LUPERCALIA, one of the most remarkable and interesting Roman festivals. Its origin is attributed to Evander, or to Romulus before he founded the city, and its ceremonial is in many respects unique in Roman ritual. In front of the Porta Romana, on the western side of the Palatine hill, close to the Picus Ruminalis and the Casa Romuli, was the cave of Lupercus; in it, according to the legend, the she-wolf had suckled the twins, and the bronze wolf which is still preserved in the Capitol was placed in it in 296 B.c. But the festival itself, which was held on February 15th under the direction of the flamen dialis, contains no reference to the Romulus legend, which is probably later in origin (see Mommsen in Hermes, 1881). The celebrants, who were called Luperci, offered in sacrifice goats and a dog; the flamen dialis himself was forbidden to touch either kind of animal, and it can hardly be doubted that the Lupercal sacrifice is older than the prohibition. After the sacrifice two of the Luperci were led to the altar, their foreheads were touched with a bloody sword, and the blood wiped off with wool dipped in milk; then the ritual required that the two young men should laugh. The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the victims and ran in two bands round the walls of the old Palatine city, striking the people who crowded near. A blow from the thong prevented sterility in women. These thongs were called Februa, the festival Februαtw, and the day Dies Februetus ; hence arose the name of the month February, the last of the old Roman year. The nearest analogy in the Roman religion to the Lupercalia is the occasional Amburbium, in which the victims were led round the walls of Rome and then sacrificed. The Lupercalia was associated ...