Supreme Roman god. Greek and Roman gods: what is the difference

in the discipline "Culturology"

on the topic: "Roman gods"

Introduction

1 the religion of ancient Rome

2.Heroes of Roman myth

Conclusion

List of used literature

Until now, the idea is widespread that ancient Roman culture is not original, for the Romans tried to imitate the unattainable examples of classical Greek culture, adopting everything and practically creating nothing of their own. However, the latest research shows the original character of the culture of Ancient Rome, because it is a certain unity that arose as a result of the combination of the original with the borrowed cultural innovations. We should not forget the essential point that the ancient Roman and ancient Greek cultures were formed and developed on the basis of the ancient civil community. Its entire system predetermined the scale of basic values, which, in one way or another, were guided by all fellow citizens. These values ​​included: the idea of ​​the significance and initial unity of the civil community in inextricable link the welfare of the individual with the welfare of the entire collective; the idea of ​​the supreme power of the people; the idea of ​​the closest connection of the civil community with gods and heroes who care about its welfare.

At an early stage of development, during the transition from a primitive communal system to a class society, religion played an exceptional role in the private and public life of the Romans. The Roman religion never had a complete system. Remnants of ancient beliefs coexisted in it with religious ideas borrowed from peoples at a higher stage of cultural development.

In the Roman religion, as in other Italic cults, remnants of totemism have been preserved. This is evidenced by the legends about the she-wolf who nurtured the founders of Rome. The wolf (in Latin the wolf - lupus) was associated, apparently, with the festivities of the Lupercalia and the special Lupercal sanctuary dedicated to Faun, the priestly college of the Luperk, etc. Other deities also had animals dedicated to them. The woodpecker, the wolf and the bull were animals dedicated to Mars, the geese to Juno, etc. It should be noted, however, that the devil of totemistic cults, suggesting the identification of the animal with the ancestor of the genus, was not observed in Rome in the historical era. This stage spiritual development was already passed by the Italic tribes.

Generic cults played a significant role in Roman religion. Individual deities, patrons of clans, acquired general Roman significance and became the personification of various forces of nature.

In the process of historical development, the family became the primary social education in Rome. This process has found its reflection in religion. Each family had its own shrines, its own patron gods, its own cult. The focus of this cult was the hearth, in front of which the pater familias performed all the rituals accompanying any important matter, for example, in front of the hearth, the father of the family declared the newborn his child. The guardians of the house were venerated by the penates, who care about the well-being and well-being of the family. These good spirits are the inhabitants of the house. Outside the house, lars were baked about the family and its property, the altars of which were located at the boundaries of the plots. Each family member had his own "genius", which was considered an expression of the strength of a given person, his energy, abilities, an expression of his whole being and at the same time his guardian.

The genius of the father of the family was revered by all the household. It was genius familiae or genius domus. The mother of the family also had her own genius, who was called Juno. Juno introduced the young wife into the house, she made it easier for the mother to give birth. Every house had many other deities guarding it. Of particular importance was the god of doors Janus, who guarded and guarded the entrance to the house.

The family took care of the deceased ancestors. Ideas about afterlife were not developed among the Romans. After death, the human spirit, according to the beliefs of the Romans, continued to live in the grave where his relatives put the ashes of the deceased and to which they brought food. At first, these offerings were very modest: violets, a pie dipped in wine, a handful of beans. Deceased ancestors, who were cared for by their descendants, were good deities - metas. If the dead were not cared for, they became evil and revengeful forces - lemurs. The genius of the ancestors was embodied in the father of the family, whose power (potestas) received, thus, religious justification.

The range of beliefs related to family life and ancestral religion, as well as ideas about the afterlife, characterize Roman religion as an essentially animistic religion. A feature of Roman animism was its abstractness and impersonality. The genius of the house, penates and lars, mana and lemurs are impersonal forces, spirits on which the well-being of the family depends and on which one can influence by prayers and sacrifices.

The agricultural life of the Romans was reflected in the worship of the forces of nature, but the original Roman religion is far from anthropomorphism, it was not peculiar to the personification of nature in the form of deities endowed with human qualities, and in this respect it was the complete opposite of the Greek religion. Especially characteristic of Roman animism were ideas about special mystical forces inherent in natural phenomena; these forces are the deities (numina) that can benefit and harm a person. Processes occurring in nature, such as the growth of a seed or the ripening of a fruit, were represented by the Romans in the form of special deities. With the development of public and political life it has become a habit to deify such abstract concepts as hope, honor, harmony, etc. Roman deities are thus abstract and impersonal.

Of the many gods, those stood out who acquired significance for the entire community. The Romans were in constant interaction with other peoples. From them they borrowed some religious ideas, but they themselves, in turn, influenced the religion of their neighbors.

One of the ancient Roman gods was Janus. From a deity of doors, a vigilant gatekeeper, he turned into a deity of all origins, the predecessor of Jupiter. He was portrayed as two-faced and subsequently the beginning of the world was connected with him.

The trinity appeared relatively early: Jupiter, Mars, Quirin. Jupiter was revered as the deity of the sky by almost all Italians. Jupiter was associated with the idea of ​​a supreme deity, the father of the gods. His name is subsequently joined by the epithet pater (father), and under the influence of the Etruscan. he turns into a supreme deity. His name is accompanied by the epithets "Best" and "Greatest" (Optimus Maximus). In the classical era, Mars was the deity of war, the patron and source of Roman power, but in distant times he was an agrarian deity - the genius of spring vegetation. Quirin was his double.

The cult of Vesta, the guardian and protector of the hearth, was one of the most revered in Rome.

Borrowing from the cycle of religious beliefs of neighboring tribes begins quite early. One of the first to be worshiped was the Latin goddess Tsaana - the patroness of women, the goddess of the moon, as well as the annually born vegetation. The Temple of Diana on Aventine was built, according to legend, under Servius Tullius. Relatively late, another Latin goddess began to be worshiped - Venus - the patroness of gardens and vegetable gardens and at the same time the deity of the abundance and prosperity of nature.

A major event in the history of Roman religion was the construction of a temple on the Capitol dedicated to the trinity: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Tradition attributes the construction of the Etruscan temple to the Tarquinia, and its consecration dates back to the first year of the Republic. Since that time, the Romans have images of the gods.

