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Constructing Myths 1 ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI EDENDA CURAVERUNT OFFPRINT XXXIII 2008 ROMAE MMVIII
- Page 2 and 3: ANALECTA ROMANA INSTITUTI DANICI XX
- Page 4 and 5: Constructing Myths: The Foundation
- Page 6 and 7: Constructing Myths 29 have previous
- Page 8 and 9: Constructing Myths 31 Fig. 2. Fasti
- Page 10 and 11: Constructing Myths 33 secration of
- Page 12 and 13: Constructing Myths 35 dressed the E
- Page 14 and 15: Constructing Myths 37 heavenly tran
- Page 16 and 17: Constructing Myths 39 lowing year.
- Page 18 and 19: Constructing Myths 41 go to the Vat
- Page 20 and 21: Constructing Myths 43 described by
- Page 22 and 23: Constructing Myths 45 There is, how
- Page 24 and 25: Constructing Myths 47 pretends to b
- Page 26 and 27: Constructing Myths 49 ity of the Ap
- Page 28 and 29: Constructing Myths 51 Dvornik, F. 1
- Page 30 and 31: Constructing Myths 53 Saxer, V. 200
- Page 32 and 33: Constructing Myths 55 16 QUIRINALIA
- Page 34 and 35: Constructing Myths 57 canonical wri
- Page 36 and 37: Constructing Myths 59 there in his
- Page 38 and 39: Constructing Myths 61 Pl. I. The cr
- Page 40 and 41: Constructing Myths 63 Pl. III. Gold
Constructing Myths 1<br />
<strong>ANALECTA</strong> <strong>ROMANA</strong><br />
INSTITUTI DANICI<br />
EDENDA CURAVERUNT<br />
OFFPRINT<br />
XXXIII<br />
2008<br />
ROMAE MMVIII
<strong>ANALECTA</strong> <strong>ROMANA</strong> INSTITUTI DANICI XXXIII<br />
Accademia di Danimarca Via Omero, 18 - 00197 <strong>Rom</strong>e<br />
© 2008 Accademia di Danimarca<br />
Analecta <strong>Rom</strong>ana <strong>Institut</strong>i Danici. — Vol. I (1960) — . Copenhagen: Munksgaard.<br />
From 1985: <strong>Rom</strong>e, «L’ERMA» di Bretschneider. From 2007 (online): Accademia di<br />
Danimarca<br />
ISSN 2035-2506<br />
Redaktionskomité/Scientific Board/Comitato Scientifico<br />
Ove Hornby (Bestyrelsesformand, <strong>Det</strong> <strong>Danske</strong> <strong>Institut</strong> i <strong>Rom</strong>)<br />
Jesper Carlsen (Syddansk Universitet)<br />
Astrid Elbek (<strong>Det</strong> Jyske Musikkonservatorium)<br />
Karsten Friis-Jensen (Københavns Universitet)<br />
Helge Gamrath (Aalborg Universitet)<br />
Hannemarie Ragn Jensen (Københavns Universitet)<br />
Mogens Nykjær (Aarhus Universitet)<br />
Gunnar Ortmann (<strong>Det</strong> <strong>Danske</strong> Ambassade i <strong>Rom</strong>)<br />
Marianne Pade (Aarhus Universitet)<br />
Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen (Nationalmuseet, København)<br />
Lene Schøsler (Københavns Universitet)<br />
Poul Schülein (Arkitema, København)<br />
Anne Sejten (Roskilde Universitet)<br />
Redaktionsudvalg/Editorial Board/Comitato di redazione<br />
Erik Bach (<strong>Det</strong> <strong>Danske</strong> <strong>Institut</strong> i <strong>Rom</strong>)<br />
Patrick Kragelund (Danmarks Kunstbibliotek)<br />
Gert Sørensen (Københavns Universitet)<br />
Birgit Tang (<strong>Det</strong> <strong>Danske</strong> <strong>Institut</strong> i <strong>Rom</strong>)<br />
Maria Adelaide Zocchi (<strong>Det</strong> <strong>Danske</strong> <strong>Institut</strong> i <strong>Rom</strong>)<br />
The journal <strong>ANALECTA</strong> <strong>ROMANA</strong> INSTITUTI DANICI (ARID) publishes studies<br />
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Accademia di Danimarca, 18 Via Omero, I - 00197 <strong>Rom</strong>a, tel 0039-06 32 65 931 fax<br />
06 32 22 717. E-mail: accademia@acdan.it
Contents<br />
Antonella Mezzolani: I materiali lapidei nelle costruzioni di età fenicia e punica<br />
a Cartagine<br />
7<br />
Gitte Lønstrup: Constructing Myths: The Foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana on 29<br />
June<br />
27<br />
Jens Viggo Nielsen: ”L’Esistenzialismo non è un umanesimo” La dialettica come<br />
approccio all’esistenzialismo di Luigi Pareyson<br />
65<br />
Lise Bek: Innocence Lost. Symbolism to Rhetoric in Architecture and the Renaissance<br />
Concept of Invention<br />
91
Constructing Myths:<br />
The Foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana on 29 June<br />
by Gitte Lønstrup 1<br />
“Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the renovatio urbis, the foundation of a nova <strong>Rom</strong>a by<br />
Peter and Paul, was celebrated on 29 June, the same day as the anniversary of the foundation, or<br />
refoundation, of <strong>Rom</strong>e by Quirinus-<strong>Rom</strong>ulus.”<br />
J. M. Huskinson 2<br />
Abstract. According to the early Christian calendar, June 29 th was the day on which the Apostles Peter and Paul<br />
were martyred in <strong>Rom</strong>e, by this sacrifice bestowing upon the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church a unique authority. Already Ireneaus<br />
of Lyons (Adversus Haereses, 2 nd century) and Clement of <strong>Rom</strong>e (The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, 1 st<br />
century) had announced that these apostles were the pillars and foundation of the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church. This claim was<br />
later elaborated by Pope Damasus (366-384), during whose pontificate the cult of Peter and Paul was intensified, a<br />
monumental epigram being erected in their honour at the so-called Memoria Apostolorum on the Via Appia outside<br />
the city gates. On this common cult site, June 29 th was celebrated every year, a celebration not only of the sacrifice<br />
of the Princes of the Apostles, but also of the foundation of the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church.<br />
According to the Fasti Venusini, a <strong>Rom</strong>an calendar of the first century (16 BC-4 AD), June 29 th had once commemorated<br />
the inauguration of a temple dedicated to Quirinus, the semi-mythical founder of <strong>Rom</strong>e. This inauguration,<br />
which Augustus seems to have been responsible for, is not, however, registered in any other preserved <strong>Rom</strong>an<br />
calendar. Nevertheless, the coincidental parallel occurrence of these two events on June 29 th has led scholars mistakenly<br />
to claim that Christian <strong>Rom</strong>e was founded on the same day upon which the <strong>Rom</strong>ans celebrated the city’s<br />
foundation by <strong>Rom</strong>ulus Quirinus.<br />
The present article aims at deconstructing this myth by careful analysis of the sources – <strong>Rom</strong>an and Christian<br />
calendars, basilicas and golden glasses, graffiti and marble epigrams. It argues that a celebration of Peter and Paul<br />
on June 29 th in imitation of the festival of Quirinus is unlikely. This is not least because the commemoration of<br />
the temple of pagan <strong>Rom</strong>e’s legendary founder already seems to have been fading away when Ovid composed his<br />
Fasti – the only other source which testifies, however vaguely, to the inauguration of the temple of Quirinus on<br />
June 29 th .<br />
If the foundation day of <strong>Rom</strong>e was actually<br />
celebrated on 29 June, as described in the<br />
introductory quotation, the Christian appropriation<br />
of this legendary day would be<br />
intriguing. However, this event was not celebrated<br />
on 29 June. Ancient sources and calendars<br />
testify to the celebration of the foundation<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e on 21 April – even after the<br />
Emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and<br />
Arcadius had annulled several conventional<br />
holidays in 389. 3<br />
When reading in the Enciclopedia dei
28 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Papi (2000) I was intrigued by a comment<br />
in the entry for Pope Damasus that 29 June<br />
was “lo stesso giorno in cui i pagani celebravano<br />
l’anniversario della fondazione di<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>a.” 4 This article has its origin in the<br />
curiosity aroused on this occasion. I would<br />
therefore like to examine the significance of<br />
29 June in the calendars of both the ancient<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>ans and the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church, in order to<br />
verify whether this day had any connection<br />
to the traditional foundation day of <strong>Rom</strong>e as<br />
suggested in the quotations above.<br />
Pope Damasus (366-384) was a central<br />
figure in the creation of the myth about Christian<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>e, founded by Peter and Paul. 5 His<br />
works constitute a corner stone of this study.<br />
During his pontificate he composed between<br />
60 and 80 poems carved into monumental<br />
stone tablets (epigrams) which were placed<br />
at the martyr tombs in the <strong>Rom</strong>an catacombs<br />
(Pl. I and Fig. 7). 6 Damasus had crypts constructed<br />
in the catacombs specially designed<br />
for the cultic and liturgical rituals which he<br />
staged there. The pilgrims did not arrive at<br />
the crypts until after they had passed through<br />
a route, the itinera ad sanctos, 7 in the subterranean<br />
network of streets whose endlessly<br />
long, dark and narrow corridors, with tombs<br />
from floor to ceiling, a permanent smell of<br />
putrefaction, served as a constant reminder<br />
to the believer that he/she was in the realm<br />
of the dead. Then – as now – a visit to the<br />
catacombs was an overwhelming experience,<br />
as very clearly evoked by Jerome’s<br />
description of such a visit:<br />
We descended into the galleries, carved out<br />
of the bowels of the earth, full of graves so dark<br />
that the words of the Psalms [55, 16] ‘Let the<br />
living sink into the Realm of Death’ seemed to<br />
become real. The darkness which surrounded us<br />
may be described through the words of Virgil:<br />
‘Horror is dense everywhere, even silence thickens<br />
with terror’ [Aeneid II. 755]. 8<br />
The labyrinthine procession increased the<br />
tension, which was eventually released upon<br />
arrival to the Damasian crypt where single<br />
rays of light penetrated the darkness and<br />
reached the saint’s grave, decorated with an<br />
epigram.The inscriptions, the atmospheric<br />
rooms and the routes served to promote the<br />
martyr’s cult in support of the myth of the<br />
Christian foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>e which Damasus<br />
was in the process of constructing. The<br />
purpose of this myth was to ensure <strong>Rom</strong>e<br />
the position as the authoritative diocese of<br />
Christianity. The martyrdoms of Peter and<br />
Paul, both celebrated on 29 June, 9 would<br />
serve as the legitimisation of Apostolic authority.<br />
These martyrdoms became absolutely<br />
fundamental in the foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>a<br />
Christiana.<br />
The term ‘myth’ must here be conceived<br />
through two lenses: partly as a traditional<br />
foundation myth, 10 in which mortal and immortal<br />
figures appear (i.e. the martyrs); partly<br />
through Roland Barthes’ theory of myths<br />
introduced in his book Mythologies (1957).<br />
According to Barthes, the myth is a phenomenon,<br />
or a mechanism, which transforms historical<br />
constructions and makes them appear<br />
natural and self-evident. 11 Neither the subject<br />
matter nor the source material of this article
Constructing Myths 29<br />
have previously been studied through this<br />
lens, but it proves highly applicable, both<br />
in an analysis of the Christian foundation<br />
myth as constructed by Damasus, and in<br />
the scholarly myths attached to it, amongst<br />
them the discussion of whether 29 June was<br />
both the legendary and the Christian foundation<br />
day of <strong>Rom</strong>e.<br />
29 June and other Significant Days in the<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an Calendar<br />
This is not the right occasion for an account<br />
of the complex construction and history of<br />
the <strong>Rom</strong>an calendar. 12 The issues here are<br />
29 June and holidays in the <strong>Rom</strong>an calendar,<br />
dedicated to the celebration of the<br />
founders and the foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>e. Julius<br />
Caesar’s reform of the Republican calendar<br />
in 46 BC should, however, be mentioned<br />
by way of introduction. The structure<br />
of the Julian system, which consists of 365<br />
days divided into 12 months, is in principle<br />
still valid, although it has been subjected to<br />
an ongoing Christianisation, partly through<br />
the inclusion of such Christian holidays as<br />
Christmas and Easter; partly through the annulment<br />
and the appropriation of traditional<br />
holidays as when Pope Gelasius (492-96)<br />
consecrated the day of LUPERCALIA (15<br />
February) as the Feast of the Purification of<br />
the Virgin Mary in 494. 13<br />
The Fasti Antiates Maiores (84-55 BC)<br />
is the only example of the Republican calendar,<br />
which was replaced by the Julian calendar<br />
that has been handed down to us. In<br />
the month of junius the 29 June is in no way<br />
emphasised. The most important days of the<br />
month – marked with capital letters – were,<br />
however, VESTALIA on 9 June and MAT-<br />
RALIA on 11 June. Out of the 45 calendars<br />
examined, 14 the date of 29 June has actually<br />
only been preserved in the Republican<br />
Fasti Antiates Maiores and in the following<br />
Julian-Augustan calendars: the Fasti Maffeiani<br />
(8 BC), the Fasti Esquilini (7 BC)<br />
and the Fasti Venusini (16 BC - 4 AD), together<br />
with Ovid’s poetic Fasti, and the two<br />
calendars preserved in manuscript form: the<br />
Fasti Philocaliani (354) and the Fasti Silvii<br />
Polemii (449). The month of June is either<br />
entirely or in part lost in the other calendars.<br />
Among the seven relevant calendars, only<br />
the Fasti Venusini and Ovid’s Fasti register<br />
an event on 29 June. Ovid writes very<br />
briefly: “When as many days of the month<br />
remain as the Fates (Parcae) have names,<br />
a temple was dedicated to thee, Quirinus,<br />
god of the striped gown.” 15 Since there were<br />
three goddesses of Fate (Nona, Decima and<br />
Morta), this must refer to the antepenultimate<br />
day of June. According to the Julian<br />
calendar, the month of June had 30 days<br />
(against 29 according to the Republican<br />
calendar), so logically the antepenultimate<br />
date should be 28 June. It was, however,<br />
29 June. What logically should have been<br />
the penultimate day of the months was indicated<br />
by means of the <strong>Rom</strong>an numeral<br />
III, as can be seen in e.g. the Fasti Praenestini<br />
(6 – 9 AD) (Fig. 1). The last day of<br />
the month, i.e. 30 June, was marked PR for<br />
priedie (which means “the day before”) and<br />
counted as the penultimate day, whereas the<br />
kalends itself (the first day of the month)
30 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Fig. 1. Fasti Praenestini, <strong>Rom</strong>e, 6-9 AC, Palazzo<br />
Massimo (photo: with permission from Il Ministero<br />
