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Liminal Deities
A liminal deity is a god or goddess in mythology who presides over thresholds, gates, or doorways; "a crosser of boundaries". These gods are believed to oversee a state of transition of some kind; such as, the old to the new, the unconscious to the conscious state, the familiar to the unknown. Types of liminal deities include Dying-and-rising deity, dying-and-rising deities, various Vegetation deity, agricultural deities, Psychopomp, psychopomps and those who Katabasis, descend into the underworld: crossing the threshold between life and death. Vegetation deity, Vegetation deities mimic the annual dying and returning of plant life, making them seasonally cyclical liminal deities in contrast to the one-time journey typical of the dying-and-rising myth. Etymology The word ''liminal'', first attested to in English in 1884, comes from the Latin word , meaning 'threshold'. ''Liminality'' is a term given currency in the twentieth century by British cultural anthropologist Victor T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ianus Ianuarius
In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, myth, Janus ( ; ) is the List of Roman deities, god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (''Ianuarius''). According to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs, Juno (mythology), Juno was mistaken as the tutelary deity of the month of January, but Juno is the tutelary deity of the month of June. Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The gates of the Temple of Janus (Roman Forum), Temple of Janus in Rome were opened in time of war and closed to mark the arrival of peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to List of Roman birth and childhood deities, birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus (mythology), Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, tradi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hecate
Hecate ( ; ) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. She is variously associated with crossroads, night, light, magic, witchcraft, drugs, and the Moon.Seyffert, s.vHecate/ref>d'Este, Sorita & Rankine, David, Hekate Liminal Rites, Avalonia, 2009. Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's '' Theogony'' in the 8th century BCE as a goddess of great honour with domains in sky, earth, and sea. She had popular followings amongst the witches of Thessaly, and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina.Burkert, p. 171. The earliest evidence for Hecate's cult comes from Selinunte, in Sicily. Hecate was one of several deities worshipped in ancient Athens as a protector of the '' oikos'' (household), alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo. In the post-Christian writings of the Chalde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portunus (mythology)
__NOTOC__ Portunus was the ancient Roman god of keys, doors, livestock and ports. He may have originally protected the warehouses where grain was stored, but later became associated with ports, perhaps because of folk associations between ''porta'' "gate, door" and ''portus'' "harbor", the "gateway" to the sea, or because of an expansion in the meaning of ''portus''. Portunus later became conflated with the Greek Palaemon. Portunus' festival, celebrated on August 17, the sixteenth day before the Kalends of September, was the Portunalia, a minor occasion in the Roman year. On this day, keys were thrown into a fire for good luck in a very solemn and lugubrious manner. His attribute was a key and his main temple in the city of Rome, the Temple of Portunus, was to be found in the Forum Boarium near the city's oldest riverine port, the , and the oldest stone bridge over the river, the Pons Aemilius. Portunus appears to be closely related to the god Janus, with whom he shares m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury (; ) is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the 12 Dii Consentes within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, and thieves; he also serves as the guide of souls to the underworld and the "messenger of the gods". In Roman mythology, he was the son of Maia, one of the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas, and Jupiter. In his earliest forms, he appears to have been related to the Etruscan deity Turms; both gods share characteristics with the Greek god Hermes. He is often depicted holding the caduceus in his left hand. Similar to his Greek equivalent Hermes, he was awarded a magic wand by Apollo, which later turned into the caduceus, the staff with intertwined snakes. Etymology The name "Mercury" is possibly related to the Latin words '' merx'' ("merchandise"; cf. ''merchant'', ''commerce'', etc.), ' (''to tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janus
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (''Ianuarius''). According to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs, Juno was mistaken as the tutelary deity of the month of January, but Juno is the tutelary deity of the month of June. Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The gates of the Temple of Janus in Rome were opened in time of war and closed to mark the arrival of peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading, and shipping. Janus had no flamen or specialised priest ''( sacerdos)'' assigned to him, but the King of the Sacred Rites ''( rex sacrorum)'' himself carried out his cerem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name ''Hercules''. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, ''Hercules'' is more commonly used than ''Heracles'' as the name of the hero. Hercules is a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition. Mythology Birth and early life In Roman mythology, although Hercules was seen as the champion of the weak and a great protector, his personal problems started at birth. Juno sent two witches to prevent the birth, but they were tricked by one of Alcmene's servants and se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indigitamenta
