Animals and Naming
The animals sacred to Mars that led the group sometimes became the eponyms of the new community. These included the wolf, hirpus, after which the Hirpini of Campania were supposed to have been named; the woodpecker, picus, which gave its name to the Piceni or Picenti who settled present-day Marche (hence the green woodpecker as the symbol of the region); the vulture, vultur, of the Vultures; and the horse, equus of the Aequi or Aequicolae in Latium. The Samnites were led by an ox, bos, after which was named their capital Bovianum, founded upon the hill on which the ox had stopped. The Mamertini of Sicily received their name directly from the god Mars.
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Famous quotes containing the words animals and/or naming:
“Shall we never have done with that cliché, so stupid that it could only be human, about the sympathy of animals for man when he is unhappy? Animals love happiness almost as much as we do. A fit of crying disturbs them, they’ll sometimes imitate sobbing, and for a moment they’ll reflect our sadness. But they flee unhappiness as they flee fever, and I believe that in the long run they are capable of boycotting it.”
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)
“See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul—half a drop! ah, my Christ!—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!—
Yet will I call on him!—O, spare me, Lucifer!—
Where is it now? ‘T is gone; and see where God
Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!—
Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)