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In ancient Roman religion, a lucus ([ˈɫ̪uː.kʊs], plural lucī) is a sacred grove.
Lucus was one of four Latin words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with nemus, silva, and saltus), but unlike the others it was primarily used as a religious designation, meaning "sacred grove".[1] Servius defines the lucus as "a large number of trees with a religious significance," as distinguished from the silva, a natural forest, and a nemus, an arboretum that is not consecrated.[2] A saltus usually implied a wilderness area with varied topographical features.
A lucus was a cultivated place, more like a wooded park than a forest, and might contain an aedes, a building that housed the image of a god, or other landscaped features that facilitated or gave rise to ritual.[3] It has been conjectured,[4] for instance, that the Lupercal, referred to as a "cave", was a small lucus with an artificial grotto, since archaeology has uncovered no natural cave in the area.
Apuleius records that "when pious travelers happen to pass by a sacred grove (lucus) or a cult place on their way, they are used to make a vow (votum), or a fruit offering, or to sit down for a while."[5]
- ^ Paul Roche, Lucan: De Bello Civili, Book 1 (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 296.
- ^ Servius, note to Aeneid 1.310, arborum multitudo cum religione; Jörg Rüpke, Religion of the Romans (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 275, noting that he finds the distinction "artificial."
- ^ Rüpke, Religion of the Romans, pp. 177–178.
- ^ Rüpke, Religion of the Romans, p. 178.
- ^ Apuleius, Florides 1.1.