Editing Novensiles (section)

==Sabine origin==
According to Arnobius, a Piso, most likely the [[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Calpurnius Piso Frugi]] who was an [[annalist]] and [[Roman consul|consul]] in 133 BC,<ref>M. Burghard, ''Arnobius of Sicca: The Case Against the Pagans'' (Paulist Press, 1975), p. 368, note 224 (where he errs in giving the year of Piso's consulship as 233 rather than 133 BC); possible identifications discussed in ''Berichte über die Verhandlungen der königlich sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig'' (1848), vol. 1, pp. 429–430.</ref> said that the ''novensiles'' were nine gods whose cult had been established in [[Sabina (region)|Sabine country]] at Trebia. The location has been identified variously as the river [[Trebbia]], [[Trevi nel Lazio]], or one of the places called Trebula in antiquity, two of which — [[Trebula Mutusca]] and [[Trebula Suffenas]] — are in Sabine territory.<ref>Gary Forsythe, "The Tribal Membership of the Calpurnii Pisones," ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 83 (1990), p. 297; ''A Handbook of Rome and Its Environs'' (London, 1864, 7th ed.), p. 370 [https://books.google.com/books?id=kGBrcKZ6-yQC&dq=sabine+trebia&pg=PA370  online.]</ref> Gary Forsythe has conjectured that Piso's family came from the middle [[Tiber Valley]], on the border of [[Etruria]] and Sabine country, and that he was drawing on personal knowledge. The father of this Piso is probably the L. Calpurnius who dedicated a shrine to [[Feronia (goddess)|Feronia]] at ''[[Lucus Feroniae]]'' near [[Capena]].<ref>Forsythe, "The Tribal Membership of the Calpurnii Pisones," p. 297.</ref>

[[Varro]], who was himself Sabine, placed the ''Novensides'' in his much-noted catalogue of Sabine deities.<ref>Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=wHEGcPZZmHwC&dq=Novensides&pg=PA114 5.74.]</ref> Inscriptions in Sabine country mention the ''novensiles'' or ''novensides'', for instance, ''dieu. nove. sede'' at [[Pisaurum]].<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 1.178; for full inscription as transcribed in Engelbert Joseph Schneider, '' Dialecti latinae priscae et faliscae exempla selecta''  (Leipzig, 1886), p. 7 [https://books.google.com/books?id=WAErAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22V.+Tituli+votivi+Pisaurenses%22&pg=PA7 online.]</ref> A [[Marsi]]an inscription also names the ''novensiles'' without the ''indigetes''.<ref>''CIL'' 12.375. ''Esos Novesede pesco pacre'': "to the Lords Novesede peace bringing sacrifice".</ref> The 19th-century scholar [[Edward Greswell]] sought to connect the nine ''novensiles'' of the Sabines to the [[Nundinae|nundinal cycle]], the eight-day "week" of the [[Roman calendar]] that Roman [[Counting#Inclusive counting|inclusive counting]] reckoned as nine days.<ref>Edward Greswell, ''Origines Kalendariae Italicae, Nundinal Calendars of Ancient Italy, Nundinal Calendar of Romulus, Calendar of Numa Pompilius, Calendar of the Decemvirs, Irregular Roman Calendar, and Julian Correction. Tables of the Roman Calendar, from U.C. 4 of Varro B.C. 750 to U.C. 1108 A.D. 355'' (Oxford University Press, 1884), vol. 2, pp. 394–397.</ref>