| Vertumnus | |
|---|---|
God of seasons, change, gardens, fruit trees, and plant growth | |
 Statue of the 1st or 2nd centuries AD. | |
| Symbols | gardening tools |
| Festivals | Vertumnalia |
| Consort | Pomona |
| Equivalents | |
| Etruscan | Voltumna |
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InRoman mythology,Vertumnus (Latin pronunciation:[wɛr'tʊmnʊs]; alsoVortumnus orVertimnus) is the god of seasons, change[1] and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according toOvid'sMetamorphoses (xiv), he trickedPomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to herorchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor (the embedded tale ofIphis and Anaxarete) to seduce her. The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona has been called "the first exclusively Latin tale."[2]
Vertumnus'sfestival was called theVertumnalia and was held 13 August.[3]
The nameVortumnus most likely derives fromEtruscanVoltumna. Its formation in Latin was probably influenced by the Latin verbvertere meaning "to change", hence the alternative formVertumnus. Ancient etymologies were based on often superficial similarities of sound rather than the principles of modern scientific linguistics, but reflect ancient interpretations of a deity's function.[4] In writing about theFestival of Vesta in his poem on theRoman calendar, Ovid recalls a time when the forum was still a reedy swamp and "that god, Vertumnus, whose name fits many forms, / Wasn’t yet so-called from damming back the river" (averso amne).[5]
Varro was convinced that Vortumnus was Etruscan, and a major god.[6] Vertumnus's cult arrived inRome around 300 BC, and a temple to him was constructed on theAventine Hill by 264 BC, the date when Volsinii (Etruscan Velzna) fell to the Romans.Propertius, the major literary source for the god, also asserts that the god was Etruscan, and came fromVolsinii.
Propertius refers to a bronze statue of Vortumnus[7] made by the legendaryMamurius Veturius, who was also credited with the twelve ritual shields(ancilia) ofMars's priests, known as theSalii. The bronze statue replaced an ancientmaple statue(xoanon) supposed to have been brought to Rome in the time ofRomulus.[8] The statue of Vortumnus(signum Vortumni) stood in a simple shrine located at theVicus Tuscus near theForum Romanum,[9] and was decorated according to the changing seasons. In his poem about the god, Propertius has the statue of Vortumnus speak in first-person as if to a passer-by.[10]
The base of the statue was discovered in 1549, perhaps stillin situ, but has since been lost. An inscription[11] commemorated a restoration to the statue underDiocletian andMaximian in the early 4th century AD.[12]
The subject ofVertumnus and Pomona appealed to European sculptors and painters of the 16th through the 18th centuries, providing a disguised erotic subtext in a scenario that contrasted youthful female beauty with an agedcrone. In narrating the tale in theMetamorphoses, Ovid had observed that the kind of kisses given by Vertumnus were never given by an old woman:[13] "soCirce's smile conceals a wicked intention, and Vertumnus's hot kisses ill suit an old woman's disguise".[14]
The subject was even woven intotapestry in series with the generic themeLoves of the Gods, of which the mid-16th-centuryBrussels tapestry atMuseu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, woven to cartoons attributed toJan Vermeyen, must be among the earliest.François Boucher provided designs for the tapestry-weaver Maurice Jacques at theGobelins tapestry manufactory for a series that includedVertumnus and Pomona (1775–1778). A similar theme of erotic disguise is found withJupiter wooingCallisto in the guise of Diana, an example of which is at theJ. Paul Getty Museum.
Mme de Pompadour, who sang well and danced gracefully, played the role ofPomone in apastoral presented to a small audience atVersailles;[15] the sculpture byJean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1760) alludes to the event.
Camille Claudel sculpted a sensual marble version of "Vertumnus and Pomona" in 1905 (Musée Rodin, Paris).
Joseph Brodsky wrote a poem about Vertumnus.
David Littlefield finds in the episode a movement fromrape to mutual desire, effected against an orderly, "civilised"Latian landscape.[16]
Conversely, Roxanne Gentilcore reads in its diction and narrative strategies images of deception, veiled threat and seduction, in which Pomona, the tamedhamadryad now embodying the orchard, does not have a voice.[17]
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