per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza<br />
Archeologica di <strong>Rom</strong>a).<br />
both counted as the last day (of June) and as<br />
the first day of the next month (July). After<br />
kalends you counted backwards from nones<br />
which occurred either on the fifth or the seventh<br />
day, depending on the length of the particular<br />
month.<br />
According to Ovid, a temple to Quirinus<br />
was consecrated on 29 June. This is in accordance<br />
with a note in the Fasti Venusini,<br />
“Quirino in Colle”, which appears to indicate<br />
a celebration for Quirinus on the Quirinal<br />
Hill which was named after him. The<br />
note is, however, written in smaller letters<br />
as an indication that the celebration was not<br />
among the 45 most important celebrations<br />
of the year which, as already mentioned,<br />
were marked by capital letters, as was the<br />
case with the great <strong>Rom</strong>an festival of the<br />
QUIRINALIA. 16<br />
The QUIRINALIA was celebrated on 17<br />
February in honour of the divine founder<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e, <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus. <strong>Rom</strong>ulus and<br />
Quirinus were one and the same figure, as<br />
Quirinus was the name given to <strong>Rom</strong>ulus after<br />
his apotheosis. 17 The festival took place in<br />
the middle of the so-called parentalia from<br />
13 to 21 February when the <strong>Rom</strong>ans honoured<br />
their dead. 18 On this day in the calendar,<br />
abbreviated QUIR NP (Fig. 2), is noted<br />
“Quirino” in the Republican Fasti Antiates<br />
Maiores, “Quirino in Colle” in the Julian<br />
calendars Fasti Caeretani, Fasti Praenestini<br />
and Fasti Farnesini, and eventually “Quirinalia”<br />
in Polemius Silvius’ calendar, written<br />
60 years after the three Christian emperors<br />
Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius<br />
had annulled a series of traditional holidays<br />
in 389. 19<br />
The oldest temple to Quirinus, dedicated<br />
by Lucius Papirius Cursor in 293 BC, was<br />
most probably consecrated on the QUIRI-<br />
NALIA of 17 February. 20 One may therefore<br />
wonder how 29 June came into being. According<br />
to Cassius Dio (164-229) the Emperor<br />
Augustus rebuilt the temple to Quirinus<br />
which was reconsecrated in the year<br />
when Lucius Domitius [Athenobarbus] and<br />
Publius [Cornelius] Scipio were consuls, i.e.<br />
in 16 BC, which corresponds to the dating of<br />
the Fasti Venusini (16 BC – 4 AD). 21 Cassius<br />
Dio, however, mentions neither the day of<br />
consecration nor the geographical position<br />
of the temple; nor does Augustus, when he<br />
mentions “aedem Quirini” in the Res Gestae<br />
(19). Only in Ovid’s poetic Fasti and in<br />
the Fasti Venusini is 29 June mentioned. If,<br />
however, we assume that Augustus actually<br />
did reconsecrate the temple on that day, what
Constructing Myths 31<br />
Fig. 2. Fasti Caeretani (in which I have marked the following holidays: * 17 February, QUIRINALIA; ** 23<br />
March, TUBILUSTRUM; *** 21 April, PARILIA), <strong>Rom</strong>e, 12 BC, Musei Capitolini (NCE 2449)<br />
(photo: Archivio Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini, <strong>Rom</strong>e).<br />
may have been the reason that he chose this<br />
particular date rather than 17 February<br />
Equinox, solstice, victories, birthdays and<br />
other important events in the life of Augustus<br />
provided occasions for the consecration<br />
of buildings and the founding of holidays. 22<br />
A victory would have been an obvious occasion<br />
for the consecration of the Augustan<br />
temple to Quirinus, since Quirinus was a god<br />
of war. 23 Yet no victories were registered for<br />
29 June. 24 The Emperor’s birthday might<br />
also have provided an occasion, as he may<br />
have wished, as suggested by Cassius Dio,<br />
to celebrate his 26 years by means of the 26<br />
columns in the temple to Quirinus. 25 Augustus’<br />
birthday was, however, on 23 September,<br />
which – according to ancient astrologers<br />
– coincided with the birthday of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus. 26<br />
This day was and is the autumnal equinox.<br />
At both the vernal and the autumnal equinox,<br />
Augustus’ sundial (Gnomon) would draw a<br />
line from the dial in the West to the Altar of<br />
Peace (Ara Pacis) in the East. At sunset the<br />
ray would touch the entrance with its reliefs
32 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Fig. 3. Fasti Antiates Maiores, <strong>Rom</strong>e, 84-55 BC, Palazzo Massimo (photo: with permission from Il Ministero per<br />
i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza Archeologica di <strong>Rom</strong>a).<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus and Aeneas. The entire cosmic<br />
universe thus marked the birthday of the<br />
Emperor Augustus and his connections to<br />
the legendary founding father and ancestor<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e in a way which was worthy of a<br />
divine ruler. 27<br />
The Augustan festival which comes<br />
closest to 29 June is 26 June when Augustus<br />
adopted Tiberius as the successor to the<br />
throne. 28 Yet in the Fasti Triumphalis inscriptions,<br />
no victories, birthdays or other<br />
memorable events are registered for 29 June<br />
which could have provided Augustus with<br />
an occasion to consecrate the rebuilt temple<br />
to Quirinus on that day. According to Cassius<br />
Dio, Augustus’ imminent departure for<br />
Gaul would appear to have been the practical<br />
reason for reconsecrating the temple. 29<br />
As already mentioned, he does not, however,<br />
indicate on what day the event took place.<br />
It is worth noting that the festival “Quirino<br />
in Colle” on 29 June is neither registered<br />
in the Fasti Maffeiani (8 BC) nor in<br />
the Fasti Esquilini (7 BC), both dating from<br />
within the same time span as the Fasti Venusini<br />
(16 BC – 4 AD), less than ten years<br />
after the consecration of the temple. It is also<br />
intriguing that Ovid’s poem about 29 June<br />
(VI. 795-796) is by far his shortest poem of<br />
only two stanzas. By comparison his poem<br />
about 17 February runs to 57 stanzas (II.<br />
475-532), while the poem about 21 April<br />
is his longest of 141 stanzas (IV. 721-862).<br />
Might Ovid’s taciturnity about the cult and<br />
the ceremony of 29 June be an indication<br />
that the festival occasioned by the consecration<br />
of the second temple to Quirinus had<br />
almost been forgotten when, between 4 and<br />
7 AD, he wrote his Fasti, in which he often<br />
reports in great detail about the ritual which<br />
took place on particular festivals Is it possible<br />
that the festival celebrating the recon-
Constructing Myths 33<br />
secration of the temple to Quirinus ceased<br />
a few years later, when the divine founder<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e, his temple and the foundation of<br />
the city had already been celebrated on 17<br />
February and 21 April at two of the greatest<br />
festivals of the year If the Fasti Venusini<br />
was written immediately after the consecration<br />
of the temple in 16 BC, and the other<br />
calendars were not written until ten years<br />
later (when the day of consecration was possibly<br />
no longer celebrated), it might serve as<br />
an explanation of why the festival appears<br />
in neither the Fasti Maffeiani nor the Fasti<br />
Esquilini. Here the day is not even marked<br />
by an N for nefasti (festival), but by an F for<br />
fasti (weekday). 30<br />
While 17 February was a festival celebrating<br />
the divine founding father of <strong>Rom</strong>e, and<br />
while the reconsecration of his temple may -<br />
for a while at least - have been celebrated on<br />
29 June, the founding of the city itself was<br />
celebrated on 21 April. Like the QUIRINA-<br />
LIA the foundation day was one of the most<br />
important of the 45 holidays. They have<br />
both been passed down in all the calendars<br />
in which the months of February and April<br />
are preserved. 31 Both in the Republican and<br />
in the Julian calendars, 21 April is marked<br />
by PAR or PARIL, which are abbreviations<br />
of PARILIA (Fig. 3). 32 In the Fasti Antiates<br />
Maiores and the Fasti Caeretani among others,<br />
PARILIA is followed by the note “<strong>Rom</strong>a<br />
condita. Feriae coronatis omnibus” (Figs. 2<br />
and 3), while in such Late Antique calendars<br />
as the Fasti Philocaliani and Polemii Silvii<br />
it is referred to as “N Urbis” and “Natalis<br />
Urbis <strong>Rom</strong>ae”.<br />
Ovid describes PARILIA as a festival<br />
of agriculture and purification, celebrated<br />
in honour of the god Pales. Judging from<br />
his poetic account, the festival of Pales<br />
existed before <strong>Rom</strong>ulus, who supposedly<br />
chose to perform the ritual of consecration<br />
in connection with this festival. 33 Whether<br />
the event originally took place on 21 April is<br />
insignificant. The fact is that the foundation<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e was celebrated on 21 April. 34 One of<br />
the most spectacular celebrations took place<br />
in 248 in occasion of the city’s millennium.<br />
Even the Christian Emperor Theodosius<br />
I (379-395) issued a dispensation for the<br />
celebration of the traditional foundation<br />
day, possibly because the idea of <strong>Rom</strong>e as<br />
the Eternal City lived on in his own politics;<br />
possibly because it was an event celebrating<br />
the city rather than its pagan founder<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus. As it appears from a<br />
notice in the Fasti Philocaliani (“Natalis<br />
Urbis. Circenses missus XXIIII”) the day was<br />
still celebrated with games, circenses, in the<br />
fourth century. This practice of celebration<br />
continued until 444, when the games in the<br />
circus ceased. 35 This explains why they are<br />
not registered in Polemius Silvius’ calendar<br />
of 449, where both “Natalis Urbis” and<br />
PARILIA still appear under 21 April. 36 The<br />
foundation day itself was, in other words,<br />
still commemorated after Christianity had<br />
become the state religion in 380. 37<br />
In the Fasti Praenestini there would appear<br />
to be a difference between PARILIA<br />
and the foundation day of <strong>Rom</strong>e. 23 March<br />
(which was one among the 45 most important<br />
holidays called the TUBILUSTRUM)
34 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Fig. 4. Fasti Praenestini, <strong>Rom</strong>e, 6-9 AC, Palazzo Massimo (photo: with permission from Il Ministero per i Beni e<br />
le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza Archeologica di <strong>Rom</strong>a).<br />
carries the note “<strong>Rom</strong>ulus Urbem inauguraverit”<br />
(Fig. 4). Scholars have attempted<br />
to explain this exception with a reference<br />
to the Augustan desire to make the foundation<br />
day coincide with the vernal equinox,<br />
in order to make it correspond to Augustus’<br />
birthday which coincided with the autumnal<br />
equinox. Vernal equinox is, however, on 21<br />
March rather than on 23 March, but it would<br />
appear that there was some confusion about<br />
the exact date, which, according to Ovid,<br />
was on 26 March (III. 877-878). According<br />
to Professor Carandini, the TUBILUSTRUM<br />
might have marked the day when the Augur<br />
saw the birds flying from the Aventine Hill<br />
as a sign of the gods’ blessing of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus<br />
and his imminent consecration of <strong>Rom</strong>e.<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>ulus was then supposed to have ad-
Constructing Myths 35<br />
dressed the Etruscan priests in order to receive<br />
the rules for the initiation ritual which<br />
was to take place a month later at the festival<br />
of Pales, the PARILIA. 38<br />
Amongst the exceptions is also the Fasti<br />
Fratrum Arvalium (36-21 BC) in which<br />
Quirinus is mentioned in the note “Quirino<br />
in Colle Volk Comit” for 23 August,<br />
when people presumably made sacrifices<br />
to Quirinus as part of the festival in honour<br />
of the god Vulcan, Feriae Volcano. 39<br />
Like the QUIRINALIA, the VOLCANALIA<br />
was amongst the 45 most important Nefasti<br />
(festivals). The day is documented in<br />
the Fasti Pinciani (VOLC-N Volcano), the<br />
Fasti Maffeiani (VOLC NP) and the Fasti<br />
Vallenses (VOLCAN NP – “Volcano in Circo<br />
Flaminio”), but here “Quirino in Colle”<br />
is not mentioned. 40 Whether the note in the<br />
Fasti Venusini might likewise be a reference<br />
to a sacrifice to Quirinus on the occasion of<br />
another festival is mere guesswork, as no<br />
festivals for other gods, rulers, victories,<br />
birthdays or natural phenomena are registered<br />
for this day. 41<br />
The note “Quirino in Colle” appears for<br />
17 February in several calendars, and exceptionally<br />
for 29 June in the Fasti Venusini and<br />
23 August in the Fasti Fratrum Arvalium. It<br />
refers to the founding father of <strong>Rom</strong>e, <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus,<br />
and not to the foundation<br />
day of <strong>Rom</strong>e on 21 April, whereas the notes<br />
“<strong>Rom</strong>a condita […]” and “Natalis Urbis <strong>Rom</strong>ae”<br />
refer to the foundation itself and not<br />
to the founder. Nor does it say “Quirino in<br />
Colle” for 23 March, the alternative foundation<br />
date which appears exclusively in the<br />
Fasti Praenestini.<br />
It cannot be dismissed that the consecration<br />
festival for the Augustan temple to<br />
Quirinus took place on 29 June, and that<br />
this is the festival referred to in the Fasti Venusini<br />
and in Ovid’s Fasti. Two of the most<br />
important holidays of the year had, however,<br />
already celebrated the founder of <strong>Rom</strong>e on<br />
17 February, and the foundation of the city<br />
on 21 April respectively, so it would not be<br />
surprising if the festival on 29 June lost its<br />
significance after a few years. There would,<br />
in other words, appear to be no evidence for<br />
referring to 29 June as “the anniversary of<br />
the foundation, or refoundation, of <strong>Rom</strong>e”<br />
or “lo stesso giorno in cui i pagani celebravano<br />
la fondazione di <strong>Rom</strong>a”, as stated in<br />
the introductory quotations to this article.<br />
It is therefore problematic to base an argument<br />
on the coincidence between 29 June,<br />
the reconsecration of the temple to Quirinus,<br />
the legendary and Christian foundation<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e, and the dies natalis of Peter and<br />
Paul. 42 The conflation of these events looks<br />
more like an after rationalisation. But how<br />
could it have arisen The claim that 29 June<br />
was the foundation day of <strong>Rom</strong>e appears in<br />