At first, Juno was also the original Italic goddess, she was considered a genius-guardian of women, was adopted in Etruria under the name of Uni, and after returning to Rome, she became one of the revered goddesses. Minerva was also an Italic goddess borrowed by the Etruscans; in Rome, she became the patroness of crafts.

Along with the Capitoline Trinity, the worship of other deities passed from the Etruscans to the Romans. Some of them were originally patrons of individual Etruscan clans, then acquired national significance. So, for example, Saturn was originally revered in the Etruscan family of Satrians, then received general recognition. Among the Romans, he was revered as a deity of crops, his name was associated with the Latin word sator - sower. He was the first to give people food and originally ruled the world; his time was a golden age for people. At the festival of Saturnalia, everyone became equal: there were no masters, no servants, no slaves. The legend that was created subsequently was, invisibly, a comprehension of the holiday of Saturnalia.

The volcano was revered at first in the Etruscan genus Velcha-Volca. In Rome, he was the deity of fire, and then the patron saint of blacksmithing.

From the Etruscans, the Romans borrowed the ritual and that peculiar system of superstitions and fortune-telling, which was known as disciplina etrusca. But already in the early era, they influenced the Romans and Greek religious ideas. They were borrowed from the Greek cities of Campania. Greek ideas about certain deities were combined with Latin names. Ceres (Ceres - food, fruits) was associated with the Greek Demeter and became the goddess of the plant kingdom, and in addition, the goddess of the dead. The Greek god of winemaking, wine and fun, Dionysus, became known as Lieber, and the Greek Kora, daughter of Demeter, became Libera. Trinity: Ceres, Lieber, and Libera were Greek-worshiped and were plebeian deities, while the temples of the Capitoline Trinity and Vesta were patrician religious centers. From the Greeks, the veneration of Apollo, Hermes (in Rome - Mercury) and other deities passes to Rome.

The Roman pantheon did not remain closed. The Romans did not refuse to accept other gods into him. So, repeatedly during wars, they tried to find out what deities their opponents pray to in order to attract these gods to their side.

A number of holidays were associated with family and social life, with the commemoration of the dead, with an agricultural calendar. Then there are special military holidays and, finally, the holidays of artisans, merchants, seafarers.

Simultaneously with the construction of the Capitoline Temple, or shortly thereafter, games (ludi) began to cope with the Etruscan model in Rome, which initially consisted of rides in chariots, as well as competitions of athletes.

The most ancient stages of religious development are reflected in Roman religious rites and customs. A number of religious prohibitions date back to the oldest taboos. So, during the divine service to Sylvan (the deity of the forest), women could not be present; on the festivities of the Good Goddess (Bona dea), on the contrary, men were not allowed. Some priestly positions were associated with a wide variety of prohibitions: Jupiter's flamin could not look at an armed army, wear a ring and a belt; violation of certain prohibitions, such as the vow of celibacy by virgins-vestals, was punishable by death.

The basis of the ethical canon of the Roman, and the dominant feature that determines the heroism of a historical person is his willingness to act for the good of the state. The pathos of Roman culture is the pathos, first of all, of the Roman citizen.

An important component of the Roman myth was the idealization of poverty and the condemnation of wealth. In a state that waged continuous wars, accumulated unheard-of treasures and made the social advancement of a person directly dependent on his qualifications, i.e. from his ability to enrich himself, the condemnation of money-grubbing must have looked unnatural nonsense. It should have been, but apparently it didn't. The high qualification was not only an advantage, but also the obligation of a person who was exacted by fate to give more to the state - the deprivation of a state horse, for example, which required large expenses, nevertheless, was perceived not as a relief, but as a shame.

From the moment the wealth of Rome became an obvious factor in state life until the very end of the Republic, laws were periodically passed making it mandatory to limit personal spending. Their repetition shows that they were not performed, but something made them systematically accept. Moralists and historians praised the ancient heroes of Rome for their poverty; it was customary to say, in particular, that their land allotment was seven yugers. Against the background of estates with an area of ​​thousands of yugers, this looked nothing more than an edifying fable; but when the colonies were being withdrawn, as it turns out, the size of the plots provided was really focused on approximately the same seven yugers, i.e. this figure was not fictitious, but reflected a certain norm - psychological and at the same time real.

Apparently, the repeatedly attested demonstrative refusals of the commanders to use the spoils of war for personal enrichment are indisputable - indifference could, therefore, play the role of not only an ideal, but in certain cases also a regulator of practical behavior - one was inseparable from the other.

It is understandable that although Rome transformed from a small city-state into a gigantic empire, its people have kept the old ceremonies and customs almost unchanged. In light of this, it is not surprising that massive irritation caused by the shocking demonstration of wealth, concluded in the use of lektik (stretcher) by some Romans. It is rooted not so much in politics or ideology as in those innermost, but indisputably living layers. public conscience, where the age-old and on the surface the outlived historical experience of the people was molded into forms of everyday behavior, into unaccountable tastes and antipathies, in the tradition of everyday life.

At the end of the republic and in the 1st century. AD fantastic sums of money were circulating in Rome. The emperor Vitellius "ate" 900 million sesterces in a year, the temporary worker of Nero and Claudius Vibius Crispus was richer than the emperor Augustus. Money was the main value in life. But the general idea of ​​morality and the proper was still rooted in natural communal forms of life, and money wealth it was desirable, but at the same time it was somehow unclean, shameful. Augustus' wife Livia herself spun wool in the atria of the imperial palace, the princesses passed laws against luxury, Vespasian saved a penny, Pliny praised ancient thrift, and eight Syrian Lecticarii, of which each had to cost no less than half a million sesterces, insulted those laid down in time immemorial, but understandable to everyone ideas about decent and acceptable.

It's not just about wealth. Freeborn Roman citizen spent most of their time in the crowd that filled the Forum, basilicas, baths gathered in an amphitheater or circus, fled to a religious ceremony, seated at tables during a collective meal. Such being in the crowd was not an external and forced inconvenience, on the contrary, it was felt as a value, as a source of acute collective positive emotion, for it galvanized the feeling of communal solidarity and equality, which had almost disappeared from real social relations, insulted daily and hourly, but nesting in the very the root of Roman life, which stubbornly did not disappear, and even more so powerfully demanded compensatory satisfaction.

