View source for Robigalia

{{Short description|Ancient Roman festival}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
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The '''Robigalia''' was a [[Roman festivals|festival]] in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]] held April 25, named for the god '''Robigus'''. Its main ritual was a dog sacrifice to protect [[wheat diseases|grain fields from disease]]. Games (''[[ludi]]'') in the form of "major and minor" races were held.<ref>The ''ludi cursoribus'' are mentioned in the ''[[Fasti#Calendaria|Fasti Praenestini]]''; see [[Elaine Fantham]], ''Ovid:'' Fasti ''Book IV'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 263.</ref> The Robigalia was one of several agricultural festivals in April to celebrate and vitalize the growing season,<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], J.A. North and S.R.F. Price. ''Religions of Rome: A History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), vol. 1, p. 45.</ref> but the darker sacrificial elements of these occasions are also fraught with anxiety about crop failure and the dependence on divine favor to avert it.<ref>Rhiannon Evans, ''Utopia antiqua: Readings of the Golden Age and Decline at Rome'' (Routledge, 2008), pp. 185–188.</ref>

==Description==
The Robigalia was held at the boundary of the [[Ager Romanus]].<ref>Woodard, ''Indo-European Sacred Space'', p. 234.</ref> [[Verrius Flaccus]] sites it in a grove (''[[lucus]]'') at the fifth [[Roman milestone|milestone from Rome]] along the [[Via Claudia]].<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 1<sup>2</sup> pp. 236, 316), as cited by Woodard.</ref> The celebration included games (''ludi'') and a sacrificial offering of the blood and [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#exta|entrails]] of an unweaned puppy (''catulus'').<ref>[[Columella]], ''De re rustica'' 10.337–343.</ref> Most [[animal sacrifice]] in the [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|public religion of ancient Rome]] resulted in a [[communal meal]] and thus involved domestic animals whose flesh was a normal part of the Roman diet;<ref>C. Bennett Pascal, "October Horse," ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 85 (1981), pp. 275–276; general discussion of victims' edibility by [[Hendrik Wagenvoort]], "Profanus, profanare," in ''Pietas: Selected Studies in Roman Religion'' (Brill, 1980), pp. 25–38.</ref> the dog occurs as a [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#victima|victim]] most often in magic and private rites for [[Hecate]] and other [[chthonic|chthonic deities]],<ref>David Soren, "Hecate and the Infant Cemetery at Poggio Gramignano," in ''A Roman Villa and a Late Roman Infant Cemetery'' («L'Erma» di Bretschneider, 1999), pp. 619–621.</ref> but was offered publicly at the [[Lupercalia]]<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Roman Questions'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/C.html#68 68] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921143213/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions%2A/C.html#68 |date=September 21, 2023 }}; Eli Edward Burriss, "The Place of the Dog in Superstition as Revealed in Latin Literature," ''Classical Philology'' 30 (1935), pp. 34–35.</ref> and two other sacrifices pertaining to grain crops.<ref>Boyle and Woodard, ''Ovid: Fasti'', p. 255.</ref>

==Origin==
{{Ancient Roman religion}}
Like many other aspects of [[Roman law]] and religion, the institution of the Robigalia was attributed to the Sabine [[Numa Pompilius]],<ref>William Warde Fowler, ''The Religious Experience of the Roman People'' (London, 1922), p. 108; Tertullian, ''De spectaculis'' 5.</ref> in the eleventh year of his reign as the second [[king of Rome]].<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''Natural History'' 18.285.</ref> The combined presence of Numa and the [[flamen Quirinalis]], the high priest of [[Quirinus]], the [[Sabine]] god of war who become identified with Mars,<ref>Boyle and Woodard, ''Ovid: Fasti'', p. 254; Beard, ''Religions of Rome'', p. 106, note 129; Woodward, ''Indo-European Sacred Space'', p. 136.</ref> may suggest a Sabine origin.<ref>Franklin, ''Lupercalia'', p. 75. The name Quirinus was supposed to [[etymology|derive from]] the Sabine town of [[Cures, Sabinum|Cures]]. In his notes to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 1.292 and 6.859, [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] says that "when Mars rages uncontrolled ''(saevit)'', he is called Gradivus; when he is calm ''(tranquillus)'', he is called Quirinus." Therefore, since Quirinus is the "Mars" who presides over peace, his temple is within the city; the temple for the "Mars of war" is located outside the city limit. The name was also connected to ''Quirites'', Roman civilians, and the civil ''[[comitia curiata]]'', in contrast to military personnel and the ''[[comitia centuriata]]''. Quirinus was assimilated with the deified [[Romulus]], possibly as late as the [[Augustus|Augustan]] period. See Robert Schilling, "Quirinus," ''Roman and European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), p. 145.</ref>

