In ancient Rome, the Clitumnus lake and river was considered to be a place with sacred waters. Ancient Clitumnus is associated with the modern Clitunno river in Umbria, which originates from a large spring near Trevi and Spolleto. Its flow joins with other regional rivers and tributaries, eventually feeding water into the imperial city of Rome’s own River Tiber. White cattle were known to be raised and left to graze by Clitumnus’ banks, and from those flocks, bulls were chosen to be sacrificed to the gods. Virgil (c. 70-19 BCE), the famous Roman poet, wrote of the river and the white livestock. He stated:
“From here, Clitumnus, came the washed-white flocks and the bull that was
primed for the sacrifice, those animals that often bathed in your holy waters
and drew to the temples of the gods throngs who celebrated Roman triumph.”
(Virgil, Georgics, 2.146-149).
Like many other important rivers in the Greco-Roman world, Clitumnus was believed by the ancients to have been the home and territory of a river god that shared a common name with the body of water. Near the source of the river, a sacred sanctuary site was constructed. There, the sacred waters were marked by bridges that served as a boundary, beyond which humans were prohibited from bathing in the river. Boating, however, was still permissible. On and within the structures of the sanctuary complex, religious writings and oracles were inscribed in abundance, and numerous statuary artworks were present at the site, depicting the river-god, Clitumnus, as well as other local deities of nearby tributary streams. This was all witnessed by the avid letter-writing Roman, Pliny the Younger (c. 61/62-113), who recommended the site to his friend, Voconius Romanus. Pliny wrote:
“Close by is a holy temple of great antiquity in which is a standing image of the god Clitumnus himself clad in a magistrate’s bordered robe; the written oracles lying there prove the presence and prophetic powers of his divinity. All round are a number of small shrines, each containing its god and having its own name and cult, and some of them also their own springs, for as well as the parent stream there are smaller ones which have separate sources but afterwards join the river. The bridge which spans it marks the sacred water off from the ordinary stream: above the bridge boats only are allowed, while below bathing is permitted” (Pliny the Younger, Letters, 8.8).
Although the sanctuary site had reportedly been worshipped since great antiquity, Emperor Augustus (r. 32/27 BCE-14 CE) was involved with developing the religious site and cultivating the industry of pilgrimage and tourism that bloomed in the region. It was during his reign, and with the emperor’s encouragement, that the nearby city of Hispellum (Spello) began to provide the services of inns and bathing facilities to pilgrims who were travelling to and from the sanctuary.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: The Bathing Pool, by Hubert Robert (c. 1733–1808), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the MET.
Sources:
- Georgics by Virgil, translated by Peter Fallon. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2004, 2006, 2009
- The Letters of Pliny the Younger, translated by Betty Radice. New York: Penguin Classics, 1963, 1969.
- The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion, edited by Simon Price and Emily Kearns. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- https://www.britannica.com/place/Clitunno-River
