View source for Lupercalia

{{Short description|Ancient pastoral annual festival celebrated in the city of Rome on February 15th}}
{{hatnote group|{{Distinguish|text=the [[Lupercal]] cave}}
{{About||the associated diety|Lupercus (mythology)|the Patrick Wolf album|Lupercalia (album)}}
}}
{{Infobox holiday
|holiday_name  = Lupercalia
|type          = pagan
|longtype      = [[Religion in ancient Rome|Classical Roman religion]]
|image         = File:Camasei-lupercales-prado.jpg
|caption       = ''Lupercalia'', oil painting, circa 1635
|observedby    = [[Roman Kingdom]], <br />[[Roman Republic]], <br />[[Roman Empire]]
|date          = February 15
|celebrations  = feasting
|observances   = sacrifices of goats and a dog by the Luperci; offering of cakes by the Vestals; fertility rite in which the goatskin-clad Luperci strike women who wish to conceive
|relatedto     =
}}
'''Lupercalia''', also known as '''Lupercal''', was a [[pastoral]] festival of [[Ancient Rome]] observed annually on February 15 to purify the city, promoting health and fertility.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911| wstitle=Lupercalia |volume=17 |page=126|inline=1}}</ref>  Lupercalia was also known as ''dies Februatus'', after the purification instruments called ''februa'', the basis for the month named ''[[Februarius]]''.

{{anchor|Etymologies|Names}}

==Name==
The festival was originally known as Februa ("Purifications" or "Purgings") after the ''{{lang|la|februum}}'' which was used on the day.<ref name=februum>{{citation |contribution-url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=februum |contribution= februum |last= Lewis |first= Charlton T. |author2=Charles Short |display-authors=1 |title= A Latin Dictionary Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |date=1879 }}.</ref> It was also known as ''{{lang|la|Februatus}}'' and gave its name variously, as epithet to [[Juno (goddess)|Juno]] Februalis, Februlis, or Februata in her role as patron deity of that month; to a supposed purification deity called [[Februus]];{{efn|The deity "Februus" is almost certainly a later invention.<ref>[[Macrobius]], ''[[Saturnalia]]'', 1, 13, 3.</ref>}} and to [[February (Roman month)|February]] (''{{lang|la|mensis Februarius}}''), the month during which the festival occurred.<ref name=februum/> [[Ovid]] connects ''{{lang|la|februare}}'' to an [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] word for "purging".<ref name="King2006">{{cite book| first= Richard |last= Jackson King |title= Desiring Rome: Male Subjectivity and Reading Ovid's Fasti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1FChM3QiG5kC&pg=PA195|year=2006|publisher=Ohio State University Press|isbn=978-0-8142-1020-8|pages=195 ff }}</ref>

The name ''Lupercalia'' was believed in antiquity to evince some connection with the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] festival of the [[Regions of ancient Greece#Arcadia|Arcadian]] [[Lykaia]], a wolf festival ({{langx|grc|λύκος}}, ''lýkos''; {{langx|la|lupus}}), and the worship of ''Lycaean [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]'', assumed to be a Greek equivalent to [[Faunus]], as instituted by [[Evander of Pallene|Evander]].<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''Roman Antiquities'' 1.32.3&ndash;5, 1.80; [[Justin (historian)|Justin]], ''Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus'' 43.6ff; [[Livy]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'' 1.5; [[Ovid]], ''Fasti'' 2.423&ndash;42; [[Plutarch]], ''Life of Romulus'' 21.3, ''Life of Julius Caesar'', ''Roman Questions'' 68; [[Virgil]], ''Aeneid'' 8.342&ndash;344; [[Lydus]], ''De mensibus'' 4.25. See Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', s.v. "Lupercus"</ref> [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] describes a [[cult image]] of "the Lycaean god, whom the Greeks call Pan and the Romans [[Lubercus|Lupercus]]", as nude, save for a goatskin girdle.<ref>[[Justin (historian)|Justin]], ''Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus'' 43.1.7.</ref> 

