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In ancient Roman religion, a lucus ([ˈɫ̪uː.kʊs], plural lucī) is a sacred grove.
Lucus was one of four Latin words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with nemus, silva, and saltus), but unlike the others it was primarily used as a religious designation, meaning "sacred grove".[1] Servius defines the lucus as "a large number of trees with a religious significance," as distinguished from the silva, a natural forest, and a nemus, an arboretum that is not consecrated.[2] A saltus usually implied a wilderness area with varied topographical features.
A lucus was a cultivated place, more like a wooded park than a forest, and might contain an aedes, a building that housed the image of a god, or other landscaped features that facilitated or gave rise to ritual.[3] It has been conjectured,[4] for instance, that the Lupercal, referred to as a "cave," was a small lucus with an artificial grotto, since archaeology has uncovered no natural cave in the area.
Apuleius records that "when pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove (lucus) or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow (votum), or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while."[5]
Some ancient sources as well as modern etymologists derive the word "from a letting in of light" (a lucendo); that is, the lucus was the clearing encompassed by trees.[6] The Old High German cognate lôh also means "clearing, holy grove." Lucus appears to have been understood in this sense in early medieval literature; until the 10th century, it is regularly translated into OHG as harug, a word never used for the secular silva.[7] Servius, however, somewhat perversely says that a lucus is so called because non luceat, "it is not illuminated," perhaps implying that a proper sacred grove hosted only legitimate daytime ceremonies and not dubious nocturnal rites that required torchlight.[8]
In his book On Agriculture, Cato records a Roman ritual lucum conlucare, "to clear a clearing." The officiant is instructed to offer a pig as a piaculum, a propitiation or expiatory offering made in advance of the potential wrong committed against the grove through human agency.[9] The following words are to be formulated (verba concipito) for the particular site:
Whether thou be god or goddess (si deus, si dea) to whom this grove is dedicated, as it is thy right to receive a sacrifice of a pig for the thinning of this sacred grove, and to this intent, whether I or one at my bidding do it, may it be rightly done. To this end, in offering this pig to thee I humbly beg that thou wilt be gracious and merciful to me, to my house and household, and to my children. Wilt thou deign to receive this pig which I offer thee to this end.[10]
The word piaculum is repeated three times in the prayer, emphasizing that the sacrifice of the pig is not a freewill offering, but something owed to the deity by right (ius). The piaculum compensates the deity for a transgression or offense, and differs from a regular sacrifice offered in the hope of procuring favor in return (do ut des).[11]
It is tempting, but misleading, to read ecological principles into ritualized agriculture; for the early Romans, respect was the partner of fear in their regard for the divine forces in nature, and the open invocation with which this prayer begins is a contractual "out" or hedge.[12] The piaculum was a guarantee that the action of clearing was valid.[13] Thoreau nonetheless made admiring reference to Cato's prayer in Walden: "I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which old Romans did when they came to thin, or let in the light to, a consecrated grove (lucum conlucare)."[14]
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Main article: Lucaria |
The Lucaria ("Grove Festival") was held on July 19 and 21, according to the Fasti Amiterni, a calendar dating from the reign of Tiberius found at Amiternum (now S. Vittorino) in Sabine territory.[15]
A lucus might become such a focus of activity that a community grew up around it, as was the case with the Lucus Augusti that is now Lugo in Spain and the Lucus Feroniae near Capena.[16] Lucus is therefore part of the Latin name of several different ancient places in the Roman Empire from which the modern name derives, including: