Editing Di nixi (section)

==Topography and ritual==
As guardians of the threshold of life, the ''Nixi'' or ''Nixae'' may also have been associated with new life in the sense of [[soteriology|theological rebirth or salvation]].<ref>Le Glay, "Remarques," pp. 431–433.</ref> An altar of the Nixae, within the [[Tarentum (Campus Martius)|Tarentum]] in the general area of the [[Campus Martius]], was the site of the annual sacrifice of the [[October Horse]].<ref>''Ad nixas''; [[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' (London, 1908), p. 242.</ref> The altar was possibly underground, as was the nearby altar of [[Dis Pater]] and [[Proserpina]].<ref>Comment by H.S. Versnel in response to Le Glay, "Remarques," p. 442.</ref> The Tarentum<ref>John H. Humphrey, ''Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing'' (University of California Press, 1986), pp. 558, 560; Le Glay, "Remarques,"  p. 442.</ref> gave its name to the ritual games held there (''[[ludi]] tarentini'')<ref>The name is far less likely to have come from [[History of Taranto|Tarentum]] in [[Apulia]]; [[Erich S. Gruen]], "Poetry and Politics: The Beginnings of Latin Literature," in ''Studies in Greek Culture and Roman Policy'' (Brill, 1990), p. 83, note 17 [https://books.google.com/books?id=DG43AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22ludi+tarentini%22&pg=PA83  online]; Calvert Watkins, ''[[How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics]]'' (Oxford University Press, 1995), devotes a chapter to the meaning of ''tarentum''.</ref> that became the [[Saecular Games]]. A lengthy [[epigraphy|inscription]]<ref>Available at [[LacusCurtius]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/Ludi_Saeculares*.html online.]</ref> marks the occasion of these games under [[Augustus]] in 17 BC and notes a nocturnal sacrifice carried out for the ''Ilithyis'', [[Eileithyia]]i, the [[interpretatio graeca|Greek counterparts]] of the ''Nixae'' as birth goddesses.<ref>Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii,"  p. 358; Le  Glay, "Remarques,"  p. 442.</ref> The phrase ''nuptae genibus nixae'' ("brides laboring on their knees") appears twice in this invocation. The [[attitude (art)|attitude]] of devotion or reverence expressed by ''genibus nixae'' or ''genu nixa'', which might also be translated as "on bended knee," is formulaic in Latin texts and inscriptions.<ref>For instance, variations in [[Plautus]], ''Rudens'' 695; [[Vergil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 3.607; [[Tibullus]] 1.2.85f.; [[Apuleius]], the [[Cupid and Psyche]] tale, ''Metamorphoses'' 6.3. See Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii,"  p. 358; R. B. Onians, ''The Origins of European Thought about the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time, and Fate'' (Cambridge University Press, 1951, 2000), p. 185 [https://books.google.com/books?id=cjDy2O2jDmUC&dq=Nixae&pg=PA185 online.]</ref>

It has been suggested that the iconography of kneeling became associated with birth because women sought divine aid for what was often a life-threatening experience in the ancient world. Kneeling also played a role in initiation ritual for [[mystery religion]], which offered the promise of rebirth.<ref>Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii,"  pp. 357–358.</ref>

Women prayed and held sacred banquets at the Saecular Games, which were characterized by an "overt and unusual celebration of women, children, and families in a [[Roman festivals|civic festival]]." The role of women on this occasion was consonant with the Augustan emphasis on families as necessary to the vitality of the [[Roman State|Roman state]].<ref>Beth Severy, ''Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire'' (Routledge, 2003), p. 58 [https://books.google.com/books?id=SBRN6HW8xEIC&dq=%22genibus+nixae%22&pg=PA58 online.]</ref>

[[File:Musee Pio Clementino-Isis lactans.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.75|Romanized Isis nursing Infant Harpocrates]]
[[Robert E.A. Palmer]] has speculated that the area where the altar of the Nixae was located ([[Piazza Navona]]) continued to have significance into the modern Christian era:

{{cquote|The shadow of the ''Nixae'' hangs over [[Basilica di Sant'Agostino|St. Augustine's]]. For hours I have sat facing the inside of the central portal of this church which is always sealed to accommodate the hundreds of [[Ex-voto|exvotos]] for the statue of the seated Madonna del (Divin) Parto ''[Our Lady of Divine Childbirth]'' and I have watched by candlelight scores of Roman women touch certain parts of that Christian idol in a given order. Who can say whether St. Tryphon's had housed a similar [[Mother of God]] and whether she traced her pedigree to [[Terra (mythology)|Mother Earth]] or the [[Isis]] with the [[Harpocrates|Infant Harpocrates]]?<ref>[[Robert E.A. Palmer]], ''Studies of the Northern Campus Martius in Ancient Rome'' (American Philosophical Society, 1990), p. 57.</ref>}}
{{Clear}}