Altar of Consus

{{Short description|Altar to the Roman gods Consus and Mars}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} [[File:AraConsi planrome.png|thumb|247x247px|Location of the Altar of Consus in the city of [[Rome]]. The altar is highlighted in red.]] The '''Altar of Consus''' ({{langx|la|Ara Consi}}) was an ancient Roman altar dedicated to the gods [[Consus]] and [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], as well as the ''[[lares]]'', which were ancient Roman household guardians. It was located beneath the [[Circus Maximus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Daly |first1=Kathleen N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJxB0UTOcXMC&pg=PA32 |title=Greek & Roman Mythology A–Z |last2=Rengel |first2=Marian |year=2004 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1992-2 |page=32 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saunders |first=Catharine |date=1913 |title=The Site of Dramatic Performances at Rome in the Times of Plautus and Terence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/282545.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=44 |pages=87–97 |doi=10.2307/282545 |jstor=282545 |issn=0065-9711 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123184459/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/282545.pdf |archive-date=23 November 2023}}</ref> The altar may have also served as the first turning post of the Circus Maximus.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahoney |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-oSEAAAQBAJ |title=Roman Sports and Spectacles: A Sourcebook |date=2001 |publisher=Hackett Publishing |isbn=978-1-58510-606-6 |pages=7–8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Christesen |first1=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7yHEAAAQBAJ |title=A Cultural History of Sport in Antiquity |last2=Stocking |first2=Charles H. |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-28295-7 |page=58 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Holden |first=Antonia |date=2008-01-01 |title=The Abduction of the Sabine Women in Context: The Iconography on Late Antique Contorniate Medallions |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.3764/aja.112.1.121 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |language=en |volume=112 |issue=1 |pages=121–142 |doi=10.3764/aja.112.1.121 |s2cid=162253485 |issn=0002-9114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It is possible the subterranean location of this altar is connected to the Roman practice of storing [[wheat]] underground<ref>{{Citation |last=Phillips |first=C. Robert |title=Consus |date=2015 |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-1798 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |access-date=2023-11-23 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1798 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Georg Wissowa |url=http://archive.org/details/wissowa1912religionkultus2ndedharvardgoogle |title=Religion und Kultus der Römer |date=1912 |edition=2nd |pages=201–204 |language=de}}</ref> and specifically paralleled by the ancient [[Mundus Cereris|''mundus'']] of [[Ceres (goddess)|Ceres]] supposedly instituted by [[Romulus]] at the [[Founding of Rome|founding of the city]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fowler |first=W. Warde |date=1912 |title=Mundus Patet. 24th August, 5th October, 8th November |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2522354 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=2 |pages=25–33 |doi=10.2307/295939 |jstor=295939 |s2cid=163222877 |issn=1753-528X}}</ref> This is in turn associated with the modern interpretation of Consus as an agrarian deity.<ref name=":2" /> [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysus of Halicarnassus]] wrote that some ancient Romans believed the altar was located underground because they thought that the god Consus [[Syncretism|corresponded]] to [[Poseidon]], who was also a god of [[Earthquake|earthquakes]]. He also claims that other Romans believed that the altar was dedicated to an unamenable god who presided over hidden councils.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Miano |first=Daniele |date=2015 |title=The Goddess Ops in Archaic Rome |url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/114534/1/ops%20revised.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=98–127 |doi=10.1111/j.2041-5370.2015.12005.x |issn=0076-0730 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410080132/https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/114534/1/ops%20revised.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2022}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Lee-Stecum |first=Parshia |title=Mendacia Maiorum: Tales Of Deceit In Pre-Republican Rome |date=2010|url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004188839/Bej.9789004187757.i-439_015.xml |work=Private and Public Lies |pages=254–257 |access-date=2023-11-23 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-18883-9}}</ref> This explanation is associated with the ancient connections between Consus and secrecy and hidden councils.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Servius">{{cite book |author=[[Servius (grammarian)|Maurus Servius Honoratus]] |title=In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii |at=8.636 |trans-title=Commentary on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' |quote=''Consus autem deus est consiliorum.''}}</ref> [[Tacitus]] mentions the altar as a landmark of his conjectural reconstruction of the [[pomerium]],<ref>[[Tacitus]]. ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/home.html Annals]''. XII. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/12A*.html 24]</ref> the sacred border of the city of Rome proper, as originally established by Romulus's {{lang|la|[[sulcus primigenius]]}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Orlin |first=Eric M. |date=2002 |title=Foreign Cults in Republican Rome: Rethinking the Pomerial Rule |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238789 |journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome |volume=47 |page=10 |doi=10.2307/4238789 |jstor=4238789 |issn=0065-6801 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Flower |first=Harriet I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNepDgAAQBAJ |title=The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden: Religion at the Roman Street Corner |year=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-8801-6 |pages=112–114 |language=en}}</ref>

