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VENUS CLOACINA *) PAR C. C. VAN ESSEN Il Existe, Sur Le Forum

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VENUS CLOACINA *) PAR C. C. VAN ESSEN Il Existe, Sur Le Forum VENUS CLOACINA *) PAR C. C. VAN ESSEN Il existe, sur le Forum Romain, adoss6e aux gradins qui portent a la plateforme de la Basilique ?milienne, une petite construction circulaire. Cette fois les topographes sont d'accord pour y recon- naitre le Sacellum (parce qu'il est à ciel nu 1) ) Veneris Cloacinae. En effet, il se dresse exactement la ou la Cloaca Maxima passe ' au-dessous de la Basilique 2). La litt6rature arch6ologique en a un peu n6glig6 le probl6me central: pourquoi a cet endroit un sacellum de Venus 3) ? Plusieurs fois des personnes se demandent ce que la d6esse de la beaute peut avoir a faire avec une cloaque. Ainsi nous avons mis le doigt *) Texte, 16g6rement retouch£, d'une communication faite au VIIIe Congr6s International de l'Histoire des Religions, Rome, avril, 1955. Pendant la discussion, M. Schilling, la these duquel sur le culte de V6nus a Rome paraitra sous peu, a eu l'obligeance de m'informer que ses id6es sur V6nus se rencontrent sur plusieurs points avec les miennes (voir ad- dendum). En outre il m'a averti qu'une 6tude sur Cloacina a 6t6 publi6e pendant la guerre par M. Basanow (La V6nus du Forum et de la N6cropole d'Orvieto dans Rev. d'Histoire des Religions LXIII (1942/3), Vol. CXXVI, p. 5 ss.). Selon M. Basanow Cloacina, identifi6e plus tard avec V6nus, est ,,cousine germaine" d'une d6esse (Voltumna ?) d'Orvi6to repr6sent6e sous les traits de V6nus (cp. pour elle Not. Scavi 1885, 33 ss. sur le Sepolcreto di Cannicella). On la v6n6rait au bord d'une conduite d'eau courante comme ,,reine des morts", et M.B. fait observer que Cloacina, elle aussi, est voisine de l'ancien sepulcretum du Forum Romain, mais on a port6 en ce cas I'accent sur son caract6re de "nymphe protectrice de 1'eau courante". M. Basanow part d'un "certain scheme du foie de Plaisance sciemment reproduit sur le terrain". L'ensemble me fait l'impression d'etre une construction plut6t hypoth6tique. i) Cp. pour sacellum et aedicula en dernier lieu Lyngby, Beitr. zur Topo- graphie des Forum-Boarium-Gebietes in Rom, p. z i ss. 2) Voir Bull. Comun. 1900, 61/2; Rom. Mitt. 1902, 45, n. i et, en dernier lieu, Lugli, Roma Ant. I (1946), p. 89 et pl. IV, no. 7; cp. p. 177 avec fig. 27 et Th6d6nat, Forum Rom., p. 75 et fig. 8 (l'un et I'autre disent: Venus Cloacina, cp. ici p. 138 n. 3,). 3) Jordan, Topogr. Rom I, 2, p. 398 et de Ruggiero, Foro Rom., pp. 182/4 ont entrevu le probl6me sans toutefois 1'envisager r6ellement. I38 sur la faute initiale qui a cree la difficult6. Pour la r6soudre il faut garder present que le monument actuel est d'6poque imp6riale, mais qu'au-dessous il existe des restes de 1'epoque syllane 1), tandis que la tradition nous permet de remonter plus haut, probable- ment a 1'epoque royale 2). Ainsi nous devons affronter la question de savoir, qui était la Venus primitive de sorte qu'elle pouvait etre identifi6e avec une Cloacina 3). Seule 1'6tymologie du mot Venus, donc, peut nous tirer de 1'embarras. Or, Venus n'est pas la divinite de la beaute feminine, elle 1'est ' devenue a la suite du contact avec 1'Aphrodite grecque. Le mot uenus, de la racine *,uenes', est apparent6 avec le n6erlandais-fla- mand wens (angl. wish; allem. Wiinsch, cf. Wonne), ce qui signifie d6sir, dans le cas sp6cifique d6sir 6rotique 4). Cela est confirme par la signification originale d'un mot apparente : uenenuyrc de *uenes- nom qui n'est pas, a l'origine, venin, poison, mais philtre, une boisson qui doit exciter ce d6sir 5). D'ailleurs, pour l'Aphrodite grecque, 1'histoire n'est pas tres differente; meme 1'epoque classique a conserve le souvenir d'Aphrodite deesse 1tOCpOCL't'LOÇde 1'engen- drement 6). 1) T. Frank, Rom. Build. Republic, p. 74. 2) Sinon aux temps de Romulus, du moins a ceux des Tarquins (ainsi de Ruggiero, o.c. p. 184; pour le roi Tatius voir Basanow, o.c.). 3) Wissowa (Pauly-Wissowa, Realenz., s.v. Cloacina) rejette absolument une Venus Cloacina. Steuding (Roscher, Myth. Lex., s.v. Cloacina) dans une note breve renvoie a Venus et a Concordia. Ibid., s.v. Concordia R. Peter (915, 4 ss.) d6clare que Concordia, comme Cloacina, est une manifestation de V6nus. I1 reste tout de meme acquis que Pline l'Anc. (Nat. Hist. XV, 119) parle sans h6sitation de Venus Cloacina. 4) Pour ceci voir Walde-Hoffmann, Lat. Etym. Wörterb.3, s.v. Venus; F. Muller, Lat. Wooydenb., s.vv. Venus et venenum et Altital. W6rterb., s.v. uenos; H. Wagenvoort, Imperium, p. 81 = Roman Dynamism, p. 82. Selon F. Muller (Gy. Woordenb.) aussi c6vi peut-être se rattache à la même racine, opinion que Boisacq s.v. et Hoffmann dans Walde-Hoffm. I.I. rejettent; mais elle cadre tres bien avec la maniere dont Homere use ce mot Od. VIII, 269 (cp. 11. XXIV, i3o et Od. V, 126) et qui refl6te des conceptions d'une soci6t6 qui ne connait pas la pruderie. 5) Voir lexiques. Wissowa (Roscher, s.v. Venus 183, 64 ss.) dit uenos = charis, mais n'approfondit pas la recherche. 6) Aeschyl., fr. 44 Nauck2, cite par Dieterich, Mutter Eyde, p. 40. En tout cas il est clair que je ne saurais pas suivre Wissowa quand il 6crit (Roscher, o.c., s.v. Venus 186, 43 ss.) que l'identification de Murcia, Cluacina et Libitina avec Venus pr6suppose deja la connaissance de l'Aphrodite grecque. .
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