The statue stood in the [[Lupercal]], the cave where tradition held that [[Romulus and Remus]] were suckled by the [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]] ([[Lupa Capitolina|Lupa]]). The cave lay at the foot of the [[Palatine Hill]], on which [[Romulus]] was thought to have founded Rome.<ref>{{citation| url= http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkTwo.htm#_Toc69367692 |author= [[Ovid]]| title= Fasti| chapter= Lupercalia| year=| publisher= |translator= }}</ref> The name of the festival most likely derives from ''lupus'', "wolf", though both the etymology and its significance are obscure. The wolf appellation may have to do with the fact that an animal predator plays a key role in male rites of passage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vuković |first1=Krešimir |title= Wolves of Rome: The Lupercalia from Roman and Comparative Perspectives |date=2023 |publisher=de Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110690118 |isbn= 9783110689341 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110690118/html}}</ref> Despite Justin's assertion, no deity named "Lupercus" has been identified.<ref name="Roman Republic 1981 p. 77">{{cite book| first= H. H.| last= Scullard| authorlink= H. H. Scullard| title= Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic| publisher= Cornell University Press| year= 1981| pages= 77–78}}</ref>

==Rites==
{{See also|Religion in ancient Rome}}

===Locations===
The rites were confined to the Lupercal cave, the [[Palatine Hill]], and the Forum, all of which were central locations in Rome's [[Founding of Rome|foundation myth]].<ref>[[Livy]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'' 1.5</ref> Near the cave stood a sanctuary of [[Rumina]], goddess of breastfeeding; and the wild fig-tree (''[[Ficus Ruminalis]]'') to which Romulus and Remus were brought by the divine intervention of the river-god [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]]; some Roman sources name the wild fig tree ''caprificus'', literally "goat fig". Like the cultivated fig, its fruit is pendulous, and the tree exudes a milky sap if cut, which makes it a good candidate for a cult of breastfeeding.<ref name=Vuković2018>{{cite journal |last1=Vuković |first1=Krešimir |title=The topography of the Lupercalia |journal=Papers of the British School at Rome |date=October 2018 |volume=86 |pages=37–60 |doi=10.1017/S0068246217000381 |id={{ProQuest|2117060930}} |jstor=26579503 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Priesthoods===
{{further|Hirpi Sorani}}
[[File:Wolf head, 1-100 CE, bronze, Roman, Cleveland Museum of Art.JPG|thumb|''Lupercalia'' most likely derives from ''lupus'', "wolf", though both the etymology and its significance are obscure<ref name="Roman Republic 1981 p. 77" /> ''(bronze wolf's head, 1st century AD)'']]

The Lupercalia had its own [[Religion in ancient Rome#Public priesthoods and religious law|priesthood]], the ''Luperci'' ("brothers of the wolf"), whose institution and rites were attributed either to the Arcadian culture-hero [[Evander of Pallene|Evander]], or to Romulus and Remus, erstwhile shepherds who had each established a group of followers. The ''Luperci'' were young men (''iuvenes''), usually between the ages of 20 and 40. They formed two religious ''[[Collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]]'' (associations) based on ancestry; the ''Quinctiliani'' (named after the ''[[gens]]'' [[Quinctia gens|Quinctia)]] and the ''Fabiani'' (named after the ''gens'' [[Fabia gens|Fabia]]). Each college was headed by a ''magister''.<ref name= Evidence>{{cite journal |last1= Vuković| first1= Krešimir |title=Roman Myth and Ritual: the Groups of Luperci and Epigraphic Evidence | journal= Epigraphica| volume=78| pages= 43–52| url= https://www.academia.edu/27195009}}</ref>

In 44 BC, a third college, the ''Juliani'', was instituted in honor of [[Julius Caesar]]; its first ''magister'' was [[Mark Antony]].<ref name= Evidence /> The college of ''Juliani'' disbanded or lapsed following the [[Assassination of Julius Caesar]], and was not re-established in the reforms of his successor, [[Augustus]]. In the Imperial era, membership of the two traditional ''collegia'' was opened to ''iuvenes'' of [[Equestrian (Roman)|equestrian]] status.

