CONSTRUCTING MYTHS 1 ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI EDENDA CURAVERUNT OFFPRINT XXXIII 2008 ROMAE MMVIII ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI XXXIII Accademia di Danimarca Via Omero, 18 - 00197 Rome © 2008 Accademia di Danimarca Analecta Romana Instituti Danici. — Vol. I (1960) — . Copenhagen: Munksgaard. From 1985: Rome, «L’ERMA» di Bretschneider. From 2007 (online): Accademia di Danimarca ISSN 2035-2506 REDAKTIONSKOMITÉ/SCIENTIFIC BOARD/COMITATO SCIENTIFICO Ove Hornby (Bestyrelsesformand, Det Danske Institut i Rom) Jesper Carlsen (Syddansk Universitet) Astrid Elbek (Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium) Karsten Friis-Jensen (Københavns Universitet) Helge Gamrath (Aalborg Universitet) Hannemarie Ragn Jensen (Københavns Universitet) Mogens Nykjær (Aarhus Universitet) Gunnar Ortmann (Det Danske Ambassade i Rom) Marianne Pade (Aarhus Universitet) Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen (Nationalmuseet, København) Lene Schøsler (Københavns Universitet) Poul Schülein (Arkitema, København) Anne Sejten (Roskilde Universitet) REDAKTIONSUDVALG/EDITORIAL BOARD/COMITATO DI REDAZIONE Erik Bach (Det Danske Institut i Rom) Patrick Kragelund (Danmarks Kunstbibliotek) Gert Sørensen (Københavns Universitet) Birgit Tang (Det Danske Institut i Rom) Maria Adelaide Zocchi (Det Danske Institut i Rom) The journal ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI (ARID) publishes studies within the main range of the Academy’s research activities: the arts and humanities, history and archaeology. Intending contributors should get in touch with the editors. For guidelines, cf. home- page. Accademia di Danimarca, 18 Via Omero, I - 00197 Roma, tel 0039-06 32 65 931 fax 06 32 22 717. E-mail: [email protected] Contents ANTONELLA MEZZOLANI: I materiali lapidei nelle costruzioni di età fenicia e punica a Cartagine 7 GITTE LØNSTRUP: Constructing Myths: The Foundation of Roma Christiana on 29 June 27 JENS VIGGO NIELSEN: ”L’Esistenzialismo non è un umanesimo” La dialettica come approccio all’esistenzialismo di Luigi Pareyson 65 LISE BEK: Innocence Lost. Symbolism to Rhetoric in Architecture and the Renaissance Concept of Invention 91 Constructing Myths: The Foundation of Roma Christiana on 29 June by GITTE LØNSTRUP1 “Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the renovatio urbis, the foundation of a nova Roma by Peter and Paul, was celebrated on 29 June, the same day as the anniversary of the foundation, or refoundation, of Rome by Quirinus-Romulus.” J. M. Huskinson2 Abstract. According to the early Christian calendar, June 29th was the day on which the Apostles Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome, by this sacrifice bestowing upon the Roman Church a unique authority. Already Ireneaus of Lyons (Adversus Haereses, 2nd century) and Clement of Rome (The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, 1st century) had announced that these apostles were the pillars and foundation of the Roman Church. This claim was later elaborated by Pope Damasus (366-384), during whose pontificate the cult of Peter and Paul was intensified, a monumental epigram being erected in their honour at the so-called Memoria Apostolorum on the Via Appia outside the city gates. On this common cult site, June 29th was celebrated every year, a celebration not only of the sacrifice of the Princes of the Apostles, but also of the foundation of the Roman Church. According to the Fasti Venusini, a Roman calendar of the first century (16 BC-4 AD), June 29th had once com- memorated the inauguration of a temple dedicated to Quirinus, the semi-mythical founder of Rome. This inaugura- tion, which Augustus seems to have been responsible for, is not, however, registered in any other preserved Roman calendar. Nevertheless, the coincidental parallel occurrence of these two events on June 29th has led scholars mis- takenly to claim that Christian Rome was founded on the same day upon which the Romans celebrated the city’s foundation by Romulus Quirinus. The present article aims at deconstructing this myth by careful analysis of the sources – Roman and Christian calendars, basilicas and golden glasses, graffiti and marble epigrams. It argues that a celebration of Peter and Paul on June 29th in imitation of the festival of Quirinus is unlikely. This is not least because the commemoration of the temple of pagan Rome’s legendary founder already seems to have been fading away when Ovid composed his Fasti – the only other source which testifies, however vaguely, to the inauguration of the temple of Quirinus on June 29th. If the foundation day of Rome was actually endars testify to the celebration of the foun- celebrated on 29 June, as described in the dation of Rome on 21 April – even after the introductory quotation, the Christian ap- Emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and propriation of this legendary day would be Arcadius had annulled several conventional intriguing. However, this event was not cel- holidays in 389.3 ebrated on 29 June. Ancient sources and cal- When