Kinslaying

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:11:27 -0500


In Alfred Duggan's book about the earliest days of Rome, there's an incident where Romulus performs a ritual to help a kinslayer. The guilty party has trekked to Rome because Romulus is both a King and a kinslayer himself. On the way, he acted like a leper, crying out 'unclean' as he goes so that no-one comes close enough to be infected by his pollution.

Romulus sets up a sacrificial pyre with a sheep on top, then puts the man on top of the sheep. He sets the pyre to burning, then pulls the man off at the last moment before the flames reach him. The idea is that the Furies are fooled into thinking he has died and no longer needs to be pursued.

The man has already exiled himself from his home community and still can't go back there. He remains in Rome, which is full of outcasts of various kinds.

Andrew


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