Ficus Ruminalis

The Ficus Ruminalis (about Ruminalischer fig tree, also Ruminalischer tree, arbor Ruminalis or rumina ficus ) was a fig tree in the Forum Romanum in Ancient Rome.

Mythology

According to legend, Romulus and Remus were washed under this tree from the Tiber and suckled by a she-wolf. The name can be inferred, therefore, from the Latin Rumi ( " teat "). A sanctuary of the goddess Rumina, whose cult is connected with Romulus and Remus, was located in the vicinity of the tree.

History

With regard to the topography of the Romuluslegende two locations of the fig tree are available by written sources since the literary editor in the Augustan period. Already in the Roman period of the kings of the tree from the Augur Attus Navius ​​to have been offset by a miracle from the Palatine to the comitium near the Lacus Curtius, after which he was already more than 500 years on the forum at the time of Titus Livius. This would make the site from the one on the slope of the Palatine Hill near the Lupercal. That the name ficus Ruminalis is handed in later times for both places, may be due to confusion. Maybe kept the old location name or it was a tree planted. To confusion could also have contributed to the site on a statue of the Palatine Attus Navius ​​is attested by Livy. At the new location on the comitium there was a bronze group depicting the twins and the she-wolf, which should also have been consecrated according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus under Attus Navius ​​.

The fate of the Ficus Ruminalis was linked because of their mythological significance and position with that of the State. Died from the tree, this was considered an ominous sign, and he had to be replanted by the priest. One such case is by Tacitus 59 AD during the reign of Emperor Nero is for the year.

In the 20th century three fig trees were planted at the putative location on the comitium again.