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===The tail===
[[File:Altar Mars Venus Massimo n4.jpg|thumb|Cupids and a ''biga'', relief panel from a [[Trajan]]ic Altar of Venus and Mars, later rededicated to [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]]]]
==== Tail or Penis ====
[[George Devereux]] and others have argued that ''cauda'', or οὐρά ''(oura)'' in Greek sources, is a euphemism for the [[horse penis|penis]] of the October Horse, which could be expected to contain more blood for the ''suffimen''.<ref>George Devereux, "The ''Equus October'' Ritual Reconsidered," ''Mnemosyne'' 23 (1970) 297–201, and James H. Dee, "Propertius IV. 1. 20: ''Curtus equus'' and the ''Equus October''," ''Mnemosyne'' 26 (1973) 289, as summarized but rejected by Daniel P. Harmon, "Religion in the Latin Elegists," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.16.3 (1986) p. 1958. See also [[Walter Burkert]], ''[[Homo Necans]]'' (Berlin and New York, 1972), p. 69. J.N. Adams, ''The Latin Sexual Vocabulary'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), pp. 36–37, cautions that the only secure usage of ''cauda'' as slang for the penis is by [[Horace]], ''Sermones'' 1.2.45 and 2.7.49, and may be the poet's "''ad hoc'' [[metaphor]]." ''Cauda'' can also be spelled ''coda''.</ref> The tail itself, however, was a [[magico-religious]] symbol of fertility or power. The practice of attaching a horse's tail to a helmet may originate in a desire to appropriate the animal's power in battle; in the ''Iliad'', [[Hector]]'s horse-crested helmet is a terrifying sight.<ref>Wagenvoort, "On the Magical Significance of the Tail," p. 157.</ref> In the iconography of the [[Mithraic mysteries]], the tail of the sacrificial bull is often grasped, as is the horse's tail in depictions of the [[Thracian horseman|Thracian Rider god]], as if to possess its power.<ref>Wagenvoort, "On the Magical Significance of the Tail," ''passim''.</ref> A [[pinax]] from [[ancient Corinth|Corinth]] depicts a dwarf holding his [[phallus]] with both hands while standing on the tail of a stallion carrying a rider; although the dwarf has sometimes been interpreted as the horse-threatening [[Taraxippus]], the phallus is more typically an [[apotropaic]] talisman ''([[fascinum]]'') to ward off malevolence.<ref>Wagenvoort, "On the Magical Significance of the Tail," p. 156, with [https://books.google.com/books?id=xWaOxU28Nn4C&pg=PA152-IA5 image] p. 152.</ref>▼
The ritual requires collecting a little blood from the horse's tail, after cutting it and bringing it to the Regia. Some modern authors consider this unachievable, stating that the removed organ is not sufficiently vascularized. In addition, the delay in arriving at the Regia would have caused the blood to clot. As such, [[George Devereux]] and others have argued that ''cauda'', or οὐρά ''(oura)'' in Greek sources, is a euphemism for the [[horse penis|penis]] of the October Horse, which could be expected to contain more blood for the ''suffimen''.<ref>George Devereux, "The ''Equus October'' Ritual Reconsidered," ''Mnemosyne'' 23 (1970) 297–201, and James H. Dee, "Propertius IV. 1. 20: ''Curtus equus'' and the ''Equus October''," ''Mnemosyne'' 26 (1973) 289, as summarized but rejected by Daniel P. Harmon, "Religion in the Latin Elegists," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.16.3 (1986) p. 1958. See also [[Walter Burkert]], ''[[Homo Necans]]'' (Berlin and New York, 1972), p. 69. J.N. Adams, ''The Latin Sexual Vocabulary'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), pp. 36–37, cautions that the only secure usage of ''cauda'' as slang for the penis is by [[Horace]], ''Sermones'' 1.2.45 and 2.7.49, and may be the poet's "''ad hoc'' [[metaphor]]." ''cauda'' can also be spelled ''coda''.</ref> Georges Dumézil, on the other side, doubts the slang assimilation of the Latin ''cauda'' (« tail ») to « penis », which this interpretation implies. This translation of ''cauda'' is found in only two occurrences in all Latin literature, in [[Horace]], and is absent in [[Plautus]], [[Juvenal]] and [[Martial]]{{sfn|Dumézil|1975|p=182}}.
Michel Rousseau, from the Paris veterinary services{{sfn|Rousseau|1976|p=125}}, carried out an experiment in 1974, consisting of taking the tail and penis during horse slaughter. While the penis proves difficult to remove, the tail is easily severed and it lets blood drip or ooze between three and ten minutes depending on the case, a duration compatible with delivery by a runner, which demonstrates the possibility of the rite, and the potential for failure with an unlucky and poorly performing runner.{{sfn|Dumézil|1975|p=186-187}}
====Tail symbolism====
The tail itself was a [[magico-religious]] symbol of fertility or power.
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[[Satyr]]s and [[silenus|sileni]], though later characterized as goat-like, in the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] period were regularly depicted with equine features, including a prominent horsetail; they were known for uncontrolled sexuality, and are often ithyphallic in art.<ref>Wagenvoort, "On the Magical Significance of the Tail," p. 155.</ref> Satyrs are first recorded in Roman culture as part of ''ludi'', appearing in the preliminary parade ''([[pompa circensis]])'' of the first [[Ludi Romani|Roman Games]].<ref>T.P. Wiseman, "Satyrs in Rome? The Background to Horace's Ars Poetica," Journal of Roman Studies 78 (1988), p. 7.</ref> The tail of the [[Mars (mythology)#Sacred animals|wolf, an animal regularly associated with Mars]], was said by [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] to contain ''amatorium virus,'' aphrodisiac power.<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History'' 8.22.83; Onians, ''The Origins of European Thought'', p. 472.</ref> Therefore, a [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Phallic sexuality|phallic-like potency]] may be attributed to the October Horse's tail without requiring ''cauda'' to mean "penis," since the ubiquity of phallic symbols in Roman culture would make euphemism or substitution unnecessary.<ref>Dumézil rejected any phallic significance, as noted by Pascal, "October Horse," p. 283.</ref>
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