altar of Consus
{{Short description|Altar to the Roman gods Consus and Mars}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
File:AraConsi planrome.png. 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, as well as the lares, which were ancient Roman household guardians. It was located beneath the Circus Maximus.{{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}}{{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}} The altar may have also served as the first turning post of the Circus Maximus.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}} It is possible the subterranean location of this altar is connected to the Roman practice of storing wheat underground{{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}}{{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}} and specifically paralleled by the ancient mundus of Ceres supposedly instituted by Romulus at the founding of the city.{{Cite journal |last=Fowler |first=W. Warde |date=1912 |title=Mundus Patet. 24th August, 5th October, 8th November |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/mundus-patet-24th-august-5th-october-8th-november/41E8D43827BED66FC7C1C61FA894B81C |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=2 |pages=25–33 |doi=10.2307/295939 |jstor=295939 |s2cid=163222877 |issn=1753-528X}} This is in turn associated with the modern interpretation of Consus as an agrarian deity. Dionysus of Halicarnassus wrote that some ancient Romans believed the altar was located underground because they thought that the god Consus corresponded to Poseidon, who was also a god of earthquakes. He also claims that other Romans believed that the altar was dedicated to an unamenable god who presided over hidden councils.{{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}}{{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}} This explanation is associated with the ancient connections between Consus and secrecy and hidden councils.{{cite book |author=Maurus Servius Honoratus |title=In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii |at=8.636 |trans-title=Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid |quote=Consus autem deus est consiliorum.}} Tacitus mentions the altar as a landmark of his conjectural reconstruction of the pomerium,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] the sacred border of the city of Rome proper, as originally established by Romulus's {{lang|la|sulcus primigenius}}.{{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 }}{{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}}
The site was covered for most of the year, although it was uncovered during religious occasions for sacrifices and rituals.{{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}}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]{{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.}} Roman author Tertullian stated that public priests made sacrifices at the altar on 7 July during the Caprotinia. He also wrote that the Flamen Quirinalis and a group of virgins, potentially the Vestal Virgins, made sacrifices at the altar on 21 August.{{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}}{{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 }}{{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 }} This was in celebration of the Consualia,{{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}} a Roman holiday which honored Consus. As part of this holiday,{{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}} games commemorating the Rape of the Sabine Women were held at this altar.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}
Tertullian wrote that it bore an inscription which read:{{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}}{{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}}
{{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 etymological link between {{lang|la|Consus}} and {{lang|la|consilium}}, the Latin word for counsel.{{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 }}{{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 }} 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, which is the case used in the inscription. 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. Alternatively, it may have been a transcription of the Greek word for the Lacus Curtius.{{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 }} Coillo could possibly be a synonym of Compito. 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.{{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}}