Dry and spiteful Cato the Elder melted in soul during the collective meals of the religious college; August, in order to increase its popularity, revived meetings, ceremonies and joint meals of residents of urban areas; the rural cult of the "good border", which united for several days in January, in the interval between field work, neighbors, slaves and masters, survived and survived throughout the entire early empire; circus games and mass performances were regarded as part of the people's business and were regulated by officials. Attempts to stand out from the crowd and stand above it insulted this archaic and enduring feeling of Roman, polis, civil equality, and was associated with the mores of Eastern despotism. The hatred of Juvenal, Martial, their compatriots and contemporaries towards the upstarts, the rich, the proud, floating in open lectures above the heads of their fellow citizens, looking at them "from the height of their soft pillows", grew from here.

The situation is exactly the same with another side of the Roman myth. Wars have always been fought here and were of a predatory nature, treaties and the right of those who voluntarily surrendered to preserve their lives were often not respected - such facts have been attested repeatedly and are beyond doubt. But Scipio the Elder executed the tribunes who allowed the plunder of the surrendered city, and deprived the whole army of the booty; the Roman general, who achieved victory by poisoning the wells in the enemy's lands, was surrounded by general contempt for the rest of his life; no one began to buy slaves captured during the capture of the Italian city. The successful commander considered it obligatory for himself to build for hometown a water supply system, a temple, a theater or a library, cases of evasion from very burdensome duties in city government are noted only from the II century. AD, and even then mainly in the Greek-speaking east. The glorified Republic was robbed, but the result of a Roman's life left for centuries was cursus, i.e. a list of what he achieved in the service of the same Republic, etc.

The work of Titus Livius "The History of Rome from the Founding of the City" is a rich source of legends and reliable information about Roman history. This work can be considered an almost epic work, as it contains information about most of the historical figures known to this day. The book is replete with those pages that have forever entered the culture of Europe and which even today take for the soul: large, sharply outlined figures - the first consul Brutus, Camille, Scipio the Elder, Fabius Maximus; scenes full of deep drama - the suicide of Lucretia, the defeat and shame of the Romans in the Cavdin Gorge, the execution by the consul Manlius of his son who violated military discipline; for a long time memorable speeches - the tribune of Canulei to the people, the consular (as they called in Rome a man who had once been consul) Flamininus to the Hellenes, the commander Scipio to the legions.

As an example, Titus Livy's description of the enmity between the Romans and the Sabines, caused by the abduction of women, can be cited. One of the widespread epic stories describing the heroism of women who prevented the battle between the two tribes: “Here are the Sabine women, because of whom the war began, loosening their hair and tearing their clothes, forgetting women's fear in trouble, bravely rushed right under the spears and arrows across the fighters , in order to separate the two systems, to calm the anger of the warring ones, turning with a prayer first to the fathers, then to the husbands: let them not stain them - father-in-law and sons-in-law - themselves with unholy shed blood, do not defile the offspring of their daughters and wives with parricide. “If you are ashamed of the property among yourself, if the marriage union is repugnant to you, turn your anger on us: we are the cause of the war, the cause of the wounds and death of our husbands and fathers; we'd rather die than be left to live without one or the other, as widows or orphans. " Not only the warriors were moved, but also the leaders; everything suddenly fell silent and stood still. Then the leaders went out to conclude a treaty, and not only reconciled, but made one of the two states. They decided to reign together, and made Rome the center of all power. So the city doubled, and so that the Sabines would not be offended, in their city of Kuram, citizens receive the name of "quirits". In memory of this battle, the place where the Curtius horse, having got out of the swamp, stepped on a solid bottom, is nicknamed the Curtius Lake. The war, so woeful, ended suddenly with a joyful peace, and that is why the Sabine women became even more dear to their husbands and parents, and above all to Romulus himself, and when he began to divide the people into thirty curiae, he gave the curiae the names of Sabine women. ”

Thus, it is obvious that the Roman heroic epic was formed under the influence of the ideology of strengthening the state, the steady increase in the power of Rome.

At the end of the 5th century. Ancient Rome as a world empire ceased to exist, but its cultural heritage did not die. Today it is an essential ingredient in Western culture. Roman cultural heritage took shape and was embodied in the thinking, languages ​​and institutions of the Western world.

The Romans were originally pagans, worshiping Greek and, to a lesser extent, Etruscan gods. Later, the mythological period was replaced by a fascination with pagan cults. Finally, at the end of evolution, the victory was won by Christianity, which in the IV century, after the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern, took on the concrete outlines of Catholicism. The oldest religious ideas of the Romans were associated with agricultural cults of deification of nature, the cult of ancestors and others. magic rituals performed by the head of the family. Then the state, taking upon itself the organization and conduct of rituals, created an official religion, which changed the previous ideas about the gods. The ethics of citizenship became the focus of the Roman epic.

A certain influence of ancient Roman culture can be seen both in the classical architecture of public buildings and in the scientific nomenclature, constructed from the roots of the Latin language; many of its elements are difficult to isolate, so firmly they entered the flesh and blood of everyday culture, art and literature. We are no longer talking about the principles of classical Roman law, which underlies the legal systems of many Western states and catholic church, built on the basis of the Roman administrative system.

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2. Yerasov BS Social Culturology: In 2 hours Part 1 - M .: AO Aspect Press, 1994. - 384 p.

3. History of Ancient Rome / Ed. IN AND. Kuzitsin. - M., 1982.

4. Knabe G.S. Ancient Rome - history and modernity. - M., 1986.

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7. Culturology / Ed. A.N. Markova M., 1998

8. Polikarpov V.S. Lectures on cultural studies. M .: "Gardariki", 1997.-344 p.

9. Illustrated history of religions. Vol. 1.2 - M .: Publishing house of the Valaam Monastery, 1992.

10. Ponomareva G.M. and other Fundamentals of cultural studies. - M., 1998.

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Gods of Ancient Rome

Introduction

Like the Bible, the myths and legends of antiquity had a tremendous impact on the development of culture, literature and art. Back in the Renaissance, writers, artists, sculptors began to widely use the plots of the legends of the ancient Romans in their work. Therefore, gradually myths have become an integral part of European culture, as, in fact, the masterpieces created based on their motives. “Perseus and Andromeda” by Rubens, “Landscape by Polyphemus” by Poussin, “Danae” and “Flora” by Rembrandt, “Meeting of Apollo and Diana” by K. Bryullov, “The Abduction of Europe” by V. Serov, “Poseidon Carrying Through the Sea” by I. Aivazovsky and dr.

I. What did the Romans believe?

The oldest Roman religion was fundamentally different from the Greek. The sober Romans, whose wretched imagination did not create a folk epic like the Iliad and Odyssey, did not know mythology either. Their gods are lifeless. These were characters vague, without genealogy, without marital and family ties, which the Greek gods united into one big family. Often they did not even have real names, but only nicknames, as it were, nicknames that define the boundaries of their power and actions. They did not have any legends told. This absence of legends, in which we now see a known lack of creative imagination, was considered by the ancients to be the virtues of the Romans, who were reputed to be the most religious people. It was from the Romans that the words came and subsequently spread in all languages: religion - worship of imaginary supernatural forces and cult - meaning, figuratively, “to honor”, ​​“to please” and implying the performance of religious rites. The Greeks were amazed by this religion, which had no myths denigrating the honor and dignity of the gods. The world of the Roman gods did not know Kronos, who mutilated his father and devoured his children, did not know crimes and immorality.

The earliest Roman religion reflected the simplicity of hardworking farmers and shepherds, completely absorbed in the daily affairs of their humble life. Lowering his head to the furrow that his wooden plow was plowing, and to the meadows in which his cattle grazed, ancient roman did not feel the desire to turn his gaze to the stars. He did not revere neither the sun, nor the moon, nor all those celestial phenomena that, with their secrets, excited the imagination of other Indo-European peoples. He had enough of the secrets contained in the most mundane, everyday affairs and in the immediate environment. If any of the Romans bypassed ancient Italy, he would see people praying in groves, altars crowned with flowers, grottoes decorated with greenery, trees decorated with horns and skins of animals whose blood irrigated the ant growing under them, hills surrounded by special reverence, stones anointed with oil.

Everywhere a deity was seen, and it was not for nothing that one of the Latin writers said that in this country it is easier to meet a god than a man.

According to the Roman, human life in all, even the smallest, manifestations was subject to power and was under the tutelage of various gods, so that a person at every step depended on some higher power. Along with such gods as Jupiter and Mars, whose power grew more and more, there were innumerable less significant gods, spirits, who took care of various actions in life and economy. Their influence concerned only certain points in the cultivation of the land, the growth of cereals, the raising of livestock, beekeeping and human life. The Vatican opened the mouth of the child for the first cry, Kunina was the patroness of the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby's food, Potina and Edusa taught the child to drink and eat after weaning, Cuba watched his transfer from the cradle to bed, Ossipago made sure that the baby's bones heal properly , Statan taught him to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak, Iterduka and Domiduka were leading the child when he left the house for the first time.

All these deities were completely faceless. The Roman did not dare to assert with complete certainty that he knew the real name of a god, or that he could discern whether it was a god or a goddess. In his prayers, he also kept the same caution and said: "Jupiter the Most Good Greatest, or if you want to be called by some other name." And when offering the sacrifice, he said: "Are you God or a goddess, whether you are a husband or a woman." On the Palatine (one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was located) there is still an altar on which there is not any name, but only an evasive formula: "To God or a goddess, husband or woman," and the gods themselves had to decide to whom the sacrifices offered on this altar belong. The Greek did not understand such an attitude towards the deity. He knew perfectly well that Zeus was a man and Hera was a woman, and he did not doubt it for a second.

The Roman gods did not descend to earth and did not appear to people as willingly as the Greeks. They kept away from a person and even if they wanted to warn him about something, they never appeared directly: in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of temples, or in the silence of the fields, sudden mysterious exclamations were heard, with the help of which God gave a warning signal. It never came to closeness between God and man.

Odysseus bickering with Athena, Diomedes fighting Aphrodite, all the quarrels and intrigues of the Greek heroes with Olympus were not clear to the Roman. If, during a sacrifice or prayer, a Roman covered his head with a cloak, he probably did this not only in order to concentrate more, but also out of fear of seeing God if he wanted to be nearby.

In ancient Rome, all knowledge about the gods was essentially reduced to how they should be honored and at what moment to ask them for help. A thoroughly and precisely developed system of sacrifices and rituals constituted the entire religious life of the Romans. They imagined the gods to be like praetors (Praetor is one of the highest officials in ancient Rome. The praetors were in charge of court cases.) And were convinced that, like the judge, the one who did not understand the official formalities lost the case. Therefore, there were books in which everything was provided for and where it was possible to find prayers for all occasions. The rules had to be strictly observed, any violation nullified the results of the service.

The Roman was always in fear that he did not perform the rituals as they should. The slightest omission in prayer, some unscheduled movement, a sudden hitch in a religious dance, damage to a musical instrument during the sacrifice was enough for the same ritual to be repeated anew. There were times when thirty times everything started all over again until the sacrifice was performed flawlessly. When making a prayer containing a request, the priest had to take care not to omit any expression or say it in an inappropriate place. Therefore, someone read, and the priest repeated after him word for word, the reader was assigned an assistant who monitored whether everything was read correctly. A special servant of the priest watched that those present remained silent, and at the same time the trumpeter blew with all his might into the trumpet so that nothing could be heard except the words of the prayer being spoken.

All sorts of fortune-telling, which among the Romans were of great importance in public and private life, were just as carefully and thoroughly performed. Before each important matter, they first recognized the will of the gods, manifested in various signs, which the priests, called augurs, were able to observe and explain. Thunder and lightning, a sudden sneezing, the fall of an object in a sacred place, an epileptic seizure in a public square - all such phenomena, even the most insignificant, but happened at an unusual or important moment, acquired the meaning of a divine omen. The most favorite was fortune-telling by the flight of birds. When the senate or consuls had to make any decision, declare war or proclaim peace, promulgate new laws, they first of all turned to the Augurs with the question of whether the time was right for this. Augur sacrificed and prayed, and at midnight he walked to the Capitol, the most sacred hill in Rome, and, facing south, looked at the sky. At dawn, birds flew by, and according to which side they flew from, what they were and how they behaved, the augur predicted whether the planned business would be successful or fail. So fastidious chickens ruled the powerful republic, and the military leaders in the face of the enemy had to obey their whims.

This primitive religion was called the religion of Numa, after the second of the seven Roman kings, who was credited with establishing the most important religious positions. She was very simple, devoid of any pomp, knew no statues or temples. In its pure form, it did not last long. The religious ideas of neighboring peoples penetrated into it, and now it is difficult to recreate its appearance, hidden by later layers.

