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Janus
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) 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 a building in Rome named after him (not a temple, as it is often called, but an open enclosure with gates at each end) 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) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juno (mythology)
Juno ( ; Latin ) was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counsellor of the state. She was equated to Hera, queen of the gods in Greek mythology. A daughter of Saturn, she was the sister and wife of Jupiter and the mother of Mars, Vulcan, Bellona and Juventas. Like Hera, her sacred animal was the peacock.''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. Her Etruscan counterpart was Uni, and she was said to also watch over the women of Rome. As the patron goddess of Rome and the Roman Empire, Juno was called ("Queen") and was a member of the Capitoline Triad (''Juno Capitolina''), centered on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, and also including Jupiter, and Minerva, goddess of wisdom. Juno's own warlike aspect among the Romans is apparent in her attire. She was often shown armed and wearing a goatskin cloak. The traditional depiction of this warlike aspect was assimilated from the Greek goddess Athena, who bore a goatskin, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culsans
Culsans (Culśanś) is an Etruscan deity, known from two inscriptions and a variety of iconographical material which includes coins, statuettes, and a sarcophagus. Culśanś is usually rendered as a male deity with two faces and at least two statuettes depicting him have been found in close association with city gates. These characteristics suggest that he was a protector of gateways, who could zealously watch over the gate with not one, but two pairs of eyes. Many scholars recognize the deity Janus as a Roman equivalent to Culśanś because he is also rendered as a bifrons (two-faced god) and his divine realm also includes the protection of doorways and gates. Building on this idea, some scholars have proposed that the name Culśanś may contain an etymological root meaning “door” in Etruscan, just as Janus’s name comes from the Latin word for door, ianua. An Etruscan female deity named Culśu, whose name has the same etymological root as Culśanś, is also associated wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culsans
Culsans (Culśanś) is an Etruscan deity, known from two inscriptions and a variety of iconographical material which includes coins, statuettes, and a sarcophagus. Culśanś is usually rendered as a male deity with two faces and at least two statuettes depicting him have been found in close association with city gates. These characteristics suggest that he was a protector of gateways, who could zealously watch over the gate with not one, but two pairs of eyes. Many scholars recognize the deity Janus as a Roman equivalent to Culśanś because he is also rendered as a bifrons (two-faced god) and his divine realm also includes the protection of doorways and gates. Building on this idea, some scholars have proposed that the name Culśanś may contain an etymological root meaning “door” in Etruscan, just as Janus’s name comes from the Latin word for door, ianua. An Etruscan female deity named Culśu, whose name has the same etymological root as Culśanś, is also associated wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturn (mythology)
Saturn ( la, Sāturnus ) was a god in ancient Roman religion, and a character in Roman mythology. He was described as a god of time, generation, dissolution, abundance, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation. Saturn's mythological reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace. After the Roman conquest of Greece, he was conflated with the Greek Titan Cronus. Saturn's consort was his sister Ops, with whom he fathered Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, Ceres and Vesta. Saturn was especially celebrated during the festival of Saturnalia each December, perhaps the most famous of the Roman festivals, a time of feasting, role reversals, free speech, gift-giving and revelry. The Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum housed the state treasury and archives ('' aerarium'') of the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. The planet Saturn and the day of the week Saturday are both named after and were associated with him. Mythology The Roman land preserved th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Roman Birth And Childhood Deities
In ancient Roman religion, birth and childhood deities were thought to care for every aspect of conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and child development. Some major deities of Roman religion had a specialized function they contributed to this sphere of human life, while other deities are known only by the name with which they were invoked to promote or avert a particular action. Several of these slight "divinities of the moment" are mentioned in surviving texts only by Christian polemicists. An extensive Greek and Latin medical literature covered obstetrics and infant care, and the 2nd century Greek gynecologist Soranus of Ephesus advised midwives not to be superstitious. But childbirth in antiquity remained a life-threatening experience for both the woman and her newborn, with infant mortality as high as 30 or 40 percent. Rites of passage pertaining to birth and death had several parallel aspects. Maternal death was common: one of the most famous was Julia, daughter of Jul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Roman Deities
The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and religious life as it was experienced throughout the 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 the era of kings, the so-called "religion of Numa", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities have Italic or Etruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in the provinces were given new theological interpretations in light of functions or attributes they shared with Roman deities. An extensiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religion In Ancient Rome
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety ''( pietas)'' in maintaining good relations with the gods. Their polytheistic religion is known for having honored many deities. The presence of Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became fundamental, such as the '' cultus'' of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks ('' interpretatio graeca''), adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art, as the Etruscans had. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury, used by the state to seek the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interpretatio Graeca
''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient Greek religious concepts and practices, deities, and myths, equivalencies, and shared characteristics. The phrase may describe Greek efforts to explain others' beliefs and myths, as when Herodotus describes Egyptian religion in terms of perceived Greek analogues, or when Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch document Roman cults, temples, and practices under the names of equivalent Greek deities. ''Interpretatio graeca'' may also describe non-Greeks' interpretation of their own belief systems by comparison or assimilation with Greek models, as when Romans adapt Greek myths and iconography under the names of their own gods. ''Interpretatio romana'' is comparative discourse in reference to ancient Roman religion and myth, as in the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caelus
Caelus or Coelus was a primal god of the sky in Roman myth and theology, iconography, and literature (compare ''caelum'', the Latin word for "sky" or "the heaven", hence English "celestial"). The deity's name usually appears in masculine grammatical form when he is conceived of as a male generative force. Identity The name of Caelus indicates that he was the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Uranus ((Οὐρανός, ''Ouranos''), who was of major importance in the theogonies of the Greeks) and the Jewish god Yahweh. Varro couples him with Terra (Earth) as ''pater et mater'' (father and mother), and says that they are "great deities" (''dei magni'') in the theology of the mysteries at Samothrace. Although Caelus is not known to have had a cult at Rome, not all scholars consider him a Greek import given a Latin name; he has been associated with Summanus, the god of nocturnal thunder, as "purely Roman." Caelus begins to appear regularly in Augustan art and in connection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ianuarius
''Ianuarius'', fully ''Mensis Ianuarius'' ("month of Janus"), was the first month of the ancient Roman calendar, from which the Julian and Gregorian month of January derived. It was followed by ''Februarius'' ("February"). In the calendars of the Roman Republic, ''Ianuarius'' had 29 days. Two days were added when the calendar was reformed under Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. In the oldest Roman calendar, which the Romans believed to have been instituted by their legendary founder Romulus, the first month was '' Martius'' ("month of Mars", March), and the calendar year had only ten months. ''Ianuarius'' and ''Februarius'' were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year. It is unclear when the Romans reset the course of the year so that January and February came first. ''Ianuarius'' is conventionally thought to have taken its name from Janus, the dual-faced god of beginnings, openings, passages, gates and doorways, but acc ... [...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] |
Roman Mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period. Roman mythology draws from the mythology of the Italic peoples and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mythology. Roman mythology also draws directly on Greek mythology, potentially as early as Rome's protohistory, but primarily during the Hellenistic period of Greek influence and through the Roman conquest of Greece, via the artistic imitation of Greek literary models by Roman authors. The Romans identified their own gods with those of the ancient Greeks—who were closely historically related in some cases, such as Zeus and Jupiter—and reinterpreted myths about Greek deities under the names of their Roman counterparts. Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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