“Mana Genita”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

In ancient Roman religion, Mana Genita or Geneta Mana is an obscure goddess mentioned only by Pliny^[1] and Plutarch.^[2] Both tell that her rites were carried out by the sacrifice of a puppy or a bitch. Plutarch alone has left some examination of the nature of the goddess, deriving Mana from the Latin verb manare, "to flow", an etymology which the Roman grammarian Verrius Flaccus^[3] also relates to the goddess Mania mentioned by Varro,^[4] and to the Manes, the souls of the departed. In a Greek equivalence perspective, Plutarch, on account of the bitch sacrifice, loosely connects the goddess to Hekate^[5] and in parallel notes that Argive sacrificial practice (using dogs) makes as well for an interesting comparison for her with Eilioneia, meaning the birth goddess Eileithyia.^[6]

Some modern commentators have elaborated on the "Genita" and "Mana" qualifiers, to suggest she were a goddess who could determine whether infants were born alive or dead.^[7] Others have suggested that Horace may be referring to this goddess when he mentions a goddess Genitalis in the Carmen Saeculare (line 16.).^[8] Some have compared it to the Oscan Deiua Geneta (birth goddess), while still others deem that Genita Mana may be only a vague epithet like Bona Dea rather than an actual theonym.^[9]

In Plutarch

Plutarch writes Roman Questions as a series of questions and answers. Of Geneta Mana, he poses the dual question of why a bitch is offered to her as a victim, and why it is prayed that no members of one's household should become "good" (meaning "dead"):

See also

References

1. ^Pliny, Natural History 29.58: Genitae Manae catulo res divina fit.
2. ^Plutarch, Roman questions, n°52
3. ^Festus, "The origin of words", article Maniae
4. ^Varro, "De lingua latina", book IX, 60-62
5. ^about this hint, refer to Rose, The Roman Questions of Plutarch, p. 142 [https://books.google.com/books?id=rKOuoVnZsFAC&pg=PA142&dq=%22Geneta+Mana%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=100&as_brr=3&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%22Geneta%20Mana%22&f=false online.]
6. ^about that hint see Simon Goldhill, Being Greek Under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 106–107.
7. ^H.J. Rose, The Roman Questions of Plutarch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924, 1974), p. 192, note LII; David and Noelle Soren, A Roman Villa and a Late Roman Infant Cemetery («L'Erma» di Bretschneider, 1999), p. 520 [https://books.google.com/books?id=U8Muzx1VrbwC&pg=PA520&dq=%22Geneta+Mana%22+OR+%22Mana+Genita%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&num=100&as_brr=3&cd=18#v=onepage&q=%22Geneta%20Mana%22%20OR%20%22Mana%20Genita%22&f=false online.]; Plutarch actually tries some cunning writing mixing the dual connotation of Mana, that he relates to death, and Genita, that he quite as obviously relates to birth
8. ^Emily A McDermott, "Greek and Roman Elements in Horace's Lyric Program," Aufsteig under Niedergang der römischen Welt (1981), p. 1665; other views refer Genitalis to e.g. Juno
9. ^Rose, The Roman Questions of Plutarch, p. 192.
10. ^Loeb Classical Library translation, Bill Thayer's edition at LacusCurtius online.