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Gallienus – Roman Emperor: 253-268 A.D. – Joint Rule with
Valerian I 253-260 A.D. –
Bronze Antoninianus 20mm (2.65 grams) Rome mint circa 265-267 A.D.
Reference: RIC 236k, C 617a
GALLIENVSAVG – Radiate head right.
MARTIPACIFERO – Mars standing left, holding branch and spear with shield.
H in left field.
*Numismatic note; Mars with branch is peace-bringing.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
Gallienus (Latin:
Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus;
c. 218 – 268) was
Roman Emperor
with his father
Valerian
from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to
268. He ruled during the
Crisis of the Third Century
that nearly caused
the collapse of the empire. While he won a number of military victories, he was
unable to prevent the secession of important provinces.
Life
Rise to power
The exact birth date of Gallienus is unknown. The Greek chronicler
John Malalas
and the Epitome de Caesaribus
report that he was about 50 years old at the time of his death, meaning he was
born around 218. He was the son of emperor
Valerian
and
Mariniana
, who may have been of senatorial
rank, possibly the daughter of
Egnatius Victor Marinianus
, and his brother was
Valerianus Minor
. Inscriptions on coins connect
him with Falerii
in
Etruria
, which may have been his birthplace; it
has yielded many inscriptions relating to his mother’s family, the Egnatii.[3]
Gallienus married
Cornelia Salonina
about ten years before his
accession to the throne. She was the mother of three princes:
Valerian II
, who died in 258;
Saloninus
, who was named co-emperor but was
murdered in 260 by the army of general Postumus; and
Marinianus
, who was killed in 268, shortly
after his father was assassinated.
When
Valerian
was proclaimed Emperor on 22 October
253, he asked the
Senate
to ratify the elevation of Gallienus to
Caesar and
Augustus
. He was also designated
Consul Ordinarius
for 254. As
Marcus Aurelius
and his adopted brother
Lucius Verus
had done a century earlier,
Gallienus and his father divided the Empire. Valerian left for the East to stem
the Persian threat, and Gallienus remained in Italy to repel the Germanic tribes
on the Rhine
and
Danube
.
Division of the empire
had become necessary due
to its sheer size and the numerous threats it faced, and it facilitated
negotiations with enemies who demanded to communicate directly with the emperor.
Early
reign and the revolt of Ingenuus
Gallienus spent most of his time in the provinces of the Rhine area (Germania
Inferior,
Germania Superior
,
Raetia
, and
Noricum
), though he almost certainly visited
the Danube
area and
Illyricum
during 253 to 258. According to
Eutropius and Aurelius Victor, he was particularly energetic and successful in
preventing invaders from attacking the German provinces and Gaul, despite the
weakness caused by Valerian’s march on Italy against
Aemilianus
in 253. According to numismatic
evidence, he seems to have won many victories there, and a victory in
Roman Dacia
might also be dated to that period.
Even the hostile Latin tradition attributes success to him at this time.
In 255 or 257, Gallienus was made Consul again, suggesting that he briefly
visited Rome on those occasions, although no record survives. During his Danube
sojourn (Drinkwater suggests in 255 or 256), he proclaimed his elder son
Valerian II
Caesar and thus official heir to
himself and Valerian I; the boy probably joined Gallienus on campaign at that
time, and when Gallienus moved west to the Rhine provinces in 257, he remained
behind on the Danube as the personification of Imperial authority.
Ingenuus, governor of at least one of the
Pannonian provinces, took advantage and declared himself emperor. Valerian II
had apparently died on the Danube, most likely in 258. Ingenuus may have been
responsible for that calamity. Alternatively, the defeat and capture of Valerian
at the
battle of Edessa
may have been the trigger for
the subsequent revolts of Ingenuus,
Regalianus
, and
Postumus
.[12]
In any case, Gallienus reacted with great speed. He left his son
Saloninus
as Caesar at
Cologne
, under the supervision of Albanus (or
Silvanus) and the military leadership of Postumus. He then hastily crossed the
Balkans
, taking with him the new cavalry corps
(comitatus) under the command of
Aureolus
and defeated Ingenuus at
Mursa
or
Sirmium
.The victory must be attributed mainly
to the cavalry and its brilliant commander. Ingenuus was killed by his own
guards or committed suicide by drowning himself after the fall of his capital,
Sirmium.
Invasion of the
Alamanni
A major invasion by the
Alemanni
and other Germanic tribes occurred
between 258 and 260 (it is hard to fix the precise date of these
events),probably due to the vacuum left by the withdrawal of troops supporting
Gallienus in the campaign against Ingenuus.
Franks
broke through the lower Rhine, invading
Gaul, some reaching as far as southern Spain, sacking Tarraco (modern
Tarragona
).The Alamanni invaded, probably
through
Agri Decumates
(an area between the upper Rhine
and the upper Danube), likely followed by the
Juthungi
. After devastating Germania Superior
and Raetia (parts of southern
France
and
Switzerland
), they entered Italy, the first
invasion of the Italian peninsula, aside from its most remote northern regions,
since Hannibal
500 years before. When invaders
reached the outskirts of Rome, they were repelled by an improvised army
assembled by the Senate, consisting of local troops (probably prǣtorian guards)
and the strongest of the civilian population.On their retreat through northern
Italy, they were intercepted and defeated in the
battle of Mediolanum
(near present day
Milan
) by Gallienus’ army, which had advanced
from Gaul, or from the Balkans after dealing with the Franks.The battle of
Mediolanum was decisive, and the Alamanni didn’t bother the empire for the next
ten years. The Juthungi managed to cross the Alps with their valuables and
captives from Italy. An historian in the 19th century suggested that the
initiative of the Senate gave rise to jealousy and suspicion by Gallienus, thus
contributing to his exclusion of senators from military commands.
The revolt of
Regalianus
Around the same time,
Regalianus
, a military commander of
Illyricum
, was proclaimed Emperor. The reasons
for this are unclear, and the Historia Augusta (almost the sole resource
for these events) does not provide a credible story. It is possible the seizure
can be attributed to the discontent of the civilian and military provincials,
who felt the defense of the province was being neglected.
Regalianus held power for some six months and issued coins bearing his image.
