Roman Myth and Religion

Turnus (1), Italian hero, in *Virgil son of Daunus and the *nymph Venilia and brother of the nymph Juturna; the Greek tradition calls him ‘Tyrrhenus’, suggesting an *Etruscan link (Dion. Hal. 1. 64. 2). His role as *Aeneas' rival in Italy is well established before Virgil (Cato frs. 9, 11 Peter; Dion. Hal. 1. 64. 2; Livy, 1. 2. 1–5). In the Aeneid he is king of *Ardea and the Rutulians and favoured suitor, not fiancé, of *Latinus' daughter Lavinia; rejected in favour of Aeneas and maddened by Juno's intervention, he rouses the Latins (see latini) against the Trojans (Aen. 7). In the war (Aen. 9–12) he fights bravely as the Latin commander and can elicit sympathy, but is sometimes rash; his high-handed appropriation of the sword-belt of the dead *Pallas(2) leads tragically at the very end of the poem to his own death at the hands of Aeneas.

Vatican, an extramural area of the city of Rome, on the right bank of the *Tiber around the mons Vaticanus. In the early empire the Vatican was the site of an imperial park (the horti Agrippinae); and of entertainment structures, the Naumachiae (see naumachia), where mock sea-battles were exhibited, and the Vatican *circus, where *Gaius(1) set up a great obelisk from Heliopolis and which was traditionally the site of the martyrdom of St Peter. There was also an important shrine of *Cybele (or the Magna Mater) attested in inscriptions; and along the two roads that crossed the area, the via Cornelia and the via Triumphalis, were cemeteries. A group of mausolea on the foot-slopes of the mons Vaticanus were excavated under St Peter's in the 1940s, and within this cemetery (directly under the high altar of St Peter's) was found a small 2nd-cent. shrine, marking the probable burial-site of Peter, apostle and first bishop of Rome.

Vercellae (mod. Vercelli), originated as an *oppidum of the Celtic Libici, near the gold-mines of north-western Cisalpine Gaul (see gaul (cisalpine)). A garrison-town and a *municipium under the early empire, it became an important Christian centre in the 4th and 5th cents. ce.

Ver sacrum, ‘the sacred spring’, a ritual practised in Italy, particularly by the Sabellic (*Oscan) tribes; see sabelli. In times of distress all produce of the spring (or the whole year) was consecrated to a deity, primarily *Mars. The animals were sacrificed; the humans, when of age, were sent away. This controlled over-population; led by a god or totemic animal the sacrani (the ‘devoted’) founded new communities: so originated the Picentes (from picus, ‘woodpecker’; see picenum), Samnites (see samnium), *Mamertines (Men of Mars). In Rome the only recorded ver sacrum was vowed (to *Jupiter) in 217 bce; human offspring were not included (Strabo, 5. 4. 12; Dion. Hal.Ant. Rom. 1. 16; Festus, Gloss. Lat.276, 414, 467; Livy, 22. 10; 33. 44; 34. 44).

Via Sacra, the ‘sacred way’, street connecting the *forum Romanum with the *Velia, affording access to the *Palatine. According to *Varro and *Pompeius Festus, the stretch of road popularly known as via Sacra lay between the *Regia and the house of the rex sacrorum, which was at a location known as Summa Sacra Via; as properly defined, however, the road led from the Sacellum Streniae (cf. strenae) on the Carinae to the Arx (Varro, Ling. 5. 47; Festus, 372 Lindsay). The position of Summa Sacra Via is, however, disputed by modern scholars, who variously locate it close to the Basilica of *Maxentius or near the arch of *Titus. Following the fire of ce 64, the street became a noble avenue, leading from the forum to the entrance to the *Domus Aurea, which was flanked by shops for jewellers, and other luxury-traders.

Sacrificial slaughterer; see sacrifice, roman. The magistrate in charge of a sacrifice did not perform the act of killing himself; he performed symbolic acts and pronounced the prayers, but a victimarius took over the killing and butchering from him. In imperial times, we know that they formed a college of their own.

Roman wine festivals on 23 April (Priora), 19 August (Rustica). The Priora probably offered *Jupiter new wine at the time of sale (Plin.HN 18. 287, fasti Praenestini); Ov.Fast. 4. 863 ff. with Bömer's notes, Plut., Quaest. Rom. 45 with Rose's notes. Varro, Rust. 1. 1. 6 substitutes *Venus (cf. Ling. 6. 16), chronologically difficult since her first temple (Venus Obsequens) was dedicated 295 bce (Livy, 10. 31. 9), understandable from its 19 August dedication. The Rustica propitiated the weather; PlinyHN 18. 284: tria namque tempora fructibus metuebant (‘they feared three times of year for the crops’).