A ''lapis manalis'' was either of two sacred stones used in the Roman religion. One covered a gate to Hades, abode of the dead;

Sextus Pompeius Festus Sextus Pompeius Festus, usually known simply as Festus, was a Roman grammarian who probably flourished in the later 2nd century AD, perhaps at Narbo (Narbonne) in Gaul. Work He made a 20-volume epitome of Verrius Flaccus's voluminous and encyclop ...

called it ''ostium Orci'', "the gate of

Orcus Orcus ( la, Orcus) was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. In the later tradition, he was conflated with Dis Pater. A ...

". The other was used to make rain; this one may have no direct relationship with the ''

Manes In ancient Roman religion, the ''Manes'' (, , ) or ''Di Manes'' are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the ''Lares'', '' Lemures,'' '' Genii'', and ''Di Penates'' as deities ( ...

'', but is instead derived from the verb ''manare'', "to flow". The two stones had the same name. However, the grammarian Festus held the cover to the gate of the underworld and the rainmaking stone to be two distinct stones.

Gate to the underworld

One such stone covered the '' mundus Cereris'', a pit thought to contain an entrance to the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

. Most cities of

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

and Etruria contained a similar pit or ditch;

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

describes the custom of a ''mundus'' as being of Etruscan origin, and states that it was used as a place where first-fruits were deposited. The Latin word ''mundus'' meant "

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

". Festus, quoting Cato this time, explains that: The Roman ''mundus'' was located in the

Comitium The Comitium ( it, Comizio) was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of th ...

. This stone was ceremonially opened three times a year, during which spirits of the blessed dead (the ''Manes'') were able to commune with the living. The three days upon which the ''mundus'' was opened were August 24, October 5, and November 8. Fruits of the harvest were offered to the dead at this time. Macrobius, quoting

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) 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 Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

, says of these days that: Accordingly, he reports that military and public matters were not transacted upon them, even though they were not '' dies nefasti''.

Charm to make rain

The other was used as part of a ceremony called the ''aquaelicium'' (Latin: "calling the waters") which sought to produce

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

in times of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

. During the ceremony, the ''

pontifices A pontiff (from Latin ''pontifex'') was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term "pontiff" was lat ...

'' had the stone brought from its usual resting place, the Temple of Mars in Clivo near the

Porta Capena Porta Capena was a gate in the Servian Wall in Rome, Italy. The gate was located in the area of Piazza di Porta Capena, where the Caelian Hill, Caelian, Palatine Hill, Palatine and Aventine Hill, Aventine hills meet. Probably its exact position ...

, into the Senate. Offerings were made to

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

petitioning for rain, and water was ceremonially poured over the stone.Cyril Bailey,
The Religion of Ancient Rome
', ch. 2 (Archibald, Constable & Co., London, 1907)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapis Manalis Ancient Roman religion Sacred rocks Roman underworld Rainmaking (ritual)

Gate to the underworld

Charm to make rain

See also

References