ARVALI, FRATELLI. — A Roman religious collegial association, composed of 12 members and headed by a magister; recruited from the patriciate, with members appointed by co-optation until the imperial period, from which point the emperors reserved the right of appointment (cooptatio ex litteris). It was devoted to the cult of the goddess Dia, a special aspect of the Mother Goddess or Ceres, and possessed a sanctuary at the fifth milestone of the Via Campana (near present-day Magliana).
The goddess’s great annual festival lasted three days and fell at the end of May. It was intended to propitiate the gods, especially the Lares, the Semones, Mars, and the goddess Dia, for the benefit of agriculture. The liturgical activity of this association is known fairly well because of the Acta, or minutes, unfortunately fragmentary, of their meetings, engraved on stone tablets that survive in large numbers; the most notable for their extent are those from the years 218 and 240.
The festivals at the end of May were announced year by year and began at the magister’s house with libations, anointings, and other propitiatory rites. On the second day, which was the most solemn, the f. A. went to the sanctuary on the Via
The antiquity of this sodality is demonstrated by the fact that Romulus himself was considered its founder; that the divinities worshipped were all indigenous; that the language of the hymn is archaic, as were the ceremonies accompanying its recitation; that the tabu on iron was observed and the use of loaves of coarse dough persisted, recalling those of the terremare; and that archaic libations were performed, both in their ingredients (cakes made of flour, milk, and liver) and in the manner of their offering. Its Acts are therefore first-rate documents for the study of the most ancient Roman liturgy. In the ritual, the A. wore the praetexta and white fillets on their heads, on which rested a crown of ears of grain. Their college lasted until the final years of paganism.