VI 3880 = 32464. "Quoted p. 39. 15 Cf. Marucchi, II Museo Egizimo Vaticcmo, p. 313. 70 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Inscriptions give no information as to the nature of the worship of Isis at Ostia. We do not even know certainly whether she was worshiped in her temple there as goddess of the sea. It is, however, probable that she was so wor- shiped, since this aspect of the goddess was common else- where, and since the annual festival of the Eomans which emphasized this side of her cult was apparently celebrated at the harbor. This state festival, known as navigium Isidis, marked the opening of the sea for navigation in the spring. It is re- corded under the date March fifth in the Menologia Bustica and in the Fasti Philocali 16 and is frequently mentioned in the later literature of the Empire. 17 The most important part of the celebration was the launching of a ship dedicated to the goddess. While there is no direct evidence to enable us to determine where this festival took place, it is probable that the Romans celebrated it at the mouth of the Tiber. We have seen that they went to Ostia to sacrifice to Castor and Pollux as gods of the sea, and it is natural that Isis as goddess of the sea should also have been honored there. Compare Lyd. De Mens, iv 32. Tfj irpb rpi&v Ncov&v Ma/mW 6 TrXoOs rrj<; "Icovrj irakcua <7r\fxalverai, TOVTeariv f] creKtjvr] • /cal irpoo-TjKOVTOK avrrjv ti/jlSktiv evap^ofievoi ro)v OoKclttCwv ohatv. Apuleius gives us a very minute description of the celebration of this festival at Kenchreai. 18 A splendid procession of wor- shipers, initiates, and priests went to the sea, and there a beautiful ship, adorned with emblems of the goddess, was dedicated by the chief priest, laden with rich gifts, and launched. Apuleius describes the elaborate procession. It was led by women clad in white garments, some of whom "Cf. OIL. I,' p. 311; Wissowa, op. tit., p. 354. 11 Cf. Laetant. I. 11. 21; Auson. De Fer. 24; Veget. IV. 39. 18 Apuleius, Metam. xi. 8-17. ORIENTAL GODS 71 scattered flowers and balsam. Then followed a large number of devotees of the goddess, both men and women, carrying lamps and torches. Pipers and flute-players and a chorus of youths preceded the initiates. Temple attendants and priests of the goddess, bearing sacred symbols and images of the gods, completed the procession. We can imagine a similar celebration at Ostia. 19 The yearly recurrence of such a festival may account for the fact that more devotees of the Egyptian gods are known from the inscriptions of Ostia than from any other place. It is noteworthy that the image of Anubis was carried in the procession at Kenchreai. At Ostia the Anubiaci whose names we know probably car- ried the image on similar occasions. 20 Additional evidence that Isis was regarded as goddess of the sea at Ostia is perhaps afforded by a small bronze lamp and a wall-painting. In the recent excavations near the baths a hanging lamp in the form of a ten-beaked ship came to light. 21 On its flat top are reliefs representing Isis, Sarapis, and Harpocration. The lamp may have been a votive offering to the goddess. The wall-painting, which was discovered on the Via Laurentina just outside Ostia, represents Mercury standing beside a ship which is being "Dieterich {Sommertag, p. 37) ) has made the interesting suggestion that a painting from a tomb near Ostia (now in the Vatican Library) may represent the navigium Isidis. Cf. Nogara, Antichi Affreschi del Vatica.no e del Laterano, pp. 76-77, PI. xlix. The scene represents the preparation for a festival in which a ship is to be drawn on a cart by two boys. In the absence, however, of any of the distinctive em- blems of the cult of Isis, it is impossible to come to any definite conclusion in the matter. "According to Apuleius, ch. 17, after the launching of the sacred ship, the procession made its way to the temple of the goddess where prayers were said by a scribe of the pastophori — principi magno sena- tuique et equiti totoque Romano populo, nautiois navibus quaeque suo imperio mundi nostratis regtmtur. The similarity of this prayer to the form of the records of taurobolia made by the cannophori has been noted above. "tfS. 1909, p. 119, Fig. 2; Arch. Am. 1910, col. 180. 72 THE CULTS OF OSTIA loaded, apparently with grain. At the stern are written the words (2028) Isis Giminiana, unquestionably the name of tLe boat, which may have been a river craft used for trans- porting grain from Ostia to Rome. 22 Names of gods who bad no special powers over the sea were, however, so often given to ships that the name of this ship cannot be con- sidered as strong evidence for the worship of Isis at Ostia as goddess of the sea. 23 Sarapis. Greek inscriptions, two of which are certainly of the period of the Severi, prove the existence of a Sarapeum of considerable importance at Portus : IG. XIV 914: 'T7re/)] crtoT^f/ata?] . . . Mdpicov Avpt]\iov 'Eeovtfpov ' A\e^dv8po(y) Euti/^oC? Ewre/3o0s Se/^(a<7Toi)) Kal 'IouXia? [Ma/iatasj 2e/3acrTT/? p,i)Tpo<; Se/3(acrTo{)) Ad 'H\ta> fieyd\a> SapcwrtSt «ai toi? crvvvdoc; deols M. AvprfK.io'; "Hpav veco/copos rov ev YlopTco Za/3a7ri8o?, iirl AapyivCai TSeiraXiavi ap^ivTrrjpeTr) /cal Kap.eivevTr) /cal Avpr]\(q>'1£ icai 2 [a] \covia> ©e [o] 86to> lepocfxbvois koX KafieivevTal [? k] al(?)r^ lepoSovXeia, avedrjicev eir aya6a>. (On another side) eV dyaOco • iirl Tpaviov 'Pa>p,a[vov^. 2i Ibid. 915 : Ad H\i'a> p,eyd\a> ^apdirihi teal rot? crvvvdous deols to KprjTTib'eiov, XafiirdSa dpyvpdv, /3a>fM>v$ T/>ets, •jrokvkvxyov, 0vfua,Trjpiov evrrvpov, /3d6pa Svo A. Kacrcrio? "EivtvxV 1 ) vewKopo'; tov /xeydXov 2apa7rt8o?, virep ev^apiarlw; aviOriicev eV aya,QS>. Permissu C. Wasenni Marcelli pontificis Volcani et aedium sacrarum et Q. Lolli Eufi Ohrysidiani et M. Aemili Vitalis Crepereiani Iluir. 25 22 Now in the Vatican Library. Cf. C. L. Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1866, p. 323, Tav. d'Agg. T; Nogara, op. cit. PI. xlvi. M Lucian, UXoTov 1) etfxai, describes a large grain ship called Isis, which had been blown from its course on the way from Alexandria to Rome, and had put in finally at the Peiraeus. The name Isis was also given to ships in the Roman navy, cf. E. Ferrero s. v. classis, Ruggiero. "Inscr. Or. ad res Rom. pert. i. 389. The provenance of this in- scription and of the following one is uncertain, but there is no reason for placing them under Ostia, as Kaibel and Cagnat do. They more probably come from Portus. a IUd. 390; CIL. xiv 47. ORIENTAL GODS 73 Ibid. 916: Acl 'HXiii) fieydXtp S [a/a] dirihi Kal rot? o-u[i»l- vdois deols tov 6eoi\e iraTpl M. Avp. A77- [>] r)rpiq> tu> [ica]l [' A] piroKpa [t] tWt, /3o [u] XeimJ t^5 \ap.TrpoTdTTjs 7ro'\ecB? w 'A\ef;av8pea>v ev^dfievoi xal e5 TV^oWe? aved^Kafiev eV aya9q>. — ~Kpvo-dv6iva. m Ibid. 917 : 27 "Tirep o-a>TTqpia<; Kal eiravohov Kal alSiov Sia/JLOiri)? tS>v Kvpicov avTOKpaTop(aiv) ILeovqpov Kal 'Avtco- vivov Kal 'IouXtW 2e/3(ao-ny9) Kal tov awTravros avrSiv o'tKOv Kal vjrep ev7rXota? iravrbs tov o-to'Xou ttjv 'ASpdaTtav 28 o~i>v tS> irepl avTrjv Koo-fjL(p T. OvaXepios ^epijvos vewKopos tov fieydXov 'Xapdirt.So^, 6 eVt/ueXT/T^? TravTo<; tov 'AXetjavSpeivov aToXov, em KX. 