LŬPERCĀLĬA, one of the most ancient Roman festivals, which was
celebrated every year in honour of Lupercus, the god of fertility.
It was originally a shepherd-festival, and hence its introduction at
Rome was connected with the names of Romulus and Remus, the kings of
shepherds. It was held every year, on the 15th of February, in the
Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were said to have been nurtured
by the she-wolf; the place contained an altar and a grove sacred
to the god Lupercus. Here the Luperci assembled on the day of the
Lupercalia, and sacrificed to the god goats and young dogs. Two
youths of noble birth were then led to the Luperci, and one of the
latter touched their foreheads with a sword dipped in the blood of
the victims; other Luperci immediately after wiped off the bloody
spots with wool dipped in milk. Hereupon the two youths were obliged
to break out into a shout of laughter. This ceremony was probably a
symbolical purification of the shepherds. After the sacrifice was
over, the Luperci partook of a meal, at which they were plentifully
supplied with wine. They then cut the skins of the goats which they
had sacrificed, into pieces: with some of which they covered parts of
their body in imitation of the god Lupercus, who was represented half
naked and half covered with goatskin. The other pieces of the skins
they cut in the shape of thongs, and holding them in their hands they
ran with them through the streets of the city, touching or striking
with them all persons whom they met in their way, and especially
women, who even used to come forward voluntarily for the purpose,
since they believed that this ceremony rendered them fruitful,
and procured them an easy delivery in child-bearing. This act of
running about with thongs of goatskin was a symbolic purification
of the land, and that of touching persons a purification of men,
for the words by which this act is designated are _februare_ and
_lustrare_. The goatskin itself was called _februum_, the festive
day _dies februata_, the month in which it occurred _Februarius_,
and the god himself _Februus_. The festival of the Lupercalia,
though it necessarily lost its original import at the time when the
Romans were no longer a nation of shepherds, was yet always observed
in commemoration of the founders of the city. M. Antonius, in his
consulship, was one of the Luperci, and not only ran with them half
naked and covered with pieces of goatskin through the city, but even
addressed the people in the forum in this rude attire.
LŬPERCI, the priests of the god Lupercus. They formed a college,
the members of which were originally youths of patrician families,
and which was said to have been instituted by Romulus and Remus.
The college was divided into two classes, the one called _Fabii_
or _Fabiani_, and the other _Quinctilii_ or _Quinctiliani_. The
office was not for life, but how long it lasted is not known. Julius
Caesar added to the two classes of the college a third with the
name of _Julii_ or _Juliani_, and made Antonius their high-priest.
He also assigned to them certain revenues (_vectigalia_) which were
afterwards withdrawn from them.
LŬPUS FERREUS, the iron wolf used by the besieged in repelling the
attacks of the besiegers, and especially in seizing the battering-ram
and diverting its blows.
LUSTRĀTĬO (κάθαρσις) was originally a purification by ablution in
water. But the lustrations of which we possess direct knowledge are
always connected with sacrifices and other religious rites, and
consisted in the sprinkling of water by means of a branch of laurel
or olive, and at Rome sometimes by means of the aspergillum, and in
the burning of certain materials, the smoke of which was thought to
have a purifying effect. Whenever sacrifices were offered, it seems
to have been customary to carry them around the person or thing to be
purified. Lustrations were made in ancient Greece, and probably at
Rome also, by private individuals when they had polluted themselves
by any criminal action. Whole cities and states also sometimes
underwent purifications to expiate the crime or crimes committed by
a member of the community. The most celebrated purification of this
kind was that of Athens, performed by Epimenides of Crete, after the
Cylonian massacre. Purification also took place when a sacred spot
had been unhallowed by profane use, as by burying dead bodies in
it, as was the case with the island of Delos. The Romans performed
lustrations on many occasions, on which the Greeks did not think of
them; and the object of most Roman lustrations was not to atone for
the commission of crime, but to obtain the blessing of the gods upon
the persons or things which were lustrated. Thus fields were purified
after the business of sowing was over, and before the sickle was put
to the corn. [ARVALES FRATRES.] Sheep were purified every year at the
festival of the Palilia. All Roman armies before they took the field
were lustrated; and as the solemnity was probably always connected
with a review of the troops, the word lustratio is also used in the
sense of the modern review. The establishment of a new colony was
always preceded by a lustratio with solemn sacrifices. The city of
Rome itself, as well as other towns within its dominion, always
underwent a lustratio after they had been visited by some great
calamity, such as civil bloodshed, awful prodigies, and the like. A
regular and general lustratio of the whole Roman people took place
after the completion of every lustrum, when the censor had finished
his census and before he laid down his office. This lustratio (also
called lustrum) was conducted by one of the censors, and held with
sacrifices called _Suovetaurilia_, because the sacrifices consisted
of a pig (or ram), a sheep, and an ox. It took place in the Campus
Martius, where the people assembled for the purpose. The sacrifices
were carried three times around the assembled multitude.