The [[Roman Republic#Late Republic|late Republican]] scholar [[Varro]] says that the Robigalia was named for the god '''Robigus''',<ref>[[Varro]], ''De lingua latina'' 6.16.</ref> who as the [[numen]] or [[personification]] of agricultural disease could also prevent it.<ref>A.M. Franklin, ''The Lupercalia'' (New York, 1921), p. 74.</ref> He was thus a potentially malignant deity to be propitiated, as [[Aulus Gellius]] notes.<ref>[[Aulus Gellius]], ''Attic Nights'' 5.12.14: ''In istis autem diis, quos placari oportet, uti mala a nobis vel a frugibus natis amoliantur, Auruncus quoque habetur et Robigus'' ("[[Averruncus|Auruncus]] and Robigus are also regarded as among those gods whom it is a duty to placate so that they deflect the malign influences away from us or the harvests"); Woodard, ''Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult'' (University of Illinois Press, 2006), p. 234.</ref> But the gender of this deity is elusive.<ref>In addition to Varro, [[Verrius Flaccus]] (''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 1: 236, 316) and others hold that he is male; [[Ovid]], Columella (see following), [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], and [[Tertullian]] regard the deity as female. A.J. Boyle and R.D. Woodard, ''Ovid: Fasti'' (Penguin Books, 2000), p. 254 [https://books.google.com/books?id=QlS3xbzhplcC&dq=%22In+the+following+lines+Ovid+describes+the+annual+sacrifice+made+to+appease+the+deity+of+grain+rust%22&pg=RA1-PA254 online.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921143137/https://books.google.com/books?id=QlS3xbzhplcC&dq=%22In+the+following+lines+Ovid+describes+the+annual+sacrifice+made+to+appease+the+deity+of+grain+rust%22&pg=RA1-PA254 |date=September 21, 2023 }}</ref> The agricultural writer [[Columella]] gives the name in the feminine as '''Robigo''', like the word used for a form of the disease of [[Wheat leaf rust|wheat rust]],<ref>[[Vergil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' 1.151. The 4th-century agricultural writer [[Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius|Palladius]] devotes a chapter ''contra nebulas et rubiginem'', on preventing [[Miasma theory of disease|miasma]] and mildew ([https://books.google.com/books?id=O88PAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22XXXV.+Contra+nebulas+%26+rubiginem%22&pg=PA884 1.35] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921143137/https://books.google.com/books?id=O88PAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22XXXV.+Contra+nebulas+%26+rubiginem%22&pg=PA884 |date=September 21, 2023 }}).</ref> which has a reddish or reddish-brown color. Both ''Robigus'' and ''robigo'' are also found as ''Rubig-'' which, following the [[etymology]]-by-association of antiquity,<ref>Davide Del Bello, ''Forgotten Paths: Etymology and the Allegorical Mindset'' (Catholic University of America Press, 2007), ''passim''.</ref> was thought to be connected to the color red (''ruber'') as a form of [[wikt:homeopathy|homeopathic]] or [[sympathetic magic]].<ref>Burriss, ''The Place of the Dog in Superstition,'' pp. 34–35.</ref> The color is thematic: the disease was red, the requisite puppies (or sometimes bitches) had a red coat,<ref>Fowler, ''Roman Festivals'', pp. 90–91.</ref> the red of blood recalls the distinctively Roman incarnation of [[Mars (god)|Mars]] as both a god of agriculture and bloodshed.<ref>This dual function of Mars, contradictory perhaps to the 21st-century mind, may not have seemed so to the Romans: "In early Rome agriculture and military activity were closely bound up, in the sense that the Roman farmer was also a soldier (and a voter as well)": Beard, ''Religions of Rome'', pp. 47–48 [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rtaTFYuM3QC&dq=%22October+horse%22&pg=PA47 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921143137/https://books.google.com/books?id=2rtaTFYuM3QC&dq=%22October+horse%22&pg=PA47 |date=September 21, 2023 }} and 53. See also Evans, ''Utopia antiqua'', p. 188 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ppWwPuye_e4C&dq=%22And+it+may+be+that+the+Robigalia+was+an+enactment%22&pg=PA187 online.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921143138/https://books.google.com/books?id=ppWwPuye_e4C&dq=%22And+it+may+be+that+the+Robigalia+was+an+enactment%22&pg=PA187 |date=September 21, 2023 }}</ref>

