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<p>[QUOTE="Gavin Richardson, post: 3192026, member: 83956"][ATTACH=full]824254[/ATTACH]</p><p>I always understood plowing a boundary furrow for a new Roman settlement to be a way of sacralizing space; this is why priests typically are described doing this sort of thing. Think of it like a pastor offering a blessing for a new house or community building. In a more secular vein, we still have ceremonial shovels turning over the first spade of dirt for a new building. That spade of dirt really isn’t helpful to the building process. It’s a symbolic gesture indicating that this is an important undertaking, a new and valuable thing is happening here; I think the boundary furrow is best conceived of in a similar fashion.</p><p><br /></p><p>But when I went to a primary source on this matter, no occasion in the <i>Aeneid</i> specifies that priests are doing the plowing, so the question of “colonists vs. priests” must remain open.</p><p><br /></p><p>We see this act described in <i>Aeneid</i> Book 1, when Aeneas spies Carthage being built: “[418] Aeneas marvels at the massive buildings, mere huts once; marvels at the gates, the din and paved high-roads. Eagerly the Tyrians press on, some to build walls, to rear the citadel, and roll up stones by hand; some to choose the site for a dwelling and enclose it with a furrow [concludere sulco].”</p><p><br /></p><p>Later in Book 5, Aeneas helps some of his Trojan refugees establish Acesta, and Aeneas himself does the ceremonial plowing: “They enroll the matrons for the town, and set on shore the folk who wish it so – souls with no craving for high renown. They themselves renew the thwarts, and replace the fire-charred timbers of the ships, and fit up oars and rigging – scant of number, but a brave band alive for war. Meanwhile Aeneas marks out the city with a plough and alots homes; this he bids be Ilium and these lands Troy. Trojan Acestes delights in his kingdom, proclaims a court, and gives laws to the assembled senate.”</p><p><br /></p><p>I’ll be on the lookout for other primary source references.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Gavin Richardson, post: 3192026, member: 83956"][ATTACH=full]824254[/ATTACH] I always understood plowing a boundary furrow for a new Roman settlement to be a way of sacralizing space; this is why priests typically are described doing this sort of thing. Think of it like a pastor offering a blessing for a new house or community building. In a more secular vein, we still have ceremonial shovels turning over the first spade of dirt for a new building. That spade of dirt really isn’t helpful to the building process. It’s a symbolic gesture indicating that this is an important undertaking, a new and valuable thing is happening here; I think the boundary furrow is best conceived of in a similar fashion. But when I went to a primary source on this matter, no occasion in the [I]Aeneid[/I] specifies that priests are doing the plowing, so the question of “colonists vs. priests” must remain open. We see this act described in [I]Aeneid[/I] Book 1, when Aeneas spies Carthage being built: “[418] Aeneas marvels at the massive buildings, mere huts once; marvels at the gates, the din and paved high-roads. Eagerly the Tyrians press on, some to build walls, to rear the citadel, and roll up stones by hand; some to choose the site for a dwelling and enclose it with a furrow [concludere sulco].” Later in Book 5, Aeneas helps some of his Trojan refugees establish Acesta, and Aeneas himself does the ceremonial plowing: “They enroll the matrons for the town, and set on shore the folk who wish it so – souls with no craving for high renown. They themselves renew the thwarts, and replace the fire-charred timbers of the ships, and fit up oars and rigging – scant of number, but a brave band alive for war. Meanwhile Aeneas marks out the city with a plough and alots homes; this he bids be Ilium and these lands Troy. Trojan Acestes delights in his kingdom, proclaims a court, and gives laws to the assembled senate.” I’ll be on the lookout for other primary source references.[/QUOTE]
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