'lovXiavov eirdpyov evffeveia 1 ;. Ibid. 919 : 'Eepfjvo'; St^t'Sto? 6 KpaTcaTo<; vea>Kopo<; eK t£>v Ihkov aveOrjKa. 29 Ibid. 929 : Xeprjvos veoKopos avedrjKev. 30 Ibid. 921 : 'Zeprjvos 6 Trpea/3vTaTo<: veooKopos aveOrjKa. 31 Another neocorus of this temple is mentioned in the Latin inscription, probably from Portus: 188. [Dis mani- " Inscr. Gr. ad res Rom. pert. 381. Cf. Gatti, Bull. com. 1886, pp. 173-180. This inscription was found at Portus. " Inscr. Or. ad res Rom. pert. 380. This inscription dates from 201 when Septimius Severus and his train returned to Syria from Egypt. It was found at Fiumicino. M Usually written Adrasteia. She was a Phrygian goddess who from the time of Antimachos was identified with Nemesis. Cf. Tiimpel, s. v. Adrasteia, Pauly-Wissowa. Nemesis was identified with Isis, especially at Delos. Cf. Drexler s. v. Isis, Roscher, cols. 543 ff. The statue dedi- cated to Sarapis by Serenus must have represented Isis as an avenging goddess. The only mention of Adrasteia in Latin inscriptions occurs in a dedication to the goddess (whose name is again written Adrastia) which Steuding s. v. Adrastia, Roscher, and Ruggiero s. v. refer to some local goddess. Since the cult of Nemesis existed in Dacia (cf. Rossbach s. v. Nemesis, Roscher, col. 139), it is more probable that Adrastia is here simply a name for Nemesis. "Inscr. Gr. ad res Rom. pert. I. 384. Found at Portus. "Ibid. 391. Found at Ostia. "Of uncertain origin, but probably from Portus. Quoted by Cagnat, s. 391. 74 THE CULTS OF OSTIA bus] . . item leg. Ill I[tal. scribae] 32 aed. cur. sacerd. bidentali. neocori Iovis magni Sarap. Fundania P. f. Pris- eilla marito optimo et sibi fecit. Dessau has proved from these inscriptions that the Sara- peum at Portus was modelled on the great sanctuary of the god at Alexandria. 33 It will be noticed that a senator from Alexandria made one of the dedications, and that Serenus, who seems to have been in charge of the Alexan- drian fleet, was neocorus, apparently at Portus. The form of address of the god used in these dedications, ZeS? "H\tos /ieya? %dpa,TrK, ii and the title of the priests, vecoieopos tov peyaXov Xapa7TtSo?, 35 are identical with those that occur in the in- scriptions of Alexandria. The title lepoqbcovos is also found among the titles of the temple attendants of both sanctu- aries. 38 Moreover the use of Greek in all the inscriptions relating to the Sarapeum at Portus, except in one sepulchral inscription, is most easily explained through the close rela- tionship of the shrine at this harbor with the great Alex- andrian temple. Shipmasters from Alexandria, who seem to have had entire charge of the transport of grain from Egypt to Portus, probably established and supported the Sarapeum there. 37 The many temple attendants indicate that the temple must have been very important in the early part of the third century. 38 a This is the reading of Villefosse, quoted by Dessau, EE. IX p. 335. 83 Bull. dell'Inst. 1882, pp. 152 ff. Cf . s. OIL. xiv 47, and Mommsen, Provinces of the Roman Empire, II. p. 279 and n. 2; Gatti, I. c. M Cf. Inscr. Or. ad res Rom. pert. I. 1049, 1050 = CIG. 4683. 80 Cf. IG. xiv 1102-1104, for inscriptions of neocori of the Alexandrian shrine found at Rome. 80 Cf. GIG. 4864 = Dittenberger, Orientis Graecae inscriptiones selectae, n. 699. " Gatti, I. c. p. 176, believes that the megaron of Portus whose restoration by Isiaci is recorded was a part of the Sarapeum of Portus. However the use of Latin in the inscriptions militates against the view. " A leg of a tripod made of red porphyry, found in the excavations of the Torlonia family, is now in the Museo Torlonia. According to ORIENTAL GODS 75 Dedications prove that Sarapis was worshiped at Ostia also. Two inscriptions in which he is addressed with Isis have been cited above. In the recent excavations between the baths and the theatre the following inscription was dis- covered: 'Ayadrj tv'xj) 6eS> fieydXa "^apdirei II. 'AkuWio? #eo'SoTos vyep (sic) 'A^iXKiov XpvcrdvOov*; tov viov} 9 Since the form of address here differs from that quoted above, it is probable that this dedication belonged to a private shrine, rather than to the temple at Portus. A statue or bust of Sarapis which stood somewhere near the sea in Ostia plays an important part in the Octavius of Minucius Felix. See n. 4. Itaque cum diluculo ad mare inambulando litore p erg er emus ut et aura adspirans leniter membra vegetaret, et cum eximia voluptate molli vestigio cedens harena subsideret, Caecilius simulacra Serapidis de- notato ut vulgus superstitiosum solet, manum ori admovens osculum labiis impressit. It will be remembered that it was this act of Caecilius which provoked the long argument on Christianity in the Octavius. Two busts of Sarapis, a very small one of bronze 40 and another of marble, 41 were found in recent excavations at Ostia. Bubastis. A dedication to Isis and Bubastis set up by a Bubastiaca has been cited. 42 The latter goddess, honored here as elsewhere with Isis, 43 probably had no separate shrine at Ostia, though Ruggiero suggests that an inscription published among those of Rome which mentions a sacerdos Bubastium may be from Ostia. 44 Viseonti, busts of Isis and Typhon are represented on it. He makes the suggestion that it probably stood in the Sarapeum of Portus. Cf. C. L. Viseonti, Catalogue of the Museo Torlonia, n. 20. " NS. 1909, p. 86. Annfe fipig. 1909, n. 212. 40 NB. 1908, p. 248. 41 Ibid. 1910, p. 63, Fig. 6, p. 64. "21 add. "Cf. GIL. in 4234. 44 CIL. vi 2249. Cf. s. v. Bubastis, Ruggiero. 76 THE CULTS OF OSTIA SYRIAN GODS Before the construction of the port of Trajan, the Syrians usually came to Kome by way of Puteoli where they had an important colony. 