Editing Di nixi

{{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>

==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 [[soteriology|theological rebirth or salvation]].<ref>Le Glay, "Remarques," pp. 431–433.</ref> An altar of the Nixae, within the [[Tarentum (Campus Martius)|Tarentum]] in the general area of the [[Campus Martius]], was the site of the annual sacrifice of the [[October Horse]].<ref>''Ad nixas''; [[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' (London, 1908), p. 242.</ref> The altar was possibly underground, as was the nearby altar of [[Dis Pater]] and [[Proserpina]].<ref>Comment by H.S. Versnel in response to Le Glay, "Remarques," p. 442.</ref> The Tarentum<ref>John H. Humphrey, ''Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing'' (University of California Press, 1986), pp. 558, 560; Le Glay, "Remarques,"  p. 442.</ref> gave its name to the ritual games held there (''[[ludi]] tarentini'')<ref>The name is far less likely to have come from [[History of Taranto|Tarentum]] in [[Apulia]]; [[Erich S. Gruen]], "Poetry and Politics: The Beginnings of Latin Literature," in ''Studies in Greek Culture and Roman Policy'' (Brill, 1990), p. 83, note 17 [https://books.google.com/books?id=DG43AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22ludi+tarentini%22&pg=PA83  online]; Calvert Watkins, ''[[How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics]]'' (Oxford University Press, 1995), devotes a chapter to the meaning of ''tarentum''.</ref> that became the [[Saecular Games]]. A lengthy [[epigraphy|inscription]]<ref>Available at [[LacusCurtius]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/Ludi_Saeculares*.html online.]</ref> marks the occasion of these games under [[Augustus]] in 17 BC and notes a nocturnal sacrifice carried out for the ''Ilithyis'', [[Eileithyia]]i, the [[interpretatio graeca|Greek counterparts]] of the ''Nixae'' as birth goddesses.<ref>Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii,"  p. 358; Le  Glay, "Remarques,"  p. 442.</ref> The phrase ''nuptae genibus nixae'' ("brides laboring on their knees") appears twice in this invocation. The [[attitude (art)|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.<ref>For instance, variations in [[Plautus]], ''Rudens'' 695; [[Vergil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 3.607; [[Tibullus]] 1.2.85f.; [[Apuleius]], the [[Cupid and Psyche]] tale, ''Metamorphoses'' 6.3. See Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii,"  p. 358; R. B. Onians, ''The Origins of European Thought about the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time, and Fate'' (Cambridge University Press, 1951, 2000), p. 185 [https://books.google.com/books?id=cjDy2O2jDmUC&dq=Nixae&pg=PA185 online.]</ref>

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.<ref>Sauron, "Documents pour l'exégèse de la mégalographie dionysiaque de Pompeii,"  pp. 357–358.</ref>

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 [[Roman festivals|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|Roman state]].<ref>Beth Severy, ''Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire'' (Routledge, 2003), p. 58 [https://books.google.com/books?id=SBRN6HW8xEIC&dq=%22genibus+nixae%22&pg=PA58 online.]</ref>

[[File:Musee Pio Clementino-Isis lactans.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.75|Romanized Isis nursing Infant Harpocrates]]
[[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:

{{cquote|The shadow of the ''Nixae'' hangs over [[Basilica di Sant'Agostino|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 [[Ex-voto|exvotos]] for the statue of the seated Madonna del (Divin) Parto ''[Our Lady of Divine Childbirth]'' 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 [[Terra (mythology)|Mother Earth]] or the [[Isis]] with the [[Harpocrates|Infant Harpocrates]]?<ref>[[Robert E.A. Palmer]], ''Studies of the Northern Campus Martius in Ancient Rome'' (American Philosophical Society, 1990), p. 57.</ref>}}
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==See also==
* [[Ciconiae Nixae]], a landmark listed in the 4th-century [[regionary|regionaries]], but probably two separate sites, the ''Ciconiae'', or "Storks," perhaps a sculpture, and the altar to the ''di nixi'' in [[14 regions of Augustan Rome#IX: Regio IX Circus Flaminius|Region IX]].
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==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixi (Mythology)}}
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Kneeling]]
[[Category:Squatting position]]