Alien gods easily took root in Rome, since the Romans had a custom, after the conquest of a city, to resettle the gods of the defeated to their capital in order to earn their favor and protect themselves from their wrath.

This is how, for example, the Romans invoked the Carthaginian gods. The priest proclaimed a solemn incantation: “You are a goddess or a god who extends guardianship over the people or state of Carthage, you who patronize this city, I offer prayers to you, I pay homage to you, I ask you for mercy to leave the people and state of the Carthaginians to leave their temples to be gone from them. Come to me in Rome. May our temples and the city be more pleasant for you. Be merciful and supportive of me and the Roman people and our soldiers as we want it and as we understand it. If you do so, I promise that a temple will be erected for you and games will be instituted in your honor. ”

Before the Romans directly confronted the Greeks, who had such an overwhelming influence on their religious beliefs, another people, territorially closer, revealed their spiritual superiority to the Romans. These were the Etruscans, a people of unknown origin, whose amazing culture has survived to this day in thousands of monuments and does not appeal to us incomprehensible language inscriptions, unlike any other language in the world. They occupied the northwestern part of Italy, from the Apennines to the sea, - the country

fertile valleys and sunny hills, running down to the Tiber, the river that connected them with the Romans. Rich and powerful, the Etruscans from the height of their fortress cities, standing on steep and inaccessible mountains, ruled over vast expanses of land. Their kings dressed in purple, sat on chairs lined with ivory, and were surrounded by an honorary guard, armed with bunches of roses with axes stuck in them. The Etruscans had a navy and for a very long time maintained trade relations with the Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy. From them, they borrowed writing and many religious concepts, which, however, altered in their own way.

Little can be said about the Etruscan gods. Among the large number of them, a trinity stands out above others: Tini, the god of thunder, like Jupiter, Uni, the queen goddess, like Juno, and the winged goddess Menfra, corresponding to the Latin Minerva. It is like a prototype of the famous Capitoline Trinity. With superstitious piety, the Etruscans revered the souls of the dead as cruel creatures, thirsty for blood. On the graves, the Etruscans made human sacrifices, the gladiatorial battles later adopted by the Romans were at first part of the cult of the dead among the Etruscans. They believed in the existence of a real hell, where Harun delivers souls - an old man of half-beast appearance, with wings, armed with a heavy hammer. On the painted walls of the Etruscan graves passes a whole line of such demons: Mantus, the king of hell, also winged, with a crown on his head and a torch in his hand; Tuhulkha, a monster with an eagle's beak, donkey ears and snakes on its head instead of hair, and many others. In an ominous line, they surround unhappy, intimidated human souls.

Etruscan legends say that once in the vicinity of the city of Tarquinia, when the peasants were plowing the land, a man with the face and figure of a child, but with gray hair and a beard like an old man, emerged from a wet furrow. His name was Tages. When a crowd gathered around him, he began to preach the rules of fortune telling and religious ceremonies. The king of those places ordered to compile a book from the commandments of Tages. Since then, the Etruscans believed that they knew better than other peoples how to interpret divine signs and predictions. Fortune-telling was done by special priests - haruspics. When an animal was sacrificed, they carefully examined its insides: the shape and position of the heart, liver, lungs - and, according to certain rules, predicted the future. They knew what each lightning meant, by its color they recognized from which god it came. The huge and complex system of supernatural signs was transformed by the haruspics into a whole science, which was later adopted by the Romans.

II. Cult of the Dead and Domestic Deities

The spirits of the ancestors were called by the Romans mans - pure, good spirits. In this name there was more flattery than than real faith in the kindness of the souls of the dead, which at all times and among all peoples caused fear. Each family honored the souls of their own ancestors, and on May 9, 11 and 13, Lemuria, the feast of the dead, was held everywhere. Then it was believed that these days souls leave the graves and wander around the world like vampires, who were called lemurs or larvas. In every house, the father of the family got up at midnight and walked barefoot around all the rooms, driving away the spirits. After that, he washed his hands in spring water, put black beans in his mouth, which he then threw across the house, without looking back. At the same time, he repeated the incantation nine times: "I give it to you and I redeem myself and my loved ones with these beans." Invisible spirits followed him and collected the beans scattered on the ground. After that, the head of the family washed himself with water again, took a copper basin and beat it with all his might, asking that the spirits leave the house.

February 21 was another holiday called Feralii, on this day a meal was prepared for the dead. Spirits do not demand too much, the tender memory of those living is more pleasant to them than abundant sacrifices. As a gift, they can bring a tile with a withered wreath, bread soaked in wine, some violets, a few grains of millet, a pinch of salt. The most important thing is to pray to them with all your heart. And you should remember about them. Once during the war, they forgot to hold Feralia. A pestilence began in the city, and at night the souls in whole crowds left the graves and loudly cried the streets. As soon as sacrifices were brought to them, they returned to the land and the pestilence stopped. The land of the dead was Orc, like Hades among the Greeks - deep underground caves in inaccessible mountains. The lord of this kingdom of shadows was also called. We do not know his image, since he never had one, as he had no temples and no cult. However, on the slope of the Capitol was found the temple of another god of death, Veyovis, whose name seemed to mean the denial of the beneficial power of Jupiter (Jovis). In close relationship with the spirits of the ancestors are geniuses representing vitality men, and Juno - something like the guardian angels of women. Each person, depending on gender, is fond of his genius or his juno. At the moment a person is born, a genius enters him, and at the hour of death he leaves, after which he becomes one of the manas. A genius observes a person, helps him in life, as he can and knows how, and in difficult times it is useful to turn to him as to the closest protector.

Some, however, believed that, being born, a person receives two geniuses: one inclines him to good, the other directs him to evil, and depending on which of them he follows, a blessed fate or punishment awaits a person after death. However, this was already more a theological teaching than a universal faith.

On birthdays, everyone made a sacrifice to their genius. Genius was portrayed as a snake or a Roman citizen, in a toga, with a cornucopia.