1 When, in the early part of the second century after Christ, the port of Trajan offered their mer- chants its spacious accommodations, the Syrians seem often to have found it more convenient to settle at Rome than at the port. In the case of the Tyrians definite evidence on this point is supplied by a letter which their citizens in Puteoli wrote to the mother city in 172 a. d. 2 From this letter we learn that the Tyrians had two warehouses in Italy, one at Puteoli and one at Kome, and that because of their decreasing numbers and wealth, the Tyrians at Puteoli were forced to ask assistance from their fellow townsmen in Rome, in order to pay the necessary rent for their warehouse. This tendency of Syrian merchants to settle in Rome probably explains why comparatively few dedications to Syrian gods have been found at Portus, and none at all at Ostia, where their merchants must have come in large num- bers. There is no definite evidence that a temple of any of their gods existed at either place, though it is not im- probable that there was a temple of Marnas at Portus. A Syrian who was connected with a shrine of his native gods in Rome set up an inscription to Jupiter Heliopolitanus. A Roman soldier and a group of Roman mariners made dedications to Jupiter Dolichenus, the god of inland Com- magene, whose worship was naturally propagated by soldiers quartered in that region rather than by merchants. Dedi- cations to Dea Syria are unknown at the port. Late evidence proves the celebration of the Syrian festival Maiumas here. 1 Bliimner, Romische Privat-Altertumer, pp. 624, 633. 1 IG. xiv 830; Inscr. Gr. ad res rom. pert. I. 421. Dubois, op. eit. pp. 83 ff. OBIENTAL GODS 77 Jupiter Heliopolitanus. The following dedication was discovered in the excavations of the Torlonia family at Por- tus: 24. I. O. M. Ahgelo 3 Heliop(olitano) pro salute imperator. Antonini et Commodi Augg. Gaionas d. d. (dated 177-180 a. d. when Marcus Aurelius and Commodus were ruling together). This is certainly the same Gaionas who is mentioned in four inscriptions at Eome, two of which were found recently in the excavations of the shrine of Syrian gods on the Janiculum. 4 From these inscriptions 3 The Latin word angelus as an epithet for » pagan divinity is found only here. Henzen [Ann. dell'Inst. 1886, pp. 135 f.) thought its use due to syncretism of Oriental religions. Wolff (Arch. Zeit. 1867, col. 55) saw the influence of Chaldean star worship in the epithet. A more satisfactory explanation is given by Drexler s. v. Heliopolitanus, Roscher, who compares it with the use of the Greek &yye\os in dedi- cations to Ad tylarif xal Oeltp &.yy£\ip. Cf. Bull, de Cor. Bell. 1881, p. 182; LeBas-Waddington, Inscr. d'Asie Mineure, 416. Here dyye\os implies that the god is a bringer of good tidings. Cf. also Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte, n. p. 1323, n. 6. * These inscriptions are: 1) Gaionas' epitaph, GIL. \l 32316 (IG. xrv 1512, Inscr. Gr. ad res Rom. pert. I. 235) : D(is) m(anibus) s(acrum) ivBide Tauavas, 6s KtffTifiep J/v wore 'Pii^ijs koX delirvois Kpdvas xoXXA fier' eitppotrivris, KOifJtai (sic) Tip ffav&T(j> fnjdtv 6is Swas Kparepos 60/j.a Scots irap[^]xoi &v 5^ Taiuvas SeiirvoKplTTjs edero, 5 It seems impossible to connect this inscription with a departure of the emperors from Portus. Marcus Aurelius and Commodus re- turned from the East in 176, when they landed at Brundisium. On August 3, 178 they left Eome for the second German expedition, and Marcus never returned. There is no evidence that they went by way of Portus, and in fact their use of this route is improbable. The emperors seem to have remained in Italy from 176 to 178. ORIENTAL GODS 79 archi) VII. id . . . [Com]modo Aug. V. cos. [curam agente] Ter(entio?) Prisco 6 (186 a. d.). Both these inscriptions date from the reign of Commodus who showed this cult special favor. 7 It is apparent, however, that neither of these dedications was made by a permanent inhabitant of Ostia. Mamas. The following inscription, said to have been found at Portus, seems to be the dedication of a statue of the emperor Gordian III, who had evidently shown special favor to the city of Gaza during his long stay in Syria : IG. xiv 926. 'Arya6r} T\>yri ' AvTOKpaTopa VLatcrapa M. 'Avtcoviov TopSiavbv Ei5o-e/3»j Evtv^t) ^efiao-Tov tov 6eo(f>i\ecrraTov icocr- fxoicpdropa r) 7ro'\t? r/ tS)v Ya^almv lepa /cat acrvXo? /cal avTovofios, Tria-Tf) [«al] euo-e/3^9, Xafnrpa ical fieydXr), e'f evK [e] \ [e] vaecos tov trarpiov deov tov eavTtjs evepyeTrjv Sia Tt/3. KX. Uaireipiov iinp-eKrjTov tov lepov. s The 7raT/Jio? 0eo? here mentioned is Marnas, the chief god of Gaza. There is no evidence other than this inscription for the existence of this cult anywhere outside of the Orient, and even there the worship does not seem to be widespread. 9 Preller infers from this inscription that there was a temple of Marnas at Portus. 10 The fact that the inhabitants of Gaza chose to erect the statue of their benefactor at Portus rather than at Eome would be most readily explained by the existence of a Marnaeum at the former place. In that case Ti. Claudius Papirius may have been eVi/teX^TTfc of the temple at Portus, though then we should naturally expect to find the words ev HopTa in the inscription. 11 Ti. Clau- 6 This inscription is cited by Kan, De Jovis Dolicheni Cultu, Disser- tation, Groningen, 1901, p. 89, and by Cumont b. v. Dolichenus, Pauly- Wissowa, as from Ostia. The restorations are Mommsen's. ' Cf. Cumont, I. c. 8 Inscr. Or. ad res Rom. pert. I. 387. 8 Cf. Drexler s. v. Marnas, Eoscher. 10 Rom. Mythologie. n.* p. 399. 2 Cf. Drexler, I. o. col. 2382; Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. 243, n. 16. 11 Cf. JO. xrv 914 vewxdpos tov 4v H6pT\ovlas rptm-ov r^v Matav oJ ToXXot ri liSwp that prfkomu ■ ko.1 ykp ™pi ™s Sl >P ' s PP»P^" r ° Btus in koX vvv tA 6Sap vpoffayopeierai., us ical /njtovpi ri vSpo6pa ra\e«r»ai. Hid. IV 53. Lydus is explaining that there is special danger of earth- quakes in May: ripOn, otv Kara tovtov ri,y MaTav, roin-Am rfc- yv" etpareiovres. puXovpdfcr rb toprd&v iropAfaxw, d "B ical p*.iovpA,r. "L. 0. 17 See discussion of Castor and Pollux. 18 Cf. IG. xiv 926. » Revue Arch. xv. 1910, p. 49, n. 2. Cumont seems to agree, cf. Ori- ental Religions m Roman Paganism, p. 243, n. 16. 6 82 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Mamas de Gaza." As we have seen, the evidence does not suffice to prove the existence of a cult of Mamas at Ostia. 