Maium Romulus tertium posuit, de cuius nomine inter auctores lata dissensio est (Macr. Sat. I, 12.16). Qualche considerazione (ancora) sul nome del mese di maggio

The paper deals with the various aetiological traditions referring to Maius as the name of the month and its function and significance in the Roman calendar. It also considers them in the light of a recent linguistic evidence: two inscriptions from the Faliscan sanctuary of Monte Li Santi – Le Rote document the cult of Fortuna and Minerva maia during the course of the 3^rd century B.C. and the relationship of both deities with the feminine sphere and the passages to adulthood, marriage and procreation. In Narce maia is likely Minerva’s epiclesis to be interpreted as *mag-i̯ā «‘die Große, Alte, die Mutter’» according to her role, and may offer a datum consistent - in the context of the Romanization of ager Faliscus – with the ancient sources that explain Maius as the month of the senes, maiores natu with respect to the iuvenes associated with Iunius in the Romulean calendar.