TheRoman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified withGreek counterparts, integratingGreek myths,iconography, and sometimesreligious practices intoRoman culture, includingLatin literature,Roman art, andreligious life as it was experienced throughout theRoman 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 theera of kings, the so-called "religion ofNuma", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities haveItalic orEtruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in theprovinces 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.
Even ininvocations, 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 theCamenae andParcae, 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.
Varro grouped the gods broadly into three divisions of heaven, earth, and underworld:
di superi, the gods above or heavenly gods, whose altars were designated asaltaria.[2]
di terrestres, "terrestrial gods," whose altars were designated asarae.
di inferi, the gods below, that is, the gods of the underworld, infernal orchthonic gods, whose altars werefoci,fire pits or specially constructed hearths.
More common is a dualistic contrast betweensuperi andinferi.
Alectisternium 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, theAugustanhistorianLivy places the deities in gender-balanced pairs:[5]
Divine male-female complements such as these, as well as theanthropomorphic 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.[citation needed]
Varro uses the nameDii Consentes for twelve deities whose gilded images stood in theforum. 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 fromEnnius, 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]
TheDii Consentes are sometimes seen as the Roman equivalent of the GreekOlympians. The meaning ofConsentes is subject to interpretation, but is usually taken to mean that they form a council or consensus of deities.
Elsewhere, Varro claimsSol Indiges – who had asacred grove atLavinium – as Sabine but at the same time equates him withApollo.[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."[c]
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 thebride abduction of the Sabine women byRomulus's men, and in the Sabine ethnicity ofNuma Pompilius, secondking 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 byKing Tatius as the result of a vow (votum).[d]
Theindigitamenta 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 theCollege of Pontiffs to assure that the correct names were invoked for public prayers. Thebooks of the Pontiffs are lost, known only through scattered passages inLatin literature. The most extensive lists are provided by theChurch 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 ofindigitamenta,[17] though other scholars may differ with him on some points.
Thedi indigetes were thought byGeorg Wissowa to be Rome's indigenous deities, in contrast to thedi novensides ornovensiles, "newcomer gods". No ancient source, however, poses this dichotomy, which is not generally accepted among scholars of the 21st century. The meaning of the epithetindiges (singular) has no scholarly consensus, andnoven may mean "nine"(novem) rather than "new".
Aesculapius, the Roman equivalent of Asclepius, god of health and medicine.
Aeternitas, goddess and personification of eternity.
Agenoria, goddess and personification of activity.
Aion (Latin spellingAeon), Hellenistic god of cyclical or unbounded time, related to the concepts ofaevum orsaeculum
Aius Locutius, divine voice that warned the Romans of the imminentGallic invasion.
Alernus orElernus (possiblyHelernus), an archaic god whose sacred grove(lucus) was near theTiber river. He is named definitively only byOvid.[18] The grove was the birthplace of the nymphCardea, and despite the obscurity of the god, thestate priests still carried out sacred rites(sacra) there in the time ofAugustus.[19] Alernus may have been achthonic god, if a black ox was the correct sacrificial offering to him, since darkvictims were offered to underworld gods.[20]Dumézil wanted to make him a god of beans.[21]
Angerona, goddess who relieved people from pain and sorrow.
Camenae, goddesses with various attributes including fresh water, prophecy, and childbirth. There were four of them:Carmenta,Egeria,Antevorta, andPostvorta.
Cardea, goddess of the hinge(cardo), identified byOvid withCarna (below)
Devera orDeverra, 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 theDii Consentes.
Ajaniform sculpture, perhaps of JanusPunishment ofIxion: in the center isMercury holding thecaduceus and on the rightJuno sits on her throne. Behind herIris stands and gestures. On the left isVulcan (blond figure) standing behind the wheel, manning it, with Ixion already tied to it.Nephele sits at Mercury's feet; a Roman fresco from the eastern wall of thetriclinium in theHouse of the Vettii,Pompeii,Fourth Style (60–79 AD).
Janus, double-faced or two-headed god of beginnings and endings and of doors.
Juno, Queen of the gods, goddess of matrimony, and one of theDii Consentes. Equivalent to GreekHera.
Manes, the souls of the dead who came to be seen as household deities.
