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Pontifex Minor
The College of Pontiffs ( la, Collegium Pontificum; see ''collegium'') was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the state religion. The college consisted of the '' pontifex maximus'' and the other ''pontifices'', the '' rex sacrorum'', the fifteen ''flamens'', and the Vestals. The College of Pontiffs was one of the four major priestly colleges; originally their responsibility was limited to supervising both public and private sacrifices, but as time passed their responsibilities increased. The other colleges were the ''augures'' (who read omens), the ''quindecimviri sacris faciundis '' ("fifteen men who carry out the rites"), and the ''epulones'' (who set up feasts at festivals). The title ''pontifex'' comes from the Latin for "bridge builder", a possible allusion to a very early role in placating the gods and spirits associated with the Tiber River, for instance. Also, Varro cites this position as meaning "able to do". The ''ponti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collegium
A (plural ), or college, was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Following the passage of the ''Lex Julia'' during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their reaffirmation during the reign of Caesar Augustus as ''Princeps senatus'' and Imperator of the Roman Army (27 BC–14 AD), ''collegia'' required the approval of the Roman Senate or the Emperor in order to be authorized as legal bodies. Such associations could be civil or religious. The word literally means "society", from (‘colleague’). They functioned as social clubs or religious collectives whose members worked towards their shared interests. These shared interests encompassed a wide range of the various aspects of urban life; including political interests, cult practices, professions, trade, and civic services. The social connections fostered by ''collegia'' contributed to their influence on politics and the economy; acting as lobb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jupiter (mythology)
Jupiter ( la, Iūpiter or , from Proto-Italic "day, sky" + "father", thus " sky father" Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς), also known as Jove (gen. ''Iovis'' ), is the god of the sky and thunder, and king of the gods in ancient Roman religion and mythology. Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering, or sacrifice. Jupiter is usually thought to have originated as a sky god. His identifying implement is the thunderbolt and his primary sacred animal is the eagle, which held precedence over other birds in the taking of auspices and became one of the most common symbols of the Roman army (see Aquila). The two emblems were often combined to represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt, freque ... [...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. Portunus appears to be closely related to the god Janus, with whom he shares many characters, functions and the symbol of the key. He too was represented as a two headed being, with ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pomona (mythology)
Pomona (, ) was a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word ''pomum'', "fruit", specifically orchard fruit. Pomona was said to be a wood nymph. Etymology The name ''Pōmōna'' is a derivation from Latin ''pōmus'' ('fruit-tree, fruit'), possibly stemming from Proto-Italic ''*po-e/omo'' ('taken off, picked?'), cognate with Umbrian Puemune, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₁e/omo'' ('what is (to be) taken'). Mythology In the myth narrated by Ovid, she scorned the love of the woodland gods Silvanus and Picus, but married Vertumnus after he tricked her, disguised as an old woman. She and Vertumnus shared a festival held on August 13. Her priest was called the ''flamen Pomonalis''. The pruning knife was her attribute. There is a grove that is sacred to her called the ''Pomonal'', located not far from Ostia, the ancient port of Rome. Pomona was the goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards. Unlike many oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatua
Palatua was a Roman goddess who was provided an official priest or flamen, the ''Flamen Palatualis'', and was the guardian deity of the Palatine Hill. Aside from this little else is known about her, and it is a safe assumption that her cult, like those of Falacer or Volturnus, had diminished during the late republican period, and that by the beginning of the Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ... there were few, if any, followers aside from the flamen. Roman goddesses {{AncientRome-myth-stub de:Palatua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furrina
Furrina, also spelled Furina, was an ancient Roman goddess whose function had become obscure by the 1st century BC. Her cult dated to the earliest period of Roman religious history, since she was one of the fifteen deities who had their own flamen, the ''Furrinalis'', one of the ''flamines minores''. There is some evidence that Furrina was associated with water. Etymology According to Varro and Georges Dumézil Furrina was a goddess of springs. Her name would be related to the Indo-European root *bhr-u-n, Sanskrit '' bhurvan'', indicating the moving or bubbling of water, cognate to Gothic ''brunna'' ("spring"), Latin ''fervēre'', from *fruur > furr by metathesis of the vowel, meaning to bubble or boil. Compare English "fervent", "effervescent" and Latin ''defruutum'' ("boiled wine"). Religious sites The goddess had a sacred spring and a shrine in Rome, located on the southwestern slopes of Mount Janiculum, on the right bank of the Tiber. The site has survived to the present day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora (mythology)
