Numa

The Plutarch Podcast

It is the happy fate of all good and just men to be praised more after they are dead than when they lived

Plutarch, Life of Numa 22

Parallel - Lycurgus

Important People

• Pythagoras - the Greek philosopher and mystic mathematician who lived on the southern Italian peninsula and started a school of philosophy obsessed with simple living, observation of the created universe, piety to the gods, and justice to all men.
• Egeria - the second (and supernatural) wife of Numa, a nymph who taught him much about the simple life and seeking justice
• Romulus – First king of the Romans, rules before Numa
• Tullus Hostilius – Third king of the Romans, warlike, he lives up to his name (Hostilius = hostile)

Important Places

• Rome
  • Capitoline Hill
  • Temple of Vesta - hearth of Rome; secret-keepers
  • Temple of Janus - doors closed in times of peace

Outline

1. Records unclear, hard to trace Numa’s genealogy
2. Romulus taken away
3. People grow tired of Senators ruling seriatim, want a king
4. Numa moves to the country
5. @ 40 years old, ambassadors come to offer him kingship
6. His father convinces him
7. Numa accepts
8. Religion as a tool to tame the spirit (Pythagorean parallels)
9. Pontifices
10. More on the Vestal Virgins
11. Temple of Vesta
12. Funerals and Burial
13. Salii - Plague and Falling Shields
14. Rest and Quiet as Essential for Worship
15. Romans grow superstitious under Numa
16. Fides and Terminus - Rome's Trust and Limits
17. Dividing the people by trade/craft
18. The Calendar Revised
19. More months!
    • January – Janus (two-faces, brought man from beast to social animal) - transition
    • February – februa (and Lupercalia) – rituals of purification (see Life of Romulus)
    • March - Mars
    • April – from Aphrodite (or aperīre – to open)
    • May – Maïa, mother of Mercury
    • June – Juno
      1. Maiores from May and juniors from June?
    • July – Quintilis – Fifth (re-named under Augustus's reign after Julius Caesar)
    • August – Sextilis – Sixth (re-named after Augustus's death after Augustus)
    • September – Seventh
    • October – Eighth
    • November – Ninth
    • December – Tenth
20. Janus’s temple - Proof that Numa is the philosopher-king
21. Numa’s wives and children
    • Numa dies of old age
22. Numa’s funeral
    • Allies and friends pour into the city
    • The whole city mourns
      1. Senators carry the litter
      2. Priests following in procession
      3. All the people, wailing and mourning
    • The kings after Numa (none of whom get their own biography)
      • Last one dies in exile
      • Three of the other four were assassinated
      • Tullus Hostilius, who reigned right after Numa, was his opposite, loving war and “mocking most of the fine things Numa had done”
        • Struck down by a bolt of lightning (cf. Lycurgus’s tomb hit by lightning)

Helpful External Links

Numa in Paint

English Translation of Numa Online

Pythagoras Podcast in the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

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