Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity

303 Pages·2013·1.66 MB·English

by  Roger D. Woodard

myth, ritual, and the warrior in roman and
indo-european antiquity
RogerD.Woodardexaminesthefigureofthereturningwarriorasdepictedinthe
myths of several ancient and medieval Indo-European cultures. In these cultures,
the returning warrior was often portrayed as a figure rendered dysfunctionally
destructive or isolationist by the horrors of combat. This mythic portrayal of the
returned warrior is consistent with modern studies of similar behavior among
soldiersreturningfromwar.
Woodard’s research identifies a common origin of these myths in the ancestral
Proto-Indo-European culture, in which rites were enacted to enable warriors to
reintegrate themselves as functional members of society. Woodard also compares
theItalic,Indo-Iranian,andCelticmythictraditionssurroundingthewarrior,paying
particularattentiontoRomanmythandritual,notablytotheaetiologiesandritesof
theJulyfestivalsofthePoplifugiaandNonaeCaprotinaeandtotheOctoberritesof
theSororiumTigillum.
Roger D. Woodard is the Andrew van Vranken Raymond Professor of the Classics
andProfessorofLinguisticsattheUniversityofBuffalo,TheStateUniversityofNew
York. His many published books include The Cambridge Companion to Greek
Mythology; Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult; Indo-European
Myth and Religion: A Manual; Ovid: Fasti (with A. J. Boyle); The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of the World’s Ancient Languages; Greek Writing from Knossos to
Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and the
Continuity of Ancient Greek Literacy; and On Interpreting Morphological Change:
TheGreekReflexivePronoun.

Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in
Roman and Indo-European Antiquity
roger d. woodard
UniversityofBuffalo,TheStateUniversityofNewYork
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,NY100132473,USA
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107022409
©RogerD.Woodard2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Woodard,RogerD.
Myth,ritual,andthewarriorinRomanandIndoEuropeanantiquity/RogerWoodard.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN9781107022409(hardback)
1. IndoEuropeanantiquities. 2. Soldiersinliterature. 3. Mythology,Roman,inliterature. I. Title.
P525.W662013
9300.04034 dc23 2012007843
ISBN9781107022409Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofURLsforexternal
orthirdpartyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontent
onsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Formyfather,RDW,
whowassavedfromthewarrior’sfatebytheaccidentoftimeandplace,
and
Formymother,WOW,
who,likecountlessmothersbeforeandsince,knewThetis’sdread,butwassparedits
realization.