After some success against the
Sarmatians
, his revolt was put down by the
invasion of Roxolani
into
Pannonia
, and Regalianus himself was killed
when the invaders took the city of
Sirmium
. There is a suggestion that Gallienus
invited Roxolani to attack Regalianus, but other historians dismiss the
accusation.[25]
It is also suggested that the invasion was finally checked by Gallienus near
Verona
and that he directed the restoration of
the province, probably in person.
Capture of Valerian, revolt of Macrianus
In the East, Valerian was confronted with serious troubles. A band of
Scythians
set a naval raid against
Pontus
, in the northern part of modern Turkey.
After ravaging the province, they moved south into
Cappadocia
. Valerian led troops to intercept
them but failed, perhaps because of a plague that gravely weakened his army, as
well as the contemporary invasion of northern
Mesopotamia
by
Shapur I
, ruler of the
Sassanid Empire
.
In 259 or 260, the Roman army was defeated in the
Battle of Edessa
, and Valerian was taken
prisoner. Shapur’s army raided
Cilicia
and
Cappadocia
(in present day
Turkey
), sacking, as Shapur’s inscriptions
claim, 36 cities. It took a rally by an officer
Callistus
(Balista), a fiscal official named
Fulvius Macrianus
, the remains of the Eastern
Roman legions, and
Odenathus
and his
Palmyrene
horsemen to turn the tide against
Shapur. The Persians were driven back, but Macrianus proclaimed his two sons
Quietus
and
Macrianus
(sometimes misspelled Macrinus) as
emperors. Coins struck for them in major cities of the East indicate
acknowledgement of the usurpation. The two Macriani left Quietus, Ballista, and,
presumably, Odenathus to deal with the Persians while they invaded Europe with
an army of 30,000 men, according to the Historia Augusta. At first they
met no opposition. The Pannonian legions joined the invaders, being resentful of
the absence of Gallienus. He sent his successful commander Aureolus against the
rebels, however, and the decisive battle was fought in the spring or early
summer of 261, most likely in Illyricum, although
Zonaras
locates it in Pannonia. In any case,
the army of the usurpers surrendered, and their two leaders were killed.
In the aftermath of the battle, the rebellion of Postumus had already
started, so Gallienus had no time to deal with the rest of the usurpers, namely
Balista and Quietus. He came to an agreement with Odenathus, who had just
returned from his victorious Persian expedition. Odenathus received the title of
dux Romanorum and besieged the usurpers, who were based at
Emesa
. Eventually, the people of Emesa killed
Quietus, and Odenathus arrested and executed Balista about November 261.
The revolt of Postumus
After the defeat at Edessa, Gallienus lost control over the provinces of
Britain, Spain, parts of Germania, and a large part of Gaul when another
general, Postumus
, declared his own realm (usually known
today as the
Gallic Empire
). The revolt partially coincided
with that of
Macrianus
in the East. Gallienus had installed
his son Saloninus and his guardian,
Silvanus
, in Cologne in 258. Postumus, a
general in command of troops on the banks of the Rhine, defeated some raiders
and took possession of their spoils. Instead of returning it to the original
owners, he preferred to distribute it amongst his soldiers. When news of this
reached Silvanus, he demanded the spoils be sent to him. Postumus made a show of
submission, but his soldiers mutinied and proclaimed him Emperor. Under his
command, they besieged Cologne, and after some weeks the defenders of the city
opened the gates and handed Saloninus and Silvanus to Postumus, who had them
killed. The dating of these events is not accurate, but they apparently occurred
just before the end of 260. Postumus claimed the consulship for himself and one
of his associates, Honoratianus, but according to D.S. Potter, he never tried to
unseat Gallienus or invade Italy.
Upon receiving news of the murder of his son, Gallienus began gathering
forces to face Postumus. The invasion of the Macriani forced him to dispatch
Aureolus with a large force to oppose them, however, leaving him with
insufficient troops to battle Postumus. After some initial defeats, the army of
Aureolus, having defeated the Macriani, rejoined him, and Postumus was expelled.
Aureolus was entrusted with the pursuit and deliberately allowed Postumus to
escape and gather new forces. Gallienus returned in 263 or 265 and surrounded
Postumus in an unnamed Gallic city. During the siege, Gallenus was severely
wounded by an arrow and had to leave the field. The standstill persisted until
the death of Gallienus, and the
Gallic Empire
remained independent until 274.
The revolt of
Aemilianus
In 262, the mint in
Alexandria<!– started to again issue coins for
Gallienus, demonstrating that Egypt had returned to his control after
suppressing the revolt of the Macriani. In spring of 262, the city was wrenched
by civil unrest as a result of a new revolt. The rebel this time was the prefect
of Egypt,
Lucius Mussius Aemilianus
, who had already
given support to the revolt of the Macriani. The correspondence of bishop
Dionysius of Alexandria
provides a colourful
commentary on the sombre background of invasion, civil war, plague, and famine
that characterized this age.
Knowing he could not afford to lose control of the vital Egyptian granaries,
Gallienus sent his general Theodotus against Aemilianus, probably by a naval
expedition. The decisive battle probably took place near Thebes, and the result
was a clear defeat of Aemilianus. In the aftermath, Gallienus became Consul
three more times in 262, 264, and 266.
Herulian invasions, revolt of Aureolus, conspiracy and death
In the years 267–269, Goths and other barbarians invaded the empire in great
numbers. Sources are extremely confused on the dating of these invasions, the
participants, and their targets. Modern historians are not even able to discern
with certainty whether there were two or more of these invasions or a single
prolonged one. It seems that, at first, a major naval expedition was led by the
Heruli
starting from north of the
Black Sea
and leading in the ravaging of many
cities of Greece (among them,
Athens
and
Sparta
). Then another, even more numerous army
of invaders started a second naval invasion of the empire. The Romans defeated
the barbarians on sea first. Gallienus’ army then won a battle in
Thrace
, and the Emperor pursued the invaders.
According to some historians, he was the leader of the army who won the great
Battle of Naissus
, while the majority believes
that the victory must be attributed to his successor,
Claudius II
.
