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The Carmen Arvale is the preserved chant of the Arval priests or Fratres Arvales of ancient Rome.^[1]

The Arval priests were devoted to the goddess Dea Dia, and offered sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility of ploughed fields (Latin arvum). There were twelve Arval priests, chosen from patrician families. During the Roman Empire the Emperor was always an Arval priest. They retained the office for life, even if disgraced or exiled. Their most important festival, the Ambarvalia, occurred during the month of May, in a grove dedicated to Dea Dia.

The Carmen Arvale is preserved in an inscription dating from 218 AD which contains records of the meetings of the Arval Brethren. It is written in an archaic form of Old Latin, likely not fully understood any more at the time the inscription was made.^[2]

One of its interpretations goes as follows:^{[note 1]}

enos Lases iuuate

neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores

satur fu, fere Mars, limen sali, sta berber

semunis alternei advocapit conctos

enos Marmor iuuato

triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe

Another interpretation was proposed recently.^[4] While passages of this text are obscure, the traditional interpretation makes the chant a prayer to seek aid of Mars and the Lares (lases), beseeching Mars not to let plagues or disasters overtake in the fields, asking him to be satiated, and dance, and call forth the "Semones", who may represent sacred sowers.^[5] (Cf. Semo Sancus, a god of agriculture and fidelity.) Semones are minor tutelary deities, in particular Sancus, Priapus, Faunus, all Vertumni, all Silvani, Bona Dea.

limen sali, sta means jump over the barrier, stand in standard Latin.

Notes

^ The inscription itself contains no spaces, the following transcription may therefore not reflect the original text. An image of the carving can be found in Baldi (1999).^[3]

References

^ Palmer, L.R. (1954) [repr. 2001] The Latin Language (London: Bristol Classical Press) 62-4.
^ Palmer (1954) ibid.
^ Baldi, P. (1999) The foundations of Latin - Foreign Language Study.
^ Niederle, J. (2013) Skalničkářův rok 68, dodatek A, ISSN 1805-1170, 2-3
^ Frederic de Forest Allen, Remnants of Early Latin (Boston: Ginn & Heath 1880 and Ginn & Co 1907).

[4] The inscription itself contains no spaces, the following transcription may therefore not reflect the original text. An image of the carving can be found in Baldi (1999).^[3]

[1] Palmer, L.R. (1954) [repr. 2001] The Latin Language (London: Bristol Classical Press) 62-4.

[2] Palmer (1954) ibid.

[3] Baldi, P. (1999) The foundations of Latin - Foreign Language Study.

[5] Niederle, J. (2013) Skalničkářův rok 68, dodatek A, ISSN 1805-1170, 2-3

[6] Frederic de Forest Allen, Remnants of Early Latin (Boston: Ginn & Heath 1880 and Ginn & Co 1907).

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 :''triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe triumpe''
-While passages of this text are obscure, the traditional interpretation makes the chant a prayer to seek aid of [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] and the [[Lares]] (''lases''), beseeching Mars not to let plagues or disasters overtake in the fields, asking him to be satiated, and dance, and call forth the "Semones", who may represent sacred sowers.<ref>[[Frederic de Forest Allen]], ''Remnants of Early Latin'' (Boston: Ginn & Heath 1880 and Ginn & Co 1907).</ref>  (Cf. [[Semo Sancus]], a god of agriculture and fidelity.) [[Semones]] are minor [[tutelary deity|tutelary deities]], in particular [[Sancus]], [[Priapus]], [[Faunus]], all [[Vertumnus|Vertumni]], all [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvani]], [[Bona Dea]].
+Another interpretation was proposed recently.<ref>Niederle, J. (2013) [http://skalnicky-brno.cz/doc/68Askalnickaruv_rok.pdf ''Skalničkářův rok'' 68, dodatek A, ISSN 1805-1170, 2-3 ]</ref> While passages of this text are obscure, the traditional interpretation makes the chant a prayer to seek aid of [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] and the [[Lares]] (''lases''), beseeching Mars not to let plagues or disasters overtake in the fields, asking him to be satiated, and dance, and call forth the "Semones", who may represent sacred sowers.<ref>[[Frederic de Forest Allen]], ''Remnants of Early Latin'' (Boston: Ginn & Heath 1880 and Ginn & Co 1907).</ref>  (Cf. [[Semo Sancus]], a god of agriculture and fidelity.) [[Semones]] are minor [[tutelary deity|tutelary deities]], in particular [[Sancus]], [[Priapus]], [[Faunus]], all [[Vertumnus|Vertumni]], all [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvani]], [[Bona Dea]].
 <br />
 ''limen sali, sta'' means ''jump over the barrier, stand'' in standard Latin.

Revision as of 12:00, 3 September 2013

See also

Notes

References