Contents
Preface pagexi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 peopleflee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 ThePoplifugia:PeopleFlee 2
1.3 NonaeCaprotinae:PeopleAdvance 3
6
1.3.1 RitualRehearsals
1.4 MattersofFertility 8
9
1.4.1 ConsusandtheNonesofJuly
9
1.4.2 PalesandtheNonesofJuly
1.5 SomeConclusions 33
2 andromulusdisappears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.1 Introduction 35
2.2 OnaConflationofDays 35
2.2.1 July7:RomulusDisappears 36
2.2.2 July5:RomulusDisappears 37
2.2.3 July5andJuly7astheNones 38
2.2.4 Different–ButtheSame 40
2.3 VariantAetiologies 41
2.4 ThePoplifugiaandtheCrisisoftheWarrior 43
44
2.4.1 CrisisoftheInvadingEnemy
45
2.4.2 CrisisoftheDisappearingRomulus
2.5 TheProblemofDirection 46
2.6 SomeConclusions 48
3 attheshrinesofvulcan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.1 Introduction 50
3.2 RegicideandtheSanctuaryofVulcan 50
vii
viii * Contents
52
3.2.1 TheSanctuaryofVulcaninComitio
56
3.2.2 LocusFunestus;LocusOptimus
60
3.2.3 TheSanctuaryofVulcaninCampo
3.3 LanguageoftheForbidden:Part1 63
65
3.3.1 ConsusandTutulina
66
3.3.2 NumaPompilius
3.4 DaysoftheForbidden 69
3.5 LanguageoftheForbidden:Part2 72
3.6 SomeConclusions 75
4 wherespacevaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.1 Introduction 78
4.2 What’sinaName? 78
4.3 BoundaryandMovement 80
80
4.3.1 TheDisappearanceofRomulusinComitio
81
4.3.2 ThePomeriumandtheSanctuariesofVulcan
83
4.3.3 Priest,Warrior,Populus:RitualsofSpaceTranscended
4.4 TheSmallerPoplifugium 84
4.5 TheLargerPoplifugium 87
88
4.5.1 TheDisappearanceofRomulusinCampo
4.6 SomeConclusions 88
5 warriorsincrisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.1 Introduction 90
5.2 OverviewoftheDysfunctionalWarrior 90
91
5.2.1 TheIndicWarrior
91
5.2.2 TheIrishWarrior
92
5.2.3 TheItalicWarrior
5.3 RomanCultTradition 93
93
5.3.1 ThePre-CapitolineTriad
94
5.3.2 CalendarandCult
96
5.3.3 TemporalAnomalies:WrinklesinTime
5.3.4 Warrior-CrisisandtheConflationofDays 98
5.4 SomeConclusions 99
6 structures:matrixandcontinuum . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.1 Introduction 100
6.2 Feature(1):CrisisoftheWarrior 101
101
6.2.1 TheContemporaryCase:TheAmericanWarrior
103
6.2.2 TheAncientCase:TheIndic,Irish,andItalicWarrior
104
6.2.3 RomanRitualAetiologyandtheCrisisoftheWarrior
Contents * ix
6.3 CamillusandtheCrisisoftheWarrior 105
6.3.1 Theἕτεροςλόγος:Camillus,theSecondRomulus 106
107
6.3.2 TheIntegrationofMythalonganAxisofHistoricity
6.4 SomeConclusions 117
7 remotespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7.1 Introduction 120
7.2 TheIndicWarrior 120
7.3 TheIrishWarrior 121
7.4 TheItalicWarrior 124
125
7.4.1 SemoSancus
126
7.4.2 TheAventineandthePomerium
7.5 RomanRitual 128
128
7.5.1 RitualEnunciation
7.6 SomeConclusions 129
8 eroticwomenandthe(un)avertedgaze . . . . . . . . . 130
8.1 Introduction 130
8.2 TheIrishWarrior 130
8.3 TheItalicWarrior 133
134
8.3.1 TiresiasandtheUnavertedGaze
8.4 TheIndo-IranianWarrior 139
139
8.4.1 TheIndicWarrior
148
8.4.2 TheArmenianWarrior
153
8.4.3 TheNartWarrior
160
8.4.4 TheEroticFeminineinIndo-IranianTradition
8.5 TheDebilitatingGaze 166
166
8.5.1 TheIndicWarriorandHisStand-in
167
8.5.2 TheNartWarrior
8.6 FireandtheFeminine:TheRecoveryoftheWarrior 170
170
8.6.1 FireandMonovalency
171
8.6.2 FireandFeminineAgency
8.7 RomanRitual–andMyth 176
176
8.7.1 ThePoplifugia/NonaeCaprotinae
179
8.7.2 HoratiusandHoratia
8.8 SomeConclusions 200
9 clairvoyantwomen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
9.1 Introduction 202
9.2 TheIndo-IranianWarrior 202
202
9.2.1 TheIndicWarrior
x * Contents
203
9.2.2 TheIranianWarrior
9.3 TheIrishWarrior 206
9.4 TheItalicWarrior 207
9.5 RomanRitual 208
210
9.5.1 FireandtheFeminine
211
9.5.2 NamingtheClairvoyantWoman
9.6 SomeConclusions 214
10 wateryspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
10.1 Introduction 216
10.2 TheIndo-IranianWarrior 216
216
10.2.1 TheIndicWarrior
217
10.2.2 TheIranianWarrior
10.3 TheIrishWarrior 218
10.4 TheItalicWarrior 219
10.5 RomanRitual 219
220
10.5.1 TheCapraePalus
223
10.5.2 TheComitium
10.6 SomeConclusions 227
11 returntoorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
11.1 Introduction 229
11.2 TheIndo-IranianWarrior 229
229
11.2.1 TheIndicWarrior
230
11.2.2 TheIranianWarrior
11.3 TheIrishWarrior 230
11.4 TheItalicWarrior 231
232
11.4.1 SemoSancusandIndra
233
11.4.2 TheSecondRomulusandtheRomanReturntoOrder
11.5 RomanRitual 234
234
11.5.1 TheSororiumTigillum
234
11.5.2 ThePoplifugia
235
11.5.3 Romulus,Numa,andtheMythicMatrix
11.6 SomeConclusions 236
12 furtherconclusionsandinterpretations . . . . . . . . 238
269
Bibliography
279
Index