The paper reconsiders the religious tradition of the triens sacer of familia Servilia as told by Pliny the
Elder. According to the literary source, the family owned a triens which they worshipped with ritual
ceremonies once a year. The acceptance of the offers would have been represented by a miracolous
growth in size of the holy object, also symbolising the fatum of the Servilii in terms of honour. On
the contrary, any dimensional reduction would have meant a bad omen for the family.
The so called ‘Servilian triens’ has been often interpreted as a numinous piece of bronze to which the
Servilii worshipped their own gentilician cult. Some aspects of this misterious ritual as the origin
and the choice of the triens still remain unresolved
