List of Roman deities

List of Roman deities

Ancient Roman religion

Marcus Aurelius sacrificing Marcus Aurelius (head covered)
sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter

Practices and beliefs

Imperial cult  · festivals  · ludi
mystery religions · funerals
temples · auspice · sacrifice
votum · libation · lectisternium

Priesthoods

College of Pontiffs · Augur
Vestal Virgins · Flamen · Fetial
Epulones · Arval Brethren
Quindecimviri sacris faciundis

Jupiter · Juno · Neptune · Minerva
Mars · Venus · Apollo · Diana
Vulcan · Vesta · Mercury · Ceres

Other deities

Janus · Quirinus · Saturn ·
Hercules · Faunus · Priapus
Liber · Bona Dea · Ops
Chthonic deities: Proserpina ·
Dis Pater · Orcus · Di Manes
Domestic and local deities:
Lares · Di Penates · Genius
Hellenistic deities: Sol Invictus · Magna Mater · Isis · Mithras
Deified emperors:
Divus Julius  · Divus Augustus
See also List of Roman deities

Related topics

Roman mythology
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
Religion in ancient Greece
Etruscan religion
Gallo-Roman religion
Decline of Hellenistic polytheism
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This is a list of deities of ancient Rome, including those who are known to have received cult within the city of Rome, the ager Romanus, or the provinces of the Empire under a Latin or Latinized name. A comprehensive alphabetical list follows a survey of theological groups as constructed by the Romans themselves.[1] For cult pertaining to deified Roman emperors, see Imperial cult.

Roman lists

Triads

Groupings of twelve

Lectisternium

In describing the lectisternium of the Twelve Great Gods in 217 BC, the Augustan historian Livy places the deities in gender-balanced pairs:[4]

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

Di Consentes on an altar

Varro uses the name Dii Consentes for the 12 deities, six male-female pairs, whose gilded images stood in the forum.[5] 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 12 deities by name, though in a different order from that of Livy: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jove, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo.[6]

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.

Agricultural deities

Varro, De re rustica

At the beginning of his treatise on farming, Varro[7] gives a list of twelve deities who are vital to agriculture. These make up a conceptual or theological grouping, and are not known to have received cult collectively. They are:

Vergil, Georgics
Allegorical scene with Roman deities from the Augustan Altar of Peace

In his Georgics, a collection of poetry on agrarian themes, Vergil gives a list influenced by literary Hellenization and Augustan ideology:[8]

The poet proposes that the divus Julius Caesar be added as a thirteenth.

Di selecti

Varro[12] gives a list of twenty principal gods of Roman religion:

Sabine gods

Livia, wife of Augustus, dressed as the goddess Ops

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

Elsewhere, Varro claims Sol Indiges, who had a sacred grove at Lavinium, as Sabine but at the same time equates him with Apollo.[15] 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."[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] Varro, however, says that the altars to most of these gods were established at Rome by King Tatius as the result of a vow (votum).[19]

Shared titles and honorifics

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

Augusta

"The elevated or august one" (feminine form), an honorific and title associated with the development and dissemination of Rome's Imperial cult and applied to Roman Empresses, whether living, deceased or deified as divi. The first Augusta was Livia, wife of Octavian, and the title is then shared by various state goddess including Bona Dea, Ceres, Juno Minerva and Ops; and by many minor, local goddesses and the personifications of Imperial virtues such as Pax and Victoria, both held to be essentially female.

Augustus

"The elevated or august one" (masculine form), a 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; and for divine personifications of the Emperor's virtues. The extension of this Imperial honorific to major and minor deities of Rome and her provinces is considered a ground-level feature of Imperial cult.

Caelestis

The Celestial or Heavenly one (feminine form), thus "Queen of Heaven". From the middle Imperial era, Ceres, Isis, Juno, Venus and other goddesses share the title, as different aspects of a single, supreme heavenly Goddess (Dea Caelestis), identified with the constellation of the Virgin who holds the divine balance of justice.