Mania, the consort of the Etruscan underworld godMantus, and perhaps to be identified with the tenebrousMater Larum; not to be confused with the GreekManiae.
Mantus, an Etruscan god of the dead and ruler of the underworld.
Mars, god of war and father of Romulus, the founder of Rome; one of theArchaic Triad assigned aflamen maior; lover of Venus; one of theDii Consentes. Greek equivalent-Ares.
Mater Matuta, goddess of dawn and childbirth, patroness of mariners.
Meditrina, goddess of healing, introduced to account for the festival ofMeditrinalia.
Mefitis orMephitis, goddess and personification of poisonous gases and volcanic vapours.
Mellona orMellonia, goddess of bees and bee-keeping.
Mena or Mene, goddess of fertility and menstruation.
Mercury, messenger of the gods and bearer of souls to the underworld, and one of theDii Consentes. Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes.
Minerva, goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industries and trades, and one of theDii Consentes. Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena.
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 GreekMnemosyne. Also used as an epithet ofJuno.
Mors, personification of death and equivalent of the GreekThanatos.
Morta, minor goddess of death and one of theParcae (Roman equivalent of theMoirai). The cutter of the thread of life, her Greek equivalent wasAtropos.
Murcia orMurtia, 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 fromfalse etymologies of her name). Later equated withVenus in the form of Venus Murcia.
Nerio, ancient war goddess and the personification of valor. The consort of Mars.
Neverita, presumed a goddess, and associated withConsus andNeptune in the Etrusco-Roman zodiac ofMartianus Capella but otherwise unknown.[25]
Nixi, alsodi nixi,dii nixi, orNixae, goddesses of childbirth.
Nona, minor goddess, one of theParcae (Roman equivalent of theMoirai). The spinner of the thread of life, her Greek equivalent wasClotho.
Nortia a Roman-adopted Etruscan goddess of fate, destiny, and chance from the city ofVolsinii, where a nail was driven into a wall of her temple as part a new-year ceremony.
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; he was one of theArchaic Triad gods.
Quiritis, goddess of motherhood. Originally Sabine or pre-Roman, she was later equated withJuno.
Venti, the winds, equivalent to the GreekAnemoi: North wind Aquilo(n) or Septentrio (GreekBoreas); South wind Auster (GreekNotus); East wind Vulturnus (Eurus); West wind Favonius (Zephyrus); Northwest wind Caurus or Corus (seeminor winds).
Venus, goddess of love, beauty, sexuality, and gardens; mother of the founding heroAeneas; one of theDii Consentes.
Veritas, goddess and personification of the Roman virtue ofveritas or truth.
Augustus, "the elevated or august one" (masculine form) is an honorific and title awarded toOctavian in recognition of his unique status, the extraordinary range of his powers, and the apparent divine approval of hisprincipate. 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 theLares Augusti of local communities, and obscure provincial deities such as theNorth AfricanMarazgu Augustus. This extension of an Imperial honorific to major and minor deities of Rome and her provinces is considered a ground-level feature ofImperial cult.
Augusta, the feminine form, is an honorific and title associated with the development and dissemination of Imperial cult as applied toRoman Empresses, whether living, deceased or deified asdivae. The first Augusta wasLivia, wife ofOctavian, and the title is then shared by various state goddesses includingBona Dea,Ceres,Juno,Minerva, andOps; by many minor or local goddesses; and by the female personifications of Imperial virtues such asPax andVictoria.
TheepithetBonus, "the Good," is used in Imperial ideology with abstract deities such asBona Fortuna ("Good Fortune"),Bona Mens ("Good Thinking" or "Sound Mind"), andBona Spes ("Valid Hope," perhaps to be translated as "Optimism"). During the Republic, the epithet may be most prominent withBona 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]
Roman Isis in black and white marble, from the time ofApuleius
From the middle Imperial period, the titleCaelestis, "Heavenly" or "Celestial" is attached to several goddesses embodying aspects of a single, supreme Heavenly Goddess.[citation needed] TheDea Caelestis was identified with theconstellation Virgo ("The Virgin"), who holds thedivine balance of justice. In theMetamorphoses ofApuleius,[27] the protagonist Lucius prays to the Hellenistic Egyptian goddessIsis asRegina Caeli, "Queen of Heaven", who is said to manifest also as Ceres, "the original nurturing parent"; Heavenly Venus(Venus Caelestis); the "sister ofPhoebus", that is, Diana orArtemis as she isworshipped at Ephesus; orProserpina as the triple goddess of the underworld.Juno Caelestis was the Romanised form of the CarthaginianTanit.[28]
Grammatically, the formCaelestis can also be a masculine word, but the equivalent function for a male deity is usually expressed throughsyncretization withCaelus, as inCaelus Aeternus Iuppiter, "Jupiter the Eternal Sky."
