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Camillus: A Study of Indo-European Religion As Roman History
Dr. Strutynski has provided a selection and translation from Georges Dumezil's Mythe et epopee III and Fetes romaines d'ete et d'automne which offer an ingenious solution to one of the most nagging puzzles of early Roman history and religion.
Although there is some historical basis for the character of Camillus, Dumezil demonstrates how Camillus belongs to the realm of ancient Indo-European myth which the earliest Roman sources had covered with the veneer of history. A careful analysis of all the evidence exposes Camillus as protege' of the dawn goddess, Mater Matuta, who grants him victories against his enemies whenever the battles occur at daybreak."
Although there is some historical basis for the character of Camillus, Dumezil demonstrates how Camillus belongs to the realm of ancient Indo-European myth which the earliest Roman sources had covered with the veneer of history. A careful analysis of all the evidence exposes Camillus as protege' of the dawn goddess, Mater Matuta, who grants him victories against his enemies whenever the battles occur at daybreak."
281 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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About the author
Georges Dumézil
91 books90 followersGeorges Dumézil was a French comparative philologist best known for his analysis of sovereignty and power in Proto-Indo-European religion and society. He is considered one of the major contributors to mythography, in particular for his formulation of the trifunctional hypothesis of social class in ancient societies.
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March 9, 2025
Incredible study that takes up a good chunk of Mythe et epopee III into English, as well as of four appendices from Fetes romaines d'ete et d'automne making up prior material on the matter of Mater Matuta and Camillus.
Dumézil's groundbreaking discovery here is so fundamental not just for mythographic studies and the branches where they might be relevant such as ethnography and the like, but to Roman historiography as a whole, that I find it hard to express how far ahead he was in both erudition and cautious wisdom compared to his countless Latinist peers but to those modern ones too. While other historians were writing entire fucking fanfictions about the protohistorical period of Rome, based on nothing besides their feelings about whatever they think is "probable" or whatever "ideas" (preconceptions, assumptions and prejudices) they have about how X or Y story contains X or Y "grain of truth" to it, the grain being whatever their emotions dictate which is then rationalized in turn. The relationship of Camillus to Mater Matuta is imagined as everything from a wholly phantastical geopolitical concession to the Latins, Mater Matuta being allegedly not a Roman deity; to a Celtic "Bona Dea" out of a truly outrageous case of philology of convenience, to countless other things. Likewise, the scholar feels himself at ease to speculate on what is history and what is epic, where it came from, why, while providing no evidence whatsoever - this outrageous "liberty" of our Classicist friends which tend to look down on such mythological works is, as is well known to all who take ancient historiography seriously, also then at play even when writing about the historical period proper whenever there's a gap - who hasn't read absolutely baseless bits of history-making where the author assures us that Caligula's "absolutist streak" came from his "fascination" and "contact since childhood" with "Oriental societies" such as Egypt and the like? Evidence being that he was an alleged Isis worshiper, "evidence" that, upon closer view, turns out to be more speculation? "The liberty is admirable" indeed as Dumézil puts it.
Dumézil goes the total opposite way - namely, without speculation, firmly basing himself in the texts and no suppositions, he reconstructs Camillus as an "epic transposition" (the topic of the whole M&E trilogy) of very ancient solar mythology as present in the RigVeda, and shows this type of character also at play in the Mahabharata in an aside.
It is a masterwork of, at once, brilliant pattern recognition - how he noticed that abstract theological principles related to the Sun, the Dawn and the Night in Rome and India were translated into mortal, "epic" equivalents in Camillus' chronicle - that leads towards a radical axis shift in the understanding of the historicity of Camillus and his narrative, while at the same time being extremely cautious, very rarely going away from the texts themselves at all and remaining firmly based in them. With no stupid speculations, it is shown how all of his career is a transposition of a "solar" principle, as opposed to a "fulgurating" one (hence the lack of relation between Camillus and Jupiter).
What's best about this little study was how this tremendous intellectual effort now allows one to much more easily notice similar situations in Indo-European histories (both "histories" and histories) and epics, as well as of those people curiously related to the Indo-Europeans by mythology, such as the Japanese - in fact, it helped me realize an essential question in the matter of early Japanese "history".
One of the most erudite, enlightening, yet unpretentious and readable works on the matter and very much "the" work to read on Camillus. Highly recommended, alongside all of M&E.
Dumézil's groundbreaking discovery here is so fundamental not just for mythographic studies and the branches where they might be relevant such as ethnography and the like, but to Roman historiography as a whole, that I find it hard to express how far ahead he was in both erudition and cautious wisdom compared to his countless Latinist peers but to those modern ones too. While other historians were writing entire fucking fanfictions about the protohistorical period of Rome, based on nothing besides their feelings about whatever they think is "probable" or whatever "ideas" (preconceptions, assumptions and prejudices) they have about how X or Y story contains X or Y "grain of truth" to it, the grain being whatever their emotions dictate which is then rationalized in turn. The relationship of Camillus to Mater Matuta is imagined as everything from a wholly phantastical geopolitical concession to the Latins, Mater Matuta being allegedly not a Roman deity; to a Celtic "Bona Dea" out of a truly outrageous case of philology of convenience, to countless other things. Likewise, the scholar feels himself at ease to speculate on what is history and what is epic, where it came from, why, while providing no evidence whatsoever - this outrageous "liberty" of our Classicist friends which tend to look down on such mythological works is, as is well known to all who take ancient historiography seriously, also then at play even when writing about the historical period proper whenever there's a gap - who hasn't read absolutely baseless bits of history-making where the author assures us that Caligula's "absolutist streak" came from his "fascination" and "contact since childhood" with "Oriental societies" such as Egypt and the like? Evidence being that he was an alleged Isis worshiper, "evidence" that, upon closer view, turns out to be more speculation? "The liberty is admirable" indeed as Dumézil puts it.
Dumézil goes the total opposite way - namely, without speculation, firmly basing himself in the texts and no suppositions, he reconstructs Camillus as an "epic transposition" (the topic of the whole M&E trilogy) of very ancient solar mythology as present in the RigVeda, and shows this type of character also at play in the Mahabharata in an aside.
It is a masterwork of, at once, brilliant pattern recognition - how he noticed that abstract theological principles related to the Sun, the Dawn and the Night in Rome and India were translated into mortal, "epic" equivalents in Camillus' chronicle - that leads towards a radical axis shift in the understanding of the historicity of Camillus and his narrative, while at the same time being extremely cautious, very rarely going away from the texts themselves at all and remaining firmly based in them. With no stupid speculations, it is shown how all of his career is a transposition of a "solar" principle, as opposed to a "fulgurating" one (hence the lack of relation between Camillus and Jupiter).
What's best about this little study was how this tremendous intellectual effort now allows one to much more easily notice similar situations in Indo-European histories (both "histories" and histories) and epics, as well as of those people curiously related to the Indo-Europeans by mythology, such as the Japanese - in fact, it helped me realize an essential question in the matter of early Japanese "history".
One of the most erudite, enlightening, yet unpretentious and readable works on the matter and very much "the" work to read on Camillus. Highly recommended, alongside all of M&E.
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