List of Roman deities explained

The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see interpretatio graeca), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices, into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and religious life as it was experienced throughout the Empire. Many of the Romans' own gods remain obscure, known only by name and sometimes function, through inscriptions and texts that are often fragmentary. This is particularly true of those gods belonging to the archaic religion of the Romans dating back to the era of kings, the so-called "religion of Numa", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities have Italic or Etruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in the provinces were given new theological interpretations in light of functions or attributes they shared with Roman deities.

A survey of theological groups as constructed by the Romans themselves is followed by an extensive alphabetical list[1] concluding with examples of common epithets shared by multiple divinities. For the cult pertaining to deified Roman emperors (divi), see Imperial cult.

Collectives

Even in invocations, which generally required precise naming, the Romans sometimes spoke of gods as groups or collectives rather than naming them as individuals. Some groups, such as the Camenae and Parcae, were thought of as a limited number of individual deities, even though the number of these might not be given consistently in all periods and all texts. Others are numberless collectives.

Spatial tripartition

Varro grouped the gods broadly into three divisions of heaven, earth, and underworld:

More common is a dualistic contrast between superi and inferi.

Triads

Groupings of twelve

Lectisternium of 217 BC

A lectisternium is a banquet for the gods, at which they appear as images seated on couches, as if present and participating. In describing the lectisternium of the Twelve Great gods in 217 BC, the Augustan historian Livy places the deities in gender-balanced pairs:[5]

Divine male-female complements such as these, as well as the anthropomorphic influence of Greek mythology, contributed to a tendency in Latin literature to represent the gods as "married" couples or (as in the case of Venus and Mars) lovers.

Dii Consentes

Varro uses the name Dii Consentes for twelve deities whose gilded images stood in the forum. These were also placed in six male-female pairs.[6] Although individual names are not listed, they are assumed to be the deities of the lectisternium. A fragment from Ennius, within whose lifetime the lectisternium occurred, lists the same twelve deities by name, though in a different order from that of Livy: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jove, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo.[7]

The Dii Consentes are sometimes seen as the Roman equivalent of the Greek Olympians. The meaning of Consentes is subject to interpretation, but is usually taken to mean that they form a council or consensus of deities.

Di Flaminales

See also: Flamen. The three deities cultivated by the major flamens were:[8]

The twelve deities attended by the minor flamens were:

Di selecti

Varro[10] gives a list of twenty principal gods of Roman religion:

Sabine gods

Varro, who was himself of Sabine origin, gives a list of Sabine gods who were adopted by the Romans:[11]

Elsewhere, Varro claims Sol Indiges – who had a sacred grove at Lavinium – as Sabine but at the same time equates him with Apollo.[13] [14] Of those listed, he writes, "several names have their roots in both languages, as trees that grow on a property line creep into both fields. Saturn, for instance, can be said to have another origin here, and so too Diana."

Varro makes various claims for Sabine origins throughout his works, some more plausible than others, and his list should not be taken at face value.[15] But the importance of the Sabines in the early cultural formation of Rome is evidenced, for instance, by the bride abduction of the Sabine women by Romulus's men, and in the Sabine ethnicity of Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, to whom are attributed many of Rome's religious and legal institutions.[16] Varro says that the altars to most of these gods were established at Rome by King Tatius as the result of a vow (votum).

Indigitamenta

See main article: Indigitamenta. The indigitamenta are deities known only or primarily as a name; they may be minor entities, or epithets of major gods. Lists of deities were kept by the College of Pontiffs to assure that the correct names were invoked for public prayers. The books of the Pontiffs are lost, known only through scattered passages in Latin literature. The most extensive lists are provided by the Church Fathers who sought systematically to debunk Roman religion while drawing on the theological works of Varro, also surviving only in quoted or referenced fragments. W.H. Roscher collated the standard modern list of indigitamenta,[17] though other scholars may differ with him on some points.