The site was covered for most of the year, although it was uncovered during religious occasions for sacrifices and rituals.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Platner |first=Samuel Ball |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYqFBwAAQBAJ |title=A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-08324-9 |page=140 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysus]]. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/home.html ''Roman Antiquities'']. II. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/2B*.html 31]</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Zaleski |first=John |title=Religion and Roman Spectacle |date=2013-11-11 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118609965.ch40 |work=A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity |page=596 |editor-last=Christesen |editor-first=Paul |access-date=2023-11-23 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118609965.ch40 |isbn=978-1-4443-3952-9 |editor2-last=Kyle |editor2-first=Donald G.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Roman author [[Tertullian]] stated that [[Salii|public priests]] made [[Sacrifice|sacrifices]] at the altar on 7 July during the ''[[Caprotinia]]''.<ref name=":0" /> He also wrote that the ''[[Flamen Quirinalis]]'' and a group of virgins, potentially the [[Vestal Virgin|Vestal Virgins]], made sacrifices at the altar on 21 August.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DiLuzio |first=Meghan J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3S7DwAAQBAJ |title=A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome |date=2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-20232-7 |pages=60–62 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Michels |first=Agnes K. |date=1990 |title=Roman Festivals: July–September |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43936677 |journal=The Classical Outlook |volume=67 |issue=4 |page=115 |jstor=43936677 |issn=0009-8361 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Michels |first=Agnes K. |date=1990 |title=Roman Festivals: October–December |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43919166 |journal=The Classical Outlook |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=11–12 |jstor=43919166 |issn=0009-8361 }}</ref> This was in celebration of the ''[[Consualia]]'',<ref>{{Citation |last=Belayche |first=Nicole |title=Pagan Festivals in Fourth-Century Gaza |date=2004 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789047405412/B9789047405412_s003.xml |work=Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity |pages=10–11 |access-date=2023-11-23 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-474-0541-2}}</ref> a Roman holiday which honored Consus. As part of this holiday,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Middleton |first=John Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZxAeGhVOp4C |title=The Remains of Ancient Rome |date=1892 |publisher=A. and C. Black |page=41 |language=en}}</ref> games commemorating the [[The Rape of the Sabine Women|Rape of the Sabine Women]] were held at this altar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ovid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n6uUBgAAQBAJ |title=Fastorum libri sex |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-08248-8 |volume=3 |language=La |translator-last=Frazer |translator-first=James |trans-title=The Fasti of Ovid: Commentary on Books 3 and 4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hölscher |first=Tonio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYxaDwAAQBAJ |title=Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome: Between Art and Social Reality |date=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-96788-5 |page=127 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Varro |first=Marcus |url=http://archive.org/details/onlatinlanguage01varruoft |title=De Lingua Latina |date=1938 |publisher=London : W. Heinemann |language=La |translator-last=Kent |translator-first=Roland Grubb |trans-title=On the Latin language |lccn=38021516 |oclc=848014271 |ol=6373636M}}</ref>

Tertullian wrote that it bore an inscription which read:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tertullian |url=http://archive.org/details/apologydespectac00tertuoft |title=De spectaculis |date=1931 |publisher=London Heinemann |page=246 |language=La |translator-last=Glover |translator-first=Terrot |trans-title=On the Spectacles |oclc=1040001141 |ol=23278382M |translator-last2=Rendall |translator-first2=Gerald}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Liddel |first1=Peter Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeDiAAAAQBAJ |title=Inscriptions and Their Uses in Greek and Latin Literature |last2=Low |first2=Polly |date=2013 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-966574-7 |page=181 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text={{lang|la|Consus consilio, Mars duello, Lares coillo potentes}}}}

This translates to:

{{Blockquote|text=Consus is mighty in counsel, Mars in war, the Lares in {{lang|la|coillo}}}}

This inscription may not be authentically archaic. Many modern scholars are critical of the potential [[Etymology|etymological]] link between {{lang|la|Consus}} and {{lang|la|consilium}}, the Latin word for counsel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Noonan |first=J. D. |date=1990 |title=Livy 1.9.6: The Rape at the Consualia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4350674 |journal=The Classical World |volume=83 |issue=6 |page=496 |doi=10.2307/4350674 |jstor=4350674 |issn=0009-8418 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Van L. |date=1967 |title=Agonia, Indigetes, and the Breeding of Sheep and Goats |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41525221 |journal=Latomus |volume=26 |issue=2 |page=335 |jstor=41525221 |issn=0023-8856 }}</ref> The German classical philologist [[Georg Wissowa]] argued that in a genuine ancient inscription from this time period the names of the gods would be expected to be in the [[dative case]], not in the [[Nominative case|nominative]], which is the case used in the inscription.<ref name=":2" /> [[Theodor Mommsen]], a German classical scholar, believed that Tertullian may have incorrectly transcribed the Latin words ''coitu'' or ''cubiclo'' when he utilized the word ''coillo''.<ref name=":4" /> Alternatively, it may have been a transcription of the Greek word for the [[Lacus Curtius]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dušanić |first1=Slobodan |last2=Petković |first2=Žarko |date=2002 |title=The Flamen Quirinalis at the Consualia and the Horseman of the Lacus Curtius |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20861291 |journal=Aevum |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=64 |jstor=20861291 |issn=0001-9593 }}</ref> ''Coillo'' could possibly be a synonym of ''Compito''.<ref name=":3" /> The Latin word ''compito'' means crossroads, and the Lares were frequently worshipped at these crossroads. Similarly, ''consilio'' has been theorized to be a misreading of ''consivio'', meaning "gathering of the harvest." This theory has been criticized for being unsupported by Tertullian, who appears to have directly derived the word ''consilio'' from his source.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tertullian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIPs54GSB8cC |title=Disciplinary, Moral, and Ascetical Works |date=2010 |publisher=CUA Press |isbn=978-0-8132-1140-4 |page=61 |language=en}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Roman altars]] [[Category:Mars (mythology)]]