Terminalia

TERMINALIA. - Festival of the god Terminus in Roman religion. Terminus means, in Latin, the boundary and, more specifically, the stone that marks the boundary. In private cult the T. were celebrated, precisely, at the stone that marked the boundary between two estates: on an altar were sacrificed fruits, wine, a lamb and a sow; the stone was garlanded on both sides (by the respective owners) and anointed with the blood of the victim. But the T. were also a public festival, fixed in the archaic calendar on February 23rd.

A public rite took place, perhaps alluding to the boundaries of Rome, at the sixth mile of the Via Laurentina. In this too a sheep was killed. This seems to contradict explicit testimonies according to which the cult of Terminus was bloodless. Perhaps, however, one must distinguish from the cults mentioned the more ancient one that had its center in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, where, according to legend, at the time of construction all the divinities had yielded their place to Jupiter, except Terminus and Iuventas, who were incorporated into the temple (both divine names also appear as epithets of Jupiter!). Above the place of worship of Terminus the roof of the temple was open. That the meaning of Terminus is not limited to the boundary stone is clear, besides from this Capitoline cult, also from the fact that the T. are the last festival of the Roman year, of which they therefore mark the end.

Angelo Brelich