Arval brothers

Portrait of Emperor Lucius Vera as Arval Brother (circa 160 CE)

Arval brothers ( lat. Arvāles fratres , " brothers-pahari " from Lat. Arvum - arable land) - Roman collegium of 12 priests . Her duties included prayers to the gods for the sending of the harvest and the prosperity of the community of citizens.

The position of the brothers was life-long; neither exile nor captivity deprived them of this title. At their head stood the annually replaced master ; he in the event of the death of one of the members of the board appointed him a successor. The external distinctions of their ranks were wreaths of ears and white headbands ( infulae ). In order to encourage fertility to the fields, the brothers annually performed the Sacrificium Deae Diae (probably a species of the goddess Ops ) every year for three days in May , partly in the special lucus Deae Diae, located 5 miles from the city: to this place stretched in ancient times the Roman fields.

Tradition says that Akka Lawrence , the wife of Faustulus and the adoptive mother of Romulus , had 12 sons. When one of them died, he was replaced by Romulus, who formed the collegium Fratres Arvales with his foster brothers. The symbol in the form of a wreath of ears serves as clear evidence that the purpose of the brotherhood was to serve the goddess of land and agriculture, called Dea Dia . Many people mix her with Ceres , but it is most likely that she is the same person with Ops , the wife of Saturn , who was revered as the patroness of Roman city land. The hill of the goddess was not far from the city of Rome near the Tiber , in the place that is now called Affogo l'Azino. Here, solemn worship services were held annually. Octavian Augustus restored this collegium, which fell into decay by the end of the republic ^[1] . The head of the college was elected for one year, and it was replenished with membership elections. Apparently, only the patricians enjoyed the right to vote .

Among the various other rites, mention is made especially of the dance that the "brothers" performed in the interior of the temple in the grove of the goddess, while singing an old song that has come down to us, composed of a saturnic size.

More accurate information about them was obtained thanks to the protocols of the Heliogabal times, which were published by Marini in 1795 and were significantly supplemented by finds made during excavations carried out in Rome in 1866 at the expense of the Prussian government. With the latter, college acts for 58 and 59 years are found .

For comparison: Henzen, acta fratrum arvalium ( 1874 ). Ambarvale sacrum differed from the mentioned sacrificium Deae Diae, which during the Arval holiday was carried out by each landowner on their land; well-known songs and dances were also performed here.