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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

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