Mater

"Mother", an honorific that respects a goddesses maternal authority and functions. Early examples include Terra Mater (Mother Earth) and the Mater Larum (Mother of the Lares). From the middle Imperial era, the reigning Empress becomes symbolic Mother of Rome's military camps, its Senate and State (Mater castrorum et senatus et patriae). See also Magna Mater (Great Mother) below.

Magna Mater

"The Great Mother", the title given Cybele in her Roman cult, though not exclusive to her. Some Roman literary sources accord the same title to Maia, inferring that both goddesses are aspects of a supreme "Great Mother".

Pater

"Father", a title given various deities, to signify their preeminence and paternal care, and the filial respect due to them. An epithet of Dis Pater, Jupiter and Liber Pater, among others.

Alphabetical list

Contents: Top · 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

A "lizard-slayer" Apollo on a mosaic from Roman Africa
  • Abeona, goddess who protected children the first time they left their parents' home, safeguarding their first steps alone.
  • Abundantia, divine personification of abundance and prosperity.
  • Acca Larentia, a diva of complex meaning and origin in whose honor the Larentalia was held.
  • Acis, god of the Acis River in Sicily.
  • Adeona, goddess who protected children as they returned home.
  • Aerecura, goddess possibly of Celtic origin, associated with the underworld and identified with Proserpina.
  • Aequitas, divine personification of fairness.
  • Aesculapius, the Roman equivalent of Asclepius, god of health and medicine.
  • Aeternitas, goddess and personification of eternity.
  • Aius Locutius, divine voice that warned the Romans of the imminent Gallic invasion.
  • Alemonia or Alemona, goddess responsible for nourishing the unborn child.
  • Alernus or Elernus (possibly Helernus), an archaic god whose sacred grove (lucus) was near the Tiber river. He is named definitively only by Ovid.[20] The grove was the birthplace of the nymph Cranea, and despite the obscurity of the god, the state priests still carried out sacred rites (sacra) there in the time of Augustus.[21] Alernus may have been a chthonic god, if a black ox was the correct sacrificial offering to him, since dark victims were offered to underworld gods.[22] Dumézil wanted to make him a god of beans.[23]
  • Angerona, goddess who relieved people from pain and sorrow.
  • Angitia, goddess associated with snakes and Medea.
  • Anna Perenna, early goddess of the "circle of the year", her festival was celebrated March 15.
  • Annona, the divine personification of the grain supply to the city of Rome.
  • Antevorta, goddess of the future and one of the Camenae; also called Porrima.
  • Apollo, god of poetry, music, and oracles, and one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Arimanius, an obscure Mithraic god.
  • Aura, often plural Aurae, "the Breezes".
  • Aurora, goddess of the dawn.
  • Averruncus, a god propitiated to avert calamity.

B

A Bacchus from Roman Spain, 2nd century
  • Bacchus, god of wine, sensual pleasures, and truth, originally a cult title for the Greek Dionysus and identified with the Roman Liber.
  • Bellona or Duellona, war goddess.
  • Bona Dea, goddess of fertility, healing, virginity, and women.
  • Bonus Eventus, divine personification of "Good Outcome".
  • Bromius, an epithet, Greek in origin, of Bacchus, god of wine.
  • Bubona, goddess of cattle.

C

  • Caca, an archaic fire goddess and "proto-Vesta";[24] the sister of Cacus.
  • Cacus, originally an ancient god of fire, later demoted to a giant.
  • Caelus, god of the sky.
  • Camenae, goddesses with various attributes including fresh water, prophecy, and childbirth. There were four of them: Carmenta, Egeria, Antevorta, and Postvorta.
  • Candelifera, goddess of childbirth, particularly of bringing the newborn into the light.
  • Cardea, goddess of the hinge (cardo), identified by Ovid with Carna (below)
  • Carmenta, goddess of childbirth and prophecy, and assigned a flamen minor. The leader of the Camenae.
  • Carmentes, two goddesses of childbirth: Antevorta and Postvorta or Porrima, future and past.
  • Carna, goddess who preserved the health of the heart and other internal organs.
  • Ceres, goddess of the harvest and mother of Proserpina, and one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Cinxia, goddess of marriage; name occurs as an epithet of Juno.
  • Clementia, goddess of forgiveness and mercy.
  • Clitunno, god of the Clitunno River.
  • Cloacina, goddess who presided over the system of sewers in Rome; identified with Venus.
  • Collatina, goddess of hills.
  • Concordia, goddess of agreement, understanding, and marital harmony.
  • Conditor, god invoked at the sowing of crops, assistant to Ceres.
  • Consus, chthonic god protecting grain storage.
  • Convector, god invoked at the carting-in of crops from the field, assistant to Ceres.
  • Cuba, goddess of infants who was invoked by mothers to help their babies sleep.
  • Cunina, the protectress of infants in cradles.
  • Cupid, Roman god of love. The son of Venus, and equivalent to Greek Eros.
  • Cura, goddess of care and concern who created humans from clay.
  • Cybele, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals.

D

Diana Nemorensis on a denarius
  • Dea Dia, goddess of growth.
  • Dea Tacita ("The Silent Goddess"), goddess of the dead; later equated with the earth goddess Larenta.
  • Decima, minor goddess and one of the Parcae (Roman equivalent of the Moirae). The measurer of the thread of life, her Greek equivalent was Lachesis.
  • Dei Lucrii, early gods of wealth, profit, commerce and trade.
  • Devera or Deverra, goddess who ruled over the brooms used to purify temples in preparation for various worship services, sacrifices and celebrations; she protected midwives and women in labor.
  • Diana, goddess of the hunt, the moon, virginity, and childbirth, twin sister of Apollo and one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Diana Nemorensis, Local version of Diana.
  • Dius Fidius, god of oaths, associated with Jupiter.
  • Disciplina, personification of discipline.
  • Discordia, goddess of discord. Greek equivalent is Eris.
  • Dis Pater or Dispater, god of wealth and the underworld.
  • Domiduca, goddess of protecting children on the way back to their parents' home.
  • Domiducus, god who brought brides to their husbands' houses.
  • Domitius or Domidius, from domus, "house," and eo, ire, itum, "to go." A marriage-god. Once the bride has been led home, "the god Domitius is employed to install her in her house."[25]

E

The Gallo-Roman horse goddess Epona
  • Edusa, from the verb edo, edere, esus, "eat," also as Edulia, Edula, Edusa, Edesia etc., a goddess who enabled the taking of nourishment.[26] The variations of her name may indicate that while her functional focus was narrow, her name had not stabilized; she was mainly a divine force to be invoked ad hoc for a specific purpose.[27]
  • Egeria, water nymph or goddess, later considered one the Camenae.
  • Empanda or Panda, a goddess whose temple never closed to those in need.
  • Epona, Gallo-Roman goddess of horses and horsemanship, usually assumed to be of Celtic origin.

F

  • Fabulinus, god of children, the god responsible for teaching children to speak.
  • Falacer, obscure god. He was assigned a flamen minor.
  • Fama, goddess of fame and rumor.
  • Fascinus, phallic god who protected from invidia (envy) and the evil eye.
  • Fauna, goddess of vegetation. Also a title of other vegetative goddesses such as Bona Dea, Ops, and Terra.
  • Faunus, god of flocks.
  • Faustitas, goddess who protected herd and livestock.
  • Febris, goddess who protected people against fevers and malaria.
  • Fecunditas, goddess of fertility.
  • Felicitas, goddess of good luck and success.
  • Ferentina, patron goddess of the city Ferentinum, Latium, protector of the Latin commonwealth.
  • Feronia, rural goddess of woods and fountains.
  • Fessona or Fessonia, goddess who relieved weariness.[28]
  • Fides, goddess of loyalty.
  • Flora, goddess of flowers, was assigned a flamen minor.
  • Fornax, goddess of hearths and ovens.
  • Fontus, god of wells and springs.
  • Forculus, a god who protected the integrity of doors (Latin fores), together with Cardea and Limentinus.[29]
  • Fortuna, goddess of fortune.
  • Fraus, goddess of treachery. Her Greek equivalent was Apate.
  • Fulgora, personification of lightning.
  • Furrina, goddess whose functions are mostly unknown; may be associated with water. One source[citation needed] claims she was a goddess of robbers and thieves. She was assigned a flamen minor. Name could also be Furina.

