ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the Roman people, people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as high ...

, agricultural deities were thought to care for every aspect of growing, harvesting, and storing crops. Preeminent among these are such major deities as Ceres and

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

, but a large number of the many

Roman deities The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts, integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and reli ...

known by name either supported farming or were devoted solely to a specific agricultural function. From 272 to 264 BC, four temples were dedicated separately to the agricultural deities

Consus In ancient Roman religion, the god Consus was the protector of grains. He was represented by a grain seed. His altar ''( ara)'' was located at the first ''meta'' of the Circus Maximus. It was either underground, or according to other sources, co ...

, Tellus,

Pales In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. Regarded as male by some sources and female by others, ''Pales'' can be either singular or plural in Latin, and refers at least once to a pair of deities. Pales' fe ...

, and

Vortumnus In Roman mythology, Vertumnus (; also Vortumnus or Vertimnus) is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' (xiv), ...

. The establishment of four such temples within a period of eight years indicates a high degree of concern for stabilizing and developing the productivity of Italy following the

Pyrrhic War The Pyrrhic War ( ; 280–275 BC) was largely fought between the Roman Republic and Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, who had been asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war against the Romans. A ...

Varro, ''De re rustica''

At the beginning of his treatise on

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

gives a list of twelve deities who are vital to agriculture. These make up a conceptual or theological grouping, and are not known to have received cult collectively. They are: *

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

- Tellus * Sol-

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin, Spanish and other languages * Luna (goddess) In Sabine and ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon (Latin ''Lūna'' ). She is often presented as t ...

* Ceres-

Liber In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron de ...

* Robigus-

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

Lympha The Lympha (plural ''Lymphae'') is an ancient Roman deity of fresh water. She is one of twelve agricultural deities listed by Varro as "leaders" (''duces'') of Roman farmers, because "without water all agriculture is dry and poor." The Lymphae ...

Bonus Eventus Bonus Eventus ("Good Outcome") was a divine personification in ancient Roman religion. The Late Republican scholar Varro lists him as one of the twelve deities who presided over agriculture, paired with Lympha, the goddess who influenced the water ...

Vergil, ''Georgics''

In his ''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek language, Greek word , ''geōrgiká'', i.e. "agricultural hings) the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from bei ...

'', a collection of poetry on agrarian themes,

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the ''Eclogues'' ...

gives a list influenced by literary

Hellenization Hellenization or Hellenification is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language, and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonisation often led to the Hellenisation of indigenous people in the Hellenistic period, many of the ...

and Augustan ideology: Tellus - Ara Pacis

*Sol-Luna *Liber-Ceres * Fauni-

Dryads A dryad (; , sing. ) is an oak tree nymph or oak tree spirit in Greek mythology; ''Drys'' (δρῦς) means "tree", and more specifically " oak" in Greek. Today the term is often used to refer to tree nymphs in general. Types Daphnaie Thes ...

*Neptune *

Aristaeus Aristaeus (; ''Aristaios'') was the mythological culture hero credited with the discovery of many rural useful arts and handicrafts, including bee-keeping; He was the son of the huntress Cyrene and Apollo. ''Aristaeus'' ("the best") was a cu ...

* Pan-Minerva *

Triptolemus Triptolemus (), also known as Buzyges (), was a hero of Eleusis (Boeotia), Eleusis in Greek mythology, central to the Eleusinian Mysteries and is worshipped as the inventor and patron of agriculture. Triptolemus is credited with being the fir ...

* Silvanus The poet proposes that the ''

divus The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

be added as a thirteenth.

''Indigitamenta''

Ceres' helper gods

Twelve specialized gods known only by name are invoked for the "cereal rite" ''(sacrum cereale)'' in honor of Ceres and Tellus. The twelve are all male, with names formed from the

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

suffix ''-tor''. Although their gender indicates that they are not aspects of the two goddesses who were the main recipients of the ''sacrum,'' their names are "mere appellatives" for verbal functions. The rite was held just before the Feriae Sementivae. W.H. Roscher lists these deities among the ''

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 deit ...

