Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
SEMO SANCUS
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: SCY-SHA
del.icio.us it!
|
SEMO SANCUS , an See also:Italian divinity worshipped by the Sabines, Umbrians and See also:Romans, also called Dius Fidius and (perhaps wrongly) identified with the Italian See also:Hercules. His dual nature, as a See also:god of See also:light and See also:good faith, is indicated by the names Dius Fidius. Sancus is obviously from sancire, meaning one who hallows the acts in which he takes See also:part. Semo has been vatiously explained as: (r) one who presides over See also:seed-See also:time and See also:harvest (serere, cf. the See also:female Semonia); (2) a being apart from and See also:superior to See also:man (se-homo); (3) a demi-god (semis). The priests called bidentales, whose existence is attested by See also:inscriptions, were specially connected with his See also:worship, since See also:lightning which See also:fell from See also:heaven during the See also:day was looked upon as sent by Dius Fidius, and a See also:special class of birds (sanquales) was under his See also:protection. As the god of oaths, he protected the sanctity of the See also:marriage tie, the rights of hospitality, See also:international See also:treaties and alliances. In his See also:sanctuary on the Quirinal, the See also:foundation of which was celebrated on the 5th of See also:June, there were shown the See also:distaff and spindle of See also:Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius See also:Priscus, and in the eyes of See also:Roman matrons the embodiment of all wifely virtues. See also:Dionysius of See also:Halicarnassus (iv. 58) states that the treaty concluded between Tarquinius Superbus and the See also:town of See also:Gabii was deposited in the same See also:temple of Sancus, whose name he translates by Zevs srivrios. He could only be invoked under the open See also:sky, as partaking of the nature of a god of light and day; hence a See also:round opening was made in the roof of his temple through which prayers might ascend to heaven. If he was invoked in a private See also:house, those who called upon his name stood beneath the opening in the roof called See also:compluvium. The See also:bronze orbs mentioned by See also:Livy (viii. 20. 8) as having been set up in his temple are also supposed to have some connexion with this, although they may be merely symbols of the eternal See also:power of See also:Rome. There was a second See also:chapel of Semo Sancus on the See also:island in the See also:Tiber with an See also:altar, the inscription on which led See also:Christian writers (See also:Justin See also:Martyr, See also:Tertullian, See also:Eusebius) to See also:con-fuse him with See also:Simon Magus, and to infer that the latter was worshipped at Rome as a god. The cult of Semo Sancus never possessed very See also:great importance at Rome; authorities differ as to whether it was of See also:Sabine origin or not. The plural Semones was used of a class of supernatural beings, a See also:kind of tutelary deities of the See also:state. See See also:Preller, Romische Mythologie; See also:article " Dius Fidius," by Wissowa, in See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, and his See also:Religion and Kultus der Romer (19o2), who rejects the identity of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius with Hercules; W. W. See also:Fowler, The Roman Festivals (1899); E. Jannettaz, Etude See also:sun Semo Sancus Fidius (See also:Paris, 1885), according to whom he was a Sabine See also:fire god. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] SEMMERING PASS |
[next] SEMOIS (also spelt SEMOY and SEnzoYS) |