Rite to Spes
Aug. 2nd, 2007 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
artemisdartI'm a bit late -- this was yesterday.
"August 1, Kalends
On the Kalends in August, a temple to Spes, or "Hope" (which now lies under the church of S. Nicola in Carcere), was dedicated in Rome during the Punic Wars of the fourth century B.C.E., although the cult was older. A public rite to the deity Spes was carried out at the temple every year on this day. She is often referred to as Bona Spes, or Good Hope. "If things are bad now, pray to the goddess Spes, so that in the future they will not be bad" (Latin proverb).
In art, the goddess Spes is shown holding an opening flower while she lifts up the hem of her skirt as if in haste to flee. These images seem appropriate, since hope can also be fleeting."
(from Classical Living, p. 151)
"August 1, Kalends
On the Kalends in August, a temple to Spes, or "Hope" (which now lies under the church of S. Nicola in Carcere), was dedicated in Rome during the Punic Wars of the fourth century B.C.E., although the cult was older. A public rite to the deity Spes was carried out at the temple every year on this day. She is often referred to as Bona Spes, or Good Hope. "If things are bad now, pray to the goddess Spes, so that in the future they will not be bad" (Latin proverb).
In art, the goddess Spes is shown holding an opening flower while she lifts up the hem of her skirt as if in haste to flee. These images seem appropriate, since hope can also be fleeting."
(from Classical Living, p. 151)