such a recent publication as the Enciclopedia<br />
dei Papi of 2000 referred to above. It is,<br />
however, not supported by any source references.<br />
Huskinson, on the contrary, does refer<br />
to a monograph on the Apostle Peter written<br />
by Antonio Rimoldi in 1958. It is interesting<br />
to pursue this reference, as Rimoldi actually<br />
stresses that 29 June was not the foundation<br />
day of <strong>Rom</strong>e. 43 He states that it may have<br />
been the date for the consecration of the
36 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
temple to Quirinus, but does not enter into a<br />
discussion of 29 June and 21 April. Rimoldi’s<br />
discussion arises out of his criticism of<br />
Oscar Cullmann’s claim that “c’est le 29.<br />
juin qu’était célébrée la fête anniversaire de<br />
la fondation de <strong>Rom</strong>e, Quirinus-<strong>Rom</strong>ulus. A<br />
cette fête du fondateur de la ville correspondit<br />
celle des fondateurs de la communauté<br />
chrétienne.” 44 Cullmann refers to Carl Erbes<br />
(1899), but he does not claim 29 June for the<br />
foundation date of <strong>Rom</strong>e either. With a reference<br />
to the Fasti Venusini, Erbes speaks of<br />
this day as a festival for <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus.<br />
Subsequently he maintains that Pope Sixtus<br />
II established the cult of the Apostles for the<br />
founders of the Church on 29 June 258. 45<br />
The reason for Sixtus II’s choice of this particular<br />
date was, according to Erbes, that<br />
this was the closest available date which had<br />
any connection to the founder(s) of <strong>Rom</strong>e.<br />
The QUIRINALIA had long passed when the<br />
second Valerian edict was issued to immediate<br />
effect in the summer of 258. 46 This edict<br />
commenced the persecution of those priests<br />
who refused to perform traditional sacrifices<br />
to the imperial cult. Among the persecuted<br />
priests were Pope Sixtus II and his six deacons,<br />
among them St. Lawrence to whom<br />
Damasus dedicated his titular church S.<br />
Lorenzo in Damaso. Sixtus II was executed<br />
on 6 August 258; St. Lawrence followed suit<br />
only four days later on 10 August. Damasus<br />
honoured both of them with epigrams.<br />
The claim that 29 June was the foundation<br />
date of <strong>Rom</strong>e consequently appears<br />
to have its origins in Cullmann. Cullmann<br />
merges Erbes’ thesis – about the connection<br />
between the founder <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus<br />
and the founders of the Church – with the<br />
festival celebrating the founding of the city.<br />
It would appear that Rimoldi’s criticism of<br />
Cullmann’s article has not been registered,<br />
since this misunderstanding still circulates<br />
in 2000, some forty years after the publication<br />
of Rimoldi’s monograph. One inevitably<br />
wonders why Huskinson allies himself<br />
with Cullmann without taking Rimoldi’s<br />
argument into consideration, despite his explicit<br />
reference to Rimoldi’s work. 47<br />
In the very same monograph of 1958,<br />
Rimoldi furthermore counters Erbes’ idea<br />
of a parallel between the legendary founder<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus and the founders of the<br />
Church, Peter and Paul. 48 As quite rightly<br />
pointed out by Rimoldi, the parallel between<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus and Peter and<br />
Paul makes no sense, since <strong>Rom</strong>ulus and<br />
Quirinus were one and the same person. If<br />
it were to have made any sense, the parallel<br />
should have referred to another pair, like<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>ulus and Remus. 49 Charles Pietri has,<br />
however, introduced a correspondence between<br />
Peter and Paul on the one side and the<br />
eastern Dioscuri, the twins Castor and Pollux,<br />
who became the guardians of <strong>Rom</strong>e, on<br />
the other: “Pourquoi s’étonner si Damase,<br />
dans son ambition de donner à <strong>Rom</strong>e ses<br />
véritables héros et ses vrais patroni, suggère<br />
de remplacer les Dioscures, encore<br />
populaires, par les deux apôtres” 50 This<br />
correspondence has recently been resumed<br />
by Dennis E. Trout who writes that “They<br />
[Peter and Paul] would assume the city’s celestial<br />
guardianship, replacing such former
Constructing Myths 37<br />
heavenly transplants as <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus,<br />
the Dioscuri, and the deified emperors.” 51<br />
Taking their starting point in Pope Damasus’<br />
epigram to Peter and Paul, in which the<br />
Apostles are referred to as the ‘new stars’,<br />
nova sidera, 52 Pietri and Trout would appear<br />
to suggest that these ‘new stars’ took over<br />
the position of the ‘old stars’, i.e. the stellar<br />
constellation (“l’image astrale”) of Castor<br />
and Pollux. Pietri and Trout thus stress the<br />
corresponding characteristics and responsibilities<br />
of the heroes rather than any correspondence<br />
between the dates on which the<br />
heroes were celebrated. When seen from<br />
this angle, Peter and Paul could potentially<br />
also correspond to the twins Lares Praestites.<br />
Like <strong>Rom</strong>ulus and Remus they were<br />
brought up among wild animals, and like the<br />
Dioscuri they took the roles as the guardians<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e. 53 According to Pietri and Trout,<br />
this role was taken over by Peter and Paul.<br />
The heroic couple of Evander and Hercules<br />
could likewise be introduced as corresponding<br />
founders, in so far as Evander and his<br />
retinue supposedly founded a settlement on<br />
the hill of Pallantion (i.e. the Palatine Hill)<br />
by the Tiber where Hercules paid them a<br />
visit. 54<br />
These hypothetical correspondences between<br />
Peter and Paul, Lares Praestites, the<br />
Dioscuri, Evander and Hercules do, however,<br />
not reflect any correspondences between the<br />
Saints’ day and the festivals for the ancient<br />
heroes. The consecration date for the temple<br />
to the Dioscuri was 27 January. 55 The original<br />
festival days for Lares Praestites were 21<br />
February and 1 May. 56 The story of Evander<br />
and Hercules was commemorated on 12<br />
August when the consecration of Hercules’<br />
Ara Maxima, erected by either Evander or<br />
Hercules himself, was likewise celebrated. 57<br />
As it appears from Ovid’s Fasti (I. 461-581)<br />
their story was likewise commemorated on<br />
11 January in connection with one of the 45<br />
great annual festivals, the KARMENTALIA,<br />
named after Evander’s mother Carmenta or<br />
Carmentis. While the festival on 12 August<br />
is not registered in any of the calendars from<br />
the fourth and the fifth centuries AD, the<br />
memory of the KARMENTALIA was, surprisingly<br />
enough, still vivid by the mid fifth<br />
century, as suggested by the following note<br />
in Polemius Silvius’ calendar of 449: “Carmentalia<br />
de nomine matris Evandri. Natalis<br />
[…] Theodosii Augusti.” One can only speculate<br />
on whether the coinciding dates of the<br />
Emperor Theodosius’ birthday and the KAR-<br />
MENTALIA may have had any influence on<br />
this non-Christian festival still being registered<br />
in a calendar of 449. The fact is that<br />
the story of Evander’s mother, her son and<br />
Hercules was still being remembered even<br />
after the myth of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus’ (and Remus’)<br />
founding of <strong>Rom</strong>e had been solidly established<br />
around the third century BC. 58 The<br />
KARMENTALIA is registered in the Fasti<br />
Antiates Maiores, the Fasti Maffeiani and<br />
the Fasti Praenestini. Paradoxically enough,<br />
it would appear that one founding myth did<br />
not preclude the existence of another.<br />
If the Christians had wanted to take over<br />
a date which directly associated the foundation<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana with the legendary<br />
foundation of the city, they had a choice
38 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Fig. 5. Plan of the S. Sebastiano complex at the Via Appia showing the plan of the circus-shaped basilica as well as<br />
the catacomb beneath it, <strong>Rom</strong>e, fourth century (Archivio Disegni, Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra,<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>e).<br />
between 21 April and 23 March (cf. Fasti<br />
Praenestini). Had they wanted to associate<br />
Peter and Paul with the founding father of<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>e, 17 February would appear far more<br />
obvious than 29 June. Alternatively, the<br />
KARMENTALIA on 11 January was a possibility.<br />
Had the Christians wished to connect<br />
Peter and Paul with the guardians of <strong>Rom</strong>e,<br />
they could have taken over the festival of the<br />
Dioscuri on 27 January or the Lares Praestites<br />
festivals on 21 February and 1 May.<br />
According to the saints’ calendar, nothing,<br />
however, took place on those dates. 59 It may<br />
well be that the priests deliberately avoided<br />
any dispositions on these traditional <strong>Rom</strong>an<br />
festivals, partly in order to avoid any competing<br />
festivals, partly not to give rise to any<br />
unrest. We know of similar discretions from<br />
the Emperor Constantine who presumably<br />
erected the first Christian basilicas outside<br />
the monumental city centre of <strong>Rom</strong>e, in order<br />
not to provoke the aristocratic elite by<br />
building churches side by side with the temples.<br />
60<br />
Carl Erbes may have been right when<br />
suggesting that, because of the persecutions<br />
introduced in Valerian’s second edict, it became<br />
impossible to postpone the transferral<br />
of the bodies of the Apostles to the most<br />
important festivals in the spring of the fol-
Constructing Myths 39<br />
lowing year. He concludes that 29 June was<br />
the closest available date connected with the<br />
founders of <strong>Rom</strong>e. The question is, however,<br />
whether the significance of the festival of<br />
“Quirino in Colle” was still so vivid in the<br />
collective memory by 258 that an appropriation<br />
would have made any sense This seems<br />
questionable in the light of the taciturnity<br />
which even 250 years previously characterised<br />
Ovid’s brief poem about this date. Such<br />
brevity may well speak for itself.<br />
Given the seriousness of the persecutions,<br />
it made little sense to waste any time on considering<br />
which dates to move the relics in<br />
order to create continuity between the legendary<br />
and the Christian founders of <strong>Rom</strong>e. In<br />
the following, the implications of this date<br />
will step into the background, to make room<br />
for a sketch of the actual significance of 29<br />
June within the <strong>Rom</strong>an-Catholic Church.<br />
29 June in the Christian Calendar: Dies natalis<br />
Petri et Pauli<br />
The first time 29 June is mentioned in the<br />
Christian source material is in the part of<br />
the Fasti Philocaliani (336-354) called the<br />
Depositio Martyrum. 61 It consists of a list of<br />
the burial places and the death days of primarily<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an martyrs – dies natales. For<br />
29 June on this list we find the following<br />
note: “III KAL. IUL. Petri in Catacumbas et<br />
Pauli Ostense Tusco et Basso cons.” From<br />
this we may infer that Peter and Paul were<br />
celebrated on 29 June (the third day before<br />
the kalends of July), since Tusco and Basso<br />
were consuls, i.e. in 258 when Sixtus II<br />
was Pope. 62 We are furthermore informed<br />
that Peter was celebrated “in catacumbas”,<br />
while Paul was celebrated “in Ostense”, i.e.<br />
in the Via Ostiense where Paul supposedly<br />
was beheaded and buried. 63 “In catacumbas”<br />
refers to the toponym ad catacumbas,<br />
which was the name of the Christian burial<br />
ground underneath the present Basilica of S.<br />
Sebastiano in the Via Appia outside the <strong>Rom</strong>an<br />
city walls (Fig. 5). Not until the ninth<br />
century did this toponym become a common<br />
denomination for the type of subterranean<br />
burial place of which there were about 60<br />
in <strong>Rom</strong>e by the fourth century, namely the<br />
catacombs. 64<br />
Under S. Sebastiano more than 600 inscriptions<br />
have been found which testify to<br />
the fact that since the middle of the third<br />
century both Apostles had been worshipped<br />
“in catacumbas” in the part of the burial<br />
ground which was later called the triclia. 65<br />
In these graffiti Peter and Paul appear side<br />
by side in the believers’ prayers to them<br />
(Fig. 6). Amongst the believers was the man<br />
Sozomenus who visited the triclia on 22<br />
June (ten days before the kalends of July): X<br />
KL iulias Paule Petre in mente habete Sozemenum<br />
et tu leges. 66 Other graffiti like Petro<br />
et Paulo Tomius Coelius refrigerium feci[t]<br />
recount how the ritual meal, the refrigerium,<br />
took place here. 67 This meal belonged to<br />
the private cult, and judging from the graffiti<br />
which indicate a date, it would appear to<br />
have taken place all the year round, while<br />
the official Eucharist liturgy was presumably<br />
only being celebrated on 29 June. 68 It<br />
has been much discussed what provided the<br />
occasion for the rise of this cult. The main
40 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Fig. 6. Graffiti in the catacomb beneath the S. Sebastiano complex. Among them Sozomenus’ prayer to Peter and<br />
Paul: X KL iulias Paule Petre in mente habete Sozemenum et tu leges. <strong>Rom</strong>e, third-fourth century (photo: Pontificia<br />
Commissione di Archeologia Sacra, <strong>Rom</strong>e).<br />
points in this discussion will be summed up<br />
in the following. 69<br />
In the biography of Pope Cornelius<br />
(251-253) in the Liber Pontificalis (compiled<br />
ca. 530) we find the following version:<br />
[…] at the request of a certain lady Lucina,<br />
he took up the bodies of the apostles Saints Peter<br />
and Paul from the catacombs at night; in fact<br />
first of all the blessed Lucina took the body of St.<br />
Paul and put it on her estate on the Via Ostiensis<br />
close to the place where he was beheaded; the<br />
blessed bishop Cornelius took the body of St.<br />
Peter and put it close to the place where he was<br />
crucified […], on the Mons Aureus, on the Vatican<br />
at Nero’s palace, on 29 June. 70<br />
Abbé Duchesne was, however, of the impression<br />
that Peter and Paul had originally<br />
been buried close to the place where they<br />
died and that, during the Valerian persecutions<br />
in 258, they had been removed to the<br />
Via Appia because people were fearing for<br />
the safety of the relics. Duchesne’s explanation,<br />
