The divine members of Roman society were present in physical space. She or he (a gendered conception was obligatory) had a place of her or his own within the boundaries of Roman territory. The gods’ property rights complicated the fundamental difference between public space, that is, territory owned by the community as a whole (a locuspublicus) and private space owned by a human or corporate (juridical) person (a locus privatus). It was easy to give something piously to the gods, but far more problematic to take something piously away from them. Only elaborated rituals enabled the transferral of cultic space from one location to another. Stories about the unmovable god Terminus, who refused to make room for the new Capitoline temple and had to be integrated into the new structure, demonstrated the fact that a god could deny his consent to be moved, to give up his own territory, even if he was given adequate compensation (Livy 1.55.3-4). Thus, the principle of the immobility of the borderlines of private property, marked by termini (boundary stones) that were venerated at the festival of the Terminalia (February 23), was secured. Stories of evocationes, the ‘‘calling out’’ of deities of besieged cities by promising them a new cult place at Rome, such as the evocatio of Juno at the siege of Veii, demonstrated the possibility of such a move and gave prominence to divine decisions: Juno accepted the invitation (Livy. 5.21.3, 22.3-7). These decisions were independent of the worshipers’ consent.
Only public space could be made sacer, that is, turned into divine property, by the rite of consecratio (consecration). The decision to create a public burden entailing expenses of upkeep and rituals was not left to individuals but could only be taken by the Senate and performed by the leading magistrates. At the same time, the change in the status of an area was not supposed to infringe on private property rights. When Cicero was exiled, his enemy Clodius consecrated part of his urban property in order to dispossess him permanently and completely, but on his return Cicero was successful in demonstrating the illegal character of this action and was reinstated (Cic. Dom. 51, 62; Har. resp.). Not every locus sacer, divine property, was transformed into a templum, a special type of space for ritual performances. This Latin term did not designate a building; a temple building was called an aedis. Instead, an augur, a particular type of public priest (see below), established a rectangular space as a templum through special rituals of designation and declaration. The choice of the place was a human decision. Only exceptionally would a god directly claim a piece of land. That might happen by a lightning strike leaving a visible mark in the soil. The strip of land would be marked off by a miniature fence or boxlike structure bearing the inscription fulgur conditum (‘‘covered lightning-trace’’).4 The owner would hardly lose more than a square foot.
Private religious feelings could also lead to designating a larger or smaller place for the veneration of a particular god or group of gods. That would establish a sacrarium, something sacred, but not divine property, not a locus sacer, in a technical sense. Such a place was easily transferable and convertible back to secular uses. Normally, the problem would not occur. Household shrines were movable altars or cupboards or, frequently, wall paintings. They were only minimally articulated in architecture.5 The burial of corpses or urns created loca religiosa (‘‘places of awe’’). Republican Romans were keen to limit burning and burial to places outside the city proper. Exceptions were made only to honor outstanding public figures (Cic. Leg. 2.58; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 79; Serv. Aen. 11.206). Property rights were not to be infringed by a burial, nor were burial places to be violated by using the surrounding area for agriculture or new burials. The concern to formulate effective sanctions or assure property rights resulted in a number of elaborate funerary inscriptions from imperial times spelling out such provisions.
Physical space was not the only form of divine property, as we will see below. The most important form of communication with the gods, the sacrifice, was a form of transfer of property, since it entailed a gift. Depending on what was sacrificed, all of the problems and precautions taken in the case of property transfer were also relevant to the objects involved.
World History
