“Shagi / Steps” the Journal of the SASH

SHAGI/STEPS 6(2)

Keywords: mythology, religion, festival, ancient Rome, Plutarch, Macrobius, Tutela

Abstract: The article deals with the problem of the origin of two holidays in the ancient Roman calendar — the Poplifugia and the Nonae Caprotinae. In the ancient narrative tradition, the prevalent view apparently was that these celebrations were independent memorable days with their semi-legendary histories of origin. However, in the 2nd century, thanks to Plutarch, there appeared a version about a single celebration, which was embellished with a myth about a female servant with a double name — Tutula or Filotida. This myth was developed in the 5th century. For Macrobius, the issue of the holidays becomes secondary: he transforms both the name of the heroine and her story in order to rhetorically prove the presence of valor in women of low social status. The author of the article focuses on the possible connection between the appearance of this character and the development of the cult of Dea Tutela in the imperial period. Tutela was a patron goddess of a certain place, settlement, town. It took some time for Dea Tutela to become an independent personification; it grew out of an epithet characteristic for Juno. Starting with the reign of the Flavian dynasty, Tutela was also connected with the imperial cult. As a guardian of the imperial family, Tutela was close to such goddesses as Salus and Securitas. However, the author thinks that she stands out, since she has something like a cult myth.

To cite this article: Danilov, E. S. (2020). The legend of Tutela in the context of Roman religious tradition. Shagi/Steps, 6(2), 235–248. (In Russian). DOI: 10.22394/2412-9410-2020-6-2-235-248.