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    STUDIA HISTORIA - Issue no. 1 / 2016  
         
  Article:   RISUS, CUCULLATUS, VENUS. DIVINE PROTECTORS AND PROTECTIVE DIVINITIES OF CHILDHOOD IN DACIA AND PANNONIA.

Authors:  ADRIANA ANTAL.
 
       
         
  Abstract:  The study investigates a less known aspect of Roman life – the childhood, by means of bringing to light its few manifestations that left visible traces in the material culture: the fear of death and the divine protectors against it. For defending their children from natural and supernatural dangers, the Romans invoked more frequently divine forces (some even magical) than the official gods of different cults. This results, for instance, in the deposition of apotropaic statuettes such as Risi, which mark the passing from infant to child, or the Genii Cucullati in the next stage, from child to adolescent. Most likely, some Venus statuettes can be ascribed to the same category, representing girls’ votive dedications or dowries and marking the end of childhood. To better understand this phenomenon, it will be traced from inception until the moment when it begins to fade away. Some elements of this phenomenon probably originate in Gallia, and then its spreads in the provinces, notably in those with a Celtic ethnic background, such as Pannonia. There is no direct influence from Gallia in Dacia, where we can detect only a provincial component which was probably heavily influenced by the Pannonian practices.

Keywords:
Roman religion, childhood, protective divinities, Dacia, Pannonia
 
         
     
         
         
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