”Fortuna Virilis?”
”Temple of Man’s Fate. Fate and the Circus games are very closely connected.”
That made sense. Men died in the Circus.
”See up there?” he pointed to the crown of the Palatine Hill. “That’s the Imperial residence. And that,” he pointed to a magnificent temple which faced the great Circus, “is the Temple of the Magna Mater Deum Idea.”
”What’s that?” Margo asked breathlessly.
”What does it sound like?”
She considered, dredging up the bits of Latin she’d absorbed. “Magna sounds like magnificent. Mater… I’m not sure. Magnificent Material? Matter?”
”No, mater means mother. It’s one of the words that sound similar in all languages descended from Indo-European: mater, mere, madre, mutter, mother.”
”Oh. Magnificent Mother?”
”Close. Great Mother. What about the Deum Idea?”
”Uh … Deum is, like, deify?”
”Good guess. Deum translates `of the gods’,” Malcolm explained.
”Great Mother of the Gods of Ideas?” she guessed.
Malcolm grinned. “Not quite, although it’s a logical enough guess. Idea in this case, however, refers to a mountain in Phrygia, near Troy. The Magna Mater is the goddess Cybele, the great mother of the gods from Phrygia. She’s an import to Rome, but a very old one. About three hundred years ago, in fact. Her cult’s been completely Romanized, of course. The Julian gens Julius and Augustus Caesar’s family-claims her as a founding deity. She was sacred to Aeneas, who founded their family. Claudius’ family also has ties to her through Claudia Quintas.”
Margo stared up the Palatine Hill, wondering what Malcolm saw that she didn’t because she didn’t know what to look for or what she was looking at. Okay, I have to study and I will. But if I don’t start scouting soon, it’ll be too late and I’ll never prove anything … .