20 MITHEAS Toward the end of the first century of our era the con- quests of the Flavian emperors in the interior of Asia Minor brought Home into contact with a region in which the most important cult was that of the Persian god Mithras. The worship of this god spread rapidly through the Empire, until in the early third century he numbered more devotees than any other pagan deity. The cult of Mithras was propa- gated in the West chiefly by soldiers, slaves, and merchants. Recruits levied in the lands where Mithras reigned supreme or legionaries who had been quartered in those regions carried his worship to the most distant confines of the Em- pire. 1 Eastern slaves who were brought in large numbers to Italy and especially to Rome were zealous missionaries of Mithras and many of them continued to propagate his worship after they were freed. Asiatic merchants as well as slaves were instrumental in establishing the cult in the ports of the Mediterranean. It was known in the ports of Alexandria and Sidon in the East, and at Pola, Aquileia, Ostia, Antium, and Rusellae in Italy. 2 That evidence for the worship of Mithras is lacking at Puteoli is at least par- tially explained by the fact that the Oriental trade of that 20 As Drexler I. c. has shown, the assumption of Preller, Rom. Mythol. II. p. 399, Mommsen, Eph. Epig. 3 p. 329, and Eeville, Die Religion der romischen Gesellschaft in der Zeit des Syncretismus, p. 72, that Maiuma is a Syrian form of the goddess Venus is totally without foundation. 1 Cf. however, C. H. Moore, Distribution of Oriental Cults in Transac- tions of the American Philological Association, 1907, pp. 142 ff. The author shows that soldiers were less prominent in spreading the cult of Mithras than has generally been supposed. 2 Cf. Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, p. 64. OMENTAL GODS 83 port decreased greatly after the construction of the ports of Claudius and Trajan. 3 ^ The form of the temple of Mithras or the Mithreum is distinctive. Unlike the Greco-Roman temple which was simply the house of the god, the Mithreum was a place where the faithful assembled to worship. The sanctuary was usually small, accommodating ordinarily about fifty people. Whenever the number of devotees exceeded the capacity of a Mithreum, a new one was built. It was often an underground chamber and was regularly divided into three main parts. A central portion or choir, usually about two meters wide, where probably the priests alone were per- mitted, was flanked on either side by raised benches or podia, the inclined surfaces of which were a meter to a meter and a half in width. Here the faithful probably knelt during worship. At the further end of the sanctuary there was always a sculptured group representing Mithras slaying the bull (Mithras Tauroctonos). 4 At least six Mithrea are known to have existed at Ostia and Portus. 5 Only at Rome is there evidence for a larger number of shrines. Moreover the excellent preservation of the Mithrea, the Mithraic inscriptions, and the statues found at Ostia, and the early date of some of the monuments make the remains exceedingly valuable to students of the cult of Mithras. Probably the earliest Mithreum known is the one 3 Cf. Dubois, op. cit. p. 153. 4 Cf. Cumont, Textes et monuments figure's relatifs aux mysteres de Mithra, I. pp. 59 f. 5 Plutarch in his life of Pompey, c. 24, states that Romans were initiated into the mysteries of Mithras by Cilioian pirates who had been conquered by Pompey. C. L. Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1864, p. 147, recalls Cicero's words (De Lege Manil. 12, 33) about the defeat of the Roman fleet by the pirates at Ostia and considers it probable that, after the successful termination of the war, the ships gathered at Ostia, where the soldiers and sailors may have introduced the worship of Mithras. There is nothing to support this view. Subsequent researches have shown that the Persian god could have had very few devotees in the West before the end of the first century after Christ. 84 THE CULTS OF OSTIA near the Metroum at Ostia, which seems to date from the time of Hadrian. In another temple an inscription of 162 a. d. was found. Since, however, Mithraic inscriptions of an earlier date have been found at Eome, there is no reason to suppose that the cult at Ostia antedated that at Eome. Inscriptions of Ostia give the names of sacerdotes and antistites of Mithras. 6 Some of these priests bear the titles pater et sacerdos, pater et antistes, which indicate that they had attained to the highest of the seven degrees of initiation in the cult. 7 The simple title pater is also of frequent occur- rence. An initiate who had reached the fourth degree, that of leo, inscribed at Portus a list of the members of an association of worshipers of Mithras. The Mithraic monuments found at Ostia prior to 1896 have received exhaustive treatment in the great work of Cumont: Textes et monuments figures relatifs au mysteres de Mithra. 8 The following discussion has therefore been confined to a brief summary of the most important finds in the individual Mithrea, together with a consideration of the inscriptions and other remains recently brought to light. The temple discovered in 1867 about three meters from the northeast corner of the temple of Magna Mater is proba- * Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra, p. 165, finds no distinction in the use of the two titles. 7 laid. p. 152. Cf. W. J. Pythian-Adams, on The Problem of the Mithraic Grades in Journal of Roman Studies, 1912, pp. 53 ff. The author attempts to Bhow that there were only six grades in the Mithraic initiation. 8 Vol. n, 1896, Vol. I, 1899. Vol. n contains texts, inscriptions, and monuments. Inscriptions 131-142, 560 a, b, c, d, e, monuments 79-85 bis; *295 (cf. p. 523 supplement) are from Ostia and Portus. Vol. I contains an introduction and conclusions. For a summary of the material from Ostia cf. Vol. I, p. 265, n. 4. Cumont's conclusions, without the notes, have been published separately; English translation by T. J. McCormack: The Mysteries of Mithra, Chicago, 1903. In the following discussion, references are to the larger work if no title is given. OEIENTAL GODS 85 bly the oldest Mithreum in Ostia. 9 Its proximity to the temple of Magna Mater led Visconti to the conclusion that it was not a Mithreum, but was a shrine of the Phrygian gods which was used for initiations. 10 His view was not disputed until Cumont showed that the sanctuary was a Mithreum. The figures of the mosaic pavement of the central part of the shrine, 11 representing an old man with spade and scythe, a raven, a cock, a scorpion, a serpent, and a bull's head, Visconti tried to connect with Cybele and Attis. Cumont has shown, however, that the old man is probably Silvanus, who seems to have been identified with Drvdspa in the Mithraic religion, 12 and that the other figures of the mosaic are all well known in the cult of the Persian god. A beautiful head with a Phrygian cap found here, and now in the Lateran Museum, was thought by Vis- conti to represent Attis. 