Spes
(
Latin
for "
Hope
") was worshipped as a
goddess
in
ancient Roman
religion
. Numerous temples to Spes are known, and
inscriptions
indicate that she received private devotion as well as state cult.
[1]
Republican Hope
[
edit
]
During the
Republic
, a temple to "ancient Hope" (
Spes vetus
) was supposed to have been located near the
Praenestine Gate
.
[2]
It was associated with events that occurred in the 5th century BC,
[4]
but its existence as anything except perhaps a private shrine has been doubted.
[5]
A well-documented
Temple of Spes
was built by
Aulus Atilius Calatinus
[6]
along with
Fides
, as the result of vows (
vota
) made to these goddesses during the
First Punic War
.
[7]
This was built at the vegetable market (
Forum Olitorium
)
[8]
just outside the
Carmental Gate
. It was twice burnt down and restored, first in 213 BC and then again in AD 7.
At
Capua
in 110 BC, a temple was built to the triad of Spes,
Fides
, and
Fortuna
.
[10]
Imperial Hope
[
edit
]
Spes was one of the divine personifications in the
Imperial cult
of the Virtues. Spes Augusta was Hope associated with the capacity of the
emperor
as
Augustus
to ensure blessed conditions.
[11]
Like
Salus
("Salvation, Security"),
Ops
("Abundance, Prosperity"), and
Victoria
("Victory"), Spes was a power that had to come from the gods, in contrast to divine powers that resided within the individual such as
Mens
("Intelligence"),
Virtus
("Virtue"), and
Fides
("Faith, Fidelity, Trustworthiness").
[12]
Greek Elpis
[
edit
]
The
Greek counterpart
of Spes was
Elpis
, who by contrast had no formal
cult in Greece
. The primary
myth
in which Elpis plays a role is the story of
Pandora
. The Greeks had ambivalent or even negative feelings about "hope", with
Euripides
describing it in his
Suppliants
as "delusive" and stating "it has embroiled many a State",
[13]
and the concept was unimportant in the philosophical systems of the
Stoics
and
Epicureans
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
J. Rufus Fears
, "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology,"
Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt
II.17.2 (1981), p. 837.
- ^
Frontinus
,
De aquaeductu
1.19.
- ^
Livy
2.51.2;
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
9.24.4.
- ^
Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," p. 848.
- ^
Cicero
,
De legibus
2.28.
- ^
Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," p. 835.
- ^
"Spes"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
(11th ed.). 1911.
- ^
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
3770.
- ^
J. Rufus Fears
, "The Theology of Victory at Rome: Approaches and Problem,"
Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt
II.17.2 (1981), pp. 812?814.
- ^
Fears, "The Theology of Victory at Rome," p. 744.
- ^
Euripedes,
Suppliants
, l. 479.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Burn, Robert
(1871),
Rome and the Campagna: An Historical and Topographical Description of the Site, Buildings, and Neighbourhood of Ancient Rome...
,
Cambridge
: Deighton, Bell, & Co.
- Momigliano, Arnaldo
(1987), "Religion in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem in the First Century B.C.",
On Pagans, Jews, and Christians
, Wesleyan University Press
Further reading
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Spes
.
- Clark, Mark Edward. "Spes in the Early Imperial Cult: 'The Hope of Augustus'."
Numen
30.1 (1983) 80?105.
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