The Fire Ritual of the Iguvine Tables: Facing a Central Problem in the Study of Ritual Language

Abstract

Italic rituals of purification by fire are attested in the Iguvine Tables, a repertoire of sacred texts managed by the "Atiedian Brethren" of the Umbrian city of Iguvium. These rituals can be understood in greater depth in light of the actual language of ritual. This paper reviews earlier work on the sacral language of the Tables and considers anew the syntax of the fire ritual as it plays out in the prescriptive formulations written in the Latin and the native Umbrian alphabets.