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, andSol. On coins, calendars, and other inscriptions, Mercury, Saturn,Silvanus,Fons,Serapis,Sabazius, Apollo, and the Genius are also found asInvictus. Cicero considers it a normal epithet for Jupiter, in regard to whom it is probably a synonym forOmnipotens. It is also used in theMithraic mysteries.[30]
Mater ("Mother") was an honorific that respected a goddess's maternal authority and functions, and not necessarily "motherhood" per se. Early examples includedTerra Mater (Mother Earth) and theMater Larum (Mother of theLares).Vesta, a goddess of chastity usually conceived of as a virgin, was honored asMater. A goddess known asStata Mater was acompital deity credited with preventing fires in the city.[31]
From the middle Imperial era, the reigning Empress becomesMater castrorum et senatus et patriae, the symbolic Mother of military camps, thesenate, 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, fromcampus, "field," with the titleMatres orMatronae).[32] See alsoMagna Mater (Great Mother) following.
Gods were calledPater ("Father") to signify their preeminence and paternal care, and thefilial respect owed to them.Pater was found as an epithet ofDis,Jupiter,Mars, andLiber, among others.
^Latin: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.
^Robert Schilling, "Roman Gods,"Roman and European Mythologies (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), pp. 75online and 77 (note 49). Unless otherwise noted, citations of primary sources are Schilling's.
^Varro,Divine Antiquities, book 5, frg. 65; see also Livy 1.32.9; Paulus apud Festus, p. 27;Servius Danielis, note toAeneid 5.54; Lactantius Placidus, note to Statius, Theb. 4.459–60.
^Varro,De re rustica 1.1.4:eos urbanos, quorum imagines ad forum auratae stant, sex mares et feminae totidem.
^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 ofdactylic hexameter.
^Rehak, Paul (2006).Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the northern Campus Martius. University of Wisconsin Press. p 94.
^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.
^Fowler, W.W. (1922).The Religious Experience of the Roman People. London, UK. p 108.
^W.H. Roscher,Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 187–233.
^Ovid,Fasti 2.67 and 6.105 (1988 Teubner edition).
^This depends on a proposedemendation ofAternus toAlernus in an entry fromFestus, p. 83 in the edition of Lindsay. AtFasti 2.67, a reading ofAvernus, 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.
^As noted by Robinson,Commentary, p. 101;Georges Dumézil,Fêtes romaines d'été et d'automne (1975), pp. 225ff., taking the name asHelernus in association with Latinholus, 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," inRoman and European Mythologies, pp. 87–88, and specifically in regard to the myth ofCarna as a context for the supposed Helernus.
^Marko Marinčič, "Roman Archaeology in Vergil's Arcadia (VergilEclogue 4;Aeneid 8; Livy 1.7), inClio and the Poets: Augustan Poetry and the Traditions of Ancient Historiography (Brill, 2002), p. 158.
^Benko, Stephen,The virgin goddess: studies in the pagan and Christian roots of mariology, Brill, 2004, pp. 112–114: see also pp. 31, 51.
^CIL 03, 11008"A soldier of theLegio I Adiutrix [dedicated this] to the Unconquered God"(Deo Invicto / Ulpius Sabinus / miles legio/nis primae / (A)diutricis).
^Steven Ernst Hijmans,Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome (diss., University of Groningen 2009), p. 18, with citations from theCorpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
^Lawrence Richardson,A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), pp. 156–157.
^R.W. Davies, "The Training Grounds of the Roman Cavalry,"Archaeological Journal 125 (1968), p. 73et passim.
^Macrobius,Saturnalia 1.12.16–33. Cited in H.H.J. Brouwer,Bona Dea: The Sources and a Description of the Cult (Brill, 1989), pp. 240, 241.
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