ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the Roman people, people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as high ...

, the Furrinalia (or Furinalia) was an annual

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

held on 25 July to celebrate the rites ''( sacra)'' of the goddess

Furrina Furrina, also spelled Furina, was an ancient Roman goddess whose function had become obscure by the 1st century BC. Her cult dated to the earliest period of Roman religious history, since she was one of the fifteen deities who had their own flame ...

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

notes that the festival was a public holiday ''( feriae publicae dies)''. Both the festival and the goddess had become obscure even to the Romans of the

Late Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

; Varro (mid-1st century BC) notes that few people in his day even know her name. One of the fifteen ''

flamines A (plural ''flamines'') was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of fifteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important of these were the three (or "major priests"), who served the importan ...

'' (high priests of official cult) was assigned to her, indicating her archaic stature, and she had a

sacred grove Sacred groves, sacred woods, or sacred forests are groves of trees that have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. These are forest areas that are, for the most ...

''(

lucus In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, a ''lucus'' (, plural ''lucī'') is a sacred grove. was one of four Latin words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with , , and ), but unlike the others it was primarily us ...

)'' on the

Janiculum The Janiculum (; ), occasionally known as the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the pro ...

, which may have been the location of the festival. Furrina was associated with water, and the Furrinalia follows the

Lucaria In ancient Roman religion, the Lucaria was a festival of the grove (Latin ''lucus'') held 19 and 21 July. The original meaning of the ritual was obscure by the time of Varro (mid-1st century BC), who omits it in his list of festivals. The deity f ...

(Festival of the Grove) on 19 and 21 July and the Neptunalia on 23 July, a grouping that may reflect a concern for summer drought.Robert Schilling, "Neptune," ''Roman and European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), p. 138. This was the earlier view of

Georg Wissowa Georg Otto August Wissowa (17 June 1859 – 11 May 1931) was a German classical philologist born in Neudorf, near Breslau. Education and career Wissowa studied classical philology under August Reifferscheid at the University of Bresl ...

References

External links

Lucus Furrinae
entry in ''

Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' is a reference work written by Samuel Ball Platner (1863–1921). The first edition was published in 1904; the second edition ('revised and enlarged') was published in 1911 (both: Allyn and Bac ...

'' Ancient Roman festivals July observances Summer holidays (Northern Hemisphere) {{Reli-festival-stub