In 268, at some time before or soon after the battle of Naissus, the
authority of Gallienus was challenged by
Aureolus
, commander of the cavalry stationed in
Mediolanum
(Milan),
who was supposed to keep an eye on
Postumus
. Instead, he acted as deputy to
Postumus until the very last days of his revolt, when he seems to have claimed
the throne for himself. The decisive battle took place at what is now
Pontirolo Nuovo
near Milan; Aureolus was
clearly defeated and driven back to Milan. Gallienus laid siege to the city but
was murdered during the siege. There are differing accounts of the murder, but
the sources agree that most of Gallienus’ officials wanted him dead.[44]
According to the
Historia Augusta
, an unreliable source compiled
long after the events it describes, a conspiracy was led by the commander of the
guard
Aurelius Heraclianus
and Marcianus.
Cecropius, commander of the Dalmatians, spread the word that the forces of
Aureolus were leaving the city, and Gallienus left his tent without his
bodyguard, only to be struck down by Cecropius.One version has Claudius selected
as Emperor by the conspirators, another chosen by Gallienus on his death bed;
the Historia Augusta was concerned to substantiate the descent of the
Constantinianan dynasty
from Claudius, and this
may explain its accounts, which do not involve Claudius in the murder. The other
sources (Zosimus
i.40 and
Zonaras
xii.25) report that the conspiracy was
organized by Heraclianus, Claudius, and
Aurelian
.
According to Aurelius Victor and Zonaras, on hearing the news that Gallienus
was dead, the Senate in Rome ordered the execution of his family (including his
brother Valerianus and son Marinianus) and their supporters, just before
receiving a message from Claudius to spare their lives and deify his
predecessor.
Arch of Gallienus
in Rome, 262 –
dedicated to, rather than built by, Gallienus.
Legacy
Gallienus was not treated favorably by ancient historians, partly due to the
secession of Gaul and
Palmyra
and his inability to win them back.
According to modern scholar Pat Southern, some historians now see him in a more
positive light.Gallienus produced some useful reforms. He contributed to
military history as the first to commission primarily
cavalry
units, the
Comitatenses
, that could be dispatched anywhere
in the Empire in short order. This reform arguably created a precedent for the
future emperors
Diocletian
and
Constantine I
.
The biographer
Aurelius Victor
reports that Gallienus forbade
senators
from becoming military commanders.
This policy undermined senatorial power, as more reliable
equestrian
commanders rose to prominence. In
Southern’s view, these reforms and the decline in senatorial influence not only
helped Aurelian to salvage the Empire, but they also make Gallienus one of the
emperors most responsible for the creation of the
Dominate
, along with
Septimius Severus
, Diocletian, and Constantine
I.
By portraying himself with the attributes of the gods on his coinage,
Gallienus began the final separation of the Emperor from his subjects.A late
bust of Gallienus (see above) depicts him with a largely blank face, gazing
heavenward, as seen on the famous stone head of
Constantine I
. One of the last rulers of Rome
to be theoretically called “Princeps”, or First Citizen, Gallienus’ shrewd
self-promotion assisted in paving the way for those who would be addressed with
the words “Dominus et Deus” (Lord and God).
-
Antoninianus
issued to celebrate
LEG II ITAL VII P VII F, “ItalicaLegio
II seven
times faithful and loyal.”
-
Antoninianus issued to celebrate LEG III ITAL VI P VI F,
“< six times
faithful and loyal.”ItalicaLegio
III
-
Antoninianus issued to celebrate LEG VII MAC VI P VI FI F,
“MacedonicaLegio
VII six
times faithful and loyal.”
-
Antoninianus issued to celebrate LEG VII CLA VI P VI F,
“ClaudiaLegio
VII six
Mars (Latin:
Martis) was the
Roman
god of war
and also an
agricultural
guardian, a combination
characteristic of early
Rome
. He was second in importance only to
Jupiter
, and he was the most prominent of the
military gods in the
religion of the Roman army
. Most of his
festivals
were held in March, the month named
for him (MartiusLatin
), and in October, which
began and ended the season for military campaigning and farming.
Mars was
identified with
the
Greek god
Ares, whose
myths
were reinterpreted in
Roman literature
and
art
under the name of Mars. But the character
and dignity of Mars differed in fundamental ways from that of his Greek
counterpart, who is often treated with contempt and revulsion in
Greek literature
.Mars was a part of the
Archaic Triad
along with Jupiter and
Quirinus
, the latter of whom as a guardian of
the Roman people had no Greek equivalent. Mars’ altar in the
Campus Martius
, the area of Rome that took its
name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by
Numa
, the peace-loving semi-legendary second
king of Rome
. Although the center of Mars’
worship was originally located outside the sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium),
Augustus
made the god a renewed focus of
Roman religion
by establishing the Temple of
Mars Ultor in
his new forum
.
Although Ares was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force,
Mars represented military power as a way
to secure peace
, and was a father (pater)
of the Roman people. In the mythic
genealogy
and
founding myths of Rome
, Mars was the father of
Romulus and Remus
with
Rhea Silvia
. His love affair with
Venus
symbolically reconciled the two different
traditions of Rome’s founding; Venus was the divine mother of the hero
Aeneas
, celebrated as the
Trojan refugee
who “founded” Rome several
generations before Romulus laid out the city walls.
The importance of Mars in establishing religious and cultural identity within
the Roman Empire
is indicated by the vast number of
inscriptions
identifying him with a local
deity, particularly in the
Western provinces
.
Birth
Although Ares was the son of
Zeus and Hera
, Mars was the son of
Juno alone. Jupiter had usurped the mother’s
function when he gave birth to
Minerva
directly from his forehead (or mind);
to restore the balance, Juno sought the advice of the goddess
Flora
on how to do the same. Flora obtained a
magic flower (Latin flos, plural flores, a
masculine word
) and tested it on a
heifer
who became fecund at once. She then
plucked a flower ritually using her thumb, touched Juno’s belly, and impregnated
her. Juno withdrew to
Thrace
and the
shore of Marmara
for the birth.
Ovid
tells this story in the
Fasti
, his long-form poetic work on the
Roman calendar
. It may explain why the
Matronalia
, a festival celebrated by married
women in honor of Juno as a goddess of childbirth,
occurred on the first day of Mars’ month, which is also marked on a
calendar from late antiquity
as the birthday of
Mars. In the earliest Roman calendar, March was the first month, and the god
would have been born with the new year. Ovid is the only source for the story.