[[William Warde Fowler]], whose work on Roman festivals remains a standard reference,<ref>[[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' (London, 1908), p. 89.</ref> entertained the idea that Robigus is an "indigitation" of Mars, that is, a name to be used in a prayer formulary to fix the local action of the invoked god.<ref>Precise naming, in connection with concealing a deity's true name to monopolize his or her power, was a crucial part of prayer in antiquity, as evidenced not only in the traditional religions of Greece and Rome and [[syncretism|syncretistic]] [[Hellenistic religion]] and [[mystery cult]], but also in [[Judaism]], [[ancient Egyptian religion]], and later [[Christianity]]. See Matthias Klinghardt, “Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation: Their Use and Function in Ancient Religion,” Numen 46 (1999) 1–5; A.A. Barb, "Antaura. The Mermaid and the Devil's Grandmother: A Lecture," ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'' 29 (1966), p. 4; Karen Hartnup, ''On the Beliefs of the Greeks: [[Leo Allatios]] and Popular Orthodoxy'' (Brill, 2004), pp. 97–101 [https://books.google.com/books?id=xnqI8uSeekwC&dq=%22The+names+of+the+gello+are+also+a+source+of+protection%22&pg=PA97 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921144722/https://books.google.com/books?id=xnqI8uSeekwC&dq=%22The+names+of+the+gello+are+also+a+source+of+protection%22&pg=PA97 |date=September 21, 2023 }} (in connection with compelling demons). [[Augustine of Hippo]] derided the proliferation of divinities as a ''turba minutorum deorum'', "a mob of mini-gods" (''[[De civitate Dei]]'' 4.9, ''dea Robigo'' among them at 4.21); see W.R. Johnson, "The Return of [[Mutunus Tutunus|Tutunus]]," ''Arethusa'' (1992) 173–179. See also ''[[indigitamenta]]''<!--article coming eventually-->.</ref> In support of this idea, the priest who presided was the flamen Quirinalis, and the ''ludi'' were held for both Mars and Robigo.<ref>[[Tertullian]], ''De spectaculis'' 5: ''Numa Pompilius Marti et Robigini fecit'' ("Numa Pompilius established [games] for Mars and Robigo").</ref> The flamen recited a prayer that [[Ovid]] quotes at length in the ''[[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]]'', his six-book calendar poem on Roman holidays which provides the most extended, though problematic, description of the day.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (Ovid)|Fasti]]'' 4.905–942; Boyle and Woodard, ''Ovid: Fasti'', pp. 254–255 ''et passim'' on the nature of this work.</ref>