13 Cumont recognized in it a head of Mithras, probably from the group which stood at the end of the temple. The style of the head seems to date it in the time of Hadrian. A head of Sol, now in the Lateran, was also discovered in the Mithreum. ' Cumont, Mon. 295, pp. 414 S., cf. p. 523. This shrine is listed by Cumont among Monuments douteux, although he seems not to doubt that it is a Mithreum. A plan of the temple is given by Cumont, n. Fig. 346; De Marchi, II Culto privato di Roma antica, rt. Tav. iv; Pas- chetto, op. cit. Fig. 109 (all after Mon. dell'Inst. vm, Tav. LX.) 10 Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, pp. 402 ff. Visconti called the temple a sacrario metroaco and believed that it was used for initiations into the cult of the Phrygian gods. He came to this conclusion the more readily because he believed that Mithras was worshiped in temples like those of other gods, as well as in the underground sanctuaries which were, he thought, for initiates only. De Marchi, op. oit. II. p. 153, does not seem to know Cumont's discussion of this shrine. Paschetto speaks of the shrine as a Mithreum, op. cit. p. 169, but on p. 375 he expresses doubt as to whether it is or not. "Reproduced Mon. dell'Inst. I. c; Cumont n. Fig. 347; De Marchi, op. cit. Tav. v; Paschetto, op. cit. Fig. 110. u See discussion of Silvanus. a Mon. dell'Inst. I. c, Cumont, n. Figs. 348 and 490. Cf. also Benn- dorf and Sehoene, op. cit. no. 547; Helbig, Fiihrer, I. no. 717. 86 THE CULTS OF OSTIA Cumont believes that the proximity of this Mithreum to the Metroum indicates a close connection between the cults of Magna Mater and Mithras at Ostia. Indeed he thinks that the south wall of the Mithreum may be a continuation of the north wall of the Metroum, and that the two buildings were probably constructed at the same time. Further evi- dence for the relationship of the two cults he finds in the inscription of a priest, apparently of Mithras, discovered in the schola of the dendrophori adjoining the Metroum: 70. . . . d. d. M. Cerellio Hieronymo patri et sacerdoti suo, eosque antistes s. s. deo libens dicavit. With regard to other inscriptions found in the schola, Cumont adds : " les divinites dont les noms sont mentionnes sur d'autres pierres (Virtus, Mars, Silvanus, Terra Mater) etaient toutes honorees dans la religion mithriaque, tandis que toutes sauf la derniere, paraissent etrangeres aux mysteres des dieux phrygiens. . . . Deux des inscriptions des dendrophores sont datees des annees 142 et 143 ap. J. C. La consecration du mithreum, dont la presence permet seule de comprendre ces dedicaces, est done anterieure au milieu du lie siecle, ce qui Concorde bien avec l'epoque assignee par M. Visconti a la tete du pretendu Attis." 14 Although there was undoubtedly a connection between the cults of Magna Mater and Mithras, 15 the evidence does not 14 Cumont, II. p. 418. The inscriptions recording gifts of statues to the dendrophori (53, 69, 33, 70) are listed by Cumont among doubtful inscriptions. Cf. p. 475, nos. 560a, b, c, d, e. The occurrence of the title mater in 69 suggests to Cumont that there may have been at Ostia, as perhaps at Cologne, mysteries for women related to the mys- teries of Mithras from which women seem to have been excluded. Cf. Cumont's note, II. p. 476, on inscr. 574b. Cumont does not mention 37, which records the gift of a statue of Attis to the cannophori by two people bearing the titles pater and mater. There seems to be no doubt that these titles were used in the cult of Magna Mater at Ostia, cf. discussion of Magna Mater. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus, 2 p. 369, n. 2, confuses the facts and states that the inscriptions bearing the dates 142 and 143 were found in the Mithreum. 15 Cf. Cumont, Mysteries, pp. 86 f., pp. 179 f. ORIENTAL GODS 87 justify Cumont's conclusion that the two cults were particu- larly closely related at Ostia. The proximity of the two temples proves nothing, for another Mithreum of Ostia was situated directly behind four small temples with which it seems to have no connection. It is by no means certain that the two temples were built at the same time. Furthermore, the occurrence of the title pater among the worshipers of Magna Mater at Ostia suggests the possibility that the pater et sacerdos whose inscription was found in the schola may have been a priest of Magna Mater. 16 But even if the inscription is Mithraic — and the double title so often found in the cult of Mithras is in favor of this view — it may not have been placed in the schola originally. We have seen that some of the other inscriptions found there probably came from places near by. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that the dedication of statues of Virtus, Mars, and Silvanus to the dendrophori indicates a connection with the Persian god. We know that the dendrophori had special reason for honoring Silvanus. 17 Mars and Virtus, though they seem to have been identified with gods of the Persian Pantheon, 18 are each mentioned only once in Mithraic inscriptions, if we may trust Cumont's indices. The epigraphical evidence for dating the Mithreum before 142 is then far from convincing, though the style of the head of Mithras and the character of the remains favor the date Cumont proposes. In excavations near the Torre Bovacciana in 1860-1861 a Mithreum was discovered in the ruins of a building which is generally — without good reason — called the Palazzo Im- periale. 19 In this building are extensive ruins of baths which have sometimes been thought to be the baths of Anto- ninus Pius, known to have been restored by the second P. 16 See discussion of Magna Mater. " See discussion of Silvanus. M Cf. Cumont, I. pp. 143, 151. "Cumont, Mon. 83, Inscr. 131-133. Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1864, pp. 147 ff. Tav. d. Agg. K. 88 THE CULTS OP OSTIA Lucilius Gamala. 20 The date of a Mithraic inscription of the year 162 found here would be in accord with the identi- fication of the baths. A niche of the pronaos of the temple was adorned with a mosaic representation of Silvanus, 21 which is now in the Lateran Museum. In the black and white mosaic pavement of the central portion of the interior is written twice the inscription (56) : Soli invict. Mit. d. d. L. Agrius Calendio. At the end of the sanctuary was an altar with the inscription (57) : C. Caelius Hermaeros antistes huius loci fecit sua pec. On each side of the central portion of the Mithreum there were bases which supported statues of the Mithraic torchbearers or dadophori. 