G

  • Glycon, snake god whose cult originated in Macedonia.
  • Gratiae, Roman term for the Charites or Graces.

H

Roman statue of the infant Hercules strangling a snake

I

  • Imporcitor, god invoked at the harrowing of fields, assistant to Ceres.
  • Indiges, the deified Aeneas.
  • Insitor, god invoked at the sowing of crops, assistant to Ceres.
  • Intercidona, minor goddess of childbirth; invoked to keep evil spirits away from the child; symbolised by a cleaver.
  • Inuus, god of fertility and sexual intercourse, protector of livestock.
  • Invidia, goddess of envy or jealousy.
  • Isis, the Egyptian goddess in her Hellenistic form.
  • Iris, goddess of the rainbow.

J

A janiform sculpture, perhaps of Janus
  • Janus, double-faced or two-headed god of beginnings and endings and of doors.
  • Jugatinus, god of mountain ranges.
  • Juno, Queen of the Gods and goddess of matrimony, and one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Jupiter, King of the Gods and the storm, air, and sky god, father of Venus, and one of the Dii Consentes; was assigned a flamen maior.
  • Justitia, goddess of justice.
  • Juturna, goddess of fountains, wells, and springs.
  • Juventas, goddess of youth.

L

  • Lactanus or Lactans, god that made the crops prosper or "yield milk".
  • Larentina, an underworld goddess.
  • Lares, household gods.
  • Laverna, patroness of thieves, con men and charlatans.
  • Levana, goddess of the rite through which fathers accepted newborn babies as their own.
  • Letum, personification of death.
  • Liber, a god of male fertility, viniculture and freedom, assimilated to Roman Bacchus and Greek Dionysus.
  • Libera, Liber's female equivalent, assimilated to Roman Proserpina and Greek Persephone.
  • Liberalitas, goddess or personification of generosity.
  • Libertas, goddess or personification of freedom.
  • Libitina, goddess of death, corpses and funerals.
  • Lima, goddess of thresholds.
  • Limentinus, god of lintels.
  • Lua, goddess to whom soldiers sacrificed captured weapons, probably a consort of Saturn.
  • Lucina, goddess of childbirth. The name occurs as a surname of Juno.
  • Luna, goddess of the moon.
  • Lupercus, god of shepherds; as the god of the Lupercalia, his identity is obscure, but he is sometimes identified with the Greek god Pan.
  • Lympha, often plural lymphae, a water deity assimilated to the Greek nymphs.

M

Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva
  • Mana Genita, goddess who presided over burials, mother or leader of the Manes.
  • Manes, the souls of the dead; came to be seen as household deities.
  • Mania, goddess of the dead and ruler of the underworld, wife of Mantus. Not to be confused with the Greek figure of the same name.
  • Mantus, god of the dead and ruler of the underworld, husband of Mania.
  • Mars, god of war and father of Romulus, the founder of Rome, lover of Venus, and one of the Dii Consentes, was assigned a flamen maior.
  • Mater Matuta, goddess of dawn and childbirth; also seen as patroness of mariners.
  • Meditrina, goddess of healing, introduced to account for the festival of Meditrinalia.
  • Mefitis or Mephitis, goddess and personification of poisonous gases and volcanic vapours.
  • Mellona or Mellonia, goddess of bees and beekeeping.
  • Mercury, messenger of the gods and bearer of souls to the underworld, and one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Messia, a harvest goddess.
  • Messor, god invoked at the harvesting of crops, assistant to Ceres.
  • Minerva, goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industries and trades, and one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Mithras, god worshipped in the Roman empire; popular with soldiers.
  • Molae, daughters of Mars, probably goddesses of grinding of the grain.
  • Moneta, minor goddess of memory, equivalent to the Greek Mnemosyne. Also used as an epithet of Juno.
  • Mors, personification of death and equivalent of the Greek Thanatos.
  • Morta, minor goddess of death and one of the Parcae (Roman equivalent of the Moirae). The cutter of the thread of life, her Greek equivalent was Atropos.
  • Murcia or Murtia, a little-known goddess who was associated with the myrtle, and in other sources was called a goddess of sloth and laziness (both interpretations arising from false etymologies of her name). Later equated with Venus in the form of Venus Murcia.
  • Muta, goddess of silence.
  • Mutunus Tutunus, god of fertility.

