Semonia Explained
In Roman mythology, Semonia was the goddess of sowing. She belonged to a group of agricultural deities which also comprised Setia (or Seja) and Segetia.[1] [2] [3] Their names are derived from the same stem as the Latin verb sero "to sow".
This ancient deity, associated with crops and sowing,[4] [5] is of possible Roman or Sabine origin and worship. She is usually attested with the epithet Salus Semonia.[6]
Her possible male counterpart is Sabine god Semo Sancus,[7] whose traits merged with Dius Fidius's.
Semonia and Sancus appear together with other agricultural/crop deities Seia and Segetia.[8] [9]
External links
Notes and References
- [Pliny the Elder|Pliny]
- [Macrobius]
- [Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]
- Winning, William Balfour. A Manual of Comparative Philology. London: Printed for J. G. & F. Rivington. 1838. p. 255-256.
- Yancey, P. H. Origins from Mythology of Biological Names and Terms: Part III, O-Z. In: Bios. Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1945). pp. 268-282. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4604905?seq=1
- Axtell, Harold Lucius. The deification of abstract ideas in Roman literature and inscriptions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1907. p. 13.
- Woodard, Roger D. Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. Univsersity of Illinois Press. 2006. p. 184.
- Woodard, Roger D. Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity. Cambridge Univsersity Press. 2013. pp. 212-213.
- MacClement, W. T. Some protective devices among plants. Canada, Kingston: Publishing Committee of Queen's Quarterly, Queen's University. 1909. p. 60.
