Si deus si dea

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Si deus si dea is an Archaic Latin phrase meaning "whether god or goddess", referring to the mystery of whether a certain divinity was male or female, which was especially prominent among fertility gods. It was also written sive deus sive dea, sei deus sei dea, or sive mas sive femina ("whether male or female"). The construction was often used when addressing the god of a specific region, e.g., "Be you god or goddess who reigns over Carthage, grant us..."

The phrase can also be found on several ancient monuments. Archaic Roman inscriptions such as this might have written to protect the identity of the god if Rome were ever captured by an enemy.[1] However, historian Edward Courtney believes it was "intended to cover all bases as an acknowledgement of the limitations of human knowledge about divine powers."[2]

[edit] Altar to the Unknown Divinity

The altar as it stands in the Palatine Hill Museum today.
The altar as it stands in the Palatine Hill Museum today.

In 1820, an altar was discovered on the Palatine Hill with the inscription,

Sei deo sei deivae / sac(rum) C. Sextius / C.F. Calvinus pr(aetor) / de senati sententia / restituit.[3]
Whether to a god or goddess / sacred, C. Sextius, / son of Praetor C.F. Calvinus, / by order of the Senate, / has restored it.

The altar has been dated as a late Roman Republic restoration of an Archaic original. In the 19th century it was misidentified as a famous altar to Aius Locutius,[4] but the real identity of the divinity cannot be known, as it is not even specified whether it is a god or a goddess. The praetor C. F. Calvinus may have restored an earlier altar reading "sei deo sei deivae" for the reasons described above,[1] or he may have been restoring an altar which had been forgotten and left to decay, and the god or goddess it was dedicated to was no longer remembered by any Roman.

Close to the site, four inscribed columns were found dating to the Julio-Claudian period. Column A (now missing) read "Marspiter," or "Father Mars" in Archaic. Column B reads "Remureine," which possibly means "In Memory of Remus." Column C reads "anabestas," possibly a goddess named Anabesta,[5] or else related to the Greek anabasio ("to go up") and interpreted as a reference to Remus' scaling of the Roman walls. Column D, the longest inscription, reads:

Ferter Resius / rex Aequeicolus / is preimus / ius fetiale paravit / inde p(opulus) R(omanus) discipleinam excepit.
Ferter Resius / Aequielan king / he who first / introduced the pax fetiale / from which the Roman people / learned the disciplina.[1]

The meaning of this is unclear. An alternate reading has been proposed which hints at some sort of sacrifice:[6]

Ferter Resium / rexae qui colus / is premius / ius fetiale paravit / inde p(opulus) R(omanus) disciplemam excepit.
It is said that they turned up the Kings of Distaff. Under the authority of the Fetiales, in the name of the Roman people, they were sealed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Description of the Altar to the Unknown Divinity, found at the Palatine Hill Museum.
  2. ^ De Numinibus, essay by Mauk Haemers
  3. ^ Description of the altar at University of Texas at Austin' Digital Archive Services
  4. ^ Rodolfo Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, 1892
  5. ^ http://www.archive.org/details/MN40045ucmf_3
  6. ^ Human sacrifice in Ancient Rome, essay by Mauk Haemers

[edit] Further reading

  • Alvar, Jaime, 1988: "Materiaux pour l'etude de la formule sive deus, sive dea" Numen 32,2, 236-273.