He may be presenting a literary myth of his own invention, or an otherwise
unknown
archaic Italic
tradition; either way, in
choosing to include the story, he emphasizes that Mars was connected to plant
life and was not alienated from female nurture.
Consort
The
consort
of Mars was
Nerio
or Nerine, “Valor.” She represents the
vital force (vis), power (potentia) and majesty (maiestas)
of Mars. Her name was regarded as
Sabine
in origin and is equivalent to Latin
virtus
, “manly virtue” (from vir,
“man”). In the early 3rd century BC, the comic playwright
Plautus
has a reference to Mars greeting Nerio,
his wife. A source from
late antiquity
says that Mars and Nerine were
celebrated together at a festival held on March 23. In the later
Roman Empire
, Nerine came to be identified with
Minerva.
Nerio probably originates as a divine
personification
of Mars’ power, as such
abstractions
in Latin are generally
feminine
. Her name appears with that of Mars in
an archaic prayer
invoking
a series of abstract qualities, each
paired with the name of a deity. The influence of
Greek mythology
and its
anthropomorphic gods
may have caused Roman
writers to treat these pairs as “marriages.”
Venus and Mars
The union of Venus and Mars held greater appeal for poets and philosophers,
and the couple were a frequent subject of art. In Greek myth, the adultery of
Ares and Aphrodite
had been exposed to ridicule when her
husband Hephaestus
(whose Roman equivalent was
Vulcan
) caught them in the act by means of a
magical snare. Although not originally part of the Roman tradition, in 217 BC
Venus and Mars were presented as a complementary pair in the
lectisternium
, a public banquet at which
images of twelve major gods of the Roman state
were presented on couches as if present and participating.
Wall painting (mid-1st century AD) from which the House of Venus and
Mars at
Pompeii
takes its name
Scenes of Venus and Mars in
Roman art
often ignore the adulterous
implications of their union, and take pleasure in the good-looking couple
attended by Cupid
or multiple Loves (amores). Some
scenes may imply marriage, and the relationship was romanticized in funerary or
domestic art in which husbands and wives had themselves portrayed as the
passionate divine couple.
The uniting of deities representing Love and War lent itself to
allegory
, especially since the lovers were the
parents of
Harmonia
. The Renaissance philosopher
Marsilio Ficino
notes that “only Venus
dominates Mars, and he never dominates her”.In ancient Roman and Renaissance
art, Mars is often shown disarmed and relaxed, or even sleeping, but the
extramarital nature of their affair can also suggest that this peace is
impermanent.
Essential nature
Virility
as a kind of life force (vis)
or virtue (virtus) is an essential characteristic of Mars. As an
agricultural guardian, he directs his energies toward creating conditions that
allow crops to grow, which may include warding off hostile forces of nature. As
an embodiment of masculine aggression, he is the force that drives wars – but
ideally, war that delivers a secure peace.
The priesthood of the
Arval Brothers
called on Mars to drive off
“rust” (lues), with its double meaning of
wheat fungus
and the
red oxides that affect metal, a threat to both iron farm implements
and weaponry. In the
surviving text of their hymn
, the Arval
Brothers invoked Mars as ferus, “savage” or “feral” like a wild animal.
Mars’ potential for savagery is expressed in his obscure connections to the
wild woodlands, and he may even have originated as a god of the wild, beyond the
boundaries set by humans, and thus a force to be
propitiated
. In his
book on farming
,
Cato
invokes
Mars Silvanus
for a ritual to be carried
out in silva, in the woods, an uncultivated place that if not held within
bounds can threaten to overtake the fields needed for crops. Mars’ character as
an agricultural god may derive solely from his role as a defender and protector,
or may be inseparable from his warrior nature,[26]
as the leaping of his armed priests the
Salii
was meant to quicken the growth of crops.
Sacred animals
She-wolf and twins from an altar to Venus and Mars
The two wild animals most sacred to Mars were the woodpecker and the wolf,
which in the natural lore of the Romans were said always to inhabit the same
foothills and woodlands.
Plutarch
notes that the woodpecker (picus)
is sacred to Mars because “it is a courageous and spirited bird and has a
beak so strong that it can overturn oaks by pecking them until it has
reached the inmost part of the tree.” As the beak of the picus Martius
contained the god’s power to ward off harm, it was carried as a
magic charm
to prevent
bee stings
and
leech
bites. The bird of Mars also guarded a
woodland herb (paeonia)
used for treatment of the
digestive
or
female reproductive systems
; those who sought
to harvest it were advised to do so by night, lest the woodpecker jab out their
eyes. The picus Martius seems to have been a particular species, but
authorities differ on which one: perhaps
Picus viridis
or
Dryocopus martius
The woodpecker was revered by the
Latin peoples
, who abstained from eating its
flesh. It was one of the most important birds in Roman and Italic
augury
, the practice of reading the will of the
gods through watching the sky for signs. The mythological figure named
Picus
had powers of augury that he retained
when he was transformed into a woodpecker; in one tradition, Picus was the son
of Mars.The
Umbrian
cognate
peiqu also means “woodpecker,”
and the Italic Picenes
were supposed to have derived their
name from the picus who served as their guide animal during a ritual
migration (ver
sacrum) undertaken as a rite of Mars. In the territory of the
Aequi
, another Italic people, Mars had an
oracle
of great antiquity where the prophecies
were supposed to be spoken by a woodpecker perched on a wooden column.
Mars’ association with the wolf is familiar from what may be the most famous
of
Roman myths
, the story of how a she-wolf
(lupa) suckled his infant sons when they were
exposed
by order of their human uncle, who
feared that they would take back the kingship he had
usurped
. The woodpecker also brought
nourishment to the twins.
The wolf appears elsewhere in Roman art and literature in masculine form as
the animal of Mars. A statue group that stood along the
Appian Way
showed Mars in the company of
wolves.At the
Battle of Sentinum
in 295 BC, the appearance of
the wolf of Mars (Martius lupus) was a sign that Roman victory was to
come.
In
Roman Gaul
, the goose was associated with the
Celtic forms of Mars
, and archaeologists have
found geese buried alongside warriors in graves. The goose was considered a
bellicose animal because it is easily provoked to aggression.