Di indigetes and novensiles

The di indigetes were thought by Georg Wissowa to be Rome's indigenous deities, in contrast to the di novensides or novensiles, "newcomer gods". No ancient source, however, poses this dichotomy, which is not generally accepted among scholars of the 21st century. The meaning of the epithet indiges (singular) has no scholarly consensus, and noven may mean "nine" (novem) rather than "new".

Alphabetical list

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

V

Titles and honorifics

Certain honorifics and titles could be shared by different gods, divine personifications, demi-gods and divi (deified mortals).

Augustus and Augusta

Augustus, "the elevated or august one" (masculine form) is an honorific and title awarded to Octavian in recognition of his unique status, the extraordinary range of his powers, and the apparent divine approval of his principate. After his death and deification, the title was awarded to each of his successors. It also became a near ubiquitous title or honour for various minor local deities, including the Lares Augusti of local communities, and obscure provincial deities such as the North African Marazgu Augustus. This extension of an Imperial honorific to major and minor deities of Rome and her provinces is considered a ground-level feature of Imperial cult.

Augusta, the feminine form, is an honorific and title associated with the development and dissemination of Imperial cult as applied to Roman Empresses, whether living, deceased or deified as divae. The first Augusta was Livia, wife of Octavian, and the title is then shared by various state goddesses including Bona Dea, Ceres, Juno, Minerva, and Ops; by many minor or local goddesses; and by the female personifications of Imperial virtues such as Pax and Victoria.

Bonus and Bona

The epithet Bonus, "the Good," is used in Imperial ideology with abstract deities such as Bona Fortuna ("Good Fortune"), Bona Mens ("Good Thinking" or "Sound Mind"), and Bona Spes ("Valid Hope," perhaps to be translated as "Optimism"). During the Republic, the epithet may be most prominent with Bona Dea, "the Good Goddess" whose rites were celebrated by women. Bonus Eventus, "Good Outcome", was one of Varro's twelve agricultural deities, and later represented success in general.[26]

Caelestis

From the middle Imperial period, the title Caelestis, "Heavenly" or "Celestial" is attached to several goddesses embodying aspects of a single, supreme Heavenly Goddess. The Dea Caelestis was identified with the constellation Virgo ("The Virgin"), who holds the divine balance of justice. In the Metamorphoses of Apuleius,[27] the protagonist Lucius prays to the Hellenistic Egyptian goddess Isis as Regina Caeli, "Queen of Heaven", who is said to manifest also as Ceres, "the original nurturing parent"; Heavenly Venus (Venus Caelestis); the "sister of Phoebus", that is, Diana or Artemis as she is worshipped at Ephesus; or Proserpina as the triple goddess of the underworld. Juno Caelestis was the Romanised form of the Carthaginian Tanit.[28]

Grammatically, the form Caelestis can also be a masculine word, but the equivalent function for a male deity is usually expressed through syncretization with Caelus, as in Caelus Aeternus Iuppiter, "Jupiter the Eternal Sky."

Invictus

Invictus ("Unconquered, Invincible") was in use as a divine epithet by the early 3rd century BC. In the Imperial period, it expressed the invincibility of deities embraced officially, such as Jupiter, Mars, Hercules, and Sol. On coins, calendars, and other inscriptions, Mercury, Saturn, Silvanus, Fons, Serapis, Sabazius, Apollo, and the Genius are also found as Invictus. Cicero considers it a normal epithet for Jupiter, in regard to whom it is probably a synonym for Omnipotens. It is also used in the Mithraic mysteries.[29]

Mater and Pater

Mater ("Mother") was an honorific that respected a goddess's maternal authority and functions, and not necessarily "motherhood" per se. Early examples included Terra Mater (Mother Earth) and the Mater Larum (Mother of the Lares). Vesta, a goddess of chastity usually conceived of as a virgin, was honored as Mater. A goddess known as Stata Mater was a compital deity credited with preventing fires in the city.[30]

From the middle Imperial era, the reigning Empress becomes Mater castrorum et senatus et patriae, the symbolic Mother of military camps, the senate, and the fatherland. The Gallic and Germanic cavalry (auxilia) of the Roman Imperial army regularly set up altars to the "Mothers of the Field" (Campestres, from campus, "field," with the title Matres or Matronae).[31] See also Magna Mater (Great Mother) following.

