What was a Grove in the Suburbs of Rome During the Empire ?

The Program in the Ancient World Magie Lecture

Abstract

The notion of lucus is difficult to understand, because we don’t have any precise evidence about groves. The textual approach shows that it is a “clearing” in the middle of a dense multitude of trees, and struck with a religious obligation. But how should one represent such a place ? Here epigraphy and archaeology can help. One of the suburban groves of Rome is testified by a rich and precise epigraphical evidence  during three centuries, and, after some forty years of excavations, by archaeology. The image we get from the place is different from the traditional representation of a grove, but corresponds to the Roman representation of sacred spaces (groves, springs, caves). It also delivers new information about the structure of a public sanctuary.