JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for INT-BOUNDARIES Archives


INT-BOUNDARIES Archives

INT-BOUNDARIES Archives


INT-BOUNDARIES@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

INT-BOUNDARIES Home

INT-BOUNDARIES Home

INT-BOUNDARIES  2006

INT-BOUNDARIES 2006

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

re St Augustine

From:

Brendan Richard Whyte <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Brendan Richard Whyte <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 20:57:55 +1100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (112 lines)

For some commentary and references, particularly to the Roman deity
terminus, the god of boundaries, see the following book, available online.
It seems the charcoal underneath was more from a ritual planting of the
boundary stone than for possible future events, but the ritual may have
developed by the peasants as a result of the charcoal planting.

ON a sidenote, a number of boundary pillars in northern Bangladesh
belonging to the old Cooch Behar enclaves have disappeared over the years,
because the farmers saw govt officials coming to make measurements etc
from them, or rediscover them in thick copses, and the farmers assumed
that the govt officials weren't really interested in the pillars as
markers of local farm boundaries, but rather that the pillars  must mark
the burial spot of something important to the central govt, or themselves
contain hidden gold, so either the pillars were removed to crack them open
to find the supposed gold, or they were removed so the locals could dig
for the treasure hidden beneath them...


http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/tms/index.htm
TABOO, MAGIC, SPIRITS:
A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE ELEMENTS IN ROMAN RELIGION
BY ELI EDWARD BURRISS
[1931, copyright not renewed]

see especially chapter 7, the section on the worship of stones, and
footnote 19:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/tms/tms09.htm

"The boundaries between farms in ancient Latium were marked by terminal
stones or by stocks of trees. Certain of these were regarded as gods and
were worshiped from time immemorial. 19 Here we have one of the most
primitive types of worship among the Romans. At first, doubtless, the
stone itself--a fetish 20--was worshiped, then the spirit resident in the
stone. Terminus seems never to have developed beyond the latter stage.
Terminal stones were inserted in place with solemn ceremony. A hole was
dug for the stone. Into it the blood of the sacrificial animal was allowed
to drip, and into it were thrown the bones and ashes, together with
incense and products of the farm. Upon these was rammed the terminal
stone, properly oiled and garlanded. In later times, other objects were
discovered under the stones--charcoal, shattered earthenware vessels,
broken glass, bronze coins, and gypsum.

On February twenty-third, in the country, the Terminalia marked the yearly
dramatization of the original ceremony. 21 The owners of adjacent farms
adorned their respective sides of the boundary stone with garlands; an
altar was erected and fire was brought from the home hearth by the wife.
An old man, having chopped up wood and piled it high, started the fire.
Into it some of the produce of the farm was thrown three times from a
basket. The onlookers made libations of wine. In historical times, the
blood of a lamb and a suckling pig and, sometimes, of a kid was sprinkled
on the stone; but it seems that in olden times blood sacrifice was
forbidden. 22 Feasting and songs in praise of Terminus concluded the
rites. The offerings to the stone increased its magic power of warding off
evils from the farm and gave it strength to oppose all attempts to change
the limits of the farm. "

19 Siculus Flaccus in Gromatici Veteres I. 141; the complete Latin text is
to be found in Frazer, The Fasti of Ovid, Vol. II, p. 483, note 1. See
also Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae II. 74; Augustine,
De Civitate Dei IV. 23; Fowler, The Roman Fertivals, pp. 324-327.

20 See F. B. Jevons, The Idea of God in Early Religions, p. 21.

21 For the Festival of Terminus see Ovid, Fasti II. 639-684; Horace, Epodi
II. 59-60; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae II. 74;
Festus: Terminus (Mueller, p. 368).

22 Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae XV, Numa XVI. 1.







At 12:55 AM 17/02/2006, Stuart Elden wrote:

I wonder if anyone knows about this, or can add some detail -

In St Augustine's City of God, which I've ploughed my way through, there
is a passage where he talks about the properties of charcoal. He says that
charcoal is remarkable in that it is brittle and can be broken easily, but
durable that moisture and age cannot destroy it. He then makes the
following claim

“it is customary to put charcoal under boundary marks [limites] when
they are set up, to refute any litigant who might come forward at any time
in the remote future and maintain that a stone fixed in earth was not a
boundary stone” (Book XXI, Chapter 4).

Any ideas of whether this actually happened? The editor's note (Penguin
ed., p. 969) says 'this is obscure' and that charcoal was put under a
temple to give it stability but gives no other reference. It's hardly
central to his argument so I've found no reference in the secondary
literature.

Any info gratefully received.

thanks

Stuart

Department of Geography
Durham University



Brendan Whyte
Geography Department
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager