Dea Dia Explained

Type:	Roman
Dea Dia
Deity Of:	Goddess of fertility and growth
Greek Equivalent:	Demeter
Festivals:	Ambarvalia

Dea Dia (Latin: "Goddess of Daylight", or "Bright Goddess") was a goddess of fertility and growth in ancient Roman religion. She was sometimes identified with Ceres, and sometimes with her Greek equivalent Demeter.^[1]

She was worshiped during Ambarvalia, a festival to Ceres.^[2] Every May, her priests, the Fratres Arvales, held a three-day festival in her honor.^{[3] [4]}

Name

The name Dea Dīa (pronounced as /la-x-classic/) means 'Goddess of Daylight' or 'Bright Goddess'. The first element stems from the Latin dea ('goddess'), while the second is related to diēs ('day'), probably in reference to the ritual prescription to announce in January the May ceremonies sub divo culmine ('under the celestial vault').

See also

• Other goddesses also known as Dea ("The Goddess")
• Other goddesses also known as Dia ("The Divine One")

References

Bibliography

• Book: Jenkyns . Richard . God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination . 2013 . OUP Oxford . 978-0-19-967552-4 .
• Book: Schilling, Robert. Roman and European Mythologies. registration. 1992. University of Chicago Press. 978-0-226-06455-0. Bonnefoy. Yves. en. The Arval Brethren.

Further reading

• Price . S. R. F. . The Arval Brothers . The Classical Review . 1992 . 42 . 2 . 341–344 . 10.1017/S0009840X00284060 . 713240 . 246879606 .
• Brinton . D. G. . The Etrusco-Libyan Elements in the Song of the Arval Brethren . Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . 1892 . 30 . 139 . 317–324 . 983355 .
• Kilgour . Andrew . The Ambarvalia and the Sacrificivm Deae Diae . Mnemosyne . 1938 . 6 . 3 . 225–240 . . 4426866 .

Notes and References

1. Book: Michael Lipka. Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach. 2009. BRILL. 978-90-04-17503-7. 64–.
2. Book: Hildegard Temporini. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. 1 December 1985. Walter de Gruyter. 978-3-11-008289-0. 1949–.
3. Notes on Strabo's account, 5.3
4. Book: Angelo Pellegrini. Gli edifici del collegio dei Fratelli Arvali nel lugo della dea dia e i di loro avanzi: opuscolo corredato con pianta delineata dal medesimo. 1865. tipografia Chassi. 6–.