which is generally accepted, is the<br />
most plausible one, if one is to believe the<br />
testimonial given by the <strong>Rom</strong>an Christian<br />
Gaius in the second century: “If you will
Constructing Myths 41<br />
go to the Vatican or to the Ostian way, you<br />
will find the trophies of those who laid the<br />
foundations of this church.” 71 Gaius mentions<br />
no Apostolic tomb “in catacumbas”<br />
where Peter, according to the later Depositio<br />
Martyrum was supposedly celebrated.<br />
In the Apostolorum Passio hymn from the<br />
beginning of the 380s it is suggested that the<br />
Apostles were celebrated in three different<br />
places. 72 This is confirmed by the liturgical<br />
calendar Martyrologium Hieronymianum<br />
of 431-50 according to which Peter was<br />
celebrated on the Mons Vaticanus, Paul at<br />
Ostiense and both “in catacumbas”: “III KL.<br />
IUL. <strong>Rom</strong>ae natale sanctorum apostolorum<br />
Petri et Pauli. Petri Via Aurelia in Vaticano.<br />
Paulo vero in Via Ostensi. Utrumque in catacumbas,<br />
(passi sub Nerone), Basso et Tusco<br />
consulibus.” 73 The information given in<br />
the Depositio Martyrum and in the Martyrologium<br />
Hieronymianum are thus not in accordance<br />
with one another. It may well be<br />
that they reflect two different situations. In<br />
336, when the first compilation of the Fasti<br />
Philocaliani (which contains the Depositio<br />
Martyrum) took place, Paul had apparently<br />
been moved to the modest Constantinian<br />
Basilica of Paul whereas the monumental<br />
Basilica of St. Peter presumably had not yet<br />
been consecrated. 74 It is therefore possible<br />
that Peter was still being worshipped in the<br />
so-called Memoria Apostolorum Basilica<br />
which by the beginning of the fourth century<br />
was superimposed upon the triclia in the<br />
Via Appia. 75 The separation of the Apostles<br />
may thus have resulted in a similar separation<br />
of the cult of the Apostles in the Via Appia<br />
until Damasus resumed it and placed the<br />
monumental epigram dedicated to Peter and<br />
Paul to which I shall return shortly. 76<br />
As for 29 June, the issues up for discussion<br />
are partly when and where the Apostles<br />
were worshipped, and partly whether this<br />
date did at all refer to the day of the Apostles’<br />
deaths, or whether it simply marked a temporary<br />
translation of their relics to or from<br />
the Via Appia, if such a translation ever took<br />
place. 77 These issues have been much debated,<br />
partly because there is no evidence to<br />
prove that the Apostles actually died on 29<br />
June. In Gaul the death of the Apostles was<br />
celebrated on 22 February, whereas the Oriental<br />
Church, according to a martyrology of<br />
411, celebrated the day on 28 December and<br />
regarded 29 June as the date of the translation.<br />
78<br />
The fact is that a cult of the Apostles –<br />
with or without translation – arose ad catacumbas<br />
about 100 years before Damasus<br />
became Pope. He either passed on or resumed<br />
this tradition by marking the day, the<br />
cult and the Apostolic agreement – concordia<br />
apostolorum – with a cenotaph to Peter<br />
and Paul in the form of a metric epigram, as<br />
is stated in the life of the Pope in the Liber<br />
Pontificalis: “At the Catacombs, the place<br />
where lay the bodies of the apostles St. Peter<br />
and St. Paul, he adorned with verses the<br />
actual tablet at the place where the holy bodies<br />
lay.” 79 The implications behind the positioning<br />
of this epigram in the basilica in the<br />
Via Appia – and not elsewhere – will be the<br />
central issue of the next section.
42 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Concordia Apostolorum. The Myth of the<br />
Christian Foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>e on 29 June<br />
“You should know that two saints used to<br />
dwell here (Hic habitasse/habitare prius<br />
sanctos cognoscere debes, v. 1).” So Damasus<br />
begins his poem to the Apostles. 80<br />
“Their names which you seek are Peter and<br />
Paul (nomina quisq. Petri pariter Paulique<br />
requiris, v. 2). The East sent us her disciples<br />
whom we willingly receive (discipulos<br />
Oriens misit, quod sponte fatemur, v. 3). 81 By<br />
the merit of blood (sanguinis ob meritum, v.<br />
4), they followed Christ to the higher spheres<br />
through the stars to the realm of the pious<br />
(Xpumq. per astra secuti / aetherios petiere<br />
sinus regnaque piorum, v. 5).” Since God let<br />
Peter and Paul receive their martyrdom in<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>e “this city was far more deserving than<br />
any other city of claiming the two Apostles<br />
for its honorary citizens (<strong>Rom</strong>a suos potius<br />
meruit defendere cives, v. 6). Damasus here<br />
conveys your praises to the new stars (Haec<br />
Damasus vestras referat nova sidera laudes,<br />
v. 7).”<br />
Sadly, the Apostolic epigram has been<br />
lost, but the stanzas have been handed down<br />
in several pilgrim itineraries, amongst them<br />
the so-called Sylloge Laureshamensis (821-<br />
846) from the monastery in Lorsch in Germany.<br />
82 During his visit to the so-called Memoria<br />
Apostolorum, a pilgrim had copied<br />
the inscription which had in all likelihood<br />
been placed at the altar. The altar was close<br />
to the entrance to the crypt where the Apostles’<br />
communal place of worship was, the<br />
place previously referred to as the triclia. 83<br />
At the beginning of the fourth century, the<br />
tomb and the crypt were, however, buried<br />
under the 70 meter long circus-shaped<br />
basilica which was later consecrated to St.<br />
Sebastian. 84 The Damasian inscription thus<br />
marked the original place in which Peter<br />
and Paul had been worshipped more than a<br />
hundred years previously. 85 The Apostles’<br />
contact with this place (v. 1) had invested it<br />
with a sacred atmosphere which it was in the<br />
Pope’s best interest to preserve – or possibly<br />
rather to resume, if we recognise the information<br />
in the Depositio Martyrum that at the<br />
beginning of the fourth century the Apostles<br />
were worshipped individually, “in catacumbas”<br />
and “in ostense” respectively. 86 The essence<br />
of the Papal project was to preserve<br />
and retrace the martyrs. The purpose of this<br />
project was to secure the memory of the legends<br />
about the martyrs, then on the point of<br />
perdition. He therefore composed numerous<br />
verses and had them carved in marble tablets<br />
that were erected close to the martyr tombs.<br />
Although the physical traces of the early<br />
place of worship had disappeared, a kind<br />
of architectonic continuity was preserved,<br />
since the inscription was placed close to<br />
the crypt which marked the original place<br />
of worship. This position was quite atypical<br />
for Damasus who often placed his epigrams<br />
in subterranean crypts (Pl. I). The pilgrim’s<br />
experience of a visit must necessarily have<br />
been different in the 2000 square metre large<br />
and well lit processional hall of the Apostolic<br />
Basilica from a visit to the subterranean<br />
crypts of 10-15 square metres to which<br />
you arrived after having winded your way<br />
through the dark labyrinthine corridors, as
Constructing Myths 43<br />
described by Prudentius:<br />
Into its hidden depths a downward path shows<br />
the way by turning, winding steps, with the help<br />
of light from a source unseen […]; then as you<br />
go forward easily you see the dark night but you<br />
find openings let into the roof far above, so as<br />
to throw bright rays down into the chasm. However<br />
doubtful you may feel of this fabric of narrow<br />
halls running back on either hand in darksome<br />
galleries, still through the holes pierced in<br />
the vault many a gleam of light makes its way<br />
down to the hollow interior of the disembowelled<br />
mount, and thus underground it is granted<br />
to see the brightness of a sun which is not there,<br />
and have the benefit of its light. 87<br />
Such an atmosphere could not be created<br />
in the space surrounding the Apostolic epigram<br />
which merely marked where the lost<br />
triclia had been. Cultic and liturgical continuity<br />
prevailed, however, partly because the<br />
refrigerium was still being celebrated within<br />
the framework of the private cult, and partly<br />
because the Eucharist liturgy for the two<br />
Apostles was probably celebrated here on<br />
29 June. We must presume that on this occasion<br />
Damasus gave a sermon and read aloud<br />
the Apostolic epigram. Reciting inscriptions<br />
and texts was common practice, since silent<br />
reading was generally not much used<br />
before the Middle Ages, with a few exceptions<br />
such as St. Ambrose whose silent reading<br />
intrigued St. Augustine so much that he<br />
suspected St. Ambrose of either wishing to<br />
conceal the content of his book or of wishing<br />
to rest his voice. 88 When Damasus read<br />
the epigram aloud, he could stress its direct<br />
appeal to the believer (cognoscere debes<br />
and requires) in the first two stanzas of the<br />
poem and hence promote the proliferation<br />
of the message carried by the epigram. But<br />
what was this message When seen in the<br />
light of the foundation myth of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana,<br />
the essential part of this inscription is<br />
Damasus’ declaration that “more than any<br />
other city” <strong>Rom</strong>e fully deserved “to claim<br />
Peter and Paul for its honorary citizens” (v.<br />
6), despite their Eastern origins (v. 3). This<br />
was justified by the two Apostles having met<br />
their martyrs’ deaths in <strong>Rom</strong>e (v. 4 and 5).<br />
He thereby maintains that more than any<br />
other city <strong>Rom</strong>e has the supreme prior claim<br />
as the highest Apostolic See. This was also<br />
given to <strong>Rom</strong>e officially at the Ecumenical<br />
Council in Constantinople in 381, when it<br />
was agreed that the Bishop of Constantinople<br />
was allotted the rank just under that of<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>e in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. 89 The<br />
question is whether Damasus composed his<br />
Apostolic epigram before or after the Ecumenical<br />
Council in 381. Did the epigram<br />
confirm the recently established hierarchy,<br />
or was it an attempt to obtain a position of<br />
sovereignty in the form of the primateship<br />
(Lat. primatus, first rank) 90<br />
On the basis of the decisions reached<br />
at the Ecumenical Council, Damasus constructed<br />
a myth about the foundation of<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana on 29 June. The central<br />
message of this Damasian myth, reflected in<br />
the epigram to the Apostles, was to emphasise<br />
that they had jointly and equally founded<br />
the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church. Such equality between
44 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Peter and Paul is remarkable and novel. The<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an Church had so far not exposed Paul<br />
on an equal footing with Peter, presumably<br />
because Paul was not among the Disciples<br />
of Christ. 91 Damasus created a special profile<br />
for <strong>Rom</strong>e as a diocese by promoting<br />
the Apostles as an inseparable pair, supplementing<br />
one another: Peter was the rock, the<br />
representative of the faith and the preacher<br />
of the Jews; Paul was the messenger of the<br />
Doctrine and the preacher of the Gentiles. 92<br />
This inseparability was of great importance<br />
for Damasus’ interpretation of the Apostolic<br />
agreement – concordia apostolorum – and<br />
for Peter and Paul’s joint foundation of the<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an-Catholic Church due to their martyrdom<br />
on the same day.<br />
Ever since Clement <strong>Rom</strong>anus (30-100)<br />
had written to the congregation in Corinth<br />
around 97, the bishops of <strong>Rom</strong>e had maintained<br />
that the <strong>Rom</strong>an Catholic Church rested<br />
on the blood of the Apostles Peter and<br />
Paul. 93 Damasus’ predecessor Liberius (352-<br />
366) also had the Apostles’ foundation of the<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an diocese in mind when he supposedly<br />
commissioned the, now severely restored,<br />
mosaics for the niches in S. Costanza (Pl.<br />
II). Here Christ is flanked by Peter and Paul,<br />
the lambs and the symbolic representations<br />
of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Iconographic<br />
representations of the pair also begin to appear<br />
at around this time (350-360), as can be<br />
seen from miniature art (in glass, bronze and<br />
ivory) and from reliefs on sarcophagi, catacomb<br />
paintings and mosaics. 94 The idea of<br />
concordia found iconographic expression in<br />
the double portrait of the two Apostles as can<br />
be seen in several vetri dorati – small glasses<br />
whose bottoms are decorated with gold (Pl.<br />
III). The Apostle motifs became highly popular,<br />
not least during Damasus’ pontificate<br />
where his own portrait occasionally figures<br />
side by side with those of Peter and Paul (Pl.<br />
IV). One can only speculate on whether this<br />
might have been a way of stressing or signing<br />
his revised interpretation of the concordia<br />
apostolorum. Whatever may have been<br />
their exact significance, the Apostolic motifs<br />
continued their existence for centuries,<br />
irrespective of the liturgical and theological<br />
roles which Peter and Paul played together,<br />
as well as separately. 95<br />
In his approach to the Apostolic agreement<br />
and the foundation of the <strong>Rom</strong>an-<br />
Catholic Church, Damasus differed from his<br />
predecessors, none of whom had yet connected<br />
these matters with the discussion of<br />
the primateship of <strong>Rom</strong>e or her sovereignty.<br />
Before Damasus the <strong>Rom</strong>an diocese had<br />
been regarded as an Apostolic seat, but not<br />
as the Apostolic See that he desired to make<br />
it. 96 The legitimization of such a sovereign<br />
position was the equality of Peter and Paul<br />
and their joint foundation of the <strong>Rom</strong>an-<br />
Catholic Church which took place when<br />
they received martyrdom in <strong>Rom</strong>e – not in<br />
Constantinople, Alexandria or Antioch. 97<br />
The Apostles had been joined by their simultaneous<br />
presence in <strong>Rom</strong>e, by a joint dies<br />
natalis, a joint place of worship and possibly<br />
also a joint place of burial, and it was on the<br />
background of this <strong>Rom</strong>an ‘construct’ that<br />
Damasus was able to proclaim that <strong>Rom</strong>e<br />
had obtained her primateship.
