LUPERCALIA

LUPERCALIA . The Lupercalia, inscribed in the calendar on February 15, belongs by virtue of its suffix to the category of Roman feasts that have names ending in -alia, such as the Feralia on February 21. The word is a derivative of Lupercus and is semantically related to Lupercal. The Luperci were the officiants and were divided into the Luperci Quinctiales (or Quintiliani; Paulus-Festus, ed. Lindsay, 1913, p. 78 L.) and the Luperci Fabiani; the former bound themselves to Romulus, the latter to Remus (Ovid, Fasti 2.375–378). For a long time the word was thought to have come from lupus ("wolf") and arceo ("to keep off") and so to mean "protectors against wolves" (Servius, Ad Aeneidem 8.343; Wissowa, 1912, p. 209). But Luperci is more a derivative of lupus with the ending -ercus (analogous to the formation of noverca, "mother-in-law") and so means "wolf-men." The Luperci, appearing naked (Servius, Ad Aeneidem 8.663), or rather "nude except for a simple loincloth" (Plutarch, Romulus 21.7, Quaestiones Romanae 68), brought to mind a precivilized state and constituted a "truly savage brotherhood" (fera quaedam sodalitas; Cicero, Pro Caelio 26).

When the Luperci ran around the Palatine in the midst of a crowd of people, the act had a purifying purpose that Varro (De lingua Latina 6.34) sums up thus: "[in February] the people are purified [februatur ], insofar as the old fortress on the Palatine was circled by nude Luperci for purposes of lustration [lustratur ]." This ceremony began with a sacrifice in the grotto of Lupercal, located at the southwest corner of the Palatine (Plutarch, Romulus 21.5); the offering was a she-goat (Ovid, Fasti 2.361; see also Plutarch, Romulus 21.6) or a he-goat (Servius, Ad Aeneidem 8.343). During their run, they would carry lashes, called februa, made from hides of she-goats or of he-goats (Paulus-Festus, op. cit., p. 76 L.). With these lashes they would strike the spectators, especially women, "in order to ensure their fertility" (Servius, Ad Aeneidem 8.343). Ovid (Fasti 2.441) proposes a strange etiology for this rite: it would be the application (discovered by an "Etruscan augur") of an order from Juno, "Let a sacred he-goat … penetrate Italian mothers" ("Italidas matres … sacer hircusi-nito").

Other unusual or unexplained elements enter into the ceremonial. According to Plutarch (Romulus 21.8; Quaestiones Romanae 68, 111), who seems to be our only source, the Luperci also sacrificed dogs. Stranger still, he tells how "two young people from noble families are led forth: some touch their foreheads with bloody knives while others wipe them with wool soaked in milk. Once they are wiped, they start to laugh" (Romulus 21.6–7). Another problem is far from being clarified: what divinity was patron of this feast? Vergil (Aeneid 8.344) does not hesitate to designate Pan of Arcadia. Ovid (Fasti 2.423–424) interprets Lupercus as transposition of the "Arcadian" Lycaeus: the cult was supposedly established by the hero Evander on behalf of Pan-Faunus. This late syncretism leaves open the patronage question, for the Latin equivalent of Pan in the third century bce was not Faunus but Silvanus (Plautus, Aulularia 674, 766).

Bibliography

Dumézil, Georges. La religion romaine archaïque. 2d ed. Paris, 1974. See pages 352–356. This work has been translated from the first edition by Philip Krapp as Archaic Roman Religion, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1970).

Latte, Kurt. Römische Religionsgeschichte. Munich, 1960. See pages 84–87 and especially note 4 on page 84.

Michels, Agnes Kirsopp. "The Topography and Interpretation of the Lupercalia." Transactions of the American Philological Association 84 (1953): 35–59.

Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus der Römer. 2d ed. Munich, 1912. See pages 209–212.

New Sources

Bannon, Cynthia J. Brothers of Romulus. Fraternal Pietas in Roman Law, Literature and Society. Princeton, 1997.

Bianchi, Ugo. "Luperci." In Dizionario Epigrafico di Antichità Romane 4.3 (1980): 2204–2212.

Capdeville, Gérard. "Jeux athlétiques et rituels de fondation." In Spectacles sportifs et scéniques dans le monde étrusco-italique. Actes de la table ronde organisée par l'Équipe de recherches étrusco-italiques de l'UMR 126 (CNRS, Paris) et l'École française de Rome. Rome, 3–4 mai 1991, pp. 141–187. Rome, 1993.

Holleman, A.W.J. Pope Gelasius I and the Lupercalia. Amsterdam, 1974

Holleman, A.W.J. "Lupus, Lupercalia, lupa." Latomus 44 (1985): 609–614.

Marchetti, Patrick. "Autour de Romulus et des 'Lupercalia.' Une explication préliminaire." Les Etudes Classiques 70 (2002): 77–92.

Piccaluga, Giulia. "L'aspetto agonistico dei Lupercalia." Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 33 (1962): 51–62.

Pötscher, Walter. "Die Lupercalia-Eine Strukturanalyse." Grazer Beiträge 11 (1984): 221–249.

Ulf, Christopher. Das römische Lupercalienfest. Ein Modellfall für Methodenprobleme in der Altertumswissenschaft. Darmstadt, 1982.

Wiseman, Timothy Peter. "The God of the Lupercal." Journal of Roman Studies 85 (1995): 1–22.

Robert Schilling (1987)

Translated from French by Paul C. Duggan
Revised Bibliography

Lupercalia an ancient Roman festival of purification and fertility, held annually on 15 February. Chosen celebrants, wearing the skins of sacrificed animals, ran through the streets, and for a woman to be struck by one of them was to increase her fertility.

The festival was held in honour of Lupercus, the equivalent of the Greek god Pan. It is likely that his name is connected with lupus ‘wolf’, and that he was seen as a protector of flocks from wolves.