LUSTRUM (from _luo_, Gr. λούω) is properly speaking a lustration or
purification, and in particular the purification of the whole Roman
people performed by one of the censors in the Campus Martius, after
the business of the census was over. [CENSUS; LUSTRATIO.] As this
purification took place only once in five years, the word lustrum
was also used to designate the time between two lustra. The first
lustrum was performed in B.C. 566, by king Servius, after he had
completed his census, and it is said to have taken place subsequently
every five years, after the census was over. The census might be held
without the lustrum, and indeed two cases of this kind are recorded
which happened in B.C. 459 and 214. In these cases the lustrum was
not performed on account of some great calamities which had befallen
the republic. The time when the lustrum took place has been very
ingeniously defined by Niebuhr. Six ancient Romulian years of 304
days each were, with the difference of one day, equal to five solar
years of 365 days each, or the six ancient years made 1824 days,
while the five solar years contained 1825 days. The lustrum, or the
great year of the ancient Romans, was thus a cycle, at the end of
which the beginning of the ancient year nearly coincided with that
of the solar year. As the coincidence, however, was not perfect, a
month of 24 days was intercalated in every eleventh lustrum. Now
it is highly probable that the recurrence of such a cycle or great
year was, from the earliest times, solemnised with sacrifices and
purifications, and that Servius Tullius did not introduce them, but
merely connected them with his census, and thus set the example for
subsequent ages. Many writers of the latter period of the republic
and during the empire, use the word lustrum for any space of five
years, and without any regard to the census, while others even apply
it in the sense of the Greek pentaeteris or an Olympiad, which
contained only four years.
LỸCAEA (λύκαια), a festival with contests, celebrated by the
Arcadians in honour of Zeus surnamed Λυκαῖος. It was said to have
been instituted by the ancient hero Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, who
is also said, instead of the cakes which had formerly been offered to
the god, to have sacrificed a child to Zeus, and to have sprinkled
the altar with its blood.
[Illustration: Lyre with four strings, from a Lycian coin. (Cabinet
of Sir Charles Fellows.)]
[Illustration: Lyre with seven strings, from a coin of Chalcis.
(British Museum.)]
LỸRA (λύρα, Lat. _fides_), a lyre, one of the most ancient musical
instruments of the stringed kind. The Greeks attributed the invention
of the lyre to Hermes, who is said to have formed the instrument of
a tortoise-shell, over which he placed gut-strings. The name λύρα,
however, does not occur in the Homeric poems, and the ancient lyre,
called in Homer _phorminx_ (φόρμιγξ) and _citharis_ (κίθαρις), seems
rather to have resembled the _cithara_ of later times, which was in
some respects like a modern guitar. In the cithara the strings were
drawn across the bottom, whereas in the lyra of ancient times they
were free on both sides. The lyre is also called χέλυς or χελώνη, and
in Latin _testudo_, because it was made of a tortoise-shell. The lyre
had originally three or four strings, but after the time of Terpander
of Antissa (about B.C. 650), who is said to have added three more, it
was generally made with seven. The ancients, however, made use of a
variety of lyres; and about the time of Sappho and Anacreon several
stringed instruments, such as _magadis_, _barbiton_, and others, were
used in Greece, and especially in Lesbos. They had been introduced
from Asia Minor, and their number of strings far exceeded that of the
lyre, for we know that some had even twenty strings, so that they
must have more resembled a modern harp than a lyre. But the lyra and
cithara had in most cases no more than seven strings. The lyre had
a great and full-sounding bottom, which continued as before to be
made generally of tortoise-shell, from which the horns rose as from
the head of a stag. A transverse piece of wood connecting the two
horns at or near their top-ends served to fasten the strings, and
was called ζύγον, and in Latin _transtillum_. The horns were called
πήχεις or _cornua_. These instruments were often adorned in the
most costly manner with gold and ivory. The lyre was considered as
a more manly instrument than the cithara, which, on account of its
smaller-sounding bottom, excluded full-sounding and deep tones, and
was more calculated for the middle tones. The lyre when played stood
in an upright position between the knees, while the cithara stood
upon the knees of the player. Both instruments were held with the
left hand, and played with the right. It has generally been supposed
that the strings of these instruments were always touched with a
little staff called _plectrum_ (πλῆκτρον), but among the paintings
discovered at Herculaneum we find several instances where the persons
play the lyre with their fingers. The lyre was at all times only
played as an accompaniment to songs. The Latin name _fides_, which
was used for a lyre as well as a cithara, is probably the same as
the Greek σφίδες, which signifies gut-string. The lyre (_cithara_
or _phorminx_) was at first used in the recitations of epic poetry,
though it was probably not played during the recitation itself, but
only as a prelude before the minstrel commenced his story, and in the
intervals or pauses between the several parts. The lyre has given its
name to a species of poetry called lyric; this kind of poetry was
originally never recited or sung without the accompaniment of the
lyre, and sometimes also of an appropriate dance.
[Illustration: Anacreon playing the lyre. (Vase-painting in the
British Museum.)]
MAENIĀNUM, signified, originally, a projecting balcony, which was
erected round the Roman forum, by the censor, C. Maenius, B.C.
318, in order to give more accommodation to the spectators of the
gladiatorial combats. Hence balconies in general came to be called
_maeniana_.