Lupercalia

The festival was originally known as Februa ("Purifications" or "Purgings") after the {{lang|la|februum}} which was used on the day.{{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 }}. It was also known as {{lang|la|Februatus}} and gave its name variously, as epithet to 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.Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1, 13, 3.}} and to February ({{lang|la|mensis Februarius}}), the month during which the festival occurred. Ovid connects {{lang|la|februare}} to an Etruscan word for "purging".{{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 }}

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

The statue stood in the Lupercal, the cave where tradition held that Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf (Lupa). The cave lay at the foot of the Palatine Hill, on which Romulus was thought to have founded Rome.{{citation| url= http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkTwo.htm#_Toc69367692 |author= Ovid| title= Fasti| chapter= Lupercalia| year=| publisher= |translator= }} 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.{{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}} Despite Justin's assertion, no deity named "Lupercus" has been identified.{{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}}

{{See also|Religion in ancient Rome}}

The rites were confined to the Lupercal cave, the Palatine Hill, and the Forum, all of which were central locations in Rome's foundation myth.Livy, Ab urbe condita 1.5 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; 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.{{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}}

{{further|Hirpi Sorani}}

File:Wolf head, 1-100 CE, bronze, Roman, Cleveland Museum of Art.JPG

The Lupercalia had its own priesthood, the Luperci ("brothers of the wolf"), whose institution and rites were attributed either to the Arcadian culture-hero 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 collegia (associations) based on ancestry; the Quinctiliani (named after the gens Quinctia) and the Fabiani (named after the gens Fabia). Each college was headed by a magister.{{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}}

In 44 BC, a third college, the Juliani, was instituted in honor of Julius Caesar; its first magister was Mark Antony. 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 status.

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'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."{{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= }}}} An offering was also made of salted mealcakes, prepared by the Vestal Virgins.{{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 }}{{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, and ran with these, naked or near-naked, along the old Palatine boundary, in an anticlockwise direction around the hill. 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 delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.{{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= }}}}

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.{{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. }}

File:Circle of Adam Elsheimer The Lupercalian Festival in Rome.jpg, showing the Luperci dressed as dogs and goats, with Cupid and personifications of fertility]]

The Februa was of ancient and possibly Sabine origin. After 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.{{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]–}} The Romans themselves attributed the instigation of the Lupercalia to Evander, a culture hero from 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 Velitrae, Praeneste, Nemausus (modern Nîmes) and elsewhere. The ancient cult of the Hirpi Sorani ("wolves of Soranus", from Sabine hirpus "wolf"), who practiced at Mt. Soracte, {{convert|45|km|abbr=on}} north of Rome, had elements in common with the Roman Lupercalia.{{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 }}

Descriptions of the Lupercalia festival of 44 BC attest to its continuity. During the festival, Julius Caesar publicly refused a golden crown offered to him by Mark Antony.Roller, Duane W. (2010). [https://books.google.com/books?id=EZo6DwAAQBAJ Cleopatra: a biography]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|9780195365535}}, p. 72.{{cite book| first= Christian |last= Meier |translator= David McLintock| title= Caesar| publisher= Basic Books| place= New York| year= 1995| page= 477| isbn= }} The Lupercal cave was restored or rebuilt by Augustus, and has been speculated to be identical with a 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. The Lupercalia festival is marked on a calendar of 354 alongside traditional and Christian festivals.{{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}}

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. Pope Gelasius I (494–96) claimed that only the "vile rabble" were involved in the festivalad viles trivialesque personas, abiectos et infimos. (Gelasius) 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".Gelasius, Epistle to Andromachus, quoted in Green (1931), p. 65.

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.{{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 }} 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.Henry Ansgar Kelly (1986), in "Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine" (Leiden: Brill), pp. 58-63{{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}}{{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}}

File:CaesarRefusesTheDiademRidpathdrawing.jpg

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

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

Research published in 2019 suggests that the word Leprechaun derives from Lupercus.{{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.com| date= 5 September 2019| access-date= }}{{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= }}{{cite web| url= http://www.dil.ie/30904 |title= lupracán, luchorpán| website= Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language; dil.ie| accessdate= 6 September 2019}}

{{clear}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{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=60–69 |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 }}
• {{cite book| last= Liebler| first= Naomi Conn |year= 1988| title= The Ritual Ground of Julius Caesar| publisher= | isbn= }}

• 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".
• Lincoln, Bruce. Authority: Construction and Corrosion. University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp. 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. 182–183.
• North, John. Roman Religion. The Classical Association, 2000, pp. 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. 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. 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.

• [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}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Ancient Roman festivals

Category:February observances

Category:Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology

Category:She-wolf (Roman mythology)