Culti e purificazione postbellica lungo la Sacra via

Abstract

In this paper, the different types of purifying practices celebrated along the Sacra Via have been collected and examined in a systematic perspective. They correspond to places of worship or complexes such as the tigillum Sororium and the lucus of Strenia, the statue of Cloelia, the Regia, the sacellum of Cloacina along with the nearby Lautolae, the atrium Sutorium and the Volcanal in the Comitium. Then the properties of the ingredients/substances that were used in purification are discussed: they included water, fire, sulphur and, above all, laurel and myrtle, plants that were frequently used in fumigation (suffitiones/suffimenta) and employed by the milites on their return from war.