The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c.1000–264 BC) by Cornell Tim

Author:Cornell, Tim [Cornell, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2012-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

The Aediles and the Temple of Ceres

At the First Secession the plebeians are also said to have created two aediles, to serve as annual officials alongside the tribunes. In later times the duties of the aediles included the upkeep of the streets and public buildings in the city, maintaining public order, supervising markets, organising games and overseeing the food supply. Some of these functions can only have developed after 367 BC, when the aediles became regular state magistrates, but there is no reason to doubt that most if not all of them have their roots in the early period when the aediles were officers of the plebs. For instance, the Plebeian Games (ludiplebeii), which are first attested in the third century BC, may go back to the beginnings of the plebeian organisation in the fifth century. It would be entirely characteristic of the plebs to institute their own games in imitation of the official state celebrations, the Roman Games (ludi Romani), which were probably first held under the kings.82 It is also possible that market supervision was one of the earliest functions of the plebeian aediles, if markets developed in connection with meetings of the plebeian assembly.83

These are matters for speculation. We are on much firmer ground with the title aedilis, which is certainly to be connected with the temple (aedes) of Ceres, Liber and Libera, the plebeian cult centre on the Aventine. It is unfortunately not clear how the temple and the cult first came to be associated with the plebs. According to the traditional account (Dion. Hal. 6.17.2–4) the temple was vowed after the battle of Lake Regillus by the patrician dictator A. Postumius, and was funded by spoils of the campaign; in this respect it was no different from the aristocratic cult of Castor, whose temple originated at the same time. On the other hand, the vow to Ceres (the goddess of grain crops) was the consequence of a food shortage, which would have afflicted the plebs; and the temple was dedicated in the year after the First Secession by the consul Sp. Cassius, a popular leader, and this may not be a coincidence. We should also note that under the lex sacrata a transgressor was pronounced sacer to Jupiter, and his belongings became the property of Ceres. This suggests that the plebeian connection with Ceres goes back to the beginning.

If so, it is worth noting that the cult had strong Greek associations. Even if the triad of Ceres, Liber and Libera is not demonstrably of Greek origin,84 it is beyond question that the identity of the three deities with their Greek counterparts (Demeter, Dionysus and Persephone) was recognised from the start; the most probable theory is that the cult was adopted from southern Italy, where cults of Demeter were common.85 The Greek associations of the cult of Ceres are confirmed by two further details. First, we happen to know that the painted terracotta sculptures that decorated the temple were the work of two Greek artists, Damophilos and Gorgasos (Varro ap.

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