Laras belong to the same family of patron spirits, who take care of the field and the peasant's house. In Rome, there was no cult more popular than the cult of the Lares. Everyone in his home prayed to them and venerated these good gods, as he attributed to them all the success, health and happiness of the family. Leaving, the Roman said goodbye to them; returning, he greeted them first of all. From childhood they looked at him from their chapel (in fact, it was a special cabinet in which images of lares were kept. They called it - lararium), installed near the hearth, were present at every dinner, shared their joys and sorrows with all the household. As soon as the family sat down at the table, the hostess of the house first of all separated a portion of the laras; on special days dedicated to the laras, a wreath of fresh flowers was sacrificed to them. At first purely family, the cult of Lars then spread to the city, its areas and the entire state. At street crossroads, there were chapels of local Lars, and local residents treated them with great respect. Every year, in the first days of January, a holiday of local lars was celebrated. It was a great joy for the common people, as comedians and musicians, athletes and singers took part in the celebration. The holiday was fun, and more than one jug of wine drank to the health of the Lars.

In the same chapel near the hearth, beneficent deities, the Penates, also lived with the Lars. They took care of the pantry.

In order to understand the primary cult of Lares and Penates, it is necessary to imagine the most ancient Roman house, a farmer's hut with one main room - the atrium. There was a hearth in the atrium. They cooked food on it, and at the same time he warmed the household members, who gathered mainly in this room. There was a table in front of the hearth, around which everyone sat down to eat.

At breakfast, lunch and dinner for the penates, a bowl of food was placed on the hearth in gratitude for the household wealth, of which they were the guardians. Thanks to this sacrifice, all dishes also became, as it were, sacred, and if, for example, even a crumb of bread fell to the ground, it should be carefully lifted and thrown into the fire. Since the state was considered a large family, there were also penates and states, honored in the same church with Vesta.

Akin to the very name of the Greek Hestia, Vesta was the personification of the family hearth. She was revered in every home and in every city, but most of all in Rome itself, where her temple was, as it were, the center of the capital, and therefore of the entire state. The cult of Vesta was the oldest and one of the most important. The temple, together with the grove, was located on the slope of the Palatine Hill near the Forum, at the very Via Sacra - the sacred road along which the triumphal processions of the victorious leaders passed. Forum - a square, a market, in general a place where a lot of people gathered; center of economic and political life. In Rome such a center

became the Roman Forum (Forum Romanum). Nearby was the so-called atrium of Vesta, or, the monastery of the Vestals. Nearby was the dwelling of the high priest - Regia, or "royal palace". It was called “the royal palace” because the king (Rex) once lived there, and as a high priest, he was at the same time the direct head of the Vestals.

The temple itself, small, rounded, resembled in its appearance the primitive clay shacks of the most ancient, still rural inhabitants of Rome. It was divided into two parts. In one, the eternal flame of Vesta blazed, this part was accessible to everyone during the day, but at night it was impossible for men to enter. Another part, as it were, the "holy of holies", was hidden from human eyes, and no one really knew what was there. Some mysterious shrines were kept there, on which the happiness of Rome depended. In the temple itself, there was no statue of Vesta, it was in the red door, modeled on the Greek Hestia.

Six vestals served in the temple. They were chosen by the high priest (pontifex maximus) from the best aristocratic families. The girl entered the monastery between 6 and 10 years of age and remained in it for thirty years, maintaining her innocence and renouncing the world.

For the first ten years she was taught all kinds of rituals, for the next ten years she served in the temple, for the last ten years she taught new ones. Thirty years later, the vestal could leave the monastery, return to life, get married and start her own family. However, this happened extremely rarely - according to everyone's conviction, a vestal who left the temple would not find happiness in life. therefore, most of them preferred to remain in the monastery until the end of their days, enjoying the respect of their friends and society.

The main task of the Vestals was to keep the eternal flame on the altar of the goddess. They watched him day and night, all the time they put new chips so that he would never fade away. If the fire was extinguished, it was not only a crime of a negligent vestal, but foreshadowed an inevitable misfortune for the state.

Re-lighting the fire was a very ceremonial procedure. Fire was produced by rubbing two sticks against each other, that is, in the most primitive way, dating back to the Stone Age and now found only among peoples lost in the far corners of the earth, where civilization has not yet reached. The cult of Vesta strictly preserved the forms of life of ancient Italy, therefore all the tools in the temple - a knife, an ax - had to be bronze, not iron. Vestals did not have the right to leave the city, they had to be always close to the sacred fire. The priestess, through whose fault the fire was extinguished, was flogged to death. An equally severe punishment befell the vestal who violated the vow of chastity. She was seated in a tightly closed palanquin (covered stretcher) so that no one could see or hear her, and carried through the Forum. When the palanquin approached, passers-by stopped silently and, bowing their heads, followed the procession to the place of execution. It was near one of the gates of the city, where a recess was already dug, wide enough to accommodate a bed and a table. (The Vestals who broke the dinner of virginity were walled up alive in an earthen rampart near the Kollinsky gate in the eastern part of the city.) A lamp was lit on the table and some bread, water, milk and olive oil... The lictor opened the palanquin, while the high priest prayed, raising his hands to the sky. (Lictors are ministers, as well as an honorary guard of senior officials; they were armed with fascia (a bundle of rods) with axes stuck in them.)

Having finished the prayer, he took out the condemned woman, covered with a cloak so that those present could not see her faces, and ordered her to go down the stairs to the prepared recess. The staircase was pulled out, the niche was walled up. usually the vestal died after a few days. Sometimes the family managed to free her on the sly, but of course such a freed vestal was forever removed from public life.

The Vestals were held in great respect. If one of them went out into the street, the lictors marched ahead of her, as in front of high officials. Vestals were given places of honor in theaters and circuses, and in court their testimony had the force of an oath. A criminal led to death, meeting one of these girls dressed in white, could fall at her feet, and if the vestal proclaimed pardon, he was released. The prayers of the Vestal virgins were emphasized. They prayed daily for the success and integrity of the Roman state. On the ninth day of June, on the solemn holiday of Vestalius, the Roman matrons made a pilgrimage to the temple of Vesta, carrying modest sacrifices in earthenware. On this day, the mills were decorated with flowers and wreaths, and the bakers were noisy.

