La devotio: per un'analisi storico-religiosa della (auto)consacrazione agli dèi inferi nella religione romana

The term devotio strictly speaking indicates the Roman religious ritual whereby during a battle the general could sacrifice himself or a legionary of his army to the gods of the underworld (a so-called devotio ducis, closely linked to the Decii Mures). He could do the same with a city that had just been conquered and stripped of its tutelary deities (devotio hostium). In both cases, the recipients of the rite are the infernal deities, especially the Manes and Tellus: the connection with the earth is in fact strongly emphasized in the devotio. This rite is also to be distinguished from the defixio. The meaning of the term will change over time and finally acquire the modern meaning of « devotion ». In this article I should like to argue in favour of the plausibility of this rite as it is described in the sources, or at least of some of its characteristics, rather than to consider it a mere narrative device or a historiographical construct.