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aediles

aediles  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
Either of two (later four) Roman magistrates responsible for public buildings and originally also for the public games and the supply of corn to the city. The word comes (in the mid 16th century) ...
Aventine

Aventine  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
The southernmost hill of Rome, overlooking the Tiber. Temples here included those dedicated to Diana and to Juno Regina. Until ad 49 the hill lay outside the pomerium. The temple of Ceres, Liber (see ...
Cernunnos

Cernunnos  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Religion
A horned Celtic god of Gaul (modern France) and parts of the British Isles, Cernunnos was a god of fertility, like the Italian goddess Ceres. He carries a club and ...
Cibella

Cibella  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Literature, Literary studies (early and medieval)
A Phrygian goddess of nature and fertility. In The Legend of Good Women (F 531) she is said to have made the daisy and given it its white crown. (This ...
Demeter

Demeter  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
In Greek mythology, the corn goddess, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and mother of Persephone. She is associated with Cybele, and her symbol is an ear of corn. The Eleusinian mysteries were held in ...
Demeter and Persephone

Demeter and Persephone  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Religion
A daughter of the early Greek gods Kronos and Rhea, Demeter (Ceres in Rome) was the goddess of crops and the fertile earth. By her brother and chief Olympian, Zeus ...
flamines

flamines  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
(sing. flāmen), Roman priests within the college of the pontifices. There were three major, twelve minor flamines, each of them assigned to the worship of a single deity, though this did not preclude ...
indigetes

indigetes  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
‘invoked deities’. Both words, as well as the corresponding verb indigitare, are fairly common and there is no doubt that they mean respectively a class of Roman gods and a ...
Liber Pater

Liber Pater  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
Italian god of fertility and esp. of wine, later commonly identified with Dionysus. He formed part of the Aventine triad, Ceres, Liber, and Libera, whose joint temple was founded in 493 bc, and ...
Lilybaeum

Lilybaeum  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
The westernmost point of Sicily, was the site of a fruitless attempt at colonization c.580 bc by Cnidians (see nibus) under Pentathlus (Diodorus Siculus 5. 9). A small Carthaginian settlement ...
lustration

lustration  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
Is the performance of lustrum, a ceremony of purification and of averting evil. The main ritual ingredient was a circular procession. The instruments of purification, such as torches and sacrificial ...
Mercury

Mercury  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Religion
In Roman mythology, the gods' messenger, corresponding to the Greek Hermes. At Lystra Paul was taken to be this god, who had a reputation for eloquence (Acts 14: 12).
mythology

mythology  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
[Ge]The study of religious or heroic legends and tales that seem incredible and which were created by particular communities as myths. One constant rule of mythology is that whatever happens amongst ...
plebs

plebs  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
The name given to the mass of Roman citizens, as distinct from the privileged patricians. Our sources maintain that in the early republic the plebeians were excluded from religious colleges, ...
religion, Italic

religion, Italic  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
In a strict sense this concept refers to religions of various Indo-European tribes forming the Italic linguistic league, Umbrians, Sabello-Oscans (Sabines, Samnites, and a number of others such as ...
Roman mythology

Roman mythology  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Religion
As Greek mythology cannot be separated from its background of indigenous pre-Greek cultures, Roman mythology is intricately influenced by ancient Italic cultures, especially those of other Latin ...
tabulārium

tabulārium  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
The record‐office in Rome (see archives, Roman). It is traditionally associated with the trapezoidal building lying between the two summits of the Capitol with its main front towards the Campus ...
Tellus

Tellus  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
The Roman earth-goddess, probably very old, though her temple on the Esquiline dates only from 268 bc. (Ziolkowski, Temples 155ff.). She should not be confused with Ceres. According to Ovid ...
temple officials

temple officials  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
Greek and Roman temples served as the houses of gods and goddesses, but also as centres of religious activity, meeting‐places, storehouses for dedications, and secure locations for the keeping of ...
Vesta

Vesta  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
Classical studies
In Roman mythology, the goddess of the hearth and household. She was worshipped in a round building in the Forum at Rome, probably an imitation in stone of an ancient round hut. Her temple in Rome ...

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