1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lupercalia
LUPERCALIA, a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman, pastoral
festival in honour of Lupercus. Its rites were under the superintendence
of a corporation of priests called Luperci,[1] whose
institution is attributed either to the Arcadian Evander, or to
Romulus and Remus. In front of the Porta Romana, on the
western side of the Palatine hill, close to the Ficus Ruminalis
and the Casa Romuli, was the cave of Lupercus; in it, according
to the legend, the she-wolf had suckled the twins, and the bronze
wolf, which is still preserved in the Capitol, was placed in it in
296 B.C. But the festival itself, which was held on February 15th,
contains no reference to the Romulus legend, which is probably
later in origin, though earlier than the grecizing Evander legend.
The festival began with the sacrifice by the Luperci (or the
flamen dialis) of goats and a dog; after which two of the Luperci
were led to the altar, their foreheads were touched with a bloody
knife, and the blood wiped off with wool dipped in milk; then
the ritual required that the two young men should laugh. The
smearing of the forehead with blood probably refers to human
sacrifice originally practised at the festival. The sacrificial
feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins
of the victims and ran in two bands round the walls of the old
Palatine city, the line of which was marked with stones, striking
the people who crowded near. A blow from the thong prevented
sterility in women. These thongs were called februa, the festival
Februatio, and the day dies februatus (februare=to purify);
hence the name of the month February, the last of the old Roman
year. The object of the festival was, by expiation and purification,
to secure the fruitfulness of the land, the increase of the
flocks and the prosperity of the whole people. The Lupercal
(cave of Lupercus), which had fallen into a state of decay, was
rebuilt by Augustus; the celebration of the festival had been
maintained, as we know from the famous occurrence of it in
44 B.C. It survived until A.D. 494, when it was changed by
Gelasius into the feast of the Purification. Lupercus, in whose
honour the festival was held, is identified with Faunus or Inuus,
Evander (
See Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii. (1885) p. 438; W. Warde Fowler, Roman Festivals (1899), p. 390 foll., and article in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed. 1891).
- ↑ Many derivations are suggested, but it seems most probable that Luperci simply means “wolves” (the last part of the word exhibiting a similar formation to nov-erca), the name having its origin in the primitive worship of the wolf as a wolf-god.
- ↑ Mommsen considers the Quinctia to be the older gens, and the Quinctilia a later introduction from Alba.