22 Simi- lar dadophori are represented in relief on the bases, on each of which occurs the inscription (58, 59) : C. Caelius Erme- ros antistes huius loci fecit sua pec. On the left side of one of these bases is the consular date 162 a. d. Marble fragments of a head with a Phrygian cap and of a right hand holding a knife found here belonged to the group of Mithras Tauroctonos which stood originally at the end of the shrine. 23 One of the richest Mithrea of Ostia was the one discovered by the English painter Robert Pagan in 1797. 24 Its exact location is not known, but it seems to have been near Torre Bovacciana. We are told that it was entered through a long narrow corridor, and that its form was in imitation of a natural grotto. At the entrance was found a group repre- senting Mithras Tauroctonos which is now in the Galleria 20 GIL. xiv 376. For plan of the Mithreum cf . Mysteries, Fig. 16 ; MSI. 1911, PI. v; Paschetto, op. cit. Fig. 119. 21 See discussion of Silvanus. ^Cumont, n. Fig. 72, 74; Mysteries, Fig. 18. 23 Visconti, I. c, p. 159. Another statue of a dadophoros, now in the Lateran, seems also to have been found here. Cf. Paschetto, op. cit. p. 392, n. 3; Benndorf and Schoene, op. cit. n. 586. "Cumont, Mon. 79-81, Inscr. 137-139; Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1864, p. 151; Zoega, Abhandlungen, Taf. v. n. 15, p. 146. ORIENTAL GODS 89 lapidaria of the Vatican. 25 On the base of this relief is the inscription (64) : Sig. indeprehensivilis dei L. Sextius Karus et G. Valerius Heracles sacerdos s. p. p. Within the shrine was found a white marble statue of the Mithraic Kronos, which is today at the entrance of the Vatican Library. 26 The figure, which has a lion's head and four wings on which are represented the signs of the seasons, is encircled six times by a serpent. On a projection of the base is the in- scription (65) : C. Valerius Heracles pat. et C. Valerii Vitalis et Mcomes sacerdotes s. p. c. p. s. r. d. d. idi. Aug, imp. Com. VI et Septimiano cos (190 a. d.). A bas-relief representing a similar figure of a Mithraic Kronos was also found here. 27 From this Mithreum probably came also the inscription (66): C. Valerius Heracles pat[e]r e[t] an- [tisjtes dei iu[b]enis inconrupti So[l]is invicti Mithra[e c]ryptam palati concessa[m] sibi a M. Aurelio. . . . 28 A fragmentary bas-relief with Mithraic representations 20 Cumont, II. Fig. 67; Amelung, Sc. des Vat. Mus. I. p. 275, Gall. Lapid. 144b, Taf. 30. * Cumont, n. Fig. 68, cf. Vol. I, pp. 92-93; Mysteries, Fig. 20; Pas- chetto, op. eit. Fig. 34. "Cumont, n. Fig. 69; Paschetto, op. cit. Fig. 114. 28 De Rossi wished to restore a M. Aurelio [Commotio Antonino Aug.] but Dessau's view that this M. Aurelius was perhaps a freedman or procurator of the emperor is much more probable. Carcopino, Mil. 1911, p. 219, notes that palatium would hardly be used of a, private house, and that if this M. Aurelius was a procurator, the building of which the Mithreum was a part probably belonged to the emperor. He believes the Mithreum to be identical with the one discovered in 1860-1861 in the so-called Palazzo imperiale — " malgre' l'apparente contradiction chro- nologique entre CIL. xrv 58-59 et GIL. xrv 65." He notes that the latter Mithreum did not contain a Mithraic bas-relief. As stated above, however, fragments of such a bas-relief were found there. Cumont has also suggested that the Mithreum discovered by Fagan may be identical with one mentioned by Visconti, Ann. dell'Inst. 1868, p. 412, which could be seen " non molto lungi dai ruderi del teatro lungo una via fatta tracciare per recarsi dalla prima piazza dell'antica citta verso il cosidetto tempio di Giove." Cf. Cumont, n. p. 418, Mon. *295 bis. This Mithreum is, however, connected by Paschetto (op. cit. p. 387) with the shrine found in 1802. 90 THE CULTS OF OSTIA on it was also discovered by Pagan apparently at Ostia, and is now in the Museo Chiaramonti of the Vatican. 29 A relief of pavonazzetto representing Mithras Taurocto- nos, now in the Galleria Lapidaria of the Vatican, was found at Ostia in the excavations of Pope Pius VII in 1802. 30 The circumstances of its discovery are not known, but it is probable that it was originally built into the wall at the end of a Mithreum. Above it was the inscription (60) : A. Decimius A. f. Pal. Decimianus s. p. restituit, and below it (61) : A. Decimius A. fil. Pal. Decimianus aedem cum suo pronao ipsumque deum solem Mithra et marmoribus et omni cultu sua p. restituit. At the same time were found: 62. L. Tullius Agatho deo invicto Soli Mithrae aram d. d. eanque dedicavit ob honore dei M. Aemilio Epaphrodito patre, and 63. M. Aemilio Epaphrodito patre et sacerdote. Cumont has suggested that this Mithreum may be identi- cal with the one discovered in a private house behind the four small temples in 1885-1886. 31 The fact that neither sculpture nor inscriptions were found in the latter supports the suggestion. This Mithreum is of great interest because of the mosaic representations which cover the central section and the podia. On the ends of the podia are the two dado- phori, on the sides the six planets, and on top the twelve signs of the zodiac. In the central pavement are repre- sented a sacrificial knife and seven half circles which indi- cate the seven celestial spheres. " A Ostie, sept demi-cercles, 29 Cumont, n. Mon. 85, Fig. 78; Museo Chiaramonti, no. 569; cf. Amelung, op. cit. I, p. 692. Taf. 74. According to Amelung, a fragment in the Cortile del Belvedere n. 105 belongs with this one. Cf. also Zoega, Abhandlungen, p. 150, n. 25, pp. 176 f., who states that the relief was found at Quadraro. 80 Cumont, n. Mon. 82, inscr. 134-136. Paschetto, op. cit. Fig. 115. Amelung, op. cit. Vol. I. p. 274, Taf. 30. 81 Cumont, II. Mon. 84. Fig. 77 ; Lanciani, N 8. 1886, pp. 162 ff. ; Schier- enberg, Jahrbiicher des Vereins f. Alt. Fr. im Rh. 84, pp. 249 ff. ; Cumont, Notes sur un temple mithriaque dicouvert a Ostie, Gand, 1891 ; Pas- chetto, op. cit. pp. 394 ff. Figs. 120, 121. ORIENTAL GODS 91 dessines dans le pavement du choeur, marquaient sans doute les stations ou le pretre s'arretait pour invoquer les planetes, figurees sur la paroi des bancs." 32 A shrine which is of the usual type of Mithreum was uncovered in 1908 on the road which leads from the Via dei Sepolcri to the baths. 33 Here were found inscriptions to Jupiter Sabazis 34 and Numen Caelestis, 35 but no Mithraic inscriptions or sculptures. Vaglieri, believing that other Oriental cults may have had shrines similar to those of Mithras, suggests that this may be a Sabazeum. He points out that the cult of Mithras is known to have influenced that of Sabazis. But since there is no evidence that Sabazis was ever worshiped in a temple of this type, it seems more probable that the shrine is a Mithreum. An obscure inscription found near the theatre seems to refer to a restoration of a spelaeum or temple of Mithras. Cf. NS. 1910, pp. 186 f. Ma. Victori patri Aur. Cresces. Aug. lib. fratres ex speleo dilapso in meliori restauravit. 36 Two other inscriptions found recently, both fragmentary, may be dedications to Mithras. 37 One of them bears the consular date 107 a. d. An inscription on an epistyle found at Ostia records the M Cumont, I. p. 63. 33 Vaglieri, Comptes rendus des Stances de I'Acadtmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1909, pp. 184-191. M EE. ix 439. 35 Ibid. 436. Vaglieri's suggestion, I. c. p. 191, that the Numen Caeleste ( ?) may be Mithras cannot be supported. The epithet caelestis seems never to have been applied to Mithras. See p. 93. 38 Vaglieri can hardly be correct in his suggestion that this may refer to the presentation of a statue of Mars to the fratres, for in that case the inscription would have been worded differently. Mars was identified with a Persian god. Cf. Cumont, I. pp. 143 f. " EE. ix 441, 463. For another fragment of the second inscription see NS. 1911, p. 283. Cf. also EE. ix 444 Guntas fecerunt de sua pecuni[a. Vaglieri notes that the name Guntas is found in a Mithraic inscription of Rome. 92 THE CULTS OF OSTIA dedication of a statue of Ahriman, the Mithraic evil spirit. 38 Cf. EE. ix 433; L]olliano Callinico patre [P]etronius Felix Marsus Signum Arimanium do. de. d. Although no Mithreum has been discovered at Portus, inscriptions found there indicate the existence of at least one shrine. 39 A bronze tablet bears an inscription of a priest of Mithras: 403. Sex. Pompeio Sex. fil. Maximo sacerdoti Solis invicti Mi. patri patrum qq. corp. treiect. togatensium, sacerdotes Solis invicti Mi. ob amorem et merita eius. Sem- per habet. Above is represented a bust of Sol, on the right a patera, on the left a sacrificial knife. A marble vase found in the excavations of the Prince Torlonia bears the inscription (55) : Invicto deo S[oli]. A head of Sol and a Mithraic dadophoros are represented on the vase. 286 gives an Album sacrato[rum] or list of members of a reli- gious organization which is proved to be Mithraic by the titles pater and leo found in it. OTHEE SOLAS DIVINITIES Invictus Deus Sol. A fragmentary dedication was dis- covered in the Via del teatro : EE. ix 440. [invicto] deo Soli [omnip]otenti . . . o. caelesti n[u]m[ini pjraesenti Po[r]- tu[na]e Laribus Tut[ela]eque [sa]c [Venera]ndus. Sol and Luna. On a tile which was built into a wall at Portus is the inscription (4089.7) : Ex oficin. L. Aemili Iuliani Solis et Lunae sacerd. Since there is no other evi- dence for a temple of Sol and Luna at Portus or at Ostia, Iulianus may have been priest in some other place. 1 88 On Ahriman cf. Cumont, I. p. 139. 89 Cumont, H. Mon. *85 bis, Inscr. 140-142. 1 In 404, which is so fragmentary that it is unintelligible, are the words in Solis n(umero). OEIENTAL GODS 93 SABAZIS In a small shrine which was probably a Mithreum was discovered the inscription EE. ix 439 : L. Aemiliu[s. . . Jeusc ex imperio Iovis Sabazi votum fecit. CAELESTIS In the same shrine where an inscription to Sabazis was found, 1 the following dedication came to light: EE, ix 436. Numini c[ae]lesti P. Clodius [Fljavius Venera[n]dns 2 VI vir [A]ug. somno monitus fecit. There seems to be no reason to doubt that this numen Caelestis 3 is the Dea Cae- lestis of Carthage, whose cult was fairly widespread. Vaglieri's suggestion that it refers to the Lydian Anaitis lacks support. 4 Two other cases of numen Caelestis certainly refer to the Carthaginian goddess. 5 ^ee p. 91. 1 Possibly the same man who set up EE. rx 440, in which the epithet Caelesti is used of some god. ' Vaglieri, Gomptes rendus, 1909, p. 190, is probably wrong in taking Caelestis as an adjective here, and reading numen caeleste for the nominative form. Caelestis seems to be in apposition to numen. 4 He would refer to Anaitis also the familiar inscription of the Capitoline, NS. 1892, p. 407. Cf. Frere, Sur le culte de Caelestis, Rev. Arch. x. 1907, p. 23. 6 OIL. vra 8239; in 992, cf. 993. w CONCLUSION" The various points established by this study have been embodied in the discussions of the individual cults. It remains by way of conclusion to indicate the cults of the colony which were honored with temples and shrines, and to point to the circumstances which produced the peculiar religious aspect of the colony. The temples known to have existed at Ostia and Portus are those of Vulcan, the Capitoline Triad, Castor and Pol- lux, Liber Pater, Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, Spes, the Genius of the Colony, Roma and Augustus, Magna Mater, Isis, and Sarapis. There were also shrines of Pater Tiberinus, of the emperors Vespasian, Titus, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Septimius Severus, 1 and numerous shrines of Mithras. Of the temples, that of Sarapis and, probably, that of Liber Pater were at Portus ; all the others seem to have been at Ostia. Certainly one shrine of Mithras was in Portus. The cult of Vulcan, of the Capitoline Triad, and of Castor and Pollux seem to have been established early in the history of Ostia. Vulcan was probably worshiped in this region even before the foundation of the colony and must have remained for a long time the chief god of the city. Evi- dence for his preeminence is found in the fact that the pontifex of Ostia was called pontifex Volcani et aedium sacrarum. The Capitolium, where the great Etruscan Triad of the Capitoline Hill in Rome was worshiped, existed as early as the year 199 b. c. The fact that Ostia was a citizen colony probably accounts for the establishment of this cult, which was perhaps under the direction of the state. The cult of Castor and Pollux at Ostia — the only place where 1 There was also a shrine of several emperors in the barracks of the vigiles. 