Sacrificial animals
Ancient Greek
and Roman religion distinguished
between animals that were sacred to a deity and those that were prescribed as
the correct
sacrificial offerings
for the god. Wild animals
might be viewed as already belonging to the god to whom they were sacred, or at
least not owned by human beings and therefore not
theirs to give
. Since sacrificial meat was
eaten at a banquet after the gods received their portion – mainly the entrails
(exta)
— it follows that the animals sacrificed were most often, though not always,
domestic animals normally part of the Roman diet. Gods often received castrated
male animals as sacrifices, and the goddesses female
victims
; Mars, however, regularly received
intact males. Mars did receive
oxen
under a few of his cult titles, such as
Mars Grabovius
, but the usual offering was the
bull, singly, in multiples, or in combination with other animals.
The procession of the
suovetaurilia
, a sacrifice of a
pig, ram, and bull, led by a priest with his head
ritually covered
The two most distinctive animal sacrifices made to Mars were the
suovetaurilia
, a triple offering of a pig
(sus), ram (ovis) and bull (taurus), and the
October Horse
, the only
horse sacrifice
known to have been carried out
in ancient Rome and a rare instance of a victim the Romans considered inedible.
Temples and topography
The earliest center in Rome for cultivating Mars as a deity was the Altar of
Mars (Ara
Martis) in the
Campus Martius
(“Field of Mars”) outside the
sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium).
The Romans thought that this altar had been established by the semi-legendary
Numa Pompilius
, the peace-loving successor of
Romulus. According to Roman tradition, the Campus Martius had been consecrated
to Mars by their ancestors to serve as horse pasturage and an equestrian
training ground for youths.[49]
During the
Roman Republic
(509–27 BC), the Campus was a
largely open expanse. No temple was built at the altar, but from 193 BC a
covered walkway connected it to the
Porta Fontinalis
, near the office and archives
of the Roman censors
. Newly elected censors placed
their
curule chairs
by the altar, and when they had
finished conducting the census, the citizens were collectively
purified
with a suovetaurilia there. A
frieze
from the so-called
“Altar” of Domitius Ahenobarbus
is thought to
depict the census, and may show Mars himself standing by the altar as the
procession of victims advances.
The main Temple of Mars (Aedes
Martis) in the Republican period also lay outside the sacred boundary and
was devoted to the god’s warrior aspect. It was built to fulfill a vow (votum)
made by a
Titus Quinctius
in 388 BC during the
Gallic siege of Rome
.[53]
The founding day (dies
natalis) was commemorated on June 1, and the temple is attested
by several inscriptions and literary sources. The sculpture group of Mars and
the wolves was displayed there.Soldiers sometimes assembled at the temple before
heading off to war, and it was the point of departure for a major parade of
Roman cavalry
held annually on July 15.
A temple to Mars in the
Circus Flaminius
was built around 133 BC,
funded by
Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus
from war booty.
It housed a colossal statue of Mars and a nude Venus.
The Campus Martius continued to provide venues for equestrian events such as
chariot racing
during the
Imperial period
, but under the first emperor
Augustus
it underwent a major program of urban
renewal, marked by monumental architecture. The Altar of Augustan Peace (Ara
Pacis Augustae) was located there, as was the
Obelisk of Montecitorio
, imported from
Egypt
to form the pointer (gnomon)
of the
Solarium Augusti
, a giant
sundial
. With its public gardens, the Campus
became one of the most attractive places in the city to visit.
Augustus chose the Campus Martius as the site of his new Temple to Mars
Ultor, a manifestation of Mars he cultivated as the avenger (ultor) of
the
murder of Julius Caesar
and of the military
disaster suffered at the
Battle of Carrhae
. When the legionary standards
lost to the Parthians were recovered, they were housed in the new temple. The
date of the temple’s dedication on May 12 was aligned with the
heliacal setting
of the constellation
Scorpio
, the
house
of war. The date continued to be marked
with
circus games
as late as the mid-4th century AD.
A large statue of Mars was part of the short-lived
Arch of Nero
, which was built in 62 AD but
dismantled after Nero
‘s suicide and disgrace (damnatio
memoriae).
Iconography
Nude statue of Mars in a garden setting, as depicted on a wall
painting from
Pompeii
In Roman art
, Mars is depicted as either bearded
and mature, or young and clean-shaven. Even
nude
or seminude, he often wears a helmet or
carries a spear as emblems of his warrior nature. Mars was among the deities to
appear on the earliest Roman coinage in the late 4th and early 3rd century BC.
On the Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis), built in the last years of the 1st
century BC, Mars is a mature man with a “handsome,
classicizing
” face, and a short curly beard and
moustache. His helmet is a plumed
neo-Attic
–type.
He wears a military cloak (paludamentum)
and a
cuirass
ornamented with a
gorgoneion
. Although the
relief
is somewhat damaged at this spot, he
appears to hold a spear
garlanded in laurel
, symbolizing a peace that
is won by military victory. The 1st-century statue of Mars found in the
Forum of Nerva
(pictured at top) is similar. In
this guise, Mars is presented as the dignified ancestor of the Roman people. The
panel of the Ara Pacis on which he appears would have faced the Campus
Martius, reminding viewers that Mars was the god whose altar Numa established
there, that is, the god of Rome’s oldest civic and military institutions.
Particularly in works of art influenced by
the Greek tradition
, Mars may be portrayed in a
manner that resembles Ares, youthful, beardless, and often nude. In the
Renaissance, Mars’ nudity was thought to represent his lack of fear in facing
danger.
The spear of Mars
The spear is the instrument of Mars in the same way that Jupiter wields the
lightning bolt,
Neptune
the trident, and
Saturn
the scythe or sickle.[68]
A
relic
or
fetish
called the spear of Mars was kept in a
sacrarium
at the
Regia
, the former residence of the
Kings of Rome
. The spear was said to move,
tremble or vibrate at impending war or other danger to the state, as was
reported to occur before the
assassination of Julius Caesar
. When Mars is
pictured as a peace-bringer, his spear is wreathed with laurel or other
vegetation, as on the Ara Pacis or a coin of
Aemilianus
.
Priesthoods
The high priest of Mars in Roman public religion was the
Flamen Martialis
, who was one of the three
major priests in the fifteen-member
college
of
flamens
. Mars was also served by the
Salii
, a twelve-member priesthood of patrician
youths who dressed as archaic warriors and danced in procession around the city
in March. Both priesthoods extend to the earliest periods of Roman history, and
patrician birth
was required.
