Editing Cardea (section)

==In Ovid's ''Fasti''==

===The rape of Cranaë===
In the ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' of Ovid, the nymph Cranaë is raped by Janus, a god otherwise portrayed by the poet as avuncular and wise.<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'' 6.110ff. Riley, Thomas H. (1851) tr., [https://books.google.com/books?id=V_0pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA214 Fasti], p. 214ff</ref> As a poetic work of art, the ''Fasti'' is a unique fabrication blending authentic folklore, antiquarian knowledge, and fictional elaboration. It has been interpreted as Ovid's challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy of Augustus's religious reforms, which were often innovations of [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial propaganda]] under the cloak of archaic revivalism.<ref>Newlands, ''Playing with Time'', pp. 126, 144, ''et passim''.</ref>

Ovid begins by noting that the first day of the month is dedicated to Carna. He then identifies her as the goddess of the hinge, who is elsewhere known as Cardea, a name Ovid does not use: "By means of her divine presence (''[[numen]]'') she opens things that have been closed, and closes things that have been opened." The source of her powers (''vires'') have become obscured by time (''aevum''), but he promises that his poem (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#carmen|carmen]]'') will clarify the matter (6.101–104).

The setting is the sacred grove (''[[lucus]]'') of the otherwise unknown god [[Helernus|Alernus]] (who was considered Cardea's father), for whom, Ovid claims, the [[College of Pontiffs|state priests]] still carry out ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacra|sacra]]'', sacred rites. The nymph named at that time Cranaë was born there. She was a huntress, often mistaken for the "sister of [[Phoebus]]", that is, [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], except that she used hunting javelins and nets rather than a bow and arrow. When her many would-be lovers attempted to seduce her, she demurred claiming lack of privacy, and played the same trick on each one: "lead the way to a secluded cave, and I'll follow." As the gullible youth went ahead, Cranaë held back until she was camouflaged among the bushes (6.105–118).

Janus too was seized by desire for the nymph. She responded to his sweet-talk (''verbis mollibus'') by attempting the same ruse; however, as Ovid points out in a characteristic moment of comedy and cruelty colliding, the two faces of Janus allow him to see what goes on behind, and Cranaë was unable to elude him. She was powerless (''nil agis'', "you can do nothing", the poet repeats twice); the god "occupies her with his embrace", and after overpowering her to achieve his goal, treats the encounter as contractual: "In exchange for our intercourse (''pro concubitu''), the right (''[[ius]]'') of the hinge will be yours; take that as payment for the virginity you deposited" (6.119–128).

As a pledge, he gives her the [[Crataegus monogyna|whitethorn]], or hawthorn, which has the power to repel injurious influences from the entrances to houses (6.129–130). This is the "hinge" or turning point of the unnamed Cardea's transformation from a maiden nymph of the wild to a goddess who polices the threshold or boundaries (''[[liminality|limina]]'') of domesticity.{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|p=310}} The tale of Cranaë's rape, though stocked by Roman rather than [[List of Metamorphoses characters|Greek figures]], would be not out of place in Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'': the heroine doesn't change into a tree, but her transformation resides in the token of the whitethorn tree.<ref>Thomas Habinek, ''The World of Roman Song: From Ritualized Speech to Social Order'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), pp. 17–19.</ref>

===Carna and the ''striges''===
The ''[[aition]]'' of the whitethorn explains why, Ovid says, a branch or twig of it is used to repel ''tristes ... noxas'', "baleful harms", from doorways (''fores''). This is necessary, he says, because there are greedy winged creatures ready to fly in and suck the blood from sleeping infants so young they still take only breast milk.<ref>For other child-stealing demons and creatures who prey on infants in the folklore of the [[Mediterranean world]] or [[Near East]], see [[Lilith#Lilitû demons|Lilith]], [[Lamashtu]], [[Gello]], and [[Abyzou]]. See also [[Christopher A. Faraone]], "The Undercutter, the Woodcutter, and Greek Demon Names Ending in ''-tomos'' (Hom. ''Hymn to Dem.'' 228–9)", ''American Journal of Philology'' 122.1 (2001) 1–10, on the "woodcutter" demon who might cause pain in the gums of teething babies.</ref> Ovid describes these creatures (6.131–142) as having a large head, prominent eyes, and beaks suited for snatching and carrying off; their wings are white, and their talons are like hooks. They are given the name ''[[Strix (mythology)|striges]]'', singular ''strix'', the word for an [[owl]] as a bird of evil [[Religion in ancient Rome#Omens and prodigies|omen]] and supposedly derived from the verb ''strideo, stridere'', "shriek". At the same time, Ovid says that they are the winged creatures who tormented the marooned [[Phineus]] by stealing the food off his table – that is, the [[Harpies]]. They are a "disconcerting composite" that recalls images on certain [[curse tablet]]s, one of which shows a "heart-feasting [[Hecate]]" that matches Ovid's description.{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|pp=324–326}}<ref>For the drawing, see John G. Gager, ''Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World'' (Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 181 [https://books.google.com/books?id=rmhw2eVJnS0C&q=%22drawing+of+three+winged%22+Hekate online] (also on the cover).</ref> The poet himself emphasizes that it's hard to tell what they really are, whether they were born as birds, or whether they had been transformed by an incantation (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#carmen|carmen]]'', the word Ovid has just used to describe his own account). He then glosses ''carmen'' as "a [[crone]]'s [[Marsi]]an chant" ''({{lang|la|neniaque ... Marsa ...anūs}})''.