Prodigies and Communication
Of the three priesthoods to propose an expiation rite, the decemviriwere prominent
in the period to the end of the second century bc. Thereafter the senate asked the
haruspicesmore frequently. Pontiffs played a marginal role. Since the decemviriand
the pontiffs consisted of senators, these colleges offered the nobilesan additional,
although limited, field of influence. Only in a few cases do our sources note con-
currence and disagreement between the priesthoods (Livy 42.20.1– 4). It has been
pointed out that the prodigy notices seem to be very specific violations of par-
ticular norms (Jason Davies 2004: 30). Unfortunately, the scarcity of our sources
permits only speculation: if mules giving birth are reported only from Reate and no
other town, this might be due to a special connection between Reate and Rome;
for example, a senatorial family might have had strong ties to that city. Scientific
explanations of the prodigious events, as put forward by Krauss (1930), do not help
our understanding of the phenomenon. To some degree, prodigies articulate fears
- earthquakes or military defeats, when turned into a prodigy, are catastrophic by
nature. A number of prodigies can be interpreted by analogy: if the sacred spears of
Mars in the Regia moved of their own accord this might be taken as a sign indic-
ating war. Miscarriages may have symbolized problems in the system of procreation,
fundamentally threatening a society based on agriculture. Other prodigies, such as
mules having offspring, may as adynaton(impossibility) represent fears of an abstract
loss of order. Many prodigies can be interpreted with the concept of liminality.
Hermaphrodites are a transgression of the boundary between male and female, a boy
with the head of an elephant is a mixture of human and animal, wolves entering the
city of Rome violate the boundary between wild and civilized.
Since the prodigies were a violation of a border, boundaries were reinforced by
the expiations. Most expiatory rites can be classified in the following system.
1 The removal of the prodigious event:
(a) From Rome:In 135 bc, an owl, which was heard first on the Capitol and
then about the city, was caught and burned (Obsequens 26); in 101, a strange
and rare scapegoat-ritual was performed: priests led a she-goat with its
horns on fire through the city and expelled it through one of the gates
(Obsequens 44a).
(b) Inside the city:This group includes the burial of lightning-bolts as well as
the live burial of Vestals who had been convicted of unchastity. The two
unchaste Vestals of 216 were buried within the walls at the porta Collina,
the farthest possible spot from the forum (Livy 22.57.2).
(c) Outside Rome: Androgynes, for example, were not killed in Rome, but
drowned by the haruspices in the sea (Livy 27.11.1– 6) or in a river
(Obsequens 27a).
2 The restoration of borders through rituals:
(a) In a lustratio, priests led a procession around the city walls, thus ritually
restoring the boundaries and the safety of Rome.
Republican Nobiles 295