View source for Cardea

{{Short description|Ancient Roman goddess of the hinge}}
{{Other uses|Cardea (disambiguation)}}

'''Cardea''' or '''Carda''' was the [[List of Roman deities|ancient Roman goddess]] of the hinge (Latin ''cardo, cardinis''), Roman doors being hung on [[hinge|pivot hinges]]. The [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan poet]] [[Ovid]] conflates her with another archaic goddess named '''Carna''', whose [[Roman festivals|festival]] was celebrated on the [[Kalends|first day]] of June and for whom he gives the alternative name '''Cranê''' or '''Cranea''', a [[nymph]]. Ovid's conflation of the goddesses is likely to have been his poetic invention,<ref>Newlands, Carole E. (1995), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ksQjSZ17zgsC&pg=PA14 Playing with Time: Ovid and the Fasti]'', Cornell University Press, p. 14</ref><ref>[[William Warde Fowler|Fowler, William Warde]] (1908), ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'', London, p. 131.</ref> but it has also been conjectured that ''Carna'' was a contracted form of ''Cardina'',<ref>Thomas Keightley, ''Ovid's Fasti'' (London, 1848, 2nd edition), p. 210.</ref> and at minimum Ovid was observing that their traditions were congruent.<ref>{{harvp|McDonough|1997}}, "Carna, Proca, and the ''Strix'' on the Kalends of June", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 127, p. 330.</ref>

==Cardea and doorways==
[[File:0 Sarcophage - Quatre saisons - Musei Capitolini - MC1185.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|Allegorical depiction of the Four Seasons (''[[Horae]]'') and smaller attendant figures that flank a Roman double-doorway representing the entrance to the afterlife,<ref>Melissa Barden Dowling, "A Time to Regender: The Transformation of Roman Time", in ''Time and Uncertainty'' (Brill, 2004), p. 184.</ref> on a mid-3rd century AD [[sarcophagus]]]]
In the [[Christian polemic]] of the [[Church Fathers]], Cardea is associated with two otherwise unknown deities who preside over doorways: '''Forculus'''<!--boldface because a redirect to this page-->, from ''fores'', "door", plural in form because double doors were common on public buildings and elite homes (''[[domus|domūs]]''); and '''Limentinus'''<!--boldface because a redirect to this page-->, from ''limen, liminis'', "threshold" (compare English "[[Liminality|liminal]]").<ref>[[Augustine of Hippo]], ''De civitate Dei'' 4.8; [[Tertullian]], ''De corona militaris'' 13 and ''De idolatria'' 15; [[Cyprian]], ''De idolorum vanitate'' 4.</ref> [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] mocks the apparent triviality of these "little gods" in one of his "attacks against the multitude of gods",<ref>[[Maijastina Kahlos|Kahlos, Maijastina]]. ''Debate and Dialogue: Christian and Pagan Cultures c. 360–430'' (Ashgate, 2007), p. 139.</ref> noting that while one doorkeeper is adequate for a human household, the Roman gods require three: "evidently Forculus can't watch the hinge and the threshold at the same time." Modern scholarship has pointed out that this particular set of divinities belongs to rituals of marking out sacred space and fixing boundaries, religious developments hypothesized to have occurred during the transition from [[pastoralism]] to an [[agrarian society]]. Among Roman deities of this type, [[Terminus (god)|Terminus]] was the most significant.<ref>Roger D. Woodard, ''Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult'' (University of Illinois Press, 2006), pp. 246–247.</ref>

Stefan Weinstock conjectured that these three doorway deities had a place in [[cosmology]] as the ''Ianitores terrestres'', "doorkeepers of the earth", guarding the passage to the earthly sphere. In the schema presented by [[Martianus Capella]], the ''Ianitores terrestres'' are placed in region 16 among deities of the lowest ranks, while [[Janus]], the divine doorkeeper ''par excellence'',{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|p=333}} is placed in region 1. This arrangement may represent the ''ianuae [[Caelus|coeli]]'', the two doors of the heavens identified with the [[solstice]]s.<ref>Stefan Weinstock, "Martianus Capella and the Cosmic System of the Etruscans", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 36 (1946), p. 106. See also René Guénon, ''Fundamental Symbols'' (Cambridge: Quinta Essentia, 1995), chapter 37, "The Solstitial Gate".</ref> [[Isidore of Seville]] says that there are two ''ianuae coeli'', one rising (that is, in the East) and one setting (the West): "The sun advances from the one gate, by the other he recedes."<ref>[[Isidore of Seville]], ''[[Etymologiae]]'' 13.1.7: ''Ianuae caeli duae sunt, oriens et occasus. Nam una porta sol procedit, alia se recipit''.</ref>

