Topography and Ritual
As guardians of the threshold of life, the Nixi or Nixae may also have been associated with new life in the sense of theological rebirth or salvation. An altar of the Nixae, within the Tarentum in the general area of the Campus Martius, was the site of the annual sacrifice of the October Horse. The altar was possibly underground, as was the nearby altar of Dis Pater and Proserpina. The Tarentum gave its name to the ritual games held there (ludi tarentini) that became the Saecular Games. A lengthy inscription marks the occasion of these games under Augustus in 17 BC and notes a nocturnal sacrifice carried out for the Ilithyis, Eileithyiai, the Greek counterparts of the Nixae as birth goddesses. The phrase nuptae genibus nixae ("brides laboring on their knees") appears twice in this invocation. The attitude of devotion or reverence expressed by genibus nixae or genu nixa, which might also be translated as "on bended knee," is formulaic in Latin texts and inscriptions.
It has been suggested that the iconography of kneeling became associated with birth because women sought divine aid for what was often a life-threatening experience in the ancient world. Kneeling also played a role in initiation ritual for mystery religion, which offered the promise of rebirth.
Women prayed and held sacred banquets at the Saecular Games, which were characterized by an "overt and unusual celebration of women, children, and families in a civic festival." The role of women on this occasion was consonant with the Augustan emphasis on families as necessary to the vitality of the Roman state.
Robert E.A. Palmer has speculated that the area where the altar of the Nixae was located (Piazza Navona) continued to have significance into the modern Christian era:
| “ | The shadow of the Nixae hangs over St. Augustine's. For hours I have sat facing the inside of the central portal of this church which is always sealed to accommodate the hundreds of exvotos for the statue of the seated Madonna del (Divin) Parto and I have watched by candlelight scores of Roman women touch certain parts of that Christian idol in a given order. Who can say whether St. Tryphon's had housed a similar Mother of God and whether she traced her pedigree to Mother Earth or the Isis with the Infant Harpocrates? | ” |
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