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 represent ...

, Sterquilinus — also called Stercutus and Sterculius — was a god of

odor An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

. He may have been equivalent to Picumnus. The ''Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology'' gives the name as Stercutius, a pseudonym of

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 nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...

, under which the latter used to supervise the manuring of the fields. The name Sterquilinus comes from the Latin ''stercus'' meaning "fertilizer" or "manure". His name was altered to avoid confusion. Early Romans were an agrarian civilization and, functionally, most of their original pantheon of gods — as against the later ones they adapted to Greek stereotypes — were of a rural nature with figures such as

Pomona Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa * Pomona, New South Wales, Australia Belize * Pomona, Belize, a municipality in Stann Creek District Mexico ...

, Ceres,

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 ...

Dea Dia Dea Dia (Latin: "Goddess of Daylight", or "Bright Goddess") was a goddess of fertility and growth in ancient Roman religion. She was sometimes identified with Ceres, and sometimes with her Greek equivalent Demeter. She was worshiped during Am ...

; so it was apt to have a god supervising the basics of organic fertilization. Sterquilinus essentially taught the use of manure in agricultural processes. He was not the sole deity of feces on its own; as in, sewage. Modern writers later elaborated upon and exaggerated the significance of Sterquilinus/Sterculius and other "earthy" deities of antiquity, sometimes with moralistic disapproval. One editor of ''An Encyclopædia of Plants'', published in 1836, related that

Sterculius was the god of the privy, from ''stercus'', excrement. It has been well observed by a French author, that the Romans, in the madness of paganism, finished by deifying the most immodest objects and the most disgusting actions. They had the gods Sterculius,
Crepitus Crepitus is "a grating sound or sensation produced by friction between bone and cartilage or the fractured parts of a bone". Various types of crepitus that can be heard in joint pathologies are: *Bone crepitus: This can be heard when two fragme ...
,
Priapus In Greek mythology, Priapus (; grc, Πρίαπος, ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term ...
; and the goddesses Caca, Pertunda, &c, &c. Loudon, John Claudius (1836), editor
''An Encyclopædia of Plants''
London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, pg 815. This quote is from a section on the plant genus ''
Sterculia ''Sterculia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae: subfamily Sterculioideae (previously placed in the now obsolete Sterculiaceae). Members of the genus are colloquially known as tropical chestnuts. ''Sterculia'' ma ...
''.

Popular culture references

Sterculius was featured in " Peace, Love and Understanding" (1992), the second

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dist ...

of '' Beavis and Butt-Head'', where his spirit rose from a

port-a-potty A chemical toilet collects human excreta in a holding tank and uses chemicals to minimize odors. They do not require a connection to a water supply and are used in a variety of situations. These toilets are usually, but not always, self-containe ...

crushed by a

monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock ...

; he is correctly identified by

Butt-Head Butt-Head is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists from the MTV/ Paramount+ animated series ''Beavis and Butt-Head''. He is voiced by the show's creator, Mike Judge. Judge got the name Butt-Head from his university days, when ...

Namesakes

:''The following terms and names are derived from Sterculius:'' *

Sterculiaceae Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plant based on the genus '' Sterculia''. Genera formerly included in Sterculiaceae are now placed in the family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioide ...

, a family of flowering plants **

Sterculioideae Sterculioideae is a subfamily of the family Malvaceae containing evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs. A 2006 molecular study indicated the Sterculioideae was most likely to be a monophyletic group, and that it had four major clades within ...

, a subfamily of the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar o ...

*** ''

Sterculia ''Sterculia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae: subfamily Sterculioideae (previously placed in the now obsolete Sterculiaceae). Members of the genus are colloquially known as tropical chestnuts. ''Sterculia'' ma ...

'', a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae (a reference to unpleasant aroma) * Stercorariidae, the

skua The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called j ...

family of sea birds (the food disgorged by other birds when pursued by skuas was once thought to be excrement) ** Stercorarius a genus in the family Stercorariidae * "Stercoreus" group of the fungus genus ''

Cyathus ''Cyathus'' is a genus of fungi in the Nidulariaceae, a family collectively known as the bird's nest fungi. They are given this name since they resemble tiny bird's nests filled with "eggs", structures large enough to have been mistaken in ...

