In classical Latin, the epithet Indiges, singular in form, is applied to Sol (Sol Indiges) and to Jupiter of Lavinium, later identified with Aeneas. One theory holds that it means the "speaker within", and stems from before the recognition of divine persons. Another, which the Oxford Classical Dictionary holds more likely, is that it means "invoked" in the sense of "pointing at", as in the related word indigitamenta.
In Augustan literature, the di indigites are often associated with di patrii and appear in lists of local divinities (that is, divinities particular to a place). Servius noted that Praeneste had its own indigetes.
Evidence pertaining to di indigites is rarely found outside Rome and Lavinium, but a fragmentary inscription from Aletrium (modern Alatri, north of Frosinone) records offerings to di Indicites including Fucinus, a local lake-god; Summanus, a god of nocturnal lightning; Fiscellus, otherwise unknown, but perhaps a local mountain god; and the Tempestates, weather deities. This inscription has been interpreted as a list of local or nature deities to whom transhumant shepherds should make propitiary offers.
Wissowa's indigetes In Georg Wissowa's terminology, the di indigetes or indigites were Roman deities that were not adopted from other religions, as distinguished from the di novensides. Wissowa thus regarded the indigetes as "indigenous gods", and the novensides as "newcomer gods". Ancient use, however, does not treat the two terms as a dichotomy, nor maintain a clear-cut distinction between indigetes and novensides. Wissowa's interpretation is no longer widely accepted and the meaning remains uncertain.
Wissowa listed 33 di indigetes, including two collectives in the plural, the Lares of the estate and the Lemures of the dead. Any list of indigetes, however, is conjectural; Raimo Anttila points out that "we do not know the list of the di indigetes."
Ancient sources Carl Koch compiled a list of Latin authors and inscriptions using the phrase di indigetes or Indiges:
Livy, 1.2.6, on the end of the mortal life of Aeneas on the river Numicus and his identification with or assimilation to Iovem Indigetem in that place. Livy, 8.9.6, the formula of the devotio of Decius Mus CIL I Elog. I from Pompeii: ... apellatusque est Indige(n)s Pater et in deorum numero relatus. Vergil, Aeneid 12.794, as an epithet of Aeneas Pliny, Natural History 3.56, as an epithet of Sol CIL 10.5779 from Sora, Iovi Airsii Dis Indigetibus cum aedicl(a) et base [et ae]di? et porticu. Vergil, Georgics 1.498, Dii patrii Indigetes et Romule Vestaque Mater... . Ovid, Metamporphoses 15.862, ... di Indigetes genitorque Quirine ..., in the invocation that concludes the poem. Silius Italicus, Punica 9.278, Di Indigetes Faunusque satorque Quirinus; also 10.435 ff. Lucan, Pharsalia 1.556, mentions the di indigetes along with the Lares. Claudian, Bellum Gildonicum 1.131 Macrobius, Ad Somnium Scipionis 1.9 Symmachus, Relatio 3.10
Scholarship on the di indigetes
C. Koch, A. Grenier, H. J. Rose, Hendrik Wagenvoort, E. Vetter, K. Latte, G. Radke, R. Schilling, and more recently, R. Anttila have made contributions to the enquiry into the meaning of the word Indiges and on the original nature of the di indigetes.
Koch Carl Koch's analysis is particularly complete, and centers mainly on the question of Sol Indiges: Koch has argued that Sol Indiges is the god to which the Agonium of December 11 is devoted. Koch remarks too that the festival of December 11 is in correspondence with the Matralia of June 11, dedicated to Mater Matuta, considered the goddess of dawn and, in the ritual, the aunt of the sun, who is the son of the night. Koch was the first to advance the hypothesis of the Sol Indiges as the forefather (Stammvater) of the Roman nation.
Grenier Albert Grenier contributed a paperA. Grenier "Indigetes et Novensiles" in Boletim de Filologia Bd. 11 (1950) supplem. pp. 192–205. in which he expands on the results obtained by Koch and pays more attention to the original nature of the di Indigetes. He acknowledges similar conclusions have been reached by Hendrik Wagenvoort.
As Koch did, Grenier cites the formula of the oath of loyalty to M. Livius Drusus in 91 BCE by a Latin chief, preserved by Diodorus Siculus,Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica XXXVII 11 in which are mentioned, after Iuppiter Capitolinus, Vesta, and Mars Pater, Helios genarchees, and euergetin zooin te kai phytoon Geen (‘the mother Earth which benefits animals and plants’). Grenier thinks that Sol Indiges and the Good Mother Earth (whom he interprets to be the Mater Matuta of the Matralia) would be the di Indigetes of the devotio of Decius Mus.
He goes on to analyse the other testimonies related to the cult of the di indigetes found in Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
The first is the inscription on the monument on the Numicus, which was thought to be dedicated to Aeneas Iuppiter Indiges, which reads: "Of the Father God chthonios who rules the flow of the Numicius." Grenier remarks that the inscription does not mention Aeneas, and is in fact just a small sanctuary of the god of the river. In this same region, Pliny (see prev. section) mentions a Sol Indiges, and Dionysius describes a monument called the Sanctuary of the Sun in his time, made up by two altars on an East–West line by a marsh: It was believed to have been erected by Aeneas as a token of thanksgiving for the miracle of the spring. On this evidence, Grenier concludes that Sol Indiges is connected to Lavinium and to the cult of the Penates publici of Rome. This fact is supported by Varro: Lavinium ibi dii penates nostri. This identification is further supported by the tradition that the new consuls, upon entering office, sacrificed on this sanctuary of the Sun to Iuppiter Indiges and by the fact that the formulae of the oaths never mention the di indigetes along with Iuppiter.
