fetialis

plural fetiales · alternative fecialis · alternative fetial · alternative fecial

1. Ancient RomehistoricalgovernmentA fetial.

   Fetiales also investigated allies' claims of abuse by Romans; if substantiated, the fetiales delivered the men accused to the injured parties.

   2016, Amanda J. Coles, “Ius Fetiale”, in Sara E[lise] Phang, Iain Spence, Douglas Kelly, Peter Londey, editors, Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia, volumes 3 (H–Z, Roman Section), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 973, column 2

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   This was the mode in which Roman treaties were made, the fecialis praying Jupiter to punish the infringer of the treaty as he did the animal, which he instantly dispatched with a flint stone.

   1843, Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, “Heraldick Matters”, in Encyclopaedia of Antiquities and Elements of Archaeology, Classical and Mediaeval, volume 2, London, page 765

   [...] but when the theatre of war became more distant, the fetialis, consul, or praetor, contented himself with hurling his lance from a pillar near the temple of Bellona in the direction of the hostile territory, while the declaration of war itself was made by the military commander of the province through an ambassador.

   1874, Theodore D. Woolsey, Introduction to the Study of International Law, 4th edition, New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., page 196