N

Neptune velificans on a 3rd-century mosaic
  • Naenia, goddess of funerary lament.
  • Nascio, personification of the act of birth.
  • Necessitas, goddess of destiny, the Roman equivalent of Ananke.
  • Nemesis, goddess of revenge (Greek).
  • Nemestrinus, god of woods and forests.
  • Neptune, god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, and one of the Dii Consentes. Greek Equivalent is Poseidon.
  • Nerio, ancient war goddess and the personification of valor. The consort of Mars.
  • Neverita, wife of Neptune; their quarrels caused sea storms.
  • Nixi, also di nixi, dii nixi, or Nixae, goddesses of childbirth, called upon to protect women in labour.
  • Nodutus, god who made knots in stalks of wheat.
  • Nona, minor goddess, one of the Parcae (Roman equivalent of the Moirae). The spinner of the thread of life, her Greek equivalent was Clotho.
  • Nox, goddess of night, derived from the Greek Nyx.

O

  • Obarator, god invoked at the ploughing of fields, assistant to Ceres.
  • Occator, god invoked at the harrowing of fields, assistant to Ceres.
  • Orchadis, minor god responsible for the olive groves, an attendant of Ceres.
  • Ops or Opis, goddess of fertility.
  • Orbona, goddess of children, especially orphans. She granted new children to those who had become childless.
  • Orcus, a god of the underworld and punisher of broken oaths.

P

Aeneas and the Penates, from a 4th-century manuscript
  • Palatua, obscure goddess who guarded the Palatine Hill. She was assigned a flamen minor.
  • Pales, deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock.
  • Parcae, personifications of destiny (Nona, Decima, and Morta).
  • Partula or Parca, goddess of childbirth; determined the length of pregnancy.
  • Patelana, goddess of opening husks of grain.
  • Paventia, goddess who personified fear in infants.
  • Pax, goddess of peace; equivalent of Greek Eirene.
  • Pellonia, goddess who warded people off their enemies.
  • Penates or Di Penates, household gods.
  • Picumnus, minor god of fertility, agriculture, matrimony, infants and children.
  • Picus, Italic woodpecker god with oracular powers.
  • Pietas, goddess of duty; personification of the Roman virtue pietas.
  • Pilumnus, minor guardian god, concerned with the protection of infants at birth.
  • Pluto, Greek Plouton, a name for the ruler of the dead popularized through the mystery religions and Greek philosophy, sometimes used in Latin literature and identified with Dis pater or Orcus.
  • Poena, goddess of punishment.
  • Pomona, goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards; assigned a flamen minor.
  • Porus, god and personification of plenty.
  • Porrima, goddess of the future. Also called Antevorta. One of the Carmentes and the Camenae.
  • Portunes, god of keys, doors, and livestock, he was assigned a flamen minor.
  • Postverta or Prorsa Postverta, goddess of childbirth and the past, one of the two Carmentes (other being Porrima).
  • Potina, goddess of children's drinks.
  • Priapus, localised god of the shade; worship derived from the Greek Priapus.
  • Promitor, minor agricultural god, responsible for the growth and harvesting of crops; attendant of Ceres.
  • Proserpina, Queen of the Dead and a grain-goddess, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Persephone.
  • Providentia, goddess of forethought.
  • Pudicitia, goddess and personification of chastity, one of the Roman virtues. Her Greek equivalent was Aidôs.
  • Puta, goddess of pruning vines and bushes.