Festivals and rituals
The festivals of Mars cluster in his namesake month of March (Latin
Martius
), with a few observances in
October, the beginning and end of the season for military campaigning and
agriculture. Festivals with horse racing took place in the Campus Martius. Some
festivals in March retained characteristics of new year festivals, since
Martius was originally the first month of the
Roman calendar
.
- February 27:
Equirria
, involving
chariot
or horse races;
- March 1: Mars’
dies natalis
(“birthday”), a
feria
also sacred to
his mother Juno
;
- March 14: a second Equirria, again with chariot races;
- March 14 or 15:
Mamuralia
, a new year festival when a
figure called
Mamurius Veturius
(perhaps the “old Mars”
of the old year) is driven out;
- March 17: an
Agonium
MartialeAgonalia or
, an obscure type of observance held at other times
for various deities;
- March 23:
Tubilustrium
, a purification of the
deploying army March 23;
- October 15: the ritual of the
October Horse
, with a chariot race and
Rome’s only known
horse sacrifice
;
- October 19:
Armilustrium
(“purification of arms”).
Mars was also honored by chariot races at the
Robigalia
and
Consualia
, though these festivals are not
primarily dedicated to him. From 217 BC onward, Mars was among the gods honored
at the
lectisternium
, a banquet given for deities who
were present as images.
Roman hymns (carmina)
are rarely preserved, but Mars is invoked in two. The
Arval Brothers
, or “Brothers of the Fields,”
chanted a hymn to Mars while performing their three-step dance. The
Carmen Saliare
was sung by Mars’ priests
the Salii while they moved twelve sacred shields (ancilia)
throughout the city in a procession. In the 1st century AD,
Quintilian
remarks that the language of the
Salian hymn was so archaic that it was no longer fully understood.
Name and epithets
The so-called
Mars of Todi
(Etruscan bronze,
late 5th–early 4th century BC), probably a warrior with hand
extended to make an offering[78]
The word Mārs (genitive Mārtis), which in
Old Latin
and poetic usage also appears as
Māvors (Māvortis), is cognate with
Oscan
Māmers (Māmertos). The Old
Latin form was believed to derive from an
Italic
*Māworts, but can also be
explained as deriving from
Maris
, the name of an
Etruscan child-god
; scholars have varying views
on whether the two gods are related, and if so how. Latin adjectives from the
name of Mars are martius and martialis, from which derive English
“martial” (as in “martial arts” or “martial
law“) and personal names such as “Martin”.
Mars also gave his name to the third month in the
Roman calendar
,
Martius
, from which English “March”
derives. In the most ancient Roman calendar, Martius was the first month.
The
planet Mars
was named for him, and in some
allegorical and philosophical writings, the planet and the god are endowed with
shared characteristics.[83]
In many languages,
Tuesday
is
named for the planet Mars or the war-god
, in
Latin Martis Dies (“Mars’ Day”), surviving in
Romance languages
as Martes (Spanish),
Mardi (French),
Martedi (Italian),
Marţi (Romanian),
and Dimarts (Catalan).
In Irish (Gaelic), the day is An Mháirt. The English word Tuesday
derives from
Old English
“Tiwesdæg” and means “Tiw’s Day”,
Tiw being the Old English form of the Proto-Germanic war god *Tîwaz, or
Týr
in Norse.
In Roman religion
In
Classical Roman religion
, Mars was invoked
under several titles, and the first Roman emperor Augustus thoroughly integrated
Mars into
Imperial cult
. The 4th-century Latin historian
Ammianus Marcellinus
treats Mars as one of
several classical Roman deities who remained “cultic realities” up to his own
time. Mars, and specifically Mars Ultor, was among the gods who received
sacrifices from
Julian
, the only emperor after the conversion
of
Constantine I
to reject Christianity. In 363
AD, in preparation for the
Siege of Ctesiphon
, Julian sacrificed ten “very
fine” bulls to Mars Ultor. The tenth bull violated ritual protocol by attempting
to break free, and when killed and
examined
, produced
ill omens
, among the many that were read at the
end of Julian’s reign. As represented by Ammianus, Julian swore never to make
sacrifice to Mars again—a vow kept with his death a month later.
Mars Gradivus
Gradivus was one of the gods by whom a general or soldiers might swear an
oath to be valorous in battle. His temple outside the
Porta Capena
was where armies gathered. The
archaic priesthood of Mars Gradivus was the
Salii
, the “leaping priests” who danced
ritually in armor as a prelude to war. His cult title is most often taken to
mean “the Strider” or “the Marching God,” from gradus, “step, march.”
The poet Statius
addresses him as “the most implacable
of the gods,” but
Valerius Maximus
concludes his
history
by invoking Mars Gradivus as “author
and support of the name ‘Roman'”: Gradivus is asked – along with Capitoline
Jupiter and
Vesta
, as the keeper of Rome’s perpetual flame
– to “guard, preserve, and protect” the
state
, the peace, and the
princeps
(the emperor
Tiberius
at the time).
A source from
late antiquity
says that the wife of Gradivus
was
Nereia
, the daughter of
Nereus
, and that he loved her passionately.
Mars Quirinus
Mars celebrated as peace-bringer on a Roman coin issued by
Aemilianus
Mars Quirinus was the protector of the
Quirites
(“citizens” or “civilians”) as divided
into curiae
(citizen assemblies), whose oaths
were required to make a treaty. As a guarantor of treaties, Mars Quirinus is
thus a god of peace: “When he rampages, Mars is called Gradivus, but when
he’s at peace Quirinus.”
The deified
Romulus
was identified with Mars Quirinus. In
the
Archaic Triad
of
Jupiter
, Mars, and
Quirinus
, however, Mars and Quirinus were two
separate deities, though not perhaps in origin. Each of the three had his own
flamen
(specialized priest), but the functions
of the
Flamen Martialis
and
Flamen Quirinalis
are hard to distinguish.
Mars Grabovius
Mars is invoked as Grabovius in the
Iguvine Tables
, bronze tablets written in
Umbrian
that record ritual protocols for
carrying out public ceremonies on behalf of the city and community of
Iguvium
. The same title is given to Jupiter and
to the Umbrian deity Vofionus. This triad has been compared to the Archaic
Triad, with Vofionus equivalent to Quirinus. Tables I and VI describe a complex
ritual that took place at the three gates of the city. After the
auspices
were taken, two groups of three
victims
were sacrificed at each gate. Mars
Grabovius received three oxen.