===Sacrifice and fertility rites===
At the Lupercal altar, a male goat (or goats) and a dog were sacrificed by one or another of the ''Luperci'', under the supervision of the [[Flamen dialis]], [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]'s chief priest.{{efn|One of Plutarch's ''[[Roman Questions]]'' was "68. Why do the Luperci sacrifice a dog?"... [Because] "nearly all the Greeks used a dog as the sacrificial victim for ceremonies of purification; and some, at least, make use of it even to this day. They bring forth for [[Hecate]] puppies along with the other materials for purification."<ref>{{cite book| url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/C.html#68 | author= Plutarch| title= Moralia| language= en| chapter= Roman Questions: 68| via= uchicago.edu| access-date= }}</ref>}} An offering was also made of salted mealcakes, prepared by the [[Vestal Virgin]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|author-link=T. P. Wiseman |first= T. P. |last= Wiseman |title=The God of the Lupercal |journal= The Journal of Roman Studies |volume= 85 |date=1995 |page= 1|doi=10.1017/S0075435800074724 }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2023}} After the blood sacrifice, two ''Luperci'' approached the altar. Their foreheads were anointed with blood from the sacrificial knife, then wiped clean with [[wool]] soaked in [[milk]], after which they were expected to laugh.

The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs (known as ''{{lang|la|februa}}'') from the flayed skin of the animal,<ref name= "EB1911"/> and ran with these, naked or near-naked, along the old Palatine boundary, in an anticlockwise direction around the hill.<ref name= Vuković2018 /> In [[Plutarch]]'s description of the Lupercalia, written during the early [[Roman Empire]],
{{quote|...many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the [[pregnant]] will thus be helped in [[Childbirth|delivery]], and the barren to pregnancy.<ref>{{cite book| url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html#61 | author= Plutarch| title= Life of Caesar| language= en| via= uchicago.edu| access-date= }}</ref>}}
The ''Luperci'' completed their circuit of the Palatine, then returned to the ''Lupercal'' cave.

While sometimes repeated uncritically by modern sources, there is no ancient evidence for any kind of lottery or sortition scheme pairing couples for sex. The first descriptions of this fictitious lottery appeared in the 15th century in relation to [[Valentine's Day]], with a connection to the Lupercalia first asserted in 18th century antiquarian works, such as those by [[Alban Butler]] and [[Francis Douce]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oruch |first=Jack B. |date=1981 |title=St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February |jstor=2847741 |journal=Speculum |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=534–565 |doi=10.2307/2847741 |issn=0038-7134 |quote=The idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present. Most of those who offer this now traditional explanation cite no sources... Butler's ideas were prompted, in all probability, by a confused knowledge [or ...] wishful or pious fantasy. }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Circle of Adam Elsheimer The Lupercalian Festival in Rome.jpg|thumb|''The Lupercalian Festival in Rome'' (ca. 1578–1610), drawing by the [[Adam Elsheimer|circle of Adam Elsheimer]], showing the Luperci dressed as dogs and goats, with [[Cupid]] and [[personification]]s of fertility]]

The Februa was of ancient and possibly [[Sabines|Sabine]] origin. After [[February (Roman month)|February]] was added to the [[Roman calendar]], Februa occurred on its fifteenth day (''{{lang|la|a.d. XV Kal. Mart.}}''). Of its various rituals, the most important came to be those of the Lupercalia.<ref name="Franklin1921">{{cite book| first= Alberta Mildred |last= Franklin| title= The Lupercalia| publisher=Columbia University |url= https://archive.org/details/lupercalia00frangoog|year=1921|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lupercalia00frangoog/page/n85 79]–}}</ref> The Romans themselves attributed the instigation of the Lupercalia to [[Evander of Pallene|Evander]], a culture hero from [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] who was credited with bringing the Olympic pantheon, Greek laws and alphabet to Italy, where he founded the city of [[Pallantium]] on the future site of Rome, 60 years before the [[Trojan War]].

