List of Roman deities The Roman deities most familiar 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. Roman god lists[edit] Triads[edit]
Cybele Anatolian mother goddess Cybele ( SIB-ə-lee;[1] Phrygian: Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother";[2] Lydian Kuvava; Greek: Κυβέλη Kybele, Κυβήβη Kybebe, Κύβελις Kybelis) is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük, where statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, have been found in excavations. Phrygia's only known goddess, she was probably its national deity. Greek colonists in Asia Minor adopted and adapted her Phrygian cult and spread it to mainland Greece and to the more distant western Greek colonies around the 6th century BC. In Rome, Cybele became known as Magna Mater ("Great Mother"). Anatolia[edit] No contemporary text or myth survives to attest the original character and nature of Cybele's Phrygian cult. Greek Cybele[edit] Cybele drawn in her chariot by lions towards a votive sacrifice (right). Cybele and Attis[edit] Roman Cybele[edit] Republican era[edit] Imperial era[edit]
Ops Ancient Roman goddess of fertility and the earth In ancient Roman religion, Ops or Opis (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Iconography[edit] Name[edit] The Latin word ops means "riches, goods, abundance, gifts, munificence, plenty".[2] The word is also related to opus, which means "work", particularly in the sense of "working the earth, ploughing, sowing".[citation needed] This activity was deemed sacred, and was often attended by religious rites intended to obtain the good will of chthonic deities such as Ops and Consus. Worship[edit] According to Roman tradition, the cult of Opis was instituted by Titus Tatius, one of the Sabine kings of Rome. Mythology[edit] When Saturn learned of a prophecy that stated his and Opis' children would end up overthrowing him as leader, he ate his children one by one after they were born. References[edit] Primary sources[edit] Secondary sources[edit] External links[edit] Media related to Ops at Wikimedia Commons
Jupiter Fifth planet from the Sun Jupiter was the first of the sun's planets to form, and its inward migration during the primordial phase of the Solar System affected much of the formation history of the other planets. Hydrogen constitutes 90% of Jupiter's volume, followed by helium, which forms 25% of its mass and 10% of its volume. The ongoing contraction of Jupiter's interior generates more heat than the planet receives from the Sun. Name and symbol , descends from a Greek zeta with a horizontal stroke, ⟨Ƶ⟩, as an abbreviation for Zeus.[20][21] In Latin, Iovis is the genitive case of Iuppiter, i.e. The original Greek deity Zeus supplies the root zeno-, which is used to form some Jupiter-related words, such as zenographic. Formation and migration There are several unresolved issues with the grand tack hypothesis. Physical characteristics Jupiter is a gas giant, meaning its chemical composition is primarily hydrogen and helium. Composition Size and mass Internal structure Atmosphere Cloud layers Moons
Cius Ancient Greek city Cius was taken by the Persians, after the burning of Sardis, in 499 BCE.[1] It joined the Aetolian League, and was destroyed by Philip V of Macedon in the Second Macedonian War (200-197 BCE), and given by him to Prusias I of Bithynia. Prusias, who had assisted Philip in ruining Cius, restored it under the name of Prusias (Προυσιάς).[6][7] It was sometimes called Prusias ἐπιθαλασσίη, or "on the sea," to distinguish it from other towns of the same name,[8][9] or πρὸς θάλασσαν. In the text of Memnon the reading is Cierus;[9] but Memnon, both in this and other passages, has confounded Cius and Cierus. But it is remarked that Cius must either have still existed by the side of the new city, or must have recovered its old name; for Pliny mentions Cius, and also Mela,[10] Zosimus,[11] and writers of a still later date. Cius became an early Christian bishopric. Notes[edit] References[edit]
Saturn Sixth planet from the Sun 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.[26][27] It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 times more massive.[28][29][30] Saturn's interior is thought to be composed of a rocky core, surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, and finally, a gaseous outer layer. Name and symbol ) has been traced back to the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri, where it can be seen to be a Greek kappa-rho ligature with a horizontal stroke, as an abbreviation for Κρονος (Cronus), the Greek name for the planet ( ).[34] It later came to look like a lower-case Greek eta, with the cross added at the top in the 16th century to Christianize this pagan symbol. Physical characteristics Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium. Atmosphere Notes
List of kings of Athens Before the Athenian democracy, the tyrants, and the Archons, the city-state of Athens was ruled by kings. Most of these are probably mythical or only semi-historical. Earliest kings[edit] These three kings were supposed to have ruled before the flood of Deucalion. Erechtheid dynasty[edit] The early Athenian tradition, followed by the 3rd century BC Parian Chronicle, made Cecrops, a mythical half-man half-serpent, the first king of Athens.[4] The dates for the following kings were conjectured centuries later, by historians of the Hellenistic era who tried to backdate events by cross-referencing earlier sources such as the Parian Chronicle. The following list follows that of 1st Century BC Castor of Rhodes (FGrHist 250), with Castor's dates given in modern terms.[5] Mythological Royal House of Athens Melanthid dynasty[edit] Melanthus having been driven from his kingdom in Pylos came to Athens where Thymoestes resigned the crown to him. Notes[edit] References[edit]
Hylas In classical mythology, Hylas (Ancient Greek: Ὕλας) was a youth who served as Heracles' (Roman Hercules) companion and servant, as well as lover. His abduction by water nymphs was a theme of ancient art, and has been an enduring subject for Western art in the classical tradition. Genealogy[edit] Theocritus's Idyll 13, a poem of circa 300 BC devoted to Hylas. P. Oxy. 694, 2nd century AD. Mythology[edit] Heracles[edit] After Heracles killed Theiodamas in battle, he took on Hylas as arms bearer and taught him to be a warrior, and in time the two fell in love. Argonauts[edit] Literature[edit] The story of Hylas and the nymphs is alluded to in Book 3 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Canto XII, Stanza 7: Or that same daintie lad, which was so deare To great Alcides, that when as he dyde He wailed womanlike with many a teare, And every wood, and every valley wyde He fild with Hylas name; the Nymphes eke "Hylas" cryde. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
De Astronomica De Astronomica, also known as Poeticon Astronomicon,[1] is a book of stories whose text is attributed to "Hyginus", though the true authorship is disputed. During the Renaissance, the work was attributed to the Roman historian Gaius Julius Hyginus who lived during the 1st century BC. However, the fact that the book lists most of the constellations north of the ecliptic in the same order as Ptolemy's Almagest (written in the 2nd century) has led many to believe that a more recent Hyginus or Pseudo-Hyginus created the text. The text describes 47 of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations, centering primarily on the Greek and Roman mythology surrounding the constellations, though there is some discussion of the relative positions of stars. The first known printing was in 1475, attributed to "Ferrara." The De Astronomica was not formally published until 1482, by Erhard Ratdolt in Venice. References[edit] Citations[edit] Bibliography[edit] External links[edit]
Olenus In Greek mythology, Olenus (; Ancient Greek: Ὄλενος Olenos) was the name of several individuals: Other