Gods were called Pater ("Father") to signify their preeminence and paternal care, and the filial respect owed to them. Pater was found as an epithet of Dis, Jupiter, Mars, and Liber, among others.

Magna Mater

"The Great Mother" was a title given to Cybele in her Roman cult. Some Roman literary sources accord the same title to Maia and other goddesses.[32]

See also

For minor deities known for a single function or by a single name, see:

A number of figures from Greek mythology who were not part of Roman religious practice appear in Latin mythological narratives and as poetic allusions; for these names, see:

Notes and references

References

Notes and References

  1. Robert Schilling, "Roman Gods," Roman and European Mythologies (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), pp. 75 online and 77 (note 49). Unless otherwise noted, citations of primary sources are Schilling's.
  2. Varro, Divine Antiquities, book 5, frg. 65; see also Livy 1.32.9; Paulus apud Festus, p. 27; Servius Danielis, note to Aeneid 5.54; Lactantius Placidus, note to Statius, Theb. 4.459–60.
  3. [Livy]
  4. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus]
  5. Livy, 22.10.9.
  6. [Varro]
  7. [Ennius]
  8. Web site: Flamen Encyclopedia.com.
  9. Forsythe, Gary, A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War, University of California Press, August, 2006
  10. As recorded by Augustine of Hippo, De civitate Dei 7.2.
  11. Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.74
  12. Woodard, Roger D. Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman cult. p 184.
  13. Book: Varro. De lingua latina. 5.68.
  14. Rehak, Paul (2006). Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the northern Campus Martius. University of Wisconsin Press. p 94.
  15. Clark, Anna. (2007). Divine Qualities: Cult and community in republican Rome. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp 37–38;
    Dench, Emma. (2005). Romulus' Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp 317–318.
  16. [William Warde Fowler|Fowler, W.W.]
  17. [Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher|W.H. Roscher]
  18. [Ovid]
  19. Ovid, Fasti 6.106.
  20. This depends on a proposed emendation of Aternus to Alernus in an entry from Festus, p. 83 in the edition of Lindsay. At Fasti 2.67, a reading of Avernus, though possible, makes no geographical sense. See discussion of this deity by Matthew Robinson, A Commentary on Ovid's Fasti, Book 2 (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 100–101.
  21. As noted by Robinson, Commentary, p. 101; Georges Dumézil, Fêtes romaines d'été et d'automne (1975), pp. 225ff., taking the name as Helernus in association with Latin holus, holera, "vegetables." The risks and "excessive fluidity" inherent in Dumézil's reconstructions of lost mythologies were noted by Robert Schilling, "The Religion of the Roman Republic: A Review of Recent Studies," in Roman and European Mythologies, pp. 87–88, and specifically in regard to the myth of Carna as a context for the supposed Helernus.
  22. Dea feminarum: Macrobius, Saturnalia I.12.28.
  23. Marko Marinčič, "Roman Archaeology in Vergil's Arcadia (Vergil Eclogue 4; Aeneid 8; Livy 1.7), in Clio and the Poets: Augustan Poetry and the Traditions of Ancient Historiography (Brill, 2002), p. 158.
  24. [Hyginus]
  25. de Grummond, N. T., and Simon, E., (Editors) The religion of the Etruscans, University of Texas Press, 2006, p.200
  26. Hendrik H.J. Brouwer, Bona Dea: The Sources and a Description of the Cult pp. 245–246.
  27. [Apuleius]
  28. Benko, Stephen, The virgin goddess: studies in the pagan and Christian roots of mariology, Brill, 2004, pp. 112–114: see also pp. 31, 51.
  29. Steven Ernst Hijmans, Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome (diss., University of Groningen 2009), p. 18, with citations from the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
  30. Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), pp. 156–157.
  31. R.W. Davies, "The Training Grounds of the Roman Cavalry," Archaeological Journal 125 (1968), p. 73 et passim.
  32. [Macrobius]

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