III. Gods. Ancient italic deities

The mighty ruler of the sky, the personification of sunlight, thunderstorms, storms, throwing lightning in anger, striking those who disobey his divine will - such was the supreme ruler of the gods Jupiter. His abode was located on high mountains, from there he embraced the whole world with his gaze, the fate of individual people and nations depended on him. Jupiter expressed his will with thunderclaps, the flash of lightning, the flight of birds (especially the appearance of an eagle, dedicated to him); sometimes he sent prophetic dreams in which he revealed the future. The priests of the formidable god - the pontiffs performed especially solemn ceremonies in those places where lightning struck. This site was fenced off so that no one could walk on it and thus desecrate the sacred place. The earth was carefully collected and buried together with a piece of flint - a symbol of lightning. The priest erected an altar on this place and sacrificed a two-year-old sheep. A temple was erected to Jupiter, a powerful defender who bestowed victory and rich military booty, on the Capitol Hill in Rome, where the commanders, returning from victorious campaigns, brought the armor of the defeated leaders and the most valuable treasures taken from the enemies. Jupiter simultaneously patronized people and sanctified their relationships. He severely punished oath-breakers and violators of the custom of hospitality. In honor of this highest god of all ancient Latium, general festivities were held several times a year - at the beginning of sowing and at the end of the harvest, at the harvest of grapes. In Rome, the Capitoline and Great Games were held annually with equestrian competitions and competitions for athletes. The greatest and most perspicacious Jupiter, who controls the destinies of the world and people, was dedicated to the most important days years - ides of each month (13-15 days). The name of Jupiter was mentioned in any significant business - public or private. They swore by his name, and the oath was considered inviolable, for the swift and irritable god punished the wicked inexorably. Since the main features of the Italic Jupiter were very similar to the image of the supreme deity of the Greeks Zeus, with the strengthening of the influence of Greek culture, elements of Greek mythology were added to the Roman religion. And many legends associated with Zeus were transferred to Jupiter. His father began to be called Saturn, the god of crops, who first gave people food and ruled them during the golden age, like the Greek Kronos. Thus, the wife of Saturn, the goddess of the rich harvest Ops, began to be considered the mother of Jupiter, and since when addressing the goddess it was prescribed to touch the earth, her image naturally merged with the image of the goddess Rhea, the wife of Kronos.

Particularly bright were the festivities in honor of Saturn and his wife, Saturnalia, which began on December 17 after the end of the harvest and lasted seven days. During these festivities, people sought to revive the memory of the golden age of the reign of Saturn, when, according to the Roman poet Ovid, “spring stood forever” and “the earth brought harvest without plowing”, “people safely lived in peace.” Indeed, on the days of Saturnalia, people spent their time in carefree fun, games, dances, feasts. They made gifts to their loved ones and even slaves, having freed them from work, put them at the table with them and treated them to them, believing that they were paying tribute to the once existing equality between people.

The main gods in Ancient Hellas recognized those that belonged to the younger generation of celestials. Once it took away the power over the world from the older generation, who personified the main universal forces and elements (see about this in the article The Origin of the Gods of Ancient Greece). The gods of the older generation are usually called titans... Having defeated the titans, the younger gods, led by Zeus, settled on Mount Olympus. Ancient Greeks honored 12 Olympian gods. Their list usually included Zeus, Hera, Athena, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hermes, Hestia. Hades is also close to the Olympian gods, but he does not live on Olympus, but in his underworld.

Gods of Ancient Greece. Video

God Poseidon (Neptune). Antique statue of the 2nd century. according to R. Kh.

Olympic goddess Artemis. Statue in the Louvre

The Virgin Athena statue in the Parthenon. Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias

Venus (Aphrodite) of Milo. Statue approx. 130-100 BC

Eros Earthly and Heavenly. Artist J. Ballone, 1602

Hymen- the companion of Aphrodite, the god of marriage. In ancient Greece, wedding hymns were also called hymen by his name.

- the daughter of Demeter, kidnapped by the god Hades. The inconsolable mother, after a long search, found Persephone in the underworld. Hades, who made her his wife, agreed that she would spend part of the year on the earth with her mother, and the other with him in the bowels of the earth. Persephone was the personification of the grain, which, being “dead”, was sown in the ground, then “comes to life” and comes out of it into the light.

Abduction of Persephone. Antique jug, approx. 330-320 BC

Amphitrite- Poseidon's wife, one of the Nereids

Proteus- one of the sea deities of the Greeks. The son of Poseidon, who had the gift of predicting the future and changing his appearance

Triton- the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, the messenger of the depths of the sea, blowing into the shell. In appearance - a mixture of man, horse and fish. Close to the eastern god Dagon.

Eirena- the goddess of peace, standing at the throne of Zeus on Olympus. In ancient Rome - the goddess Pax.

Nika- the goddess of victory. Zeus's constant companion. In Roman mythology - Victoria

Dicke- in Ancient Greece - the personification of divine truth, a goddess hostile to deception

Tyukhe- the goddess of luck and good luck. Romans have Fortune

Morpheus – ancient greek god dreaming, son of the god of sleep Hypnos

Plutos- god of wealth

Phobos("Fear") - Ares' son and companion

Deimos("Horror") - Ares' son and companion

Enio- among the ancient Greeks - the goddess of fierce war, which causes rage in the soldiers and brings confusion to the battle. In ancient Rome - Bellona

Titans

Titans are the second generation of the gods of Ancient Greece, born of natural elements. The first titans were six sons and six daughters, descended from the connection of Gaia-Earth with Uranus-Heaven. Six sons: Cronus (Time. Among the Romans - Saturn), Ocean (father of all rivers), Hyperion, Kay, Crius, Iapetus... Six daughters: Tefida(Water), Theia(Shine), Rhea(Mother Mountain?), Themis (Justice), Mnemosyne(Memory), Phoebe.

Uranus and Gaia. Ancient Roman mosaic A.D. 200-250

In addition to the titans, Gaia gave birth to cyclops and hecatoncheires from a marriage with Uranus.

Cyclops- three giants with a large, round, fiery eye in the middle of their forehead. In ancient times - the personification of clouds, from which lightning flashes

Hecatoncheira- "hundred-handed" giants, against the terrible power of which nothing can resist. Embodiments of terrible earthquakes and floods.

The Cyclops and Hecatoncheires were so powerful that Uranus himself was horrified by their power. He tied them up and threw them deep into the earth, where they still rage, causing volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The presence of these giants in the womb of the earth began to cause her terrible suffering. Gaia persuaded her youngest son, Crohn, to take revenge on his father, Uranus, by emasculating him.

Cronus did it with a sickle. From the drops of Uranus' blood shed by this, Gaia conceived and gave birth to three Erinias - the goddesses of vengeance with snakes on their heads instead of hair. Erinnius' names are Tisiphona (the killing avenger), Alecto (the tireless pursuer) and Vixen (the terrible one). The goddess of love Aphrodite was born from that part of the seed and blood of emasculated Uranus that fell not to the ground, but to the sea.