Constructing Myths 45<br />
There is, however, a certain discrepancy<br />
with respect to the idea of concordia. On the<br />
one hand, the Apostles were equals as they<br />
founded the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church by receiving<br />
their glorious deaths in <strong>Rom</strong>e on the same<br />
day. On the other hand, Peter and Paul could<br />
not share the post as the first Bishop of <strong>Rom</strong>e;<br />
a post which belonged solely to Peter. 98 Not<br />
many years would pass before Paul was<br />
again placed in the shadow of Peter, since<br />
Damasus’ successors again stressed Peter’s<br />
primateship, just like his predecessors had<br />
done. 99<br />
Dilemma or no dilemma; the concordia<br />
construct had a remarkable effect, as reflected<br />
not merely in the iconography of the<br />
time, but also in its architecture. The idea<br />
for a new Pauline memoria was most probably<br />
conceived at the first <strong>Rom</strong>an Council<br />
in 382. 100 This led to the construction of the<br />
three Emperors’ (Theodosius, Gratian and<br />
Valentinian II) Basilica of St. Paul, designed<br />
to replace the smaller Constantinian structure<br />
which could not match the Basilica of<br />
St. Peter. 101 But apart from these two sepulchral<br />
basilicas, the Memoria Apostolorum<br />
also became a significant site, since Damasus<br />
decided to mark it by means of a cenotaph.<br />
102 The cult place thus regained – for a<br />
time at least – its raison d’être as a communal<br />
memoria for Peter and Paul.<br />
During Damasus’ pontificate, the deaths<br />
of Peter and Paul were thus celebrated on 29<br />
June. As already mentioned, it cannot be ascertained<br />
whether he continued or resumed<br />
the older liturgical tradition which had been<br />
documented in the Depositio Martyrum and<br />
also ad catacumbas. The epigram which he<br />
placed there supplemented the information<br />
from the calendars and the architectonic<br />
framework of the cult with accounts which<br />
primarily derived from the apocryphal Acts<br />
of the Apostles in which the actual date of<br />
29 June is not mentioned. Damasus enlarged<br />
the tradition of the Apostles’ association<br />
with <strong>Rom</strong>e by stressing their inseparability<br />
and equality in his emphasis that they were<br />
celebrated as martyrs on the same day. Together<br />
with the idea of their <strong>Rom</strong>an “citizenship”,<br />
this was designed to legitimise<br />
the supreme status of <strong>Rom</strong>e as the Apostolic<br />
See within the Christian world, a status the<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an diocese no longer intended to share<br />
with the other patriarchies.<br />
During Damasus’ reign the celebration<br />
of 29 June took place in the three basilicas<br />
in the Via Appia, the Via Cornelia and the<br />
Via Ostiense. Here the pilgrims took part in<br />
liturgical ceremonies, and in the basilica in<br />
the Via Appia they probably listened to the<br />
recitation of the Apostolic epigram. Some<br />
even copied it into their diaries. In addition<br />
they could purchase small vetri dorati, the<br />
gilt bottom of which were decorated with<br />
double portraits of Peter and Paul in concordia<br />
(Pl. III). 103 On the occasion of 29 June<br />
it even became the custom for Christians<br />
to donate to friends and family such a glass<br />
upon which had been engraved the exhortation<br />
“Pie Zeses” (“drink and live”) as a reference<br />
to the function of these small glasses<br />
at libation sacrifices in connection with the<br />
refrigerium (Pl. III). 104<br />
Both the Apostolic epigram and the gold
46 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
glasses contributed towards the spreading of<br />
the Papal message by ‘naturalising’ the myth<br />
of the saints’ day, the cult of the martyrs and<br />
the foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana. 105 ‘To<br />
spread’ is the original meaning of the term<br />
‘propaganda’ (from the Latin verb propagare),<br />
and it is widely believed that Damasus<br />
used the epigrams and the gold glasses<br />
as means of propaganda. When Huskinson<br />
refers to the glasses as “weapons of propaganda”,<br />
and when Carletti describes the<br />
epigrams as “strumenti di propaganda” their<br />
terms produce negative connotations with<br />
respect to the objects concerned as well as to<br />
the ambitions of Damasus. 106 These connotations<br />
of ‘propaganda’ have primarily their<br />
origin in the use of the term ever since the<br />
First and the Second World Wars. Damasus’<br />
use of the decree, the epigrams and the gold<br />
glasses – with or without the Papal portrait<br />
(Pl. III and IV) - in order to convince the<br />
competing patriarchies of Constantinople,<br />
Alexandria and Antioch that the <strong>Rom</strong>an<br />
Church was worthy of its primateship does,<br />
however, not turn him into a propagandist.<br />
He was merely an educated man who understood<br />
how to employ visual as well as rhetorical<br />
effects in order to spread and naturalise<br />
his message. 107 It is therefore my conviction<br />
that the mechanism of naturalisation, which<br />
Roland Barthes called ‘myth’, offers a far<br />
less value-laden perspective on Damasus’<br />
strategies than does the term ‘propaganda’.<br />
Myth as a Construct of Memory and a<br />
Mechanism of Naturalisation<br />
According to Barthes, ‘myth’ is a mechanism,<br />
which makes historical constructions<br />
look like natural ones by way of associative<br />
relations. 108 Taking my starting point in the<br />
Barthesian theory of myth as a mechanism<br />
of naturalisation, I should like to employ<br />
the term ‘myth’ to the Damasian foundation<br />
history.<br />
The naturalisation of historical constructions<br />
is Barthes’ primary objection against<br />
the phenomenon of myth as launched in his<br />
book Mythologies (1957). In this book he<br />
defines myth as “[…] pas par l’objet de son<br />
message, mais per la façon dont il le profère<br />
[…].” 109 Barthes did not focus on the contents<br />
of myths, but rather on their form and<br />
function. “Le mythe est une parole”, he<br />
wrote. 110 It is a system or a mechanism of<br />
communication, significance and memory.<br />
Barthes held that the people subjected to<br />
myth, conceived of the relation between expression<br />
and intension as a natural relation,<br />
not as a historically constructed one. 111<br />
When Damasus’ project is viewed in the<br />
light of this, albeit summary, version of Barthes’<br />
theory, the <strong>Rom</strong>an congregation and<br />
the pilgrims become subjected to myth. The<br />
imaginary spectator did not conceive of the<br />
Apostles’ joint dies natalis, the martyr acts<br />
and their relation to the Christian foundation<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e in terms of a historically construed<br />
relation, but rather as a fact of nature. It is this<br />
naturalisation of meaning which Barthes objects<br />
against. He maintains that “Le rapport<br />
qui unit le concept du mythe au sens est essentiellement<br />
un rapport de déformation.” 112<br />
The reason for this is that mythical meaning,<br />
as construed by the producer of the myth,
Constructing Myths 47<br />
pretends to be a matter of fact. 113 This was<br />
what Damasus did when, as the producer of<br />
the myth, he discreetly concealed lacunae in<br />
some of the legends about the deaths of the<br />
martyrs which had been passed down orally,<br />
and when, with the expression Credite per<br />
Damasum, he pretended that these legends<br />
were true. 114 In this sense Damasus’ project<br />
takes the form of a myth, as a mechanism<br />
of significance which achieved the naturalisation<br />
of a historical construct; a construct<br />
which revolved around Peter and Paul as<br />
joint founders of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana by their<br />
deaths on the same day. The means of realising<br />
and naturalising this historical construct<br />
were the epigrams, the gold glasses,<br />
the martyr tombs, the subterranean crypts<br />
and the basilicas, together with the Latin<br />
translation of Paul’s letters, the Hebrew Bible<br />
and the mass which had until then been<br />
celebrated in Greek. Each in their way these<br />
objects, writings, rituals and spaces can be<br />
conceived as systems of communication and<br />
mechanisms generating meaning, spreading<br />
the papal message and contributing towards<br />
a naturalisation of the Christian legend of<br />
the foundation in the memory of the users.<br />
When seen from this angle, the relation<br />
between history and memory is reciprocal.<br />
If, however, Damasus’ historical construct is<br />
viewed through Maurice Halbwach’s theory<br />
of collective memory, the relation between<br />
history and memory becomes a relation of<br />
opposites. 115 This relation has its roots in the<br />
view that as long as the memory of an event<br />
is vivid in the collective memory, there is no<br />
need to fix it in writing. 116 On the contrary,<br />
when memory is no longer vivid, there is a<br />
need to write it down. The distance to the<br />
past makes room for the construction of history.<br />
If you transfer this to Damasus’ project,<br />
it is obvious that a noticeable distance had<br />
entered to the time of the persecutions and<br />
the martyrs, a time which Damasus described<br />
in the frequently appearing metaphorical<br />
phrase: tempore quo gladius secuit<br />
pia viscera matris. 117 (Burial) sites had been<br />
forgotten and the fixing in writing of the<br />
orally transmitted evidence had begun when<br />
Damasus had them carved in stone. According<br />
to Halbwachs, events which previously<br />
existed in the collective memory will<br />
slowly be transformed into imaginary and<br />
fictitious episodes and periods. 118 This was<br />
the case with the macabre executions which<br />
had almost become absent in the collective<br />
memory, and which instead found their way<br />
into the poetic universe of Damasus. The<br />
Pope’s rewriting of history was, however,<br />
at the same time materially rooted in the<br />
architecture. The crypts and the epigrams<br />
were to contribute towards the creation of<br />
a Christian historical awareness of the past,<br />
since the collective memory in a Halbwachsian<br />
sense could no longer be kept alive. It<br />
is interesting that Abbé Duchesne has called<br />
the Damasian epigrams devoid of history<br />
(“vides d’histoire”), when their form, contents<br />
and contexts appear so full of legends,<br />
myths, stories and constructs. 119<br />
Another aspect of the Barthesian theory<br />
about myth, of great methodological relevance<br />
in my analysis, is that which Barthes<br />
en passant calls the mythologie du mytho-
48 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Fig. 7. Damasian epigram to S. Agnes, S. Agnese fuori le mura, <strong>Rom</strong>e, 366-384 (photo: Pontificia Commissione<br />
di Archeologia Sacra, <strong>Rom</strong>e).<br />
logue, i.e. the scholars’ own myths. 120 This<br />
notion is central to my uncovering of the<br />
scholars’ myth about the reputed interrelationship<br />
between the celebration of Peter<br />
and Paul on 29 June, the foundation day<br />
of <strong>Rom</strong>e and <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus. As demonstrated,<br />
the myth created by Damasus<br />
about the foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana<br />
on 29 June was, however, neither indicative<br />
of propaganda nor a direct takeover of the<br />
foundation day of <strong>Rom</strong>e.<br />
Conclusion. The Deconstruction of the Construct<br />
at the Time of Pope Gregory and Pope<br />
Honorius in the sixth and seventh century<br />
“When so much else falls into silence, monuments<br />
remain” - writes Dennis E. Trout. 121<br />
It is tempting to agree with him when faced<br />
with one of the few intact Damasian monuments<br />
such as the epigram to St. Agnes (Fig.<br />
7). 122 Sadly, things are not quite so. Several<br />
Damasian inscriptions perished during the<br />
fifth- and sixth-century invasions by the<br />
Visi- and Ostrogoths, the Vandals and the<br />
Longobards, as witnessed by Pope Vigilius<br />
(537-555), 123 who restored them, and from<br />
the mid seventh century the Damasian epigrams<br />
no longer played a significant role in<br />
the martyr cult. They were therefore unscrupulously<br />
hacked into pieces and employed as<br />
spolia in the marble-paved floors, as was the<br />
case with the Hippolytus epigram which was<br />
adapted to fit the pattern of the cosmatesque<br />
pavement in the Lateran Basilica in the fifteenth<br />
century. 124 Several have been lost and<br />
are only known from the pilgrims’ copies<br />