Grenier concludes from such evidence that the Penates were included within the indigetes. The Roman Penates publici were represented as two young men or boys, similar to the Dioscures, and identified as gods brought by Aeneas from Troy, as the true identity of the Indigetes was secret to avoid exauguration.Festus p. 94 L: "Indigetes, dii quorum nomina vulgari non licet".
Grenier considers the identification with Aeneas and Romulus a later development, and thinks the original indigetes were naturalistic gods: forces like the sun, the earth, and the waters, which make the wheat and the children grow. Finally, he concludes that they should have been the turba deorum of the indigitamenta, which expressed the animistic nature of the most ancient Roman religion.
Latte Kurt LatteK. Latte Römische Religionsgeschichte Munich 1960 pp. 43–44 and 56. has supported Carl Koch's thesis that the most ancient Roman religious concepts were based on the natural forces of the sun, moon and waters. He cites and quotes the invocations to the goddess of the Moon at the beginning of every month by the pontifex minor, who repeated for five or seven times the invocation: "Dies te quinque calo Iuno Covella" or when the Nonae were on the seventh day: "Septem dies te calo Iuno Covella". The invocation to the god of the Tiber during the summer drought: "Adesto Tiberine, cum tuis undis". Latte supposes that these invocations were justified by a faith in the magic power of words. Pater Indiges is attested by Solinus (II 15) as referred to Aeneas after his disappearance on the Numicius; Dionysius also makes reference to the Numicius. Latte thinks that it must be the same cult and the question is whether in Augustan times, the original Pater Indiges was transformed into Iuppiter Indiges. Whereas Dionysius's text may imply the latter interpretation to be the right one, Latte thinks the material is insufficient to decide.
The other occurrence of indiges in the singular is that of Sol Indiges, of which two festivals are known as well as the location of his cult on the Quirinal (from the Fasti)CIL I (second ed.) p. 324. one of which is the "[ag]ON IND[igeti]".mentioned in the Fasti of Ostia and in Latte argues that the date of this latter festival does not correspond with the yearly course of the sun, but could perhaps be the day on which sowing should be completed, citing Columella, thus the sacrifice should refer to the power of the sun on vegetation.
Latte concludes that, by putting all the above elements together, it could be argued that indiges might be traced to a representation in which man requests the god to ensure the safety of his sowing. As Numicus has its parallel with Tiber, so Sol has its own parallel in the goddess of the Moon. The naive faith in the influence of celestial bodies has countless parallels, even in Athens.Marcus Aurelius V 7.
Latte goes on to say that besides these two, there are only instances in the plural which were already not understood by Varro's times.Schol. Bern. Verg. Georg. I 498Fest. exc 106. The poets of the Augustan era were without any clear idea of its original meaning, having only a vague idea that indiges was an archaism that had a strong ancient Roman flavor when calling on the gods.
Latte refutes Wissowa's assertion that it was a central concept in Roman theology, also on the grounds of its irrelevance in the Roman calendar, which reflects the most ancient known historical religious document. The inscription from Sora, dating to 4 BCE, could be the issue of Augustan restoration and not proof of an original Iuppiter indiges. Another inscription from Ardea mentions novem deivoVetter 364b and the context clearly does not allow the interpretation of newly imported, disproving Wissowa's assumption.
Latte has also inquired into the etymology of the word indiges. He recalls the attempt by KrestchmerP. Krestchmer Glotta 31, p. 15. to explain it with digitus (finger) which is problematic. In Rome, one did not use fingers when invoking the gods, and in the common original exit of the ancient singular.Leumann Glotta 36, 1957, p.146. The most ancient connection with ag-ye, aio by Corssen is based on indigitare (frequentative as agitare for agere). However, more recent discussions have called this interpretation into question, as such formations are usually found only for monosyllabic verbal themes showing a vocalic shift with a preverbal, such as comes, superstes, trames, which aio excludes; moreover they have an active meaning in Latin. In addition, the hypothesis of a retrograde formation from indigitare has both linguistic and semantic difficulties: the construction with agere, meaning "rendering oneself present," implies an impossible formation from a consonantic shift and the semantics of this translation is highly unlikely for ancient times.
Another relevant remark by Latte concerns the belief in the efficacy of the divine appellates, which are sometimes the same for different gods like Heries Iunonis and Heres Martea.Festus p. 221 LEnnius Annales 104: "Nerienem Mavortis et Herem". The Iguvine Tablets mention a ahtu iuvio and a ahtu marti, interpreted as Actui Iovio and Actui Martio, to which sacrifices are offered.T. I. IIa 10.11 Latte remarks that here, the offer is made to the abstract concept of the virtue or power of the god, and not to the god himself. Other gods had special entities representing their power as in Rome, including Salacia Neptuni and Lua Saturni.
Latte finally refuses the interpretation indigetes divi for Greek daimones found in the translation by MacrobiusMacrobius Ad Somnium Scipionis I 9, 7. of Hesiod Opera 121, considering it influenced by late time speculations. The connection of the Gentilician cult of the sun of the Aurelii with that of Sol Indiges is impossible to prove.
Anttila Most recently, glottologist Raimo Anttila has made renewed attempts into the inquiry of the original meaning of the word indiges in his book on the Proto-Indo-European root *ag.