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Priesthoods of |
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Flamen (250-260 AD) |
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Major colleges
Pontifices · Augures · |
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Other colleges
or sodalities Fetiales · Fratres Arvales · |
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Priests
Pontifex Maximus · Rex Sacrorum · |
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Priestesses
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Related topics
Religion in ancient Rome |
A fetial (plural fetiales) was a type of priest in Ancient Rome. They formed a collegium.
Their duties included advising the senate on foreign affairs and international treaties, making formal proclamations of peace and of war, and confirming treaties. They also carried out the functions of traveling heralds or ambassadors. One of the fetiales, named pater patratus, was appointed as the fetiales' spokesman.
The first mention of the fetiales by Livy is in the context of the war between Alba Longa and Rome, during which the Roman king Tullus Hostilius appointed M. Valerius as a fetial and Sp. Fusius as pater patratus, for the purpose of binding Rome and Alba Longa by a treaty.
According to Livy, the ritual by which the fetiales were to declare war introduced to Rome by Ancus Marcius, borrowing on the traditions of the Aequicolae. However he had already described the ritual actions of the fetials when recording the wars of Tullus Hostilius. Thus some scholars think the mentions of the Aequi is a misinterpretation due to the a folk etymology that connected Aequi and aequus, the Latin adjective for fair.
The ritual involved the pater patratus, wearing a woolen hair-band, announcing the Roman demands using a series of prescribed phrases, firstly at the enemy's frontier, then repeated when he passes over the frontiers, again to the first man he meets, again on entering the enemy's gate, and again on entering the forum at the presence of local magistrates. If the demands are not met then the pater patratus declares war within 33 days and returns to Rome to await the resolution of the Roman king and senate. Once they have resolved to go to war, a fetial returns to the enemy frontier carrying a javelin with a steel or burnt tip, and dipped in blood. He declares war on the enemy, and throws the javelin into their territory.
The fetial is connected to matters of law and not directly to war, hence in his formulae he never invokes Mars, but Jupiter, Juno (or perhaps Janus) and Quirinius.
The religious relevance of the collegium or sodalitas lay in ensuring that Rome enjoyed the protection of gods in its relationships with foreign states.
This colllegium was probably common to other Latin cities as Livy makes reference to the fetials of Alba.
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According to some scholars[1][2] the name derives from the noun root *feti- that means foundation and not stipulation. It is allied to the basic religious concept of fas, both being rooted in IE *dh(e)s meaning originally to set, setting. This root has given the verb facio, 'to do, make' by a semantic shift. Both fetial and fas preserve the original sense of "foundation", here as in Vedic dhaman, dhatu in its religious sense.
The implications of this etymology would hint to the fact that outside their own ager Romans felt the need for a religious, founding justification of their actions as a people toward other ones. A need was felt to go beyond the sphere of human law or right. While juridical justification was acknowledged as necessary Romans wanted to ensure the approval of what founds right and makes it possible, the fas. This attitude is testified by the ceremonies held by the fetials that confer religious value to political decisions and specifications in their dealing with foreign nations, aimed at placing the gods on the side of Rome and hence effectively entrusting to them the fate of Rome.
The sodalitas dispatched two members of its, of whom only one, called pater patratus, (the meaning of patratus being unclear, he should have children and his father living according to some) was active and the other called verbenarius whose function was limited to accompanying the pater patratus with sacred herbs (sagmina of vervain) gathered on the Capitolium.
We know the ceremonies and formulae of two circumstances: 1) conclusion of a treaty and 2) request of reparations and declaration of war.
In the first circumstance the pater patratus called witness standbyers and the gods, staked the word of Rome and vowed Rome to divine wrath if it should not abide by its word, asking for execratio.
The ceremony has two known variants. In the first one the pater patratus hits a pig with flintstone taken from the temple of Jupiter Feretrius pronouncing the formula referred by Livy,[3] in the second he threw the flintstone and vowed Rome to fall as the stone itself if it should fail to abide by the oath.[4]
When Rome asked for reparations for an offense or damage the fetials were envoyed as ambassadors to the foreign country concerned. If the requests bore by the pater patratus were not met he went back to Rome after invoking Jupiter, Juno (or Janus) and Quirinus, the heavenly gods, the terrestrial gods, the gods of the nether world as witness of the violation of the ius and after declaring war within 30 or 33 days. When this period of time had exipred he wewnt back to the border and opened the hostilities with a magic gesture: while affirming once again the good right of Rome he threw a spear with steel point or a javelin of corniolum hardened with fire into the enemy's territory.[5]
The fetials were a common institution of the Latins and of other Italic people.[6]
According to G. Dumėzil , the initial contract concluded with the gods and extended through the sacra and the signa is sufficient to justify the acts of official religious authorities (such as pontiffs and augurs) within the Roman ager. Actions beyond this boundary require an additional religious foundation, based not only on ius but also, on a deeper level, the fas on which ius is based. This is the task of the fetials who achieve their aim through the *feti-, word that as Vedic dhātu means founding. They rely on a set of ceremonies that give a religious value to the political or military decisions of the magistrates, ensuring that under any circumstance Rome has the gods on her side. Besides offering their advice on international issues to the senate or the consuls the sodalitas dispatches two envoys (the pater patratus and the verbenarius the last one having the only task of carrying the sagmina taken from the Capitol Hill) to ask for the reparations, to declare war in a form that is pious and just and lastly to conclude the peace. The god under whose protection they act and whom the pater patratus invokes is Iupiter Lapis in the rite of the conclusion of a treaty[7] and in general when there an agreement is reached. If the declaration of war ensues the fetial calls as witnessses Jupiter, Juno (or Janus, correction accepted by most editors) , Quirinus, the heavenly, earthly and nether gods of the violation of the ius and declares war within thirtythree days.[8]
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.