94 CONCLUSION 95 the Dioskuri are known to have been worshiped as gods of the sea — was also a state cult, established perhaps as early as the third century b. c. when Ostia first became a harbor of importance. An annual festival in honor of Castor and Pollux was celebrated by the Eoman people at Ostia. There is little evidence to show when other temples were established. The temple of Eoma and Augustus was built during the lifetime of Augustus. The shrines of the indi- vidual emperors must have been built shortly after the death of each emperor. If Carcopino's very doubtful dating of CIL. xiv 375 be accepted, temples of Venus, Eortuna, Ceres, and Spes were built during the first years of the Empire. For the other cults there is no evidence that can be dated earlier than the second century after Christ. During the second and third centuries of our era — the period from which most of our evidence for the religion of Ostia dates — the Orient was exerting a strong influence on the religious life of the Romans. 2 At Ostia this influ- ence is especially strong. It is seen in the early establish- ment and great prominence of the cult of the emperors which had its origin in the East, as well as in the strength of the purely Eastern worships. The most important of these gods at Ostia were Magna Mater, Isis, and Mithras. The monuments of the cult of Magna Mater there are second only to those of Rome in importance. Inscriptions give evidence for more devotees of Isis and the other Egyptian gods at Ostia than at any other place. The earliest datable Mithreum is there, and more Mithrea have been found there than anywhere else except at Rome. The special importance of Eastern cults at Ostia at this time is not surprising in view of the fact that the city was then perhaps the world's greatest port. 3 Thither came mer- 2 See Carter, The Religious Life of Ancient Rome, chap. 3. 3 Cf. Floras i. 1, 4. Ancus Marcius Ostiamque in ipso maris fluminisque confinio coloniam posuit, iam turn videlicet praesagiens animo futurum ut totius mundi opes et commeatus Mo velut maritimo urbis hospitio reciperentur. 96 THE CULTS OF OSTIA chants and mariners from the whole Mediterranean world. One would naturally expect to find in the port traces of the religious belief of these strangers, especially of those who came from the East. Both Oriental merchants and Bomans who traded in the East were apparently instrumental in spreading the picturesque religions of the East. Thus the Egyptians who manned the grain fleet from Alexandria established at Portus a splendid Sarapeum modelled after the great temple at Alexandria. Here too traders from Gaza seem to have worshiped their native god Marnas, whose cult is not known elsewhere outside of the East. But the presence of merchants and sailors by no means adequately explains the relative importance of the religions of the port. The Syrians, who formed the most important class of foreign merchants, 4 had very few shrines at Ostia. In fact Ostia was so near Borne that many of the passing foreigners apparently preferred to perform their devotions in the capital city 5 where there were splendid temples of their native gods. This is probably the reason that at Ostia there are far fewer inscriptions of Syrian and Phoenician gods than at Puteoli, which was much farther from Borne. Furthermore the cults of Magna Mater and Mithras which flourished so vigorously at the port were not fostered preeminently by seafaring people, nor is it possible that they were introduced in the colony directly from the East. In fact Magna Mater had long been worshiped at Borne, and Mithras, too, if we may rely on inscriptional evidence, was worshiped at Borne before he was known at Ostia. It would seem then that the relatively great importance of the Oriental cults at Ostia, as compared with other Italian municipalities, is to be explained by the nature of the 4 Cf. Parvan, Die Nationalitat der Eaufleute im romischen Kaiser- reiche, pp. 1 10 3. ; Blumner, Romische Privataltertiimer, p. 633. "There is definite evidence that this was the case with the Tyrians. Cf. IG. xiv 830. conclusion 97 population of the city rather than by the presence of passing strangers. Now the special conditions and the time of Ostia's growth best explain the nature of its population. During the Republic when the native cults were still respected, the colony was still relatively small, and its inhabitants were probably not wealthy enough to build magnificent temples. When, owing to the harbor improvements of Claudius and Trajan, the city began to grow, the native Eoman gods had lost much of their hold upon the people. This loss was due in part to the skepticism which had spread throughout Italy, but also to the fact that the native stock of Italy, which might have supported the purely Eoman cults, had dwindled greatly. The thousands who came to find employment at the docks, warehouses, and shops of the growing port must have been very largely ex-slaves and descendants of slaves of Oriental stock. This class of people had practically gained control of Home's retail business even before our era, and were now rivalling the Oriental merchants in Italy's foreign trade. 6 Many of these people became members of the various collegia at Ostia, and often as dendrophori or Augustales obtained a position of importance in the community. The cults of Magna Mater and of Mithras, and, to a lesser extent, that of Isis were then chiefly supported at Ostia, as was regularly the case elsewhere, by freedmen or descendants of freedmen of Eastern origin. Even though many of them may have abandoned their native religions during their life as slaves, they were by nature more in- clined to the emotional cults of the East than to the more formal Eoman worships. The great importance of these cults at Ostia is then to be attributed to the large proportion of such classes among the inhabitants of the colony. • Cf. Parvan, op. cit. p. 39; Kiihn, Be opifieum Romanorum condicione privata, Dissertation, Halle, 1910; Friedlander, Sittengeschichte Boms, i,' p. 302. 98 THE CULTS OF OSTIA These new religions did not entirely drive out the old. 7 The chief priest of the colony still continued to be called pontifex of Vulcan, and he had jurisdiction even over the temples of the foreign gods. Throughout the second century Roman knights and decuriones continued to hold the old priestly titles of praetor and aedilis sacris Volcani faciundis, sodalis ArulensiSj sacerdos geni coloniae, flamen, and appar- ently were not numbered among the priests of the Oriental gods. Furthermore none of these priesthoods seem to have been held by priests of the Eastern gods. But as the wor- shipers of these cults grew in position and in wealth, they also lent dignity to the religions which they fostered. Hence during the later empire among the priests of Isis at Ostia was a man of senatorial rank. 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