Talk:Arval Brethren

Added M. Aurelius as an imperial Arval Brother. I have seen a photo of a statue of him dressed as an Arval brother.

I recently found an interesting reference in "Pan's Travail" by J. Donald Hughes. On p. 175, "Each year the Avaral Brethren, a Roman priesthood who had care of a large forest dedicated to Dea Dia near the city, 'offered two young pigs in order to expiate the unavoidable desecration of the sacred grove by the use of the axe in pruning and felling it...whenever iron was brought into the grove, as for...the lopping and felling of the trees...there were sacrifices ob ferrum illatum ["for the bringing in of iron'], and, when the work was done, ob ferrum elatum ["for the taking out of iron"].'" (footnoted to "Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities", NY, 1923; pp. 686-88, S.V. 'Fratres Arvales'.) This is the earliest reference to the issue of iron in the cutting of trees and the 'desecration' it produces, I have ever found. Course, we know fairies don't like iron, perhaps the dryads don't like it either. Glenn A. Turner 01:21, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My article on "tripudium" in the International Encyclopedia of Dance refers to the use of the word in the late imperial inscription; interested in more info as it's available. Dellaroux (talk) 17:27, 15 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]