Editing Di nixi (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Roman birth deities}}
{{Ancient Roman religion}}
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], the '''''di nixi''''' (or '''''dii nixi'''''), also '''''Nixae''''', were birth deities. They were depicted [[kneeling]] or [[squatting position|squatting]],<ref>Pierre Grimal, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'' (Blackwell, 1986, 1996, originally published 1951 in French), pp. 311–312 [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOx6de8LUNAC&dq=Minerva+birth+Nixae+OR+nixi+OR+nixii&pg=PA311 online.]</ref> a more common [[Childbirth positions|birthing position]] in antiquity than in the modern era.<ref>Charles J. Adamec, "Genu, genus," ''Classical Philology'' 15 (1920), p. 199 [https://books.google.com/books?id=qo3PAAAAMAAJ&dq=Minerva+birth+Nixae+OR+nixi+OR+nixii&pg=PA199 online]; [[J.G. Frazer]], ''Pausanias's Description of Greece'' (London, 1913), vol. 4, p. 436 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecLNAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22di+nixi%22&pg=PA436  online]; [[Marcel Le Glay]], "Remarques sur la notion de ''Salus'' dans la religion romaine,"  ''La soteriologia dei culti orientali nell' imperio romano: Études préliminaires au religions orientales dans l'empire romain'', Colloquio internazionale Roma, 1979 (Brill, 1982), p. 442 [https://books.google.com/books?id=eMoUAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22la+position+normale+de+l%27accouchement+dans+l%27antiquit%C3%A9%22&pg=PA442 online.]</ref> The 2nd-century grammarian [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] explains their name as the [[participle]] of the [[Latin conjugation|Latin verb]] ''nitor, niti, nixus'', "to support oneself," also "strive, labor," in this sense "be in labor, give birth."<ref>''Nixi Dii appellabantur, quos putabant praesidere parientium nixibus'', p. 175 in Müller's edition.</ref> [[Varro]] (1st century BC) said that ''enixae'' was the term for women in labor brought about by the ''Nixae'', who oversee the types of religious practices that pertain to those giving birth.<ref>[[Varro]] as preserved by [[Nonius Marcellus|Nonius]]: ''enixae dicuntur feminae nitendi, hoc est conandi et dolendi, labore perfunctae: a Nixis quae religionum genera parientibus praesunt''.</ref> In some editions of [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', a phrase is taken as referring to the [[Lucina (goddess)|birth goddess Lucina]] and her counterpart collective, the Nixi.<ref>''Lucinam Nixosque pares'', [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 9.294; M.N. Tod and A.J.B. Wace, ''A Catalogue of the Sparta Museum'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906), p. 117 [https://books.google.com/books?id=49OfAAAAMAAJ&dq=Minerva+birth+Nixae+OR+nixi+OR+nixii&pg=PA117 online.]</ref>

A statuary group of three kneeling ''nixi'' or ''nixae'' stood in front of the Temple of [[Minerva]] on the [[Capitoline Hill]]. These had been brought to Rome by [[Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul 191 BC)|Manius Acilius Glabrio]] among the spoils seized from [[Antiochus the Great]] after his [[Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC)|defeat at Thermopylae]] in 191 BC, or perhaps from the [[Battle of Corinth (146 BC)|sack of Corinth]] in 146.<ref>Festus: ''Nixi Di appellantur tria signa in Capitolio ante cellam Minervae genibus nixibus, velut praesidentes parentium nixibus. Quae signa sunt qui memoriae prodiderint Antiocho rege Syriae superato M'. Acilium subtracta a populo Romano adportasse, atque ubi sunt posuisse. Etiam qui capta Corintho advecta huc, quae ibi subiecta fuerint mensae''. Latin text as presented by G. Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii," in ''Ercolano, 1738–1988: 250 anni di ricerca archeologica'' («L'Erma» di Bretschneider, 1993), p. 358 [https://books.google.com/books?id=UhfJFhN-Pe4C&dq=%22di+nixi%22&pg=PA358 online.]</ref>

In the [[iconography]] of [[Greek mythology|Greek myth]], the kneeling pose is also found in representations of [[Leto]] (Roman Latona) giving birth to [[Apollo]] and [[Artemis]] ([[Diana (goddess)|Diana]]), and of [[Auge]] giving birth to [[Telephus]], son of [[Herakles]] ([[Hercules]]).<ref>W.W. How and J. Wells, ''A Commentary on [[Herodotus]]'' (Oxford University Press, 1912, reprinted 2002), vol. 2, p. 48 [https://books.google.com/books?id=QBPeJXnN6MYC&dq=%22di+nixi%22&pg=PA48  online]; Frazer, ''Pausanias's Description of Greece'', p. 436.</ref> While the [[Ancient Greek medicine|ancient Greek]] [[Gynaecology|gynecologist]] [[Soranus of Ephesus|Soranos]] had disapproved of giving birth on one's knees as "painful and embarrassing,"<ref>[[Soranus of Ephesus]], ''Gyn.'' 2.5, as cited by Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii," p. 358 (this does not correspond to the numbering by Temkin following).</ref> he recommends it for the obese and for [[lordosis|lordotic]] women, that is, those with a concave curvature of the lower back that would tilt the uterus out of alignment with the birth canal.<ref>The idea is that kneeling should tilt the uterus forward and align it with the cervix. For an English translation of the relevant passage, see ''Soranus' Gynecology'', translated by Owsei Temkin (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1956), p. 184 [https://books.google.com/books?id=YsKWfh31gxwC&dq=%22Now+if+difficult+labor+takes+place+because+the+parturient+has+concave+loins%22&pg=PA184 online.] See also p. 177 on [[lordosis]] and [[Maternal obesity|obesity in pregnancy]].</ref>