Flora ( la, Flōra) is a Roman goddess of flowers and of the season of spring – a symbol for nature and flowers (especially the may-flower). While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime, as did her role as goddess of youth. She was one of the fifteen deities who had their own flamen, the ''Floralis'', one of the ''flamines minores''. Her Greek counterpart is Chloris. Etymology The name ''Flōra'' descends from Proto-Italic ''*flōsā'' ('goddess of flowers'), itself a derivation from Proto-Italic ''*flōs'' ('flower'; cf. Latin ''flōs'', ''flōris'' 'blossom, flower'). It is cognate with the Oscan goddess of flowers ''Fluusa'', demonstrating that the cult was known more widely among Italic peoples. The name ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European ''*bʰleh₃ōs'' ('blossoming'). Festival Her festival, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falacer
Falacer, or more fully ''dīvus pater falacer'', was an ancient Italic god, according to Varro. Hartung is inclined to consider him an epithet of Jupiter, since ''falandum'', according to Festus, was the Etruscan name for "heaven." Although his origin is obscure, he was at one time considered important enough to have his own flamen. His name may appear in the name of the city of Falacrine ( la, Falacrīnum or ). The name also has a correlation with Falerii Falerii (now Fabrica di Roma) was a city in southern Etruria, 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Rome, 34 km (21 mi) from Veii (a major Etruscan city-state near the River Tiber) and about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) west of the ancient Via Flaminia. It was the main ... and the Falisci, and so it has been suggested that Falacer may have been the eponymous ancestor of these ancient tribes. References * Footnotes Roman gods Epithets of Jupiter Jovian deities {{AncientRome-myth-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceres (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion, Ceres ( , ) was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships.Room, Adrian, ''Who's Who in Classical Mythology'', p. 89-90. NTC Publishing 1990. . She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular '' Ludi Ceriales'' (Ceres' games). She was also honoured in the May ''lustratio'' of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites. She is usually depicted as a mature woman. Ceres is the only one of Rome's many agricultural deities to be listed among the Dii Consentes, Rome's equivalent to the Twelve Olympians of Greek mythology. The Romans saw her as the counterpart of the Greek goddess Demeter,''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmenta
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Carmenta was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children and a patron of midwives. She was also said to have invented the Latin alphabet. Background The name ''Carmenta'' is derived from Latin ''carmen'', meaning a magic spell, oracle or song, and also the root of the English word ''charm''. Her original name was Nicostrate (, "victory-army"), but it was changed later to honor her renown for giving oracles (Latin singular: ''carmen''). She was the mother of Evander of Pallene (fathered by Hermes) and, along with other Greek followers, they founded the town of Pallantium which later was one of the sites of the start of Rome. Gaius Julius Hyginus (''Fab. 277'') mentions the legend that it was she who altered fifteen letters of the Greek alphabet to become the Latin alphabet which her son Evander introduced into Latium. Carmenta was one of the Camenae and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flamines Minores
A (plural ''flamens'' or ''flamines'') was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of eighteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important of these were the three (or "major priests"), who served the important Roman gods Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. The remaining twelve were the ("lesser priests"). Two of the served deities whose names are now unknown; among the others are deities about whom little is known other than the name. During the Imperial era, the cult of a deified emperor () also had a flamen. The fifteen Republican flamens were members of the Pontifical College, who administered state-sponsored religion. When the office of flamen was vacant, a could serve as a temporary replacement, although only the is known to have substituted for the , one of the . Etymology The etymology of remains obscure, and perhaps undecidable. Andrew Sihler ''New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin,'' Oxford University Press 1995 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quirinus
In Roman mythology and religion, Quirinus ( , ) is an early god of the Roman state. In Augustan Rome, ''Quirinus'' was also an epithet of Janus, as ''Janus Quirinus''. Name Attestations The name of god Quirinus is recorded across Roman sources as ''Curinus'', ''Corinus'', ''Querinus'', ''Queirinus'' and ''QVIRINO'', also as fragmented ''IOVI. CYRIN '. The name is also attested as a surname to Hercules as ''Hercules Quirinus''. Etymology The name ''Quirīnus'' probably stems from Latin '' quirīs'', the name of Roman citizens in their peacetime function. Since both ''quirīs'' and ''Quirīnus'' are connected with Sabellic immigrants into Rome in ancient legends, it may be a loanword. The meaning "wielder of the spear" (Sabine ''quiris'', 'spear', cf. ''Janus Quirinus''), or a derivation from the Sabine town of Cures, have been proposed by Ovid in his '' ''Fasti'''' 2.477-480. Some scholars have interpreted the name as a contraction of ''*Co-Virīnus'' (originally the prot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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