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Thelectisternium was anancient Romanpropitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses. The word derives fromlectum sternere, "to spread (or "drape") a couch."[1] The deities were represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood, with heads of bronze, wax or marble. It has also been suggested[by whom?] that the divine images were bundles of sacred herbs tied together in the form of a head, covered by a waxen mask so as to resemble a kind of bust, rather like the straw figures calledArgei. A couch (lectus) was prepared by draping it with fabric. The figures or sacred objects pertaining to the deity (such as the wreath awarded in atriumph) were laid upon it. Each couch held a pair of deities, sometimes male with female equivalent. If the image was anthropomorphic, the left arms were rested on a cushion (pulvinus) in theattitude of reclining to eat. The couches (pulvinar) were set out in the open street, or a temple forecourt, or in the case ofludi, in thepulvinar or viewing box, and a meal was served on a table before the couch.[2]
Livy says[3] that the ceremony took place "for the first time" in Rome in the year 399 BC, after a pestilence had caused theSibylline Books to be consulted by theduumviri sacris faciundis, the two (later 10, and later 15) priestly officials who maintained the archive. Three couches were prepared for three pairs of gods—Apollo andLatona,Hercules andDiana,Mercury andNeptune. The feast lasted for eight (or seven) days, and was also celebrated by private individuals. The citizens kept open house, quarrels were forgotten, debtors and prisoners were released, and everything done to banish sorrow.[4]
Similar honors were paid to other divinities in subsequent times:Fortuna,Saturnus,Juno Regina of theAventine, the threeCapitoline deities (Jupiter, Juno,Minerva). In 217 BC, after theRoman defeat at Lake Trasimene, a lectisternium was held for three days to six pairs of gods, corresponding to theTwelve Olympians ofancient Greek religion: Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva,Mars,Venus, Apollo, Diana,Vulcan,Vesta, Mercury,Ceres.[4]
In 205 BC, alarmed by unfavorableprodigies, the Romans were ordered to fetch theGreat Mother of the gods fromPessinus inPhrygia; in the following year the image was brought to Rome, and a lectisternium held. In later times, the lectisternium became a constant or even daily occurrence, celebrated in the different temples.[4] Occasionally the "Draping of Couches" was part ofRoman Triumph celebrations.Aulus Hirtius reports that Julius Caesar was greeted with "draped dining couches" following his victory in Gaul, in anticipation of a forthcoming triumph.[5] Such celebrations must be distinguished from those which were ordered, like the earlier lectisternia, by the Sibylline Books in special emergencies.[4]
In theImperial era, chairs were substituted for sofas in the case of goddesses, and the lectisternium in their case became asellisternium.[6] This was in accordance with Roman custom, since in the earliest times all the members of a family sat at meals, and in later times at least the women and children. This is a point of distinction between the original practice at the lectisternium and theepulum Jovis, the goddesses at the latter being provided with chairs, whereas in the lectisternium they reclined.[4]
In Christian times the word was used for a feast in memory of the dead.[7][4]
Offerings of food were made to the gods in early Roman times on such occasions as the ceremony ofconfarreatio, and theepulum Jovis (often conflated with the lectisternium). The lectisternia, however, are likely of Greek origin.[citation needed] The Greektheoxenia (Θεοξένια) is similar, except that the gods played the part of host. The gods associated with it were either previously unknown to Roman religion, though often concealed under Roman names, or were provided with a new cult. Thus Hercules was not worshipped as at theAra Maxima, where, according toServius[8] andCornelius Balbus[9] a lectisternium was forbidden. The Sibylline Books, which decided whether a lectisternium was to be held or not, were of Greek origin; the custom of reclining at meals was Greek.[4]
Some, however, assign anEtruscan origin to the ceremony, the Sibylline Books themselves being looked upon as old Italian "black books."[clarification needed] It may be that as the lectisternia became an almost everyday occurrence in Rome, people forgot their foreign origin and the circumstances in which they were first introduced, and then the wordpulvinar with its associations was transferred to times in which it had no existence.[clarification needed][4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lectisternium".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 357–358.