'', including ''C. stercoreus'' (the splash-cup bird's nest, or dung-loving bird's nest) * ''

Strongyloides stercoralis ''Strongyloides stercoralis'' is a human pathogenic parasitic roundworm causing the disease strongyloidiasis. Its common name in the US is threadworm. In the UK and Australia, however, the term ''threadworm'' can also refer to nematodes of the ...

'', a nematode parasite living in the small intestines of humans * ''

Penestola stercoralis ''Penestola stercoralis'' is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Heinrich Benno Möschler in 1881. It is found in Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , ...

'', a moth in the family

Crambidae The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...

Stercoral ulcer Stercoral ulcer is an ulcer of the colon due to pressure and irritation resulting from severe, prolonged constipation due to a large bowel obstruction, damage to the autonomic nervous system, or stercoral colitis. It is most commonly located in t ...

, sometimes leading to

stercoral perforation Stercoral perforation is the perforation or rupture of the intestine's walls by its internal contents, such as hardened feces or foreign objects. Hardened stools may form in prolonged constipation or other diseases which cause obstruction of tran ...

* Typhlitis stercoralis,

typhlitis Neutropenic enterocolitis is inflammation of the cecum (part of the large intestine) that may be associated with infection. It is particularly associated with neutropenia, a low level of neutrophil, neutrophil granulocytes (the most common form of ...

resulting from retention of feces in the

caecum The cecum or caecum is a pouch within the peritoneum that is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is typically located on the right side of the body (the same side of the body as the appendix, to which it is joined). The w ...

* Stercoraceous vomiting, or

fecal vomiting Fecal vomiting or copremesis is a kind of vomiting wherein the material vomited is of fecal origin. It is a common symptom of gastrojejunocolic fistula and intestinal obstruction in the ileum. Fecal vomiting is often accompanied by gastrointestin ...

* Stercorin, or coprostanol, a compound frequently used as a biomarker for the presence of human feces in the environment *

Stercorite Stercorite is the mineral form of microcosmic salt. The name comes from the Latin "stercus", meaning dung, since the mineral was originally discovered among guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of Seabird, seabi ...

, a mineral originally discovered in

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of Seabird, seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant ...

Stercolith A fecalith is a stone made of feces. It is a hardening of feces into lumps of varying size and may occur anywhere in the intestinal tract but is typically found in the colon. It is also called appendicolith when it occurs in the appendix and is s ...

, a fecolith *

Stercoranism Stercoranism (from Latin , "belonging to dung", from , "dung") is a supposed belief or doctrine attributed reciprocally to the other side by those who in the eleventh century upheld and those who denied that the bread and wine offered in the Euchari ...

, the doctrine that consecrated elements of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

become feces after ingestion * Stercorary, a place, properly secured from the weather, for containing feces * Stercoration, an obsolete English term for manuring with dung * Stercoricolous, a term for organisms inhabiting deposits of excrement *

Sterculic acid Sterculic acid is a cyclopropene fatty acid. It is found in various plants of the genus '' Sterculia'', including being the main component of '' Sterculia foetida'' seed oil. Biosynthesis The biosynthesis of sterculic acid begins with the cyclop ...

, the

cyclopropene fatty acid Cyclopropane fatty acids (CPA) are a subgroup of fatty acids that contain a cyclopropane group. Although they are usually rare, the seed oil from lychee contains nearly 40% CPAs in the form of triglycerides. Biosynthesis CPAs are derived from un ...

8-(2-octylcyclopropenyl) octanoic acid, found in some tropical vegetable oils * Strocoulious - an approximately 23 year old( as of 2020) Red Eared Slider turtle that lives in Halifax Nova Scotia.

References

{{Reflist Agricultural gods Beavis and Butt-Head Roman gods Feces