Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
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Ovid takes place at a water source or spring (perennis aquae). 341 Previous interpretations of this<br />
scene have labeled this stone ring a gate to the underworld. This interpretation is not in conflict<br />
with the lupine iconography of a chthonic Faunus since the Lupercal, as mentioned earlier, was<br />
considered to be a gate to the underworld. 342 A kingly figure stands above the wolf-man<br />
emptying a patera, possibly an offering of wine, over the divinity. 343 Instead of the sacrifice of a<br />
sheep and the setting out of wine in bowls (rex Numa mactat ovem / plenaque odorati disponit<br />
pocula Bacchi), 344 which is present in Ovid, we are shown a libation that is perhaps made as a<br />
preparation for sacrifice. In either case, the kingly figure may be Ovid’s Numa with his<br />
followers (cum suis). 345<br />
One of the most important details in Ovid’s account for my interpretation is that when<br />
Faunus awakens, he is chained and attempts to gain his freedom through combat (somnus ut<br />
abcessit, pugnando vincula temptant / rumpere: pugnantes fortius illa tenent). 346 On the urns, as<br />
Faunus attacks one of Numa’s men, he is restrained by the others who hold tight to his chains<br />
and/or is bound to the well to hamper his movement. 347 In some instances, one of the men has<br />
been slain, and this may account for the presence of Vanth. As mentioned earlier, Etruscan<br />
artists were wont to insert Vanth into scenes in which someone had died or was bound to die.<br />
Her appearance on a vessel containing the ashes of the dead should not surprise anyone even if<br />
she is not present in Ovid’s narrative.<br />
Obviously, there are some differences between the account given by Ovid and the scene<br />
depicted on the urns. As mentioned earlier, by the time of Ovid, Faunus had already been<br />
syncretized with Pan, the goat-man. In Ovid’s account, Faunus is described as shaking his horns<br />
(quatiens cornua). 348 Also, there is no Picus present in the scene on the urns. 349 However,<br />
341<br />
Ov. Fas. 3.298.<br />
342<br />
Brunn and Körte 1872-1916, 21.<br />
343<br />
The elements of a kingly figure visiting a prophetic god at a water-source located in the deepest woods with a<br />
chthonic connection appear in Verg. Aen.VII.80-6 when Latinus visits Faunus at a spring from which dark vapors<br />
rise out of the earth. Vapors do seem to be a common component of oracle myths as they may have been the source<br />
of the prophetic powers of the Delphic oracle.<br />
344<br />
Ov. Fas. 3.300.<br />
345<br />
Ov. Fas. 3.302.<br />
346<br />
Ov. Fas. 3.307-8.<br />
347<br />
The motif of capturing or binding a prophet to obtain his secrets occurs in literature and art. An Etruscan mirror<br />
in the British Museum showing a scene from the myths of the Vipenas brothers depicts them capturing the seer<br />
Cacu, and, in Virgil’s Eclogues, the woodland god Silenus, a figure remarkably similar to Faunus, is chained with<br />
wreaths of flowers to coerce song from him. adgressi - nam saepe senex spe carminis ambo / luserat – inciunt ipsis<br />
ex vincula sertis. (Verg., Ecl. VI.18-9).<br />
348<br />
Ov. Fas. 3.312.<br />
70