==Other observances==
Chariot races ''(ludi cursoribus)'' were held in honor of Mars and Robigo on this day.<ref>''[[Fasti#Calendaria|Fasti Praenestini]]''; [[Tertullian]], ''De spectaculis'' 5; Fantham, ''Ovid:'' Fasti ''Book IV'', p. 263.</ref> The races had two classes, "major and minor," which may represent junior and senior divisions. In chariot racing, younger drivers seem to have gained experience with a two-horse chariot ''([[biga (chariot)|biga]])'' before graduating to a four-horse team ''([[quadriga]])''.<ref>Jean-Paul Thuillier, "Le cirrus et la barbe. Questions d'iconographie athlétique romaine," ''[[Mélanges de l'École française de Rome]] Antiquité'' 110.1 (1998), p. 377.</ref>

Other horse and chariot races in honor of Mars occurred at the [[Equirria]] and before the sacrifice of the [[October Horse]].

==Calendar context==
[[File:Fasti Praenestini Massimo n2.jpg|thumb|300px|A section of the ''[[Fasti Praenestini]]'', with the entry on the "Feast of Robigo" at bottom right ("ROB").]]
The ''[[Fasti Praenestini]]'' also record that on the same day the festival celebrated a particular class of [[sex workers]]: "pimped-out boys,"<ref>''Pueri lenonii'', boys managed by a ''leno'', [[pimp]].</ref> following the previous day's recognition of ''meretrices'', female [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitutes regarded as professionals]] of some standing.<ref>Craig A. Williams, ''Roman Homosexuality'' (Oxford University Press, 1999, 2010), p. 32 [https://books.google.com/books?id=JoS4ffPU1-0C&dq=%22This+inscription+informs+us+that+on+April+25%22&pg=PA32 online.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921144647/https://books.google.com/books?id=JoS4ffPU1-0C&dq=%22This+inscription+informs+us+that+on+April+25%22&pg=PA32 |date=September 21, 2023 }}</ref>

Other April festivals related to farming were the [[Cerealia]], or festival of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], lasting for several days in mid-month; the [[Fordicidia]] on April 15, when a pregnant cow was sacrificed; the [[Parilia]] on April 21 to ensure healthy flocks; and the [[Vinalia]], a wine festival on April 23.<ref>Beard, ''Religions of Rome'', p. 45.</ref> Varro considered these and the Robigalia, along with the [[Cybele|Great Mother]]'s [[Megalensia]] late in the month, the "original" Roman holidays in April.<ref>Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 6.15–16; Fantham, ''Fasti'', p. 29.</ref>

The Robigalia has been connected to the [[History of Christianity|Christian]] [[Rogation days|feast of Rogation]], which was concerned with purifying and blessing the parish and fields and which took the place of the Robigalia on April 25 of the Christian calendar.<ref>Daniel T. Reff, ''Plagues, Priests, and Demons: Sacred Narratives and the Rise of Christianity in the Old World and the New'' (Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 100.</ref> The [[Church Father]] [[Tertullian]] mocks the goddess Robigo as "made up," a fiction.<ref>[[Tertullian]], ''De spectaculis'' 5 (''nam et robiginis deam finxerunt'', "you see, they even make up a goddess of [[Wheat diseases|wheat disease]]"); Woodward, ''Indo-European Sacred Space'', p. 136.</ref>
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==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Alessandro Locchi, ''“Lucus Robiginis in Acqua Traversa”. Un antichissimo culto al V miglio della via Clodia'', in ''Emergenze storico-archeologiche di un settore del suburbio di Roma: la Tenuta dell’Acqua Traversa. Atti della Giornata di Studio, Roma 7 giugno 2003'', a cura di F. Vistoli, Roma 2005, pp.&nbsp;151–170.
*Fabrizio Vistoli, ''Nota di aggiornamento critico e bibliografico sui'' Robigalia, in ''La Parola del Passato'', LXIV, 1 (CCCLXIV), 2009, pp.&nbsp;35–46.

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcwYsmBYLNQ Video] of a modern festival of Robigalia in Piauí, Brazil

{{Roman religion (festival)}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman festivals]]
[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:April observances]]