Mamuralia
ancient roman religion mamuralia sacrum mamurio rite mamurius festival held march named source late antiquity according joannes lydus old man wearing animal skin beaten ritually stick name connected mamurius veturius according tradition craftsman made ritual shield ancilia hung temple mar roman calendar originally began march sacrum mamurio usually regarded ritual marking transition old year new share characteristic scapegoat pharmakos ritual according legend mamurius commissioned numa second king rome make eleven shield identical sacred ancile fell heaven pledge rome destiny rule world ancile one sacred guarantor roman state pignora imperii replica intended conceal identity original prevent theft thus kind public secret shield care mar priest salii used ritual payment mamurius requested name preserved remembered song sung salii carmen saliare executed movement shield performed armed dance fragment archaic hymn survive including invocation mamurius several source mention invocation hymn story smith lydus describes ritual beating old man mamurius also supposed made bronze replacement maple statue vertumnus brought rome time romulus may oscan thought buried homeland since end poem vertumnus propertius god express wish oscan earth wear away mamuriuss skilled hand veturius considered either etruscan oscan family name mamurius veturius became nickname marcus aurelius marius augustus former smith metalworker briefly roman emperor divine shield supposed fallen sky march first day month martius named god mar earliest roman calendar roman believed instituted romulus tenmonth year began mar month god thus associated agricultural year cycle life death number ancilia corresponds twelve month reformed calendar attributed numa scholar often interpret mamuralia originally new year festival various explanation moved beginning month midpoint mamuralia named calendar source dating th century christian era later calendar filocalus ad placed march lydus ides earliest extant calendar place equirria one sacral chariot race honor mar march festival anna perenna goddess year annus took place ides macrobius understood doubled name mean year perennis english perennial jane ellen harrison regarded anna perenna female equivalent mamurius representing lunar year solar year ides supposed determined full moon reflecting lunar origin roman calendar earliest calendar ides march would first full moon new year h versnel argued adjustment made calendar time caused mamuralia moved original place last day year day kalends march day ides causing equirria february repeated march mamurius view associated februarius month purification care dead originally ended year represented concept lustration rite passage liminality name veturius explained related latin vetus veteris old ritual figure mamurius often interpreted personification old year rite expulsion mamurius may form mamers name mar oscan latin mavors roman personal name mamercus derived mamers formed doubling vocative stem god name mamurius would thus related vocative marmar carmen arvale cult song arval brother mamurius veturius would old mar embodiment year late republican scholar varro however take name mamuri veturi appears salian song analyzes within semantic field pertaining memory deriving reduplicative verb meminisse remember memoria memory remained mind moved also place causative verb monêre warn advise remind group explaining verbal action meant create memory monimenta monument therefore varro say salii chant mamuri veturi symbolically referring significant archaic memory plutarch extended passage shield life numa also note mamurius invoked salii say phrase mean name veterem memoriam ancient remembrance william warde fowler work roman festival agreed mommsen story mamurius might one comparatively rare example later ritual growing myth name mamurius chanted salii march may become attached march equirria omitted source list mamuralia fullest description ritual known mamuralia given joannes lydus thcentury work de mensibus regarding month lydus record old man addressed mamurius clothed animal skin beaten white stick meaning branch peeled stripped bark structuralist interpretation peeled stick thus reverse covering smooth human flesh rough animal hide lydus state old man driven city scholar generally infer portrayed myth ancilia craftsman mamurius would seem beneficent figure punishment unearned lateness account raised question festival authenticity antiquity since reference republican imperial calendar literary source absent oblique lydus may misunderstood description salian rite servius say day consecrated mamurius salii struck hide imitation art blow struck smith passage minucius felix indicates salii struck skin shield carried procession two mosaic imperial era interpreted illustrating rite mamurius calendar mosaic el djem tunisia roman africa place march first month show three men using stick beat animal hide lyduss understanding mamurius may connected medieval lore wodewose wild man wood could play similar role winter new year ceremony pertaining twelfth night carnival bronze statue mamurius stood near temple quirinus along alta semita regio vi alta semita likely connected curia saliorum collinorum curia colline salii may dedicated mamurius street appears medieval record took name statue according pomponio leto italian humanist statue mamuriuss neighborhood vicus mamuri church susanna quirinal hill though regionary catalogue locate nearer capitolium vetus