Mars Pater
“Father Mars” or “Mars the Father” is the form in which the god is invoked in
the agricultural prayer of Cato, and he appears with this title in several other
literary texts and inscriptions. Mars Pater is among the several gods
invoked in the ritual of
devotio
, by means of which a general
sacrificed himself and the lives of the enemy to secure a Roman victory.
Father Mars is the regular recipient of the
suovetaurilia
, the sacrifice of a pig
(sus), ram (ovis) and bull (taurus), or often a bull alone. To
Mars Pater other epithets were sometimes appended, such as Mars Pater
Victor (“Father Mars the Victorious”), to whom the Roman army sacrificed a
bull on March 1.
Although pater and mater were fairly common as honorifics for a
deity, any special claim for Mars as father of the Roman people lies in the
mythic geneaology that makes him the divine father of
Romulus and Remus
.
Mars Silvanus
In the section of his farming book that offers recipes and medical
preparations, Cato describes a
votum
to promote the health of cattle:
Make an offering to Mars Silvanus in the forest (in silva) during
the daytime for each head of cattle: 3 pounds of meal, 4½ pounds of bacon,
4½ pounds of meat, and 3 pints of wine. You may place the
viands
in one vessel, and the wine likewise
in one vessel. Either a slave or a free man may make this offering. After
the ceremony is over, consume the offering on the spot at once. A woman may
not take part in this offering or see how it is performed. You may vow the
vow every year if you wish.
That Mars Silvanus is a single entity has been doubted.
Invocations of deities
are often list-like,
without connecting words
, and the phrase should
perhaps be understood as “Mars and Silvanus”.Women were explicitly excluded from
some cult practices of Silvanus, but not necessarily of Mars.
William Warde Fowler
, however, thought that the
wild
god of the wood Silvanus
may have been “an
emanation or offshoot” of Mars.
Mars Ultor
Augustus
created the cult of “Mars the Avenger”
to mark two occasions: his defeat of the
assassins of Caesar
at
Philippi
in 42 BC, and the negotiated return of
the
Roman battle standards
that had been lost to
the
Parthians
at the
Battle of Carrhae
in 53 BC. The god is depicted
wearing a cuirass and helmet and standing in a “martial pose,” leaning on a
lance he holds in his right hand. He holds a shield in his left hand The goddess
Ultio
, a divine personification of vengeance,
had an altar and golden statue in his temple.
The Temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated in 2 BC in the center of the
Forum of Augustus
, gave the god a new place of
honor.Some rituals previously conducted within the cult of Capitoline Jupiter
were transferred to the new temple, which became the point of departure for
magistrates
as they left for military campaigns
abroad. Augustus required the
Senate
to meet at the temple when deliberating
questions of war and peace.The temple also became the site at which sacrifice
was made to conclude the
rite of passage
of young men assuming the
toga virilis
(“man’s toga”) around age 14.
On various
Imperial holidays
, Mars Ultor was the first god
to receive a sacrifice, followed by the
Genius
of the emperor. An
inscription
from the 2nd century records a
vow
to offer Mars Ultor a bull with gilded
horns.
Mars Augustus
Augustus or Augusta was appended far and wide, “on monuments
great and small,” to the name of gods or goddesses, including Mars. The
honorific marks the affiliation of a deity with
Imperial cult
In Roman Spain (Hispania),
many of the statues and dedications to Mars Augustus were presented by members
of the priesthood or
sodality
called the
Augustales
. These vows (vota)
were usually fulfilled within a sanctuary of Imperial cult, or in a temple or
precinct (templum)
consecrated specifically to Mars. As with other deities invoked as Augustus,
altars to Mars Augustus might be set up to further the wellbeing (salus)
of the emperor, but some inscriptions suggest personal devotion. An inscription
in the Alps
records the gratitude of a
slave
who dedicated a statue to Mars Augustus
as conservator corporis sui, the preserver of his own body, said to have
been vowed ex iussu numinis ipsius, “by the order of the
numen
himself”.
Mars Augustus appears in inscriptions at sites throughout the Empire,
such as
Baetica
,
Saguntum
, and
Emerita
(Lusitania)
in Roman Spain;
Lepcis Magna
(with a date of 6–7 AD) in
present-day Libya
; and
Sarmizegetusa
in the
province of Dacia
.
Provincial epithets
In addition to his cult titles at Rome, Mars appears in a large number of
inscriptions
in the
provinces
of the
Roman Empire
, and more rarely in literary
texts,
identified with
a local deity by means of an
epithet
. Mars appears with great frequency in
Gaul among the
Continental Celts
, as well as in
Roman Spain
and
Britain
. In Celtic settings, he is often
invoked as a healer. The inscriptions indicate that Mars’ ability to dispel the
enemy on the battlefield was transferred to the sick person’s struggle against
illness; healing is expressed in terms of warding off and rescue.
Celtic Mars
Mars is identified with a number of Celtic deities, some of whom are not
attested independently.
- Mars Alator is attested in
Roman Britain
by an inscription found on an
altar at
South Shields
, and a
silver-gilt
votive plaque that was part of
the
Barkway hoard
from
Hertfordshire
. Alator has been
interpreted variously as “Huntsman” or “Cherisher”.
- Mars Albiorix appears in an inscription from modern-day
Sablet
, in the province of
Narbonensis
. Albiorix probably means
“King of the Land” or “King of the World”, with the first element related to
the geographical name
Albion
and
Middle Welsh
elfydd, “world, land”.
- Mars Barrex is attested by a single dedicatory inscription found
at
Carlisle
, England.[138]
Barrex or Barrecis probably means “Supreme One”(Gaulish
barro-, “head”).
- Mars Belatucadrus is named in five inscriptions in the area of
Hadrian’s Wall
. The Celtic god
Belatucadros
, with various spellings, is
attested independently in twenty additional inscriptions in northern
England.