'', lists of names kept by the pontiffs for invoking specific divine functions. * Vervactor, "He who ploughs" * Reparator, "He who prepares the earth" * Imporcitor, "He who ploughs with a wide furrow" * Insitor, "He who plants seeds" * Obarator, "He who traces the first ploughing" * Occator, "He who harrows" * Serritor, "He who digs" * Subruncinator, "He who weeds" *

Messor ''Messor'' is a genus of myrmicine ants with more than 100 species, all of which are harvester ants; the generic name comes from the Roman god of crops and harvest, Messor. The subterranean colonies tend to be found in open fields and near roa ...

, "He who reaps" * Conuector (Convector), "He who carries the grain" * Conditor, "He who stores the grain" * Promitor, "He who distributes the grain"

Other ''indigitamenta''

The names of other specialized agricultural gods are preserved in scattered sources. * Rusina is a goddess of the fields (from Latin ''rus, ruris''; cf. English "rural" and "rustic").Augustine, ''De Civitate Dei'' 4.8. * Rusor is invoked with Altor by the pontiffs in a sacrifice to the earth deities Tellus and Tellumo. In interpreting the god's function, Varro derives ''Rusor'' from ''rursus'', "again," because of the cyclical nature of agriculture. As a matter of linguistics, the name is likely to derive from either the root ''ru-'', as in

Rumina In ancient Roman religion, Rumina, Rumilia or Rumia, in William Smith, ''A dictionary of greek and roman antiquities'' III, London, Murray, 1895. also known as Diva Rumina, was a goddess who protected breastfeeding mothers, and possibly nursing i ...

, the

breastfeeding Breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the process where breast milk is fed to a child. Infants may suck the milk directly from the breast, or milk may be extracted with a Breast pump, pump and then fed to the infant. The World Health Orga ...

goddess (perhaps from ''ruma,'' "teat"), or ''rus, ruris'' as the male counterpart of Rusina. ''Altor'' is an agent god from the verb ''alo, alere, altus'', "to grow, nurture, nourish". According to Varro, he received '' res divina'' because "all things which are born are nourished from the earth". * Sator (from the same root as ''Insitor'' above), the "sower" god. * Seia, goddess who protects the seed once sown in the earth; also as Fructesea, compounded with ''fructus'', "produce, fruit" * Segesta, goddess who promotes the growth of the seedling. * Hostilina, goddess who makes grain grow evenly. * Lactans or Lacturnus, god who infuses crops with "milk" (sap or juice). * Volutina, goddess who induces "envelopes" (''involumenta'') or leaf sheaths to form. * Nodutus, god who causes the "knot" (Latin ''nodus'') or node to form. * Patelana (''Patelena, Patella''), goddess who opens up ''(pateo, patere)'' the grain, possibly in reference to the emergence of the flag leaf. * Runcina (as in ''Subruncinator'' above), the weeder goddess, or a goddess of mowing. * Messia, the female equivalent of ''Messor'' the reaper, and associated with

Tutelina ''Tutelina'' is a genus of Salticidae, jumping spiders that was first described by Eugène Simon, Eugène Louis Simon in 1901. Species it contains six species, found in Ecuador, Guyana, Canada, and the United States: *''Tutelina elegans'' (Hen ...

. * Noduterensis (compare ''Nodutus'') or Terensis, the god of threshing *

(also ''Tutulina'' or ''Tutilina''), a goddess who watches over the stored grain.

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, ''De Civitate Dei'' 4.8; Tertullian, ''De spectaculis'' 8. * Sterquilinus (also as ''Sterces, Stercutus, Sterculus, Sterculinus''), who

manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nut ...

s the fields.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman agricultural deities *Agricultural Agriculture-related lists Deities, agricultural