reading in the Enciclopedia dei 28 GITTE LØNSTRUP Papi (2000) I was intrigued by a comment of the bowels of the earth, full of graves so dark in the entry for Pope Damasus that 29 June that the words of the Psalms [55, 16] ‘Let the was “lo stesso giorno in cui i pagani cele- living sink into the Realm of Death’ seemed to bravano l’anniversario della fondazione di become real. The darkness which surrounded us Roma.”4 This article has its origin in the may be described through the words of Virgil: curiosity aroused on this occasion. I would ‘Horror is dense everywhere, even silence thick- therefore like to examine the significance of ens with terror’ [Aeneid II. 755].8 29 June in the calendars of both the ancient Romans and the Roman Church, in order to The labyrinthine procession increased the verify whether this day had any connection tension, which was eventually released upon to the traditional foundation day of Rome as arrival to the Damasian crypt where single suggested in the quotations above. rays of light penetrated the darkness and Pope Damasus (366-384) was a central reached the saint’s grave, decorated with an figure in the creation of the myth about Chris- epigram.The inscriptions, the atmospheric tian Rome, founded by Peter and Paul.5 His rooms and the routes served to promote the works constitute a corner stone of this study. martyr’s cult in support of the myth of the During his pontificate he composed between Christian foundation of Rome which Dama- 60 and 80 poems carved into monumental sus was in the process of constructing. The stone tablets (epigrams) which were placed purpose of this myth was to ensure Rome at the martyr tombs in the Roman catacombs the position as the authoritative diocese of (Pl. I and Fig. 7).6 Damasus had crypts con- Christianity. The martyrdoms of Peter and structed in the catacombs specially designed Paul, both celebrated on 29 June,9 would for the cultic and liturgical rituals which he serve as the legitimisation of Apostolic au- staged there. The pilgrims did not arrive at thority. These martyrdoms became absolute- the crypts until after they had passed through ly fundamental in the foundation of Roma a route, the itinera ad sanctos,7 in the subter- Christiana. ranean network of streets whose endlessly The term ‘myth’ must here be conceived long, dark and narrow corridors, with tombs through two lenses: partly as a traditional from floor to ceiling, a permanent smell of foundation myth,10 in which mortal and im- putrefaction, served as a constant reminder mortal figures appear (i.e. the martyrs); part- to the believer that he/she was in the realm ly through Roland Barthes’ theory of myths of the dead. Then – as now – a visit to the introduced in his book Mythologies (1957). catacombs was an overwhelming experi- According to Barthes, the myth is a phenom- ence, as very clearly evoked by Jerome’s enon, or a mechanism, which transforms his- description of such a visit: torical constructions and makes them appear natural and self-evident.11 Neither the subject We descended into the galleries, carved out matter nor the source material of this article CONSTRUCTING MYTHS 29 have previously been studied through this month – marked with capital letters – were, lens, but it proves highly applicable, both however, VESTALIA on 9 June and MAT- in an analysis of the Christian foundation RALIA on 11 June. Out of the 45 calendars myth as constructed by Damasus, and in examined,14 the date of 29 June has actu- the scholarly myths attached to it, amongst ally only been preserved in the Republican them the discussion of whether 29 June was Fasti Antiates Maiores and in the following both the legendary and the Christian foun- Julian-Augustan calendars: the Fasti Maf- dation day of Rome. feiani (8 BC), the Fasti Esquilini (7 BC) and the Fasti Venusini (16 BC - 4 AD), to- 29 June and other Significant Days in the gether with Ovid’s poetic Fasti, and the two Roman Calendar calendars preserved in manuscript form: the This is not the right occasion for an account Fasti Philocaliani (354) and the Fasti Silvii of the complex construction and history of Polemii (449). The month of June is either the Roman calendar.12 The issues here are entirely or in part lost in the other calendars. 29 June and holidays in the Roman calen- Among the seven relevant calendars, only dar, dedicated to the celebration of the the Fasti Venusini and Ovid’s Fasti regis- founders and the foundation of Rome. Ju- ter an event on 29 June. Ovid writes very lius Caesar’s reform of the Republican cal- briefly: “When as many days of the month endar in 46 BC should, however, be men- remain as the Fates (Parcae) have names, tioned by way of introduction. The structure a temple was dedicated to thee, Quirinus, of the Julian system, which consists of 365 god of the striped gown.”15 Since there were days divided into 12 months, is in principle three goddesses of Fate (Nona, Decima and still valid, although it has been subjected to Morta), this must refer to the antepenulti- an ongoing Christianisation, partly through mate day of June.