Night-Nyukta, in anger at the lawlessness of Krona, gave birth to terrible creatures and deities Thanat (Death), Eridu(Discord) Apatu(Deception), goddesses of violent death Ker, Hypnosis(Dream-Nightmare), Nemesis(Revenge), Gerasa(Old age), Charon(the carrier of the dead to the underworld).

Power over the world has now passed from Uranus to the Titans. They divided the universe among themselves. Cronus became the supreme god instead of his father. The ocean gained power over a huge river, which, according to the ideas of the ancient Greeks, flows around the entire earth. Four other brothers of Cronus reigned in four cardinal points: Hyperion - in the East, Krius - in the south, Iapetus - in the West, Kei - in the North.

Four of the six older titans married their sisters. From them came the younger generation of titans and elemental deities. From the marriage of Ocean with his sister Tephida (Water), all earthly rivers and water nymphs-Oceanids were born. Titan Hyperion - ("high walking") married his sister Theia (Shine). From them Helios (Sun) was born, Selena(Moon) and Eos(Dawn). From Eos were born the stars and the four wind gods: Borey(North wind), Music(South wind), Marshmallow(west wind) and Eurus(Eastern wind). Titans Kei (Heavenly Axis?) And Phoebe gave birth to Leto (Silence of the Night, mother of Apollo and Artemis) and Asteria (Starlight). Cronus himself married Rhea (Mother Mountain, the personification of the productive force of mountains and forests). Their children are the Olympic gods Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus.

The titan Crius married the daughter of Pontus Eurybia, and the titan Iapetus married the oceanid Klymene, who gave birth to the titans Atlanta (he holds the sky on his shoulders), the arrogant Menetius, the cunning Prometheus (“thinking before, foreseeing”) and the feeble-minded Epimetheus (“thinking after").

Others descended from these titans:

Hesper- the god of the evening and the evening star. His daughters from the night-Nyukta are the nymphs of the Hesperides, who guard the garden with golden apples on the western edge of the earth, once presented by Gaia-Earth to the goddess Hera during her marriage to Zeus

Ora- goddesses of parts of the day, seasons and periods of human life.

Charites- the goddess of grace, fun and joy of life. There are three of them - Aglaya ("Glee"), Euphrosina ("Joy") and Thalia ("Abundance"). A number of Greek writers have different names for the charites. In ancient Rome, they corresponded graces

Jupiter (Latin Iuppiter) - in ancient Roman mythology, the god of the sky, daylight, thunderstorms, the father of the gods, the supreme deity of the Romans. Spouse of the goddess Juno. Corresponds to the Greek Zeus. God Jupiter was worshiped on the heights, the tops of mountains in the form of a stone. The days of the full moon - ida are dedicated to him.

The Temple of Jupiter stood on the Capitol, where Jupiter, along with Juno and Minerva, was one of the three main Roman deities.

Janus

Janus (Latin Ianus, from Latin ianua - "door", Greek Ian) - in Roman mythology - the two-faced god of doors, entrances, exits, various passages, as well as the beginning and end.

One of the most ancient Roman indiget gods, together with the goddess of the hearth, Vesta, occupied a prominent place in Roman ritual. Already in antiquity, various religious ideas about him and his essence were expressed. So, Cicero connected his name with the verb inire and saw in Janus the deity of entry and exit. Others believed that Janus personified chaos (Janus = Hianus), air, or the firmament. Nygidius Figulus identified Janus with the sun god. Initially, Janus is a divine gatekeeper, in the Saliev hymn he was called under the names Clusius or Clusivius (Closing) and Patulcius (opening). As attributes, Janus had a key with which he unlocked and locked the heavenly gates. A staff served as a gatekeeper's weapon in order to drive away uninvited guests. Later, probably under the influence of Greek religious art, Janus was depicted as two-faced (geminus).

Juno

Juno (lat.Iuno) - the ancient Roman goddess, the wife of Jupiter, the goddess of marriage and birth, motherhood, women and the female productive force. She is primarily the patroness of marriages, the guardian of the family and family regulations. The Romans were the first to introduce monogamy (monogamy). Juno, as the patroness of monogamy, is among the Romans, as it were, the personification of the protest against polygamy.

Minerva

Diana

Diana - goddess of flora and fauna, femininity and fertility, obstetrician, the personification of the moon; corresponds to the Greek Artemis and Selene.

Venus

Venus - in Roman mythology originally a goddess blooming gardens, spring, fertility, growth and flowering of all fruitful forces of nature. Then Venus began to be identified with the Greek Aphrodite, and since Aphrodite was the mother of Aeneas, whose descendants founded Rome, Venus was considered not only the goddess of love and beauty, but also the progenitor of the descendants of Aeneas and the patroness of the Roman people. The symbols of the goddess were a dove and a hare (as a sign of fertility); from plants, a poppy, a rose and a myrtle were dedicated to her.

Flora

Flora (Flora) - an ancient Italian goddess, whose cult was widespread among the Sabines and especially in Central Italy. She was the goddess of flowers, blossom, spring and fruit of the field; in honor of her, the Sabines named the month corresponding to April or May (mese Flusare = mensis Floralis).

Ceres

Ceres (Latin Cerēs, genus Cereris) - the ancient Roman goddess, the second daughter of Saturn and Rhea (in Greek mythology, Demeter corresponds to her). She was portrayed as a beautiful matron with fruits in her hands, for she was considered the patroness of harvest and fertility (often together with Annona, the patroness of the harvest). The only daughter of Ceres is Proserpine, born of Jupiter.

Bacchus

Bacchus - in ancient Roman mythology, the youngest of the Olympians, the god of winemaking, the productive forces of nature, inspiration and religious ecstasy. Mentioned in the Odyssey. In Greek mythology, Dionysus corresponds to him.

Vertumnus

Vertumnus (lat.Vertumnus, from lat.vertere, to transform) - the ancient Italian god of the seasons and their various gifts, therefore he was depicted in different forms, mainly in the form of a gardener with a garden knife and fruits. Sacrifices were made to him annually on August 13 (vertumnalia). Later Roman mythology made him an Etruscan god; but, as the etymology of this name shows, Vertumnus was a real Latin and at the same time a common Italian god, akin to Ceres and Pomona, the goddesses of grain plants and fruits.