in their itineraries from the seventh to the<br />
ninth centuries. 125 The epigram to St. Agnes<br />
is one of the few preserved because it was<br />
recycled in one piece and placed front down<br />
in the pavement of the ad corpus basilica<br />
which Pope Honorius (625-638) built over<br />
the tomb of the female saint. After having<br />
decorated the martyr’s tomb for almost 300<br />
years, Damasus’ epigram was taken down.<br />
For the very same reason it is not mentioned<br />
in any of the itineraries from after the mid<br />
seventh century. Only 1100 years later it was<br />
discovered by Giovanni Marangoni. 126<br />
The pontificate of Gregory the Great<br />
(590-604) was also of importance for the deconstruction<br />
of Damasus’ work. The equal-
Constructing Myths 49<br />
ity of the Apostles, which he had stressed<br />
in order to convince the Christian world of<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>e’s primateship, was annulled. As soon<br />
as the primateship had been secured, the<br />
Apostolic pair began to lose their liturgical<br />
significance, and Damasus’ successors<br />
again emphasised Peter’s primateship, just<br />
as his predecessors had done. Gregory the<br />
Great had even the celebration of Paul’s dies<br />
natalis moved from 29 June to 30 June. 127<br />
This significant separation is commented<br />
upon in a sermon of the seventh century. 128<br />
Here it is reduced to a merely practical issue,<br />
namely that it was supposedly difficult<br />
to make the congregation attend mass in<br />
both the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul<br />
on the same day. The sermons of Leo the<br />
Great (440-461) testify to the fact that the<br />
Church was competing against such other<br />
kinds of traditional entertainment as the<br />
theatre, since Leo complains over the fact<br />
that “mad spectacles draw greater crowds<br />
than blessed martyrs.” 129 But no matter how<br />
great may have been the challenges encountered<br />
by the popes in terms of capturing the<br />
attention of the congregation, one would<br />
have believed that the celebration of the<br />
Apostle’s death could not be moved all that<br />
easily. Gregory did so, however, because he<br />
intended to promote Peter’s supreme position<br />
as the founder of the Church. 130 By<br />
separating the saint’s days he had created<br />
a new official construct, thus superimposing<br />
Damasus’ myth which was not merely<br />
attached to Peter’s primateship, but to the<br />
Apostles’ joint foundation of <strong>Rom</strong>a Christiana<br />
on 29 June.<br />
Gitte Lønstrup<br />
M.A. & Ph.D.-fellow<br />
Aarhus Univeristy<br />
Department of Church History<br />
Taasingegade 3<br />
DK-8000 Århus C<br />
gl@teo.au.dk
50 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
ABBREVIATIONS<br />
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 1871-.<br />
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Paris 1866-1926.<br />
CCEL Christian Classics Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/<br />
ICUR Inscriptiones Christianae urbis <strong>Rom</strong>ae septimo saeculo antiquiores, De Rossi,<br />
G. B. (a cura di) († 1894), <strong>Rom</strong>ae 1857-1915.<br />
LCL The Loeb Classical Library.<br />
LTUR Lexicon Topographicum Urbis <strong>Rom</strong>ae, Steinby, M. (a cura di),<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>a 1993-2000.<br />
PL Patrologia Latina, Migne, J. P. (ed.), <strong>Rom</strong>ae 1906-.<br />
RAC Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana.<br />
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Batiffol, P.<br />
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Beard, M.<br />
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Brind’amour, P.<br />
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NOTES<br />
1<br />
I would like to thank the Princess Margrethe and Queen Ingrid Foundations for awarding me scholarships for the<br />
Danish Academy in <strong>Rom</strong>e during 2005 and 2006. I would also like to thank the New Carlsberg Foundation for<br />
financing the illustrations of this article, and the Elisabeth Munksgaard Scholarship for financing its translation<br />
into English by Dr. Lene Østermark-Johansen.<br />
2<br />
Huskinson 1982, 82. It is worth noting that Nova <strong>Rom</strong>a here refers to <strong>Rom</strong>e rather than Constantinople,<br />
although the latter was also often referred to in that term. The foundation day of Constantinople was, however,<br />
celebrated on 11 May.<br />
3<br />
The foundation day of 21 April is registered in the Republican calendar Fasti Antiates Maiores (84-55 BC)<br />
and in such Julian-Augustan calendars as the Fasti Caeretani (12 BC) and the Fasti Esquilini (post 7 AD), as<br />
well as the Fasti Philocaliani (354 AD) and the Fasti Polemii Silvii (449 AD). Amongst the ancient writers<br />
referring to the foundation day on 21 April are Varro (116-27 BC) quoted by Solinus (fourth century AD): “Ut<br />
affirmat Varro auctor diligentissimus, <strong>Rom</strong>am condidit <strong>Rom</strong>ulus […], duodeviginti annos natus undecimo<br />
kalends Maias” (I. 18); Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD) IV. 806; Plutarch (46-120 AD) XII. 1 and Asinus Quadratus<br />
(third century AD) who described the millennium of the city on 21 April 248. His History of a Thousand Years<br />
is, however, lost to us. A lecture of 29 October 2006 in the <strong>Rom</strong>an Auditorium by Professor Carandini on the<br />
significance of 21 April can be downloaded at http://www.laterza.it/novita/lezionidistoria.asp For the annulment<br />
of holidays in 389, see Codex Theodosianus II. 8. 19-22. See also Salzman 1990, 155; Lim 1999, 279.<br />
4<br />
Enciclopedia dei Papi 2000, 362.<br />
5<br />
The names of saints, popes and emperors are as far as possible given in English and Latin (St. Agnes, St.<br />
Sebastian, Damasus, Augustus, Constantine), whereas the names of basilicas and catacombs are mentioned by<br />
their Italian place names (e.g. S. Agnese fuori le mura (f.l.m.), S. Sebastiano, S. Callisto).<br />
6<br />
Damasus’ poems were carved in stone by Furius Dionysius Filocalus who signed both several of the epigrams<br />
and the frontispiece of the Fasti Philocaliani, named after him.<br />
7<br />
For the itinera ad sanctos (the routes to the holy martyr tombs in the catacombs), see Fiocchi Nicolai 1995.<br />
8<br />
In Ezechiel 12, 40 (in: PL 25, 375): “[…] crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in terrarum profunda defossae, ex<br />
utraque parte ingredientium per parietes habent corpora sepultorum et ita obscura sunt omnia, ut propemodum<br />
illud propheticum compleatur: Descendant ad infernum viventes (Ps. Liv, 16): et raro desuper lumen admissum<br />
horrorem temperet tenebrarum, ut non tam fenestram, quam foramen demissi luminis putes: rursumque<br />
pedetentim acceditur, et caeca nocte circumdatis illud Virgilianum proponitur (Aeneid. Lib. II.): ‘Horror ubique<br />
animos, simut ipsa silentia terrent’.”<br />
9<br />
See Fasti Philocaliani (354).<br />
10<br />
For this aspect, see also Trout 2003, 524.<br />
11<br />
Barthes 1957, 215-216. I shall return to the discussion of Barthesian myth later in this article.<br />
12<br />
See Michels 1978; Brind’amour 1983; Invernizzi 1994; Hannah 2005.<br />
13<br />
Invernizzi 1994, 30 and 36. The traditional caristia festival on 22 February was for example appropriated by<br />
the Christian natale Petri de cathedra. For St. Augustine’s commentary on this appropriation, see epistles 22<br />
and 29 (in: PL 33). See also Ferrua 1956, IV, 134.<br />
14<br />
44 of them are published in Inscriptiones Italiae XIII. 2 and CIL I. Ovid’s Fasti is in addition to these.<br />
15<br />
VI. 795-6: “Tot restant de mense dies, quot nomina Parcis, cum data sunt trabeae templa, Quirine, tuae.”<br />
English translation of quotations from Ovid by Frazer, LCL 1976.
Constructing Myths 55<br />
16<br />
QUIRINALIA is documented as the 17th day of the month of februarius in: Fasti Antiates Maiores, Fasti<br />
Caeretani, Fasti Maffeiani, Fasti Philocaliani and Fasti Polemii Silvii, and in the Codex Vaticano Barberini<br />
2154 and the Codex Vaticano Latino 9135, which contain calendars from the time of Constantine until 403.<br />
17<br />
According to my correspondence with Michele Salzman: “Quirinus was made the equivalent of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus – in a<br />
rather nebulous way – as another founder of <strong>Rom</strong>e, from the third century BC on.” See also Ovid II. 475: “[...]<br />
qui tenet hoc nomen, <strong>Rom</strong>ulus ante fuit […].” (“[…] he who owns this name [Quirinus] was <strong>Rom</strong>ulus before<br />
[…].”).<br />
18<br />
Ovid (II. 533): “Est honor et tumulis.” (“Honour is paid, also, to the tombs.”).<br />
19<br />
Codex Theodosianus II. 8. 19-22; Salzman 1990, 155; Lim 1999, 279.<br />
20<br />
Livy (X. 46. 7) mentions briefly L. P. Cursor’s triumph and dedication of the temple, but he does not mention<br />
where or when. See also Ovid’s Fasti 1929, 343-44; 1958, 365; 1976, 382; Richardson 1992, 326-327; LTUR,<br />
185-187.<br />
21<br />
Dio LIV. 19. 3.<br />
22<br />
16 January 10 AD became a holiday when Augustus consecrated the temple of Concordia. In 38 BC 17 January<br />
became a holiday in celebration of Augustus’ and Augusta’s wedding anniversary. 4 July became a holiday at<br />
the consecration of the Ara Pacis in 13 BC. Cf. Judge 1987, 59-63.<br />
23<br />
Wissowa 1912, 154.<br />
24<br />
The closest victories are on 1 August 30 BC and 14 August 29 BC. Cf. Judge 1987, 59-63. As a consequence<br />
of these victories, and because Augustus was proclaimed consul for the first time in August, the Republican<br />
month of sextilis was renamed and called after him – after 16 January 27 BC when Octavian was given the name<br />
of Augustus.<br />
25<br />
Dio LIV. 19. 3. Vitruvius III. 2. 7. Augustus’ birthday is registered as a holiday in the Fasti Maffeiani (CIL I,<br />
225): “Augusti natalis LUD CIRC.”<br />
26<br />
See Rehak 2001, 15 for the astrologer Publius Nigidius Figulus’ calculation of the birthdays of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus and<br />
Augustus at the autumnal equinox. This theory is challenged by Brind’amour 1983, 240-49; Hannah 2005,<br />
125.<br />
27<br />
Rehak 2001, 7. Equinox is on 21 March and 23 September.<br />
28<br />
Fasti Amiterni (in: Inscriptiones Italiae XIII. 2); Michels 1978, 176: “26. a.d. V Kal. Quinct. = a.d. VI Kal.<br />
Iul. anni Iuliani. NP. Feriae ex s. [c.q]uod e[o] die [imp. Caes(ar)] Augus[tus ado]p[tav]it [sibi] filiu[m Ti.<br />
Caesarem] Aelio [et Sentio cos]. AMIT.”<br />
29<br />
Dio LIV. 19.<br />
30<br />
The days were divided into five categories marked by the following abbreviations: F (Fasti, workdays or court<br />
days), N (Nefasti, festivals), C (Comitiales, workdays when the popular assembly, comitia, would meet), EN<br />
(Endotercisi, festival at the beginning and the end of the day, but workday in the middle of the day) and NP, the<br />
full significance of which is not quite clear, but which almost consistently follows the ides and festivals of the<br />
months. See Invernizzi 1994, 13.<br />
31<br />
See the following Fasti: Antiates Maiores, Ostiensis, Caeretani, Maffeiani, Esquilini, Praenestini, Philocaliani<br />
and Polemii Silvii.<br />
32<br />
In such calendars as the Fasti Praenestini, Fasti Maffeiani and Fasti Ostiensis the festival of 21 April is only<br />
indicated by the capital letters PAR[ILIA]. Invernizzi 1994, 14.<br />
33<br />
Ovid IV. 819-20. The ritual consisted in the marking of the pomerium, also called the moenia: “Apta dies<br />
legitur, qua moenia signet aratro. Sacra Palis suberant: inde movetur opus.” (“A suitable day was chosen on<br />
which he should mark out the line of the walls with the plough. The festival of Pales was at hand; on that day<br />
the work began.”). See also Dionysius of Halicarnassus (first century BC) I. 88. 3, who has reservations about<br />
whether the festival existed before <strong>Rom</strong>ulus.<br />
34<br />
Cf. Solinus I. 18; Ovid IV; 806; Plutarch I. XII.<br />
35<br />
Salzman 1990, 122 table 2.<br />
36<br />
The event is, however, not mentioned in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum.<br />
37<br />
According to the Cunctos Populos edict, issued by the Emperor Theodosius in 380, “the faith which Peter<br />
passed on to the <strong>Rom</strong>ans and which Pope Damasus continues” was recognised as the state religion. Cf. Codex<br />
Theodosianus XVI. 1. 2. Mommsen & Meyer 1905, 477: “De fide Catholica”, titulum I. II.<br />
38<br />
Cf. Prof. Carandini’s lecture of 29 October 2006. MP3: http://www.laterza.it/novita/lezionidistoria.asp. As for<br />
the sign of the flying birds, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus I. 85 and Ovid IV. 812-819, where it would likewise<br />
appear to be an event preceding 21 April; Wiseman 1995, 6-8.