Isidore's definition is followed immediately by an explanation of the ''cardines'' (plural of ''cardo''), the north-south pivots of the axis on which the sphere of the world rotates. These are analogous to the top-and-bottom pivot hinges of a Roman door.<ref>See drawings of Roman door hinges in ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities'', vol. 1, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RacKAAAAIAAJ&dq=cardo+intitle%3AHarper%27s+intitle%3ADictionary+intitle%3Aof+intitle%3AClassical+intitle%3ALiterature+intitle%3Aand+intitle%3AAntiquities&pg=PA279 p. 279]</ref>

In addition to the meaning of "door hinge", the ''cardo'' was also a fundamental concept in Roman [[surveying]] and city planning. The ''cardo'' was the main north-south street of a town, the surveying of which was attended by [[augur]]al procedures that aligned terrestrial and celestial space. The ''cardo'' was also a principle in the layout of the [[Roman army]]'s marching camp, the gates of which were aligned with the cardinal ( a word derived from Latin ''cardo/cardinis'') points to the extent that the terrain permitted.<ref>Alan Richardson, in a series of articles in ''Oxford Journal of Archaeology'': "The Numerical Basis of Roman Camps", 19.4 (2000) 425–437; "The Order of Battle in the Roman Army: Evidence from Marching Camps", 20.2 (2001) 171–185; "The Orientation of Roman Camps and Forts", ''Oxford Journal of Archaeology'' 24.4 (2005) 415–426.</ref>

==Carna and the Bean-Kalends==
[[Macrobius]]<ref>[[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.12.</ref> (5th century) says that the name ''Carna'' was derived from ''caro, carnis'', "flesh, meat, food" (compare English "[[wikt:carnal|carnal]]" and "[[carnivore]]"), and that she was the guardian of the heart and the vital parts of the human body. The power to avert vampiric ''[[striges]]'', which Ovid attributes to the conflated Cardea-Carna, probably belonged to Carna, while the charms fixed on doorposts are rightly Cardea's.<ref>Fowler, ''Festivals'', pp. 131–132.</ref>

Carna's feast day was marked as ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#nefastus|nefastus]]'' on the [[Roman calendar|calendar]]; that is, it was a public holiday when no assembly or court could convene. Mashed beans and lard – a dish perhaps to be compared to [[refried beans]] or [[Hoppin' John|hoppinjohn]]{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|p=315}} – were offered to her as ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#res divinae|res divinae]]'', and thus the day was known as the ''Kalendae fabariae'', the Bean-Kalends, since at this time the bean harvest matured. Beans had many [[magico-religious]] properties in ancient Greece and Rome in addition to their importance as a food crop.<ref>{{harvp|McDonough|1997}} pp. 328–329, 339–341.</ref>

[[William Warde Fowler]] took Carna to be an archaic goddess whose cult had not been revivified by religious innovation or reform and thus had lapsed into obscurity by the end of the [[Roman Republic|Republic]].<ref>Fowler, ''Festivals'', p. 130.</ref> [[:fr:Auguste Bouché-Leclercq|Auguste Bouché-Leclercq]] considered Carna a goddess of health.<ref>[[:fr:Auguste Bouché-Leclercq|Auguste Bouché-Leclercq]], ''Histoire de la divination dans l'antiquité'' (Jérôme Millon, 2003, originally published 1879–82), p. 741.</ref> Her elusive nature is indicated by the wildly divergent scholarly conjectures she has prompted: "she was considered a [[chthonic]] divinity by [[Georg Wissowa|Wissowa]], a [[Lunar deity|lunar goddess]] by [[Raffaele Pettazzoni|Pettazzoni]], a bean-goddess by [[Kurt Latte|Latte]], and a patroness of digestion by [[Dumézil]]".{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|p=316}}

==In Ovid's ''Fasti''==

===The rape of Cranaë===
In the ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' of Ovid, the nymph Cranaë is raped by Janus, a god otherwise portrayed by the poet as avuncular and wise.<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'' 6.110ff. Riley, Thomas H. (1851) tr., [https://books.google.com/books?id=V_0pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA214 Fasti], p. 214ff</ref> As a poetic work of art, the ''Fasti'' is a unique fabrication blending authentic folklore, antiquarian knowledge, and fictional elaboration. It has been interpreted as Ovid's challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy of Augustus's religious reforms, which were often innovations of [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial propaganda]] under the cloak of archaic revivalism.<ref>Newlands, ''Playing with Time'', pp. 126, 144, ''et passim''.</ref>

Ovid begins by noting that the first day of the month is dedicated to Carna. He then identifies her as the goddess of the hinge, who is elsewhere known as Cardea, a name Ovid does not use: "By means of her divine presence (''[[numen]]'') she opens things that have been closed, and closes things that have been opened." The source of her powers (''vires'') have become obscured by time (''aevum''), but he promises that his poem (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#carmen|carmen]]'') will clarify the matter (6.101–104).