Q

  • Quirinus, Sabine god identified with Mars; Romulus, the founder of Rome, was deified as Quirinus after his death. Quirinus was a war god and a god of the Roman people and state, and was assigned a flamen maior.
  • Quiritis, goddess of motherhood. Originally Sabine or pre-Roman, she was later equated with Juno.

R

  • Redarator, minor god of agriculture, associated with the second ploughing.
  • Robigo or Robigus, a god or goddess who personified grain disease and protected crops.
  • Roma, personification of the Roman state.
  • Rumina, goddess who protected breastfeeding mothers.
  • Runcina, minor goddess of agriculture, associated with reaping and weeding.
  • Rusina, protector of the fields or farmland (also known as Rurina).
  • Rusor, a minor agricultural god and attendant of Ceres.

S

Sol Invictus, or Christ depicted in his guise
  • Salacia, goddess of seawater, wife of Neptune.
  • Salus, goddess of the public welfare of the Roman people; came to be equated with the Greek Hygieia.
  • Sancus, god of loyalty, honesty, and oaths.
  • Saritor or Sarritor, god of hoeing and weeding, assistant to Ceres.
  • Saturn, a titan, god of harvest and agriculture, the father of Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, and Pluto.
  • Secia, a harvest goddess.
  • Securitas, goddess of security, especially the security of the Roman empire.
  • Segetia, an agricultural goddess.
  • Semonia, goddess of sowing.
  • Sentia, goddess who oversaw children's mental development.
  • Setia, an agricultural goddess.
  • Silvanus, minor god of woodlands and forests.
  • Sol Invictus, sun god.
  • Somnus, god of sleep; equates with the Greek Hypnos.
  • Soranus, a god later subsumed by Apollo in the form Apollo Soranus.
  • Sors, god of luck.
  • Spes, goddess of hope.
  • Spiniensis, minor agricultural god; prayed to when removing thorny bushes.
  • Stata Mater, goddess who protected against fires. Sometimes equated with Vesta.
  • Statanus, god also known as Statulinus or Statilinus. Presided over the child's first attempt to stand up. Along with his wife Statina protected the children as they left home for the first time and returned.
  • Statina, goddess who, along with her husband Statanus, protected the childred as they left home for the first time and returned.
  • Sterquilinus ("Manure"), god of fertilizer. Also known as Stercutus, Sterculius, Straculius, Struculius.
  • Strenua or Strenia, goddess of strength and endurance.
  • Suadela, goddess of persuasion, her Greek equivalent was Peitho.
  • Subigus, god of the wedding night.
  • Summanus, god of nocturnal thunder.
  • Sulis Minerva, a conflation of the Celtic goddess Sul and Minerva

T

  • Tellumo, male counterpart of Tellus.
  • Tempestas, goddess of storms.
  • Terra Mater or Tellus, goddess of the earth and land.
  • Terminus, the rustic god of boundaries.
  • Tiberinus, river god; deity of the Tiber river.
  • Tibertus, god of the river Anio, a tributary of the Tiber.
  • Tranquillitas, goddess of peace and tranquility.
  • Trivia, goddess of crossroads and magic, equated with Hecate.
  • Tutelina, a harvest goddess.

U

  • Ubertas, minor agricultural goddess, who personified fruitfulness of soil and plants, and abundance in general.
  • Unxia, minor goddess of marriage, concerned with anointing the bridegroom's door. The name occurs as a surname of Juno.
  • Uranus, god of the sky before Jupiter (Greek).

