CLAA06H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Numen, Sacred Fire Of Vesta, Latinus
Document Summary
Late republic (132 31 bc) roman empire (31 bc ad 476/1453) Greeks: original italian gods were not as anthropomorphic much more one- dimensional. They were really personifications (numina) rather than fully rounded characters. Hestia (roman: vesta: goddess of the home and hearth sacred flame, an eternal virgin. First born of olympian gods: not mentioned much in myth, but important cult figure, no official worship in greek world (no temples and sanctuaries), but of important to the, the roman version, vesta, enjoys greater importance. The official cult in rome is tended household. by the vestal virgins. Julius caesar first roman to be declared god after death. The aenied national epic: aeneas is founder of the roman people, and ancestor of julius caesar and augustus. He does not found rome itself, but the nearby city of lavinium but his descendants found. Rome: the opening tells how aeneas escaped from troy, and sets up for rome"s greatest enemy.