In ancient Roman religion, the ''indigitamenta'' were lists of deities kept by the College of Pontiffs to assure that the correct divine names were invoked for public prayers. These lists or books probably described the nature of the various deities who might be called on under particular circumstances, with specifics about the sequence of invocation. The earliest ''indigitamenta'', like many other aspects of Roman religion, were attributed to Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome. Sources The books of the Pontiffs are known only through scattered passages preserved throughout Latin literature. Varro is assumed to have drawn on direct knowledge of the lists in writing his now-fragmentary theological books, which were used as a reference by the Church Fathers for their mocking catalogues of minor deities. As William Warde Fowler noted, the good Fathers tumbled the whole collection about sadly in their search for material for their mockery, having no historical or scientific object i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana (mythology)
Diana is a goddess in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion, primarily considered a patroness of the countryside and nature, hunters, wildlife, childbirth, crossroads, the night, and the Moon. She is Syncretism, equated with the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Artemis, and absorbed much of Artemis' mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of Delos to parents Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter and Latona, and a twin brother, Apollo,''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. though she had Diana Nemorensis, an independent origin in Italy. Diana is considered a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth. Historically, Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities: Egeria (mythology), Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and Virbius, the woodland god. Diana is revered in modern Modern paganism, neopagan religions including Reconstructionist Roman religion, Roman neopaganism, Stregheria, and Wic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardea
Cardea or Carda was the ancient Roman goddess of the hinge (Latin ''cardo, cardinis''), Roman doors being hung on pivot hinges. The Augustan poet Ovid conflates her with another archaic goddess named Carna, whose festival was celebrated on the first day of June and for whom he gives the alternative name Cranê or Cranea, a nymph. Ovid's conflation of the goddesses is likely to have been his poetic invention, but it has also been conjectured that ''Carna'' was a contracted form of ''Cardina'', and at minimum Ovid was observing that their traditions were congruent. Cardea and doorways In the Christian polemic of the Church Fathers, Cardea is associated with two otherwise unknown deities who preside over doorways: Forculus, from ''fores'', "door", plural in form because double doors were common on public buildings and elite homes ('' domūs''); and Limentinus, from ''limen, liminis'', "threshold" (compare English " liminal"). St. Augustine mocks the apparent triviality of thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacchus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called ''baccheia''. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His ''thyrsus'', a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, others as Greek. In Orphism, he was variously a son of Zeus and Perseph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evelyn De Morgan - Mercury, 1870-1873
Evelyn may refer to: Places Australia * Evelyn County, New South Wales, a cadastral division * Electoral district of Evelyn, an electoral district in Victoria * Evelyn, Queensland, a locality in the Tablelands Region Canada * Evelyn, Ontario United Kingdom *Evelyn, London * Evelyn Gardens, a garden square in London United States * Evelyn, Michigan * Evelyn, Texas * Evelyn, Wirt County, West Virginia * Evelyn (VTA), former light rail train station in Mountain View, California Schools * Evelyn College for Women, or Evelyn College, the former women's college of Princeton University * Evelyn High School, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Entertainment * ''Evelyn'' (2002 film), a film starring Sophie Vavasseur and Pierce Brosnan * ''Evelyn'' (2018 film), a documentary * '' Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl'', 2002 short film and black comedy directed by Brad Peyton * ''Evelyn'' (play), a 1969 radio play by Rhys Adrian * ''Evelyn'' (EP), an EP by The Mess Hall * "Evelyn" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persephone
In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld after her abduction by her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld, who would later take her into marriage. The myth of her abduction, her sojourn in the underworld, and her cyclical return to the surface represents her functions as the embodiment of spring and the personification of vegetation, especially grain crops, which disappear into the earth when sown, sprout from the earth in spring, and are harvested when fully grown. In Art in ancient Greece, Classical Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed, often carrying a wikt:sheaf, sheaf of grain. She may appear as a mystical divinity with a sceptre and a little box, but she was mostly represented in the process of being carried off by Hades. Persephone, as a vegetation deity, veg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