Lupercalia was celebrated in parts of Italy; ''Luperci'' are attested by inscriptions at [[Velletri|Velitrae]], [[Palestrina#Ancient Praeneste|Praeneste]], [[Nemausus]] (modern Nîmes) and elsewhere. The ancient cult of the Hirpi Sorani ("wolves of Soranus", from Sabine ''hirpus'' "wolf"), who practiced at [[Monte Soratte|Mt. Soracte]], {{convert|45|km|abbr=on}} north of Rome, had elements in common with the Roman Lupercalia.<ref>{{cite journal|url= https://www.academia.edu/2177407|title= The Hirpi Sorani and the Wolf Cults of Central Italy |journal= Arctos. Acta Philologica Fennica|publisher= Klassillis-filologinen yhdistys|access-date= 2016-08-18| first= Mika |last= Rissanen |date= 17 April 2013 }}</ref>

Descriptions of the Lupercalia festival of 44 BC attest to its continuity. During the festival, [[Julius Caesar]] publicly refused a golden [[diadem|crown]] offered to him by [[Mark Antony]].<ref>Roller, Duane W. (2010). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EZo6DwAAQBAJ Cleopatra: a biography]''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|9780195365535}}, p. 72.</ref><ref>{{cite book| first= Christian |last= Meier |translator= David McLintock| title= Caesar| publisher= Basic Books| place= New York| year= 1995| page= 477| isbn= }}</ref> The Lupercal cave was restored or rebuilt by [[Augustus]], and has been speculated to be identical with a [[wikt:grotto|grotto]] discovered in 2007, {{convert|50|ft|m}} below the remains of Augustus' residence; according to scholarly consensus, the grotto is a [[nymphaeum]], not the Lupercal.<ref name=Vuković2018/> The Lupercalia festival is marked on a [[calendar of 354]] alongside traditional and Christian festivals.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chronography_of_354_06_calendar.htm |title= Calendar of Philocalus| website= tertullian.org| accessdate= 15 February 2017}}</ref> 

Despite the banning in 391 of all non-Christian cults and festivals, the Lupercalia was celebrated by the nominally Christian populace on a regular basis into the reign of the emperor [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius]]. [[Pope Gelasius I]] (494&ndash;96) claimed that only the "vile rabble" were involved in the festival<ref>''ad viles trivialesque personas, abiectos et infimos''. (Gelasius)</ref> and sought its forceful abolition; the [[Roman Senate]] protested that the Lupercalia was essential to Rome's safety and well-being. This prompted Gelasius' scornful suggestion that "If you assert that this rite has salutary force, celebrate it yourselves in the ancestral fashion; run nude yourselves that you may properly carry out the mockery".<ref>Gelasius, ''Epistle to Andromachus'', quoted in Green (1931), p. 65.</ref>

There is no contemporary evidence to support the popular notions that Gelasius abolished the Lupercalia, or that he, or any other prelate, replaced it with the [[Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=William M. |title=The Lupercalia in the Fifth Century |journal=Classical Philology |date=1931 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=60–69 |doi=10.1086/361308 |jstor=264682 |s2cid=161431650 }}</ref> A literary association between the Lupercalia and the romantic elements of [[Saint Valentine's Day]] dates back to [[Chaucer]] and poetic traditions of [[courtly love]].<ref name="Ansgar1986">Henry Ansgar Kelly (1986), in "Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine" (Leiden: Brill), pp. 58-63</ref><ref name="Kaylor2006">{{citation |title=Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians: Hopkins, Pater and Wilde |author=Michael Matthew Kaylor |publisher=[[Masaryk University]] (re-published in electronic format) |year=2006 |isbn=978-80-210-4126-4 |edition=electronic |page=footnote 2 in page 235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Wa7SIsAQgAC&q=saint+valentine's+day+lupercalia&pg=PA235}}</ref><ref name="Oruch1981">{{cite journal| first= Jack B.| last= Oruch| title= St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February| journal= Speculum| volume= 56| number= 3 |date= July 1981| pages= 534–565| doi= 10.2307/2847741| jstor= 2847741| s2cid= 162849518}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:CaesarRefusesTheDiademRidpathdrawing.jpg|thumb|''Caesar Refuses the Diadem'' (1894), when it was offered by Mark Antony during the Lupercalia]]

[[Horace]]'s Ode III, 18 alludes to the Lupercalia. The festival or its associated rituals gave its name to the [[Roman calendar|Roman month]] of [[February (Roman month)|February]] (''{{lang|la|mensis Februarius}}'') and thence to the modern month. The [[Roman pantheon|Roman god]] [[Februus]] personified both the month and purification, but seems to postdate both.

