Tutela

{{Short description|Roman goddess and personification of guardianship}} {{Italic title}} {{For|a synonym of a genus of sea cucumbers|Elpidia}} [[File:Buste de Tutela.jpg|thumb|Bust of Tutela from the Martigny mithraeum]] In ancient Roman culture and mythology, '''Tutela''' was a goddess and divine personification of "guardianship." As a concept, ''tutela'' had specific applications under Roman law.

==Legal ''tutela''== Under Roman law, there were several forms of ''tutela'' ("guardianship" or "tutelage"), mainly for people such as minors and women who ordinarily in Roman society would be under the legal protection and control of a ''paterfamilias'', but who for whatever reasons were ''sui iuris'', legally emancipated. The guardian who oversaw their interests was a ''tutor''. Latin legal terminology distinguishes among several types of ''tutela'',<ref name=":0">Adolf Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law'' (American Philosophical Society, 1991 reprint), pg. 747</ref> including: * ''tutela fiduciaria'', fiduciary guardianship.<ref name=":0" /> * ''tutela impuberum'', guardianship for minors who were emancipated from the legal control ''(potestas)'' of a ''paterfamilias'' or head of household.<ref name=":0" /> * ''tutela mulierum'', guardianship of emancipated women, generally those whose fathers had died. In the "core period" of Roman history (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD), a married woman did not enter into the ''potestas'' of her husband, and remained legally a part of her birth family. The appointment of a ''tutor'' was meant to ensure that her interests and those of her family were protected, particularly in matters of property rights, since the ownership of property by married people remained separate. On occasion, a woman who wanted her husband to manage her property might have him appointed ''tutor''.<ref>Jane Gardner, ''Family and Familia in Roman Law and Life'' (Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 52ff. ''et passim.''</ref>

==''Tutelae''== {{More|Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome}} [[File:Protective Goddess Tutela from the Macon treasure 150-220 AD (51233371506).jpg|thumb|Gallo-Roman Tutela holding a ''patera'' in her right hand, Apollo and Diana in a twinned cornucopia in her left hand, with the twins Castor and Pollux on either side of her head, and bearing on her wings the seven deities of the days of the week (Saturn, Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus), from the Mâcon treasure (AD 150-220)]] The ''tutela'' or tutelary deity was fundamental to archaic Roman religion. The capacity for offering protection or guardianship was a basic function of deity, expressed by formulations such as ''Tutela Iovis'', "the tutelage of Jove".<ref name=":1">Harold Lucius Axtell, ''The Deification of Abstract Ideas in Roman Literature and Inscriptions'' (University of Chicago, 1907).</ref>{{rp|40}} Major deities such as Jupiter, Minerva, and Mars were conceived of as tutelaries.<ref>Vincent J. Rosivach, "Mars, the Lustral God," ''Latomus'' 42.3 (1983), pp. 519–521.</ref> The phrase ''in tutela'' expressed the sphere of influence exercised by a deity. For instance, trees of ill omen ''(arbores infelices)'' were in the ''tutela'' of the gods below ''(di inferi)''.<ref>Rabun Taylor, "Roman Oscilla: An Assessment," ''RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics'' 48 (2005), p. 86.</ref> The initiatory grades of the Mithraic mysteries seem to have each had a tutelary deity.<ref>Howard M. Jackson, "The Meaning and Function of the Leontocephaline in Roman Mithraism," ''Numen'' 32.1 (1985), p. 33.</ref>

The cities of ancient Italy characteristically had a ''tutela'', who in many places was Juno. The true name of the deity was theoretically kept secret, to prevent an enemy from enacting a ritual "calling out" ''(evocatio)'' the tutelary and rendering the city vulnerable.<ref>Jörg Rüpke, ''The Religion of the Romans'' (Polity Press, 2007, originally published 2001 in German), p. 132.</ref> If the identity of a deity whose protection was desired was unknown, an altar might be inscribed with an open-ended invocation such as "to the tutelary god".<ref name=":1" />{{rp|40}} The individual goddess Tutela may have evolved from this abstraction. She appears often in inscriptions, particularly in Gaul, but only rarely in literature.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|42-43}} She is often linked invoked with the Genius to assure a full range of protection, and became a regular part of household cult along with the Lares and Penates.<ref name=":2">J. Rufus Fears, "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.17.2 (1981, pp. 900–901.</ref> She might also be paired with Fortuna.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|42}} ''Tutor'' or ''tutator'' might be masculine epithets for gods in a specifically tutelary function: ''Iuppiter tutor'' or ''Hercules tutator''.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|42}}

==Tutela and Imperial cult== {{See also|Imperial cult (ancient Rome)}} The early Roman emperors drew on traditional sources of authority to consolidate their position, among them the ''potestas'' or power of the Roman head of household. ''Tutela'' or guardianship was another available form of authority, advertised as ''Tutela Augusti'', the tutelage of Augustus.<ref name=":2" /> In the Imperial period the goddess Tutela received her own distinct ''cultus'' in the form of rituals and temples.<ref name=":2" /> The Flavian dynasty in particular cultivated Tutela.<ref>Michael Grant, ''Roman Anniversary Issues'' (Cambridge University Press, 1950), p. 89.</ref> On a coin of 71 AD, Tutela is represented by a woman with two children.<ref name=":2" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wiktionary-inline}} * [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=547480&objectid=465816 Silver figurine of Tutela] and [https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/s/silver_figurine_of_tutela.aspx Highlights] at the British Museum

Category:Roman goddesses Category:Personifications in Roman mythology Category:Roman law Category:Tutelary deities