V

Venus, Mars, and Cupid on a wall painting from Pompeii
  • Vacuna, ancient goddess who protected the farmers' sheep and was later identified with Nike - Goddess of Victory and worshipped as a war goddess.
  • Vagitanus, minor god of children, guardian of the infant's first cry at birth.
  • Vallonia, goddess of valleys.
  • Vediovus or Veiovis, obscure god, a sort of anti-Jupiter, as the meaning of his name suggests. May be a god of the underworld.
  • Venilia or Venelia, sea goddess, wife of Neptune or Faunus.
  • Venti, the winds, equivalent to the Greek Anemoi. North wind: Aquilo(n) or Septentrio; South wind: Auster; East wind: Vulturnus; West wind: Favonius; North west wind: Caurus or Corus.
  • Venus, goddess of love, beauty, sexuality, and gardens; mother of the founding hero Aeneas; one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Veritas, goddess and personification of the Roman virtue of veritas or truth.
  • Verminus, god of cattle worms.
  • Vertumnus, Vortumnus or Vertimnus, god of the seasons, and of gardens and fruit trees.
  • Vervactor, deity of the first ploughing, assistant to Ceres.
  • Vesta, goddess of the hearth, the Roman state, and the sacred fire; one of the Dii Consentes.
  • Vica Pota, goddess of victory and competitions.
  • Victoria, goddess of victory.
  • Viduus, god who separated soul and body after death.
  • Virbius, a forest god, the reborn Hippolytus.
  • Viriplaca, goddess of marital strife.
  • Virtus, god or goddess of military strength, personification of the Roman virtue of virtus.
  • Volturnus, god of water, was assigned a flamen minor. Not to be confused with Vulturnus.
  • Volumna, goddess of nurseries.
  • Voluptas, goddess of pleasure.
  • Volutina, goddess of the envelopes of the follicles of crops.
  • Vulcan, god of the forge, fire, and blacksmiths, husband to Venus, and one of the Dii Consentes, was assigned a flamen minor.

See also

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. ^ Livy, 1.38.7, 1.55.1–6.
  3. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 6.17.2
  4. ^ Livy, 22.10.9.
  5. ^ Varro, De re rustica 1.1.4: "eos urbanos, quorum imagines ad forum auratae stant, sex mares et feminae totidem.
  6. ^ Ennius, Annales frg. 62, in J. Vahlen, Ennianae Poesis Reliquiae (Leipzig, 1903, 2nd ed.). Ennius's list appears in poetic form, and the word order may be dictated by the metrical constraints of dactylic hexameter.
  7. ^ Varro, De re rustica 1.1.4–6.
  8. ^ Vergil, Georgics 1.5–20.
  9. ^ Clarissima mundi lumina
  10. ^ Cultor nemorum.
  11. ^ Unci puer monstrator aratri.
  12. ^ As recorded by Augustine of Hippo, De civitate Dei 7.2.
  13. ^ Or Novensiles: the spelling -d- for -l- is characteristic of the Sabine language
  14. ^ For Fides, see also Semo Sancus or Dius Fidius; Roger D. Woodard, Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult p. 184.
  15. ^ Varro, De lingua latina 5.10; Paul Rehak, Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), p. 94.
  16. ^ e quis nonnulla nomina in utraque lingua habent radices, ut arbores quae in confinio natae in utroque agro serpunt: potest enim Saturnus hic de alia causa esse dictus atque in Sabinis, et sic Diana.
  17. ^ Anna Clark, Divine Qualities: Cult and Community in Republican Rome (Oxford University Press, 2007) pp. 37–38; Emma Dench, Romulus' Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 317–318.
  18. ^ William Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 1922), p. 108.
  19. ^ Tatius is said by Varro to have dedicated altars to "Ops, Flora, Vediovis and Saturn, to Sol, Luna, Vulcan and Summanus, and likewise to Larunda, Terminus, Quirinus, Vortumnus, the Lares, Diana and Lucina."
  20. ^ Ovid, Fasti 2.67 and 6.105 (1988 Teubner edition).
  21. ^ Ovid, Fasti 6.106.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ St Augustine (trans. R. W. Dyson) The City of God against the pagans, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, 1998, pp. 258, 1198.
  26. ^ Augustine, De civitate Dei 4.11.
  27. ^ Michael Lipka, Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach (Brill, 2009), pp. 126–127.
  28. ^ Augustine, De civitate Dei 4.23.
  29. ^ Augustine, De civitate Dei 4.8.

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