[[William Shakespeare]]'s play [[Julius Caesar (play)|''Julius Caesar'']] begins during the Lupercalia. [[Mark Antony]] is instructed by Caesar to strike his wife [[Calpurnia (wife of Caesar)|Calpurnia]], in the hope that she will be able to conceive.

Research published in 2019 suggests that the word [[Leprechaun]] derives from ''Lupercus''.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-49579940 |title= Leprechaun 'is not a native Irish word' new dictionary reveals| website= [[BBC News|BBC.com]]| date= 5 September 2019| access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/lost-irish-words-rediscovered-including-the-word-for-oozes-pus |title= Lost Irish words rediscovered, including the word for 'oozes pus'| publisher= Queen's University Belfast |work= Dictionary of the Irish Language, dil.ie |date= 30 August 2019|via= Cambridge University, cam.ac.uk| access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.dil.ie/30904 |title= lupracán, luchorpán| website= Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language; dil.ie| accessdate= 6 September 2019}}</ref>

{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*{{citation| url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/FRALUP/home.html |title= The Lupercalia| format= Doctoral dissertation| first= A. M.| last= Franklin |year= 1921| via= uchicago.edu}}
* {{cite journal |last=Green |first=William M. |date=January 1931 |title=The Lupercalia in the Fifth Century |journal=Classical Philology |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=60&ndash;69 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/CP/26/1/Lupercalia*.html |access-date= 2008-01-26 |doi=10.1086/361308 |s2cid=161431650 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book| last= Liebler| first= Naomi Conn |year= 1988| title= The Ritual Ground of Julius Caesar| publisher= | isbn= }}

==Further reading==
*[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Beard, Mary]]; North, John; Price, Simon. ''Religions of Rome: A History.'' Cambridge University Press, 1998, vol. 1, limited preview [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rtaTFYuM3QC&q=lupercal+OR+lupercalia+date:1940-2009 online]; search "Lupercalia".
*[[Bruce Lincoln|Lincoln, Bruce]]. ''Authority: Construction and Corrosion.'' University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp.&nbsp;43–44 [https://books.google.com/books?id=nh1DBsO4QLAC&dq=%22Caesar+was+not+amused%22+intitle:Authority+inauthor:Lincoln&pg=PA43 online] on Julius Caesar and the politicizing of the Lupercalia; valuable [https://books.google.com/books?id=nh1DBsO4QLAC&dq=lupercal+OR+lupercalia&pg=PA182 list of sources] pp.&nbsp;182–183.
*North, John. ''Roman Religion''. The Classical Association, 2000, pp.&nbsp;47 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vaN_U0kia4kC&dq=%22The+Lupercalia+was+celebrated%22+intitle:Roman+intitle:religion+inauthor:North&pg=PA47 online] and 50 on the problems of interpreting evidence for the Lupercalia.
*Markus, R.A. ''The End of Ancient Christianity.'' Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp.&nbsp;131–134 [https://books.google.com/books?id=tVBifXmDtKYC&dq=%22The+remaining+traditional+festivals%22+intitle:end+intitle:of+intitle:ancient+intitle:christianity&pg=PA131 online], on the continued celebration of the Lupercalia among "uninhibited Christians" into the 5th century, and the reasons for the "brutal intervention" by Pope Gelasius.
*Vuković, K. ''Wolves of Rome: The Lupercalia from Roman and Comparative Perspectives.'' Berlin, De Gruyter, 2023.
*Wiseman, T.P.  "The Lupercalia". In ''Remus: A Roman Myth''. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp.&nbsp;77–88, limited preview [https://books.google.com/books?id=7LPNHRUlWacC&q=lupercal+OR+lupercalia online], discussion of the Lupercalia in the context of myth and ritual.

==External links==
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lupercalia.html William Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,'' 1875]: Lupercalia

{{Roman religion (festival)}}
{{Roman religion}}
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[[Category:Lupercalia| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman festivals]]
[[Category:February observances]]
[[Category:Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology]]
[[Category:She-wolf (Roman mythology)]]