ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

In conclusion, we do not have evidence of wide-spread veneration of Mars in theRoman and Latin colonies of the middle Republic. Although the warrior god became thepatron of Sabellic colonization efforts, and archaeological evidence shows worship of thegod in some of the areas where Latin colonies were founded in the third century, Marswas not one of the gods prominently adopted by the Latin colonists. There could beseveral explanations for this. First, of course, we might not have found evidence forMars' cult in the colonies yet or the rituals did not leave permanent evidence. Second,one possible hypothesis is that Mars was the god, not of Italian colonization in general,but of Samnite colonization specifically. When the praetor A. Cornelius Mammulavowed a ver sacrum in 217 BCE, the resulting sacrifices (in 195 and 194 BCE) weremade to Jupiter, not Mars. 116 Thus, Jupiter not Mars would be a more likely god ofRoman colonization. Third, Mars is primarily the god of war, although he does havesome agricultural connections as well. 117As such, his is a poor choice of cults withwhich to draw two or more (formerly hostile) communities together. In any case, it seemsthat Mars was not a popular choice for worship in the Latin and Roman colonies.agri, and the passages relevant to the lustratio of the Roman state and army: Dion. Hal. 4.22.1{suovetaurilia) and Cic. Div. 1.102 and App. B Civ. 5.96 (lustratio exercitus, lustratio classis).116 Livy 22.10. The vow was discharged in 195 and again in 194: Livy 33.44 and 34.44. Livy's notice ofthe colonizations of 194 BCE comes immediately after (34.45). This will be discussed further in the sectionon Jupiter, below (pp. 228-229).117 See especially the theories proposed by Dumezil (1970) and the passage in Cato Agr. 141. Prosdocimi(1989, p. 493-496 and 528) dismisses the agrarian valence of Mars by arguing that the lustration of thefields is a sub-ritual in Mars' greater powers over purifications, not a specific connection to the fieldsthemselves.223