56 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
39<br />
CIL I, 215.<br />
40<br />
These are the only three calendars, apart from the Fasti Fratrum Arvalium, in which 23 August is<br />
documented.<br />
41<br />
There are similar examples from Diana’s festival on 13 August when people also made sacrifices to the Dioscuri<br />
and other gods “in circo Flaminio”.<br />
42<br />
According to Christian terminology, dies natalis means day of death, since you were born to eternal life on that<br />
day.<br />
43<br />
Rimoldi 1958, 34.<br />
44<br />
Cullmann 1952, 116.<br />
45<br />
Erbes 1899, 39.<br />
46<br />
Haas 1983, 133-144. The first edict of 257 prohibited any kind of Christian adoration. The previous edict issued<br />
by Decius (249-51) prohibited any frequenting of cemeteries.<br />
47<br />
Pietri 1961, 311. Although Pietri’s article appeared three years after Rimoldi’s (1958) he still quotes Cullmann’s<br />
argument: “[…] le 29. juin était célébrée la fête anniversaire de la fondation de <strong>Rom</strong>e, Quirinus-<strong>Rom</strong>ulus.”<br />
48<br />
Rimoldi 1958, 34. See also Cullmann 1952, 116. Cullmann refers to both Erbes and Mohlberg. Mohlberg<br />
(1952, 64-65) introduces the coincidence between 29 June, the festival of <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus, the Feast of the<br />
Apostles in the Via Appia and the date for the funeral of Pope Novatian, together with the role played by St.<br />
Quirinus during the fifth and sixth centuries. It never becomes clear, however, which significance this saint may<br />
have had for 29 June.<br />
49<br />
As a founding figure Remus was, however, inferior to <strong>Rom</strong>ulus-Quirinus, the divine founder of <strong>Rom</strong>e. On<br />
Remus, cf. Ovid IV. 835-856.<br />
50<br />
Pietri 1961, 316. The cult of the Dioscuri arose around 499 BC and would still appear to have been popular<br />
by the middle of the fourth century when the city Prefect Tertullus asked them to stop the famine in 359. Cf.<br />
Marcellinus XIX. 10, 4.<br />
51<br />
Trout 2003, 521-23.<br />
52<br />
Haec Damasus vestras referat nova sidera laudes. Ferrua 1942, no. 20.<br />
53<br />
Pauly, A. et al.: “Lares Praestites”: Sons of Mercury and the nymph Lara/Larunda, and guardians of <strong>Rom</strong>e. The<br />
nickname praestites was given to them because they guard everything with their eyes and come to the rescue<br />
of mankind. See also Wiseman 2004, 117.<br />
54<br />
Wiseman 1995, 40-41, 52; Wiseman 2004, 26 and 179. Ovid I. 539-42: “Puppibus egressus Latia stetit exul<br />
in herba […]. Nec mora longa fuit: stabant nova tecta […].” (“Landing from his ships, Evander stood an exile<br />
on the Latian sward […]. But little time elapsed until new dwellings rose […].”). I. 581: for the erection of the<br />
Ara Maxima. For the name of Pallantion, see also Dionysius of Halicarnassus I. 78. 5; I. 79. 8. Wiseman 1995,<br />
40-41, 52; Wiseman 2004, 26 and 179.<br />
55<br />
On 13 August they were celebrated “in Circo Flaminio” in the context of the festival for Diana where, as<br />
already mentioned, sacrifices were made to several gods.<br />
56<br />
According to Wiseman (1995, 71) 1 May can indicate the conception of the twins and 21 February (FERALIA)<br />
their birth. See Wissowa (1912, 171) for a discussion of Augustus’ reconsecration of a previous Lares sanctuary.<br />
See also Augustus: Res Gestae, 19. It appears from the Republican calendar Fasti Antiates Maiores (84-55 BC)<br />
that the Lares were also celebrated on 27 June. Ovid likewise describes that a sanctuary was consecrated to the<br />
Lares on 27 June (VI. 791-794). It is uncertain whether this is a reference to Lares Praestites or to other Lares<br />
(cf. Pauly, A. et al for Lares Privati and Lares Publici). It is, however, obvious that Ovid, in his poem about<br />
1 May, suggests that the altar to the Lares twins was in a state of disrepair (V. 131-2): “[…] multa vetustas<br />
destruit, et saxo longa senecta nocet.” (“[…] length of time destroys many things, and age prolonged wears<br />
out a stone.”). Something suggests that the memory of this festival was fading at Ovid’s time – possibly as the<br />
Dioscuri took over the role previously played by the Lares.<br />
57<br />
Wissowa 1912, 277ff. There were two types of Hercules cults in <strong>Rom</strong>e: the Greek at the Circus Flaminius, and<br />
the Tiburtan at the Circus Maximus. Hercules was celebrated on 1 February (natalis Herculi), 3 April, 30 June,<br />
and on 12 August and 11 January together with Evander. See also Wiseman 2004, 28.<br />
58<br />
Among the earliest artistic evidence of the myth of the female wolf, <strong>Rom</strong>ulus and Remus, is the sculpture group<br />
erected by G. and O. Ogulnius in 296 BC (Livy X. 23). Cf. Wiseman 1995, 72-76 and lecture given by Dr.<br />
Christopher Smith at the British School at <strong>Rom</strong>e (December 2006).<br />
59<br />
Shepherd 1970, 854-57.<br />
60<br />
Baldovin 1987, 112. As one of the only churches, the Lateran was just inside the city walls.<br />
61<br />
Fasti Philiocaliani , CIL I, 2. The date or the location of the Apostles’ martyrdom is neither mentioned in the
Constructing Myths 57<br />
canonical writings (e.g. Acts of the Apostles) or in the apocryphal writings (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, i.e.<br />
the acts of Paul of ca. 170 and the acts of Peter of ca. 225). For an extensive discussion of these sources, see<br />
Erbes 1899; Lietzmann 1927; Rimoldi 1958.<br />
62<br />
A list of consuls can be found in Marucchi 1912, appendix.<br />
63<br />
Ruysschaert 1965-1966, 173-174.<br />
64<br />
The martyr Sebastian is supposedly also buried here and later the church was named after him. Catacumbas<br />
means cave in the earth or in the rock, for the oldest core of the burial place arose in an arenarium, i.e. a cave<br />
from which you dug out tuff. Christian burial grounds were originally called coemeteria, i.e. resting places<br />
where the body was awaiting resurrection.<br />
65<br />
Krautheimer 1937, 103. Graffiti dated 260 when Saeculari II et Donato II cos were consuls. See also Josi 1969,<br />
166. For the history of the building, see Krautheimer 1937, 99ff; Donati 2000; Fiocchi Nicolai 2001, 10ff;<br />
Brandenburg 2005, 63-69.<br />
66<br />
Ferrua 1956, III, 432-33.<br />
67<br />
Ferrua 1956, IV, 135. At least ten of the S. Sebastiano graffiti refer to meals for the Apostles. Some of them<br />
are dated: XIIII kal apriles [14 March] refrigeravit Parthenius in deo and Idus (iuli)as [15 July] refrigeravit<br />
restituita (in domi)no at Paulu(m) et Pet(rum) refri(geravi). Chadwick 1957, 47 and 33.<br />
68<br />
Saxer 1969, 166: “Le date offerte dai graffiti sono quelle del loro pellegrinaggio a <strong>Rom</strong>a: in febbraio, marzo,<br />
giugno, agosto, novembre; una sola data non si legge mai: quella del III kal. Iulias!” Nothing specific is known<br />
about the official cult in the Via Appia. See Lietzmann 1927, 125; Susman 1961, 16-18.<br />
69<br />
It is dealt with in detail in Chadwick 1957 and 1962; Rimoldi 1958; Donati 2000.<br />
70<br />
Hic temporibus suis, rogatus a quodam matrona Lucina, corpora apostolorum beati Petri et Pauli de Catacumbas<br />
leuauit noctu: primum quidem corpus beati Pauli accepto beata Lucina posuit in praedio suo, via Ostense,<br />
iuxta locum ubi decollatus est; beati Petri accepit corpus beatus Cornelius episcopus et posuit iuxta locum ubi<br />
crucifixus est, inter corpora sanctorum episcoporum, in templum Apollinis, in monte Aureum, in Vaticanum<br />
palatii Neronis, III kal. Iul. Translation from Davis 2000, 28.<br />
71<br />
Eusebius, II. 25, 6-7 (translation from CCEL). According to Fiocchi Nicolai (2001, 13), the testimonial dates<br />
from the second century. Ferrua 1956, IV, 138, 141; Chadwick 1962, 313-14; Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 205;<br />
Brandenburg 2005, 63-69.<br />
72<br />
“[…] trinis celebratur vis/festum sacrorum martyrum” (in: PL 17, 1215). According to Susman (1961, 17 ref.<br />
6 to Simonetti) the hymn is attributed to Pseudo Ambrose. According to Josi (1969, 156ff) it is attributed to<br />
Ambrose or Ambrosiaster. In the Gelasian Sacramentarium (750) three masses are registered for 29 June: one<br />
“in Natali S. Petri proprium”; another “in Natali Apostolorum Petri et Pauli”; and a third one “in Natali S. Pauli<br />
proprium.”<br />
73<br />
Martyrologium Hieronymianum (ed. Delehaye 1931): “[…] lectio codicis Bernensis suppressa tamen sententia<br />
‘passi sub Nerone’.” The Martyrologium Hieronymianum has been passed down in several manuscripts. In the<br />
Codex Bernensis the sentence in the parenthesis has been omitted.<br />
74<br />
Lietzmann 1927, 109; Saxer 2000, 76. The first compilation of the Fasti Philocaliani took place in 336.<br />
The expression “Petri in Catacumbas et Pauli Ostense” dates from this time. It is worth noting that in the<br />
Martyrologium Hieronymianum we find the following commentary for 25 January: “<strong>Rom</strong>a translatio Pauli<br />
apostoli ad viam Ostiensem.” This might be a reference to the removal of Paul from the Via Appia back to<br />
Ostiense.<br />
75<br />
Lietzmann 1927, 112; Rimoldi 1958, 26 and 34. As for the naming of the Memoria Apostolorum in 1916, see<br />
Mohlberg 1952, 53.<br />
76<br />
Chadwick 1957, 47.<br />
77<br />
According to Delehaye, the translation never took place; the Christians merely founded a place to meet and<br />
worship in the Via Appia in order to find a safe spot, but without removing the bodies of the Apostles. Cf. Saxer<br />
2000, 76.<br />
78<br />
Erbes 1899, 54; Lietzmann 1927, 125, 135, 141; Mohlberg 1952, 65; Rimoldi 1958, 35-36; Susman 1961,<br />
20. Erbes was amongst those who believed that 29 June marked the date of the translation. He was also of the<br />
opinion that the Apostles died on 22 February 63. In the calendar of Polemius Silvius the note “depositio Petri<br />
et Pauli” is also registered for 22 February in accordance with the practise in Gaul, but also with the traditional<br />
<strong>Rom</strong>an celebration of the dead (caristia) on this day, which the <strong>Rom</strong>an Church appropriated for the celebration<br />
of the natale Petri de cathedra as mentioned above. Erbes was accordingly of the opinion that the apostles died<br />
before the famous fire of <strong>Rom</strong>e on 18 July 64. This particular event is otherwise often regarded as the reason for<br />
the intensification of the persecution of the Christians under Nero, which led to the execution of the Apostles.<br />
There are, however, endless discussions of which year the Apostles were executed, but it is generally assumed<br />
that Peter was executed between 64 and 67, and Paul in 67. Christiana Loca I, 2-4 (a cura di Pani Ermini 2000-
58 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
2001).<br />
79<br />
“[…] et in catacumbas ubi iacuerunt corpora sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, in quo loco platomam<br />
ipsam, ubi iacuerunt corpora sancta, versibus exornavit. Hic multa corpora sanctorum requisivit et invenit,<br />
quorum etiam versibus declaravit.” Translation from Davis 2000, 29.<br />
80<br />
Ferrua 1942, nr. 20; Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 205-15; Trout 2003, 532 ref. 38. Both Ferrua and Trout write<br />
habitasse in full accordance with ICUR V. 13273. Ruysschaert discusses variant readings alternating between<br />
habitasse and habitare. Damasus does not specify whether the Apostles were buried here first or in the places<br />
where they were executed. He completely omits the use of such verbs relating to the funeral as depositus, iacet<br />
and requiescit. Instead he uses the much more discreet term habitare/habitasse as a more general indication that<br />
the apostles had dwelt here – dead or alive – as also referred to in the apocryphal writings (Acta Apostolorum<br />
apocrypha) which relate that Peter and Paul had either lived or been there.<br />
81<br />
Whereas the death of the Apostles is only described in the apocryphal acts of Peter and Paul, their journey from<br />
their home in the East to <strong>Rom</strong>e in the West has been related in the canonical Acts of the Apostles.<br />
82<br />
Codex Vaticano Palatino 833. This has likewise been documented in Itinerarium Einsiedlense of the eighth and<br />
ninth centuries. They have both been published in ICUR II. I and Lanciani 1891.<br />
83<br />
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 216.<br />
84<br />
Pavia 1999, 42ff; Christiana Loca (a cura di Pani Ermini 2000-2001) I 74, 93-94 and II 8; Brandenburg<br />
2005, 63-69. For discussions of the circus-shaped deambulatory basilicas in general (Basilica Apostolorum<br />
(S. Sebastiano f.l.m.), S. Agnese f.l.m., S. Lorenzo f.l.m., Ss. Marcellino e Pietro ad duas lauros and the<br />
anonymous basilica in the Via Prenestina), see Krautheimer 1937; Tolotti 1982; Torelli 1992. For the most<br />
recently discovered basilica in the Via Ardeatina, see Fiocchi Nicolai 1995-1996.<br />
85<br />
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 215.<br />
86<br />
Ruysschaert 1965-1966, 176.<br />
87<br />
Prudentius XI. 154-178: “[…] mersa latebrosis crypta patet foveis: huius in occultum gradibus via prona<br />
reflexis ire per anfractus luce latente docet. Primas namque fores summo tenus intrat hiatu inlustratque<br />
dies limina vestibuli. Inde ubi progressu facili nigrescere visa est nox obscura loci per specus ambiguum<br />
ccurrunt celsis inmissa foramina tectis, quae iaciant claros antra super radios. Quamlibet ancipites texant hinc<br />
inde recessus arta sub umbrosis atria porticibus, len excisi subter cava viscera montis crebra terebrato fomice lux<br />
penetrat. Sic datur absentis per subterranea solis cemere fulgorem luminibusque frui.” Translation from LCL 1953.<br />
88<br />
Saenger 1997 (introductory chapter). As for St. Augustine’s comments on St. Ambrose, see Confessiones VI. 3<br />
(in: Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series). For the recitation of inscriptions, see Bodel 2001, 16.<br />
89<br />
Enciclopedia dei Papi 2000, 358 (on the Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Decreta, canon 3, 32).<br />
90<br />
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 211-212: “L’un et l’autre sont, en effet, invoqués au concile tenu a <strong>Rom</strong>e en 382, sous<br />
Damase, lorsqu’il s’est agi d’affirmer en face de Constantinople le droit de l’Eglise de <strong>Rom</strong>e d’occuper la<br />
première place.” There has been no attempt to date the Apostolic epigram. For their chronology in general, see<br />
Enciclopedia dei Papi 2000, 351.<br />
91<br />
Huskinson 1982, 79 and 88. Damasus did, however, ask Jerome, who worked as his secretary, to obtain a<br />
version of the letters of Paul. Ferguson, E. et al. 1997, 218.<br />
92<br />
Pietri 1961, 295.<br />
93<br />
Clement <strong>Rom</strong>anus, chapter 5 (in: Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series); Chadwick 1957, 35.<br />
94<br />
The iconography of the Apostles is dealt with in great detail by Huskinson 1982, 3-62; Mazzoleni 1996, 66. As<br />
early as 310-320 specific iconographic programmes were developed allowing the spectator to distinguish the<br />
two Apostles from one another. Paul is characterized by being the eldest; he is partly bald and has a long beard,<br />
whereas Peter has far more hair and a shorter beard. No apsidal paintings in churches from the time of Damasus<br />
have survived, and it is therefore not possible to ascertain to which extent the motif has been employed there.<br />
95<br />
Huskinson 1982, 62.<br />
96<br />
Cf. Batiffol 1925, 106. Huskinson 1961, 90.<br />
97<br />
Huskinson 1982, 86-88, 90. Concordia apostolorum was, according to Huskinson, developed during the second<br />
half of the fourth century as a legal legitimization of the primateship. Constantinople’s claim to a primateship<br />
was founded later in the 7 th or 8 th century on the Apostles Andrew (Peter’s brother) and Luke (the companion<br />
of Paul), see Dvornik 1958, 122. Antioch’s claim to a primateship was based on the belief that their church<br />
had been founded by Peter and Paul before the Apostles arrived in <strong>Rom</strong>e. Here the Christians were called<br />
christianoi for the first time, cf. Martyrologium <strong>Rom</strong>anum, 22 February. See also Pietri 1961, 304; Ruysschaert<br />
1969-1970, 211-212.<br />
98<br />
Paul is not mentioned in the so-called Liberian Catalogue in the Fasti Philocaliani 354; nor does the Liber<br />
Pontificalis (ca. 530) contain his biography, but Peter’s death on 29 June (III Kal. Iul.) is, however, mentioned
Constructing Myths 59<br />
there in his biography, as the first Bishop of <strong>Rom</strong>e.<br />
99<br />
Huskinson 1982, 86. I shall return to this discussion later.<br />
100<br />
According to Février, André Chastagnol has demonstrated how the construction of the Basilica of St Paul was<br />
begun in 383-84: “cette reconstruction a eu pour l’inspirateur Damase.” Février 1992, 505; Carletti 2000b,<br />
448.<br />
101<br />
CSEL 35, 3: “De constructione basilicae sancti apostoli Pauli.”<br />
102<br />
The popularity of the site is reflected in the intensified sepulchral cult. At the time of Damasus several tomb<br />
monuments were erected around the basilica in the so-called Platonia.<br />
103<br />
Pietri 1961, 279; Grig 2004, figures 5-6.<br />
104<br />
Zeses is a Latin transliteration of the Greek verb záo (ζάω). It was inserted in the phrase dignitas amicorum<br />
vivas pie zeses (“honour and good luck befall your friends, drink and live”) as it says in the bottom of the<br />
glass in Pl. III. The phrase was originally intended as a congratulatory greeting to the living, as the gold<br />
glasses had so far been used as gifts for one’s hosts. See Pietri 1961, 307-8; Ferrua 1974 and 1975; Faedo<br />
1978, 1026.<br />
105<br />
‘Naturalising’ is a term which takes its starting point in Barthesian theory and method. The term refers to<br />
the process of something becoming natural and matter-of-course, as if it had never been any different. I shall<br />
enter into a further discussion of the term and its application in connection with Damasus’ project in the<br />
following section.<br />
106<br />
Huskinson 1982, 90; Carletti 2000a, 367-369. See also Pietri 1961, 305, 307, 322; Cameron 1991, 82; Février<br />
1992, 505; Sághy 2000, 279, 285-286.<br />
107<br />
I shall expand upon the criticism of the whole concept of propaganda in a forthcoming article.<br />
108<br />
Barthes 1957, 215-216: “au principe même du mythe: il transforme l’histoire en nature.” “[…] il va le<br />
naturaliser.” His italics.<br />
109<br />
Barthes 1957, 193.<br />
110<br />
Barthes 1957, 193.<br />
111<br />
Barthes 1957, 214-217.<br />
112<br />
Barthes 1957, 207.<br />
113<br />
Barthes 1957, 210.<br />
114<br />
Epigram to Nereus et Achilleus, Ferrua 1942, no. 8.<br />
115<br />
Halbwachs 1950, 68.<br />
116<br />
Halbwachs 1950, 68-69.<br />
117<br />
The expression can be found in epigrams nos. 17, 31, 35, 43, 46, cf. Ferrua 1942. Translation: “When the<br />
sword was still ravaging the holy interior of the Mother.”<br />
118<br />
Halbwachs 1950, 37, 70, 73.<br />
119<br />
Ruysschaert 1969-1970, 205 quotes Duchesne: Histoire ancienne de l’Eglise t. 2, Paris 1907, 483.<br />
120<br />
Barthes 1957, 10 (preface). His italics. This aspect has been developed by Dr. Mary Beard. Cf. Beard 1993,<br />
45.<br />
121<br />
Trout 2003, 527.<br />
122<br />
Apart from the inscription to St. Agnes, the martyr epigram to St. Euthychius in S. Sebastiano is intact. It has<br />
been possible to reconstruct the inscription in the papal crypt in S. Callisto because of the large number of<br />
fragments which have come down to us (Pl. I). Far more fragmented are the inscriptions to St. Felicissimus<br />
and St. Agapitus in the Pretestato catacomb, the inscriptions to St. Eusebius and St. Cornelius in S. Callisto<br />
and the St. Nereus and St. Achilleus epigram in the catacomb of Domitilla.<br />
123<br />
Ferrua 1991, 332-339.<br />
124<br />
From the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries the Cosmati family adapted several epigrams to the patterns in<br />
the cosmatesque pavements in S. Martino ai Monti, Ss. Quattro Coronati and S. Giovanni in Laterano.<br />
125<br />
Among these itineraries are De Locis Sanctis and Notitia Ecclesiarum Urbis <strong>Rom</strong>ae from the seventh century<br />
and Itinerarium Einsiedlense and Sylloge Laureshamensis of the eighth and ninth centuries.<br />
126<br />
Marangoni 1744, 402-3.<br />
127<br />
Huskinson 1982, 86. Moreover, in Prudentius’ hymn to Peter and Paul (XII, 3-6) he suggests that Paul<br />
became a martyr a year after Peter: “Festus apostolici nobis redit hic dies triumphi, Pauli atque Petri nobilis
60 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
cruore. Unus utrumque dies, pleno tamen innovatus anno, vidit superba morte laureatum.” (in: PL 60, 556).<br />
(“Today we have the festival of the apostles’ triumph coming round again, a day made famous by the blood<br />
of Paul and Peter. The same day, but recurring after a full year, saw each of them win the laurel by a splendid<br />
death.”). Translation from LCL 1953.<br />
128<br />
The sermon is taken from Agimondo’s collection of sermons (in: PL 54, 513); Chevasse 1960, 166-167;<br />
Susman 1961, 19.<br />
129<br />
Sermon 84. 1 (in: Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series).<br />
130<br />
Susman 1961, 188-189.
Constructing Myths 61<br />
Pl. I. The crypt of the popes containing a Damasian epigram, S. Callisto, <strong>Rom</strong>e, 366-384 (photo: Pontificia<br />
Commissione di Archeologia Sacra, <strong>Rom</strong>e).
62 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Pl. II. Mosaic with a representation of Peter and Paul, S. Costanza, <strong>Rom</strong>e, fourth century (photo: with permission<br />
from the ‛Parrocchia di S. Agnese’, <strong>Rom</strong>e).
Constructing Myths 63<br />
Pl. III. Gold glass, vetro dorato, with a double portrait of Peter and Paul framed by the inscriptions Petrus, Paulus<br />
and fragments of the sentence dignitas amicorum vivas pie zeses. <strong>Rom</strong>e, fourth century, The British Museum<br />
(photo: The Trustees of The British Museum).
64 Gitte Lønstrup<br />
Pl. IV. Gold glass, vetro dorato with a representation of “Pastor”, the christological monogram, and the portraits<br />
of Damasus, Peter and Paul, whose names are inscribed on the glass as well. <strong>Rom</strong>e, fourth century, Musei Vaticani<br />
(photo: Musei Vaticani, The Vatican City, <strong>Rom</strong>e).