Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

138 ARVALES FRATRES. ARVALES FRATtRES.
There was an Egyptian measure of the same name, reason tor the supposition of Niebuhr (Rom. Hist.
of which there were two sorts, the old and the new vol. i. p. 303), that these colleges corresponded one
artaba. (Didymus, c. 19.) The old artaba con- to the other - the Fratres Arvales being connected
tained 41 Roman modii = 72 sextarii = 9 gallons with the Latin, and the Sodales Titii with the
nearly, according to most writers; but Galen Sabine, element of the Roman state, just as there
(c. 5) makes it exactly 5 modii. It was about were two colleges of the Luperci, namely, the Pabii
equal to the Attic metretes; and it was half of and the Quinctilii, the former of whom seem to
the Ptolemaic medimnus, which was to the Attic have belonged to the Sabines.
medimnus as 3: 2. The later and more common The office of the fratres arvales was for life,
Egyptian arbata contained 3- modii = 53~ sex- and was not taken away even from an exile ol
tarii = 64 gallons about,which is so nearly the half captive. They wore, as a badge of office, a chaplet
of the Persian, that we may fairly suppose that in of ears of corn (spicea corona) fastened on their
reality it was the half. It was equal to the heads with a white band. (Plin. H..7V. xviii. 2.)
Olympic cubic foot. (Rhemn. Fann. Carmen de The number given by inscriptions varies, but it is
Pond. et Mens. v. 89, 90; Hieron. Ad Ezech. 5; never more than nine; though, according to the
Bbckh, illetrolog. Ulntersuch. pp. 242, &c., 285; legend and general belief, it amounted to twelve.
Publ. Econ. of'Ath. p. 93, 2nd ed.; Wurm, De One of their annual duties was to celebrate a three
Pond., &c. p. 133.) [P. S.] days' festival in honour of Dea Dia, supposed to be
ARTEMI'SIA (' pTE/L'tLa), one ofthegreatfes- Ceres, sometimes held on the xvi., xIv., and xsI.,
tivals celebrated in honour of Artemis ill various sometimes on the VI., Iv., and IIs. Kal. Jun., i. e.
parts of Greece, in the spring of the year. We fint it,on the 17th, 19th, and 20th, or the 27th, 29th,
mentioned at Syracuse in honour of Artemis Po- and 30th of May. Of this the master of the
tamia and Soteria. (Pind. Pyth. ii. 12.) It lasted college, appointed annually, gave public notice
three days, which were principally spent in feasting (indicebat) from the temple of Concord on the
and amusements. (Liv. xxv. 23; Plut. Marcell. capitol. On the first and last of these days, the
18.) Bread was offered to her under the name of college met at the house of their president, to make
AoXla. (Hesych. s. v.) But these festivals occur in offerings to the Dea Dia; on the second they asmany other places in Greece, as at Delphi, where, sembled in the grove of the same goddess, about
according to Hegesander (Athen. vii. p. 325), they five miles south of Rome, and there offered sacrioffered to the goddess a mnllet on this occasion; fices for the fertility of the earth. An account of
because it appeared to hunt and kill the sea-hare, the different ceremonies of this festival is preserved
and thus bore some resemblance to Artemis, the in an inscription, which was written in the first
goddess of hunting. The same name was given to year of the Emperor Elagabalus (A. D. 218), who
the festivals of Artemis in Cyrene and Ephesus, was elected a member of the college under the
though in the latter place the goddess was not the name of M. Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix. The
Grecian Artemis, but a deity of Eastern origin. same inscription contains a hymn, which appears
(Dionys. iv. 25; Achill. Tat. vi. 4, vii. 12, viii. to have been sung at the festival from the most
17; Xenoph. Ephes. i. 2.) [L. S.] ancient times. (Marini, Atti e Monumenti degli
ARU;RA (apovpa), a Greek measure of surface. Arvali, tab. xli.; Orelli, Cosyp. Inscrip. nr. 2270
which would appear, from its name, to have been Klausen, De Carmine Fratrum Arvalium.)
originally the chief land-measure, It was, accord- Besides this festival of the Dea Dia, the fratres
ing to Suidas, the fourth part of the 7rXe'Opov. arvales were required on various occasions, under
The 7rX'Opov, as a measure of length, contained the emperors, to make vows and offer up thanks100 Greek feet; its square therefore =10,000 givings, an enumeration of which is given in Forfeet, and therefore the arura =2500 Greek square cellini. (Lex. s. v.) Strabo, indeed (v. 3), informs
feet, or the square of 50 feet. us that, in the reign of Tiberius, these priests
Herodotus (ii. 168) mentions a measure of the (iepoluvo'coves) performed sacrifices called the Amsame name, but apparently of a different size. He barvalia at various places on the borders of the
says that it is a hundred Egyptian cubits in every ager Romanus, or original territory of Rome; and
direction. Now the Egyptian cubit contained amongst others, at Festi, a place between five and
nearly 17- inches (Hussey, Ancient Weights, &c. six miles from the city, in the direction of Alba.
p. 237); therefore the square of 100 x 173 inches There is no boldness in supposing that this was a
i.e. nearly 148 feet, gives approximately the num- custom handed down from time immemorial, and,
ber of square feet (English) in the arura, viz. moreover, that it was a duty of this priesthood to
21,904. (~Wurm, De Pond. &c. p. 94.) [P. S.] invoke a blessing on the whole territory of Rome.
ARUSPEX. [HzAnUSPEX.] It is proved by inscriptions that this college exARVA'LES FRATRES. The fratres arvales isted till the reign of the Emperor Gordian, or A. D.
formed a college or company of twelve in number, 325, and it is probable that it was not abolished
and were so called, according to Varro (De Ling. till A. D. 400, together with the other colleges of
Lat. v. 85, Miiller), from offering public sacri- the Pagan priesthoods.
fices for the fertility of the fields. That they were The private ambarvalia were certainly of a
of extreme antiquity is proved by the legend which different nature from those mentioned by S trabo,
refers their institution to Romulus, of whom it is and were so called from the victim (hostia ambarsaid, that when his nurse Acca Laurentia lost one of valis) that was slain on the occasion being led three
her twelve sons, he allowed himself to be adopted times round the cornfields, before the sickle was
by her in his place, and called himself and the put to the corn. This victim was accompanied by
remaining eleven" Fratres Arvales." (Gell. vi. 7.) a crowd of merry-makers (chorus et sociz), the
We also find a college called the Sodales Titii, and reapers and farm-servants dancing and singing, as
as the latter were confessedly of Sabine origin, and they marched along, the praises of Ceres, and'
instituted for the purpose of keeping up the Sabine praying for her favour and presence, while they
religious rites (Tac. Ann. i. 53), there is some offered her the libations of milk, haneyj and wine.