The setting is the sacred grove (''[[lucus]]'') of the otherwise unknown god [[Helernus|Alernus]] (who was considered Cardea's father), for whom, Ovid claims, the [[College of Pontiffs|state priests]] still carry out ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacra|sacra]]'', sacred rites. The nymph named at that time Cranaë was born there. She was a huntress, often mistaken for the "sister of [[Phoebus]]", that is, [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], except that she used hunting javelins and nets rather than a bow and arrow. When her many would-be lovers attempted to seduce her, she demurred claiming lack of privacy, and played the same trick on each one: "lead the way to a secluded cave, and I'll follow." As the gullible youth went ahead, Cranaë held back until she was camouflaged among the bushes (6.105–118).

Janus too was seized by desire for the nymph. She responded to his sweet-talk (''verbis mollibus'') by attempting the same ruse; however, as Ovid points out in a characteristic moment of comedy and cruelty colliding, the two faces of Janus allow him to see what goes on behind, and Cranaë was unable to elude him. She was powerless (''nil agis'', "you can do nothing", the poet repeats twice); the god "occupies her with his embrace", and after overpowering her to achieve his goal, treats the encounter as contractual: "In exchange for our intercourse (''pro concubitu''), the right (''[[ius]]'') of the hinge will be yours; take that as payment for the virginity you deposited" (6.119–128).

As a pledge, he gives her the [[Crataegus monogyna|whitethorn]], or hawthorn, which has the power to repel injurious influences from the entrances to houses (6.129–130). This is the "hinge" or turning point of the unnamed Cardea's transformation from a maiden nymph of the wild to a goddess who polices the threshold or boundaries (''[[liminality|limina]]'') of domesticity.{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|p=310}} The tale of Cranaë's rape, though stocked by Roman rather than [[List of Metamorphoses characters|Greek figures]], would be not out of place in Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'': the heroine doesn't change into a tree, but her transformation resides in the token of the whitethorn tree.<ref>Thomas Habinek, ''The World of Roman Song: From Ritualized Speech to Social Order'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), pp. 17–19.</ref>

===Carna and the ''striges''===
The ''[[aition]]'' of the whitethorn explains why, Ovid says, a branch or twig of it is used to repel ''tristes ... noxas'', "baleful harms", from doorways (''fores''). This is necessary, he says, because there are greedy winged creatures ready to fly in and suck the blood from sleeping infants so young they still take only breast milk.<ref>For other child-stealing demons and creatures who prey on infants in the folklore of the [[Mediterranean world]] or [[Near East]], see [[Lilith#Lilitû demons|Lilith]]{{Broken anchor|date=2025-05-24|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Lilith#Lilitû demons|reason= The anchor (Lilitû demons) [[Special:Diff/515113342|has been deleted]].|diff_id=515113342}}, [[Lamashtu]], [[Gello]], and [[Abyzou]]. See also [[Christopher A. Faraone]], "The Undercutter, the Woodcutter, and Greek Demon Names Ending in ''-tomos'' (Hom. ''Hymn to Dem.'' 228–9)", ''American Journal of Philology'' 122.1 (2001) 1–10, on the "woodcutter" demon who might cause pain in the gums of teething babies.</ref> Ovid describes these creatures (6.131–142) as having a large head, prominent eyes, and beaks suited for snatching and carrying off; their wings are white, and their talons are like hooks. They are given the name ''[[Strix (mythology)|striges]]'', singular ''strix'', the word for an [[owl]] as a bird of evil [[Religion in ancient Rome#Omens and prodigies|omen]] and supposedly derived from the verb ''strideo, stridere'', "shriek". At the same time, Ovid says that they are the winged creatures who tormented the marooned [[Phineus]] by stealing the food off his table – that is, the [[Harpies]]. They are a "disconcerting composite" that recalls images on certain [[curse tablet]]s, one of which shows a "heart-feasting [[Hecate]]" that matches Ovid's description.{{sfnp|McDonough|1997|pp=324–326}}<ref>For the drawing, see John G. Gager, ''Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World'' (Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 181 [https://books.google.com/books?id=rmhw2eVJnS0C&q=%22drawing+of+three+winged%22+Hekate online] (also on the cover).</ref> The poet himself emphasizes that it's hard to tell what they really are, whether they were born as birds, or whether they had been transformed by an incantation (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#carmen|carmen]]'', the word Ovid has just used to describe his own account). He then glosses ''carmen'' as "a [[crone]]'s [[Marsi]]an chant" ''({{lang|la|neniaque ... Marsa ...anūs}})''.

==References==
;Citations
{{reflist}}

;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite journal|last=McDonough |first=Christopher Michael |title=Carna, Proca and the Strix on the Kalends of June |journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=127 |year=1997 |pages=315–344 |doi= 10.2307/284396 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|jstor=284396 }} {{JSTOR|284396}}
{{Refend}}{{Roman religion}}
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Liminal goddesses]]
[[Category:Health goddesses]]
[[Category:Dii Familiaris]]