- Mars Braciaca appears in a single votive inscription at
Bakewell
,
Derbyshire
.The Celtic epithet may refer to
malt
or beer, though intoxication in
Greco-Roman religion is associated with Dionysus.[144]
A reference in Pliny suggests a connection to Mars’ agricultural function,
with the Gaulish word bracis referring to a type of wheat; a medieval
Latin gloss
says it was used to make beer.
A bronze Mars from Gaul
- Mars Camulus is found in five inscriptions scattered over a
fairly wide geographical area.The Celtic god
Camulos
appears independently in one votive
inscription from Rome.
- Mars Cocidius is found in five inscriptions from northern
England.About twenty dedications in all are known for the Celtic god
Cocidius
, mainly made by Roman military
personnel, and confined to northwest
Cumbria
and along Hadrian’s Wall. He is
once identified with Silvanus.He is depicted on two votive plaques as a
warrior bearing shield and spear, and on an altar as a huntsman accompanied
by a dog and stag.
- Mars Condatis occurs in three inscriptions from Roman Britain.
The cult title is probably related to the place name
Condate
, often used in Gaul for settlements
at the confluence of rivers. The Celtic god
Condatis
is thought to have functions
pertaining to water and healing.
- Mars Corotiacus is an equestrian Mars attested only on a votive
from Martlesham in
Suffolk
. A bronze statuette depicts him as
a cavalryman, armed and riding a horse which tramples a prostrate enemy
beneath its hooves.
- Mars Lenus, or more often
Lenus
Mars, had a major healing cult at the
capital of the
Treveri
(present-day
Trier
). Among the votives are images of
children offering doves. His consort
Ancamna
is also found with the Celtic god
Smertrios
.
- Mars Loucetius. The Celtic god
Loucetios
, Latinized as -ius,
appears in nine inscriptions in present-day Germany and France and one in
Britain, and in three as Leucetius. The
Gaulish
and
Brythonic
theonyms
likely derive from
Proto-Celtic
*louk(k)et-, “bright,
shining, flashing,” hence also “lightning,” alluding to either a Celtic
commonplace metaphor
between battles and thunderstorms
(Old Irish torannchless, the “thunder feat”), or the aura of a
divinized hero (the lúan of
Cú Chulainn
). The name is given as an
epithet of Mars. The consort of Mars Loucetius is
Nemetona
, whose name may be understood as
pertaining either to “sacred privilege” or to the
sacred grove
(nemeton),
and who is also identified with the goddess
Victory
. At the
Romano-British
site in
Bath
, a dedication to Mars Loucetius as
part of this divine couple was made by a pilgrim who had from the
continental Treveri
of
Gallia Belgica
to seek healing.
- Mars Mullo is invoked in two
Armorican
inscriptions pertaining to
Imperial cult
. The name of the Celtic god
Mullo
, which appears in a few additional
inscriptions, has been analyzed variously as “mule” and “hill, heap”.
- Mars Neton or
Neto
was a Celtiberian god at Acci
(modern Guadix
). According to
Macrobius
, he wore a
radiant crown
like a sun god, because the
passion to act with valor was a kind of heat. He may be connected to Irish
Néit
.
- Mars Nodens has a possible connection to the Irish mythological
figure
Nuada
. The Celtic god
Nodens
was also interpreted as equivalent
to several other Roman gods, including
Mercury
and Neptune. The name may have
meant “catcher”, hence a fisher or hunter.
- Mars Ocelus had an altar dedicated by a junior army officer at
Caerwent
, and possibly a temple. He may be
a local counterpart to Lenus.
- Mars Olloudius was depicted in a relief from Roman Britain
without armor, in the guise of a
Genius
carrying a double
cornucopia
and holding a libation bowl (patera).
Olloudius
is found also at
Ollioules
in southern Gaul.
- Mars Rigisamus is found in two inscriptions, the earliest most
likely the one at
Avaricum
(present-day
Bourges
, France) in the territory of the
Bituriges
. At the site of a
villa
at
West Coker
, Somerset, he received a bronze
plaque votum
. The Gaulish element rig-
(very common at the end of names as -rix), found in later Celtic
languages as rí
, is
cognate
with Latin rex, “king” or
more precisely “ruler”.
Rigisamos
is “supreme ruler” or “king
of kings”.
- Mars Rigonemetis (“King of the Sacred Grove”). A dedication to
Rigonemetis and the
numen
(spirit) of the Emperor inscribed on
a stone was discovered at
Nettleham
(Lincolnshire)
in 1961. Rigonemetis is only known from this site, and it seems he may have
been a god belonging to the tribe of the
Corieltauvi
.
- Mars Segomo. “Mars the Victorious” appears among the Celtic
Sequani
.
- Mars Smertrius. At a site within the territory of the
Treveri
,
Ancamna
was the consort of Mars Smertrius.
- Mars Teutates. A fusion of Mars with the Celtic god Teutates (Toutatis).
- Mars Thinesus. A form of Mars invoked at
Housesteads Roman Fort
at
Hadrian’s Wall
, where his name is linked
with two goddesses called the
Alaisiagae
.
Anne Ross
associated Thinesus with a
sculpture, also from the fort, which shows a god flanked by goddesses and
accompanied by a goose – a frequent companion of war gods.
- Mars Visucius. A fusion of Mars with the Celtic god
Visucius
.
- Mars Vorocius. A Celtic healer-god invoked at the curative spring
shrine at Vichy
(Allier)
as a curer of eye afflictions. On images, the god is depicted as a Celtic
warrior.
“Mars Balearicus”
“Mars Balearicus”
“Mars Balearicus” is a name used in modern scholarship for small bronze
warrior figures from
Mallorca
(one of the
Balearic Islands
) that are interpreted as
representing the local Mars cult. These statuettes have been found within
talayotic
sanctuaries with extensive evidence
of burnt offerings. “Mars” is fashioned as a lean, athletic nude lifting a lance
and wearing a helmet, often conical; the genitals are perhaps semi-erect in some
examples.
Other bronzes at the sites represent the heads or horns of bulls, but the
bones in the ash layers indicate that sheep, goats, and pigs were the
sacrificial victims. Bronze horse-hooves were found in one sanctuary. Another
site held an imported statue of
Imhotep
, the legendary
Egyptian physician
. These sacred precincts were
still in active use when the Roman occupation began in 123 BC. They seem to have
been astronomically oriented toward the rising or setting of the
constellation
Centaurus
.
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