THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE LUPERCALIA

Abstract

The Lupercalia is one of the most important and most controversial of Roman festivals. This paper addresses the issue of its topography, which has received renewed attention in recent years. It is divided into two main sections, the first discussing the hotly debated location of the Lupercal cave, and the second the course of the running Luperci. The former section reviews the literary and archaeological evidence for the location of the cave, discusses its significance as a unique religious site, and calls for further investigation in the area of the southwest Palatine. The second section seeks to challenge the most influential theories on the course of the Luperci by carefully examining the ancient evidence and the terminology it uses. A contextualization of the sources and the topographic elements they describe shows that many modern theories contain serious flaws when it comes to this subject. Most modern interpretations rely on a passage of Augustine which is very problematic because of his biased interpretatio Christiana. The conclusion is that the festival’s typology as a ritual of lustration is key to understanding the course of the Luperci.