ritual · Roman

The evocatio of Carthage

Whether you are a god or a goddess of these people who defend this city of Carthage, and you Most High, take back your favor in defense of this city and these people whom I attack. I pray, I beseech, I ask your indulgence, that you withdraw and desert these people and this city of Carthage, and that you relinquish the temples and sacred precincts of this city, go away without them, and incite these people and their city into fear of oblivion. Come then to favor Rome by crossing over to me and my army, and with our city tried and accepted as the location for your sacred precincts and holy rites, be propitious to me and the people of Rome, and my soldiers. If you make this happen, with clear and recognizable signs, I vow to erect temples for you and to initiate games in your honor.

Commentarius · Commentary

The evocatio is the most peculiar rite in Roman religion. Before taking a city, the commander summoned its tutelary gods out of it and invited them to move to Rome. Not to defeat the enemy's deity, but to recruit it.

Si deus si dea est — whether god or goddess. The deity's sex is not stated, nor its name: "and you above all, whoever you are, who have taken up the guardianship of this city". The Romans knew perfectly well who guarded Carthage, but did not pronounce the name — a named protector was held to be removable, which is why the secret name of Rome's own guardian was never divulged.

What is offered is not submission but terms of relocation: leave their places and shrines, cast fear and forgetfulness upon them, come to me and to mine, and let our places and temples be more pleasing to you. It is a contract of transfer of service, with a promise of better keep.

The rite was not a figure of speech. Juno of Veii was called out of Veii and given a temple on the Aventine; Juno Caelestis, the protectress of Carthage, received a sanctuary in Rome. Rome took defeated gods into its household, and that probably explains more about it than any other of its practices.

The evocatio was followed by the devotio of the doomed city (macrobius-devotio-001), and in that order: first get the gods out, then destroy. While the gods were still inside, the city was not touched.

Fons · Source

AuthorMacrobius

WorkSaturnalia

Section3.9.7-8

Periodlate 4th / early 5th c. AD (preserving archaic Roman formula)

Occasionevocatio of the tutelary gods of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus at the siege of Carthage (146 BC) — ritual summons of enemy deities to cross over to Rome

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formritual

FunctionsPetition · Dedication

SphereMilitary · Civic