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84-584: 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 religious life as it was experienced throughout the Roman 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

168-426: A comparative methodology using ancient Greek religious concepts and practices , deities , and myths , equivalencies, and shared characteristics . The phrase may describe Greek efforts to explain others' beliefs and myths, as when Herodotus describes Egyptian religion in terms of perceived Greek analogues, or when Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch document Roman cults , temples , and practices under

252-730: A common Indo-European archetype ( Dyeus as the supreme sky god), and thus exhibit shared functions by nature. Others required more expansive theological and poetic efforts: though both Ares and Mars are war gods, Ares was a relatively minor figure in Greek religious practice and deprecated by the poets, while Mars was a father of the Roman people and a central figure of archaic Roman religion. Some deities dating to Rome's oldest religious stratum, such as Janus and Terminus , had no Greek equivalent. Other Greek divine figures, most notably Apollo , were adopted directly into Roman culture, but underwent

336-464: A common Indo-European origin. Lugus was identified with Mercury , Nodens with Mars as healer and protector, and Sulis with Minerva . In some cases, however, a Gallic deity is given an interpretatio romana by means of more than one god, varying among literary texts or inscriptions. Since the religions of the Greco-Roman world were not dogmatic, and polytheism lent itself to multiplicity,

420-469: A deity is his or her specific character as it unfolded in myths, hymns, rites, and so on. This character makes a deity comparable to other deities with similar traits. The similarity of gods makes their names mutually translatable. ... The practice of translating the names of the gods created a concept of similarity and produced the idea or conviction that the gods are international. Pliny the Elder expressed

504-619: A depiction of the rape of the Sabine women, where the women are portrayed, with a deliberate anachronism, in Victorian costume and being carried off from the Corona et Anchora ("Crown and Anchor", a common English pub sign in seafaring towns). Edgar Degas painted The Rape of the Sabines (after Poussin ), c. 1861–1862. "The masters must be copied over and over again", Degas said, "and it

588-456: A distinctive Gallo-Roman religion . Both the Romans and the Gauls reinterpreted Gallic religious traditions in relation to Roman models, particularly Imperial cult . Jan Assmann considers the polytheistic approach to internationalizing gods as a form of "intercultural translation": The great achievement of polytheism is the articulation of a common semantic universe. ... The meaning of

672-489: A distinctly Roman development, as when Augustus made Apollo one of his patron deities . In the early period, Etruscan culture played an intermediary role in transmitting Greek myth and religion to the Romans, as evidenced in the linguistic transformation of Greek Heracles to Etruscan Her[e]cle to Roman Hercules . The phrase interpretatio romana was first used by the Imperial-era historian Tacitus in

756-512: A generation. On the advice of the Senate, the Romans then set out into the surrounding regions in search of wives to establish families with. The Romans negotiated unsuccessfully with all the peoples that they appealed to, including the Sabines , who populated the neighboring areas. The Sabines feared the emergence of a rival society and refused to allow their women to marry the Romans. Consequently,

840-606: A god who is truly most powerful and most good and governs this world of sense, and, as I well know, is worshipped by us also under other names". However, Julian specifies no "other names" under which the Jewish god was worshiped. In late-antiquity mysticism, the sun god Helios is sometimes equated to the Judeo-Christian God. The following table is a list of Greek , Roman , Etruscan , Egyptian , Sumerian , Phoenician , Zoroastrian , and Celtic equivalencies via

924-635: A group of all-male players offering to put on a performance of The Rape of the Sabine Women , to the disgust of the title characters. The latest adaptation is a film without dialogue, The Rape of the Sabine Women , which was produced in 2005 by Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation. The rape of the Sabine women is depicted in Debra May Macleod ’s historical fiction novel Tarpiea . Scholars have cited parallels between

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1008-640: A list of Sabine gods who were adopted by the Romans: Elsewhere, Varro claims Sol Indiges – who had a sacred grove at Lavinium – as Sabine but at the same time equates him with Apollo . Of those listed, he writes, "several names have their roots in both languages, as trees that grow on a property line creep into both fields. Saturn, for instance, can be said to have another origin here, and so too Diana." Varro makes various claims for Sabine origins throughout his works, some more plausible than others, and his list should not be taken at face value. But

1092-484: A war after the Sabines submitted to unification with Rome, would have been powerful one for Rome to send at the time. Many treatments of the legend combined a suitably inspiring example of the hardiness and courage of ancient Romans with the opportunity to depict multiple figures, including heroically semi- nude figures in intensely passionate struggle. The subject was popular during the Renaissance as symbolising

1176-692: Is worshipped at Ephesus ; or Proserpina as the triple goddess of the underworld. Juno Caelestis was the Romanised form of the Carthaginian Tanit . Grammatically, the form Caelestis can also be a masculine word, but the equivalent function for a male deity is usually expressed through syncretization with Caelus , as in Caelus Aeternus Iuppiter, "Jupiter the Eternal Sky." Invictus ("Unconquered, Invincible")

1260-495: Is an honorific and title awarded to Octavian in recognition of his unique status, the extraordinary range of his powers, and the apparent divine approval of his principate . After his death and deification, the title was awarded to each of his successors. It also became a near ubiquitous title or honour for various minor local deities, including the Lares Augusti of local communities, and obscure provincial deities such as

1344-520: Is disputed and considered unlikely to have happened by many historians, or at least not to have happened in the way described. Theodor Mommsen (as well as later historians such as Jacques Poucet  [ fr ] ) believed that the story was likely spread during the later fourth century BC after the Samnite Wars as a tale to explain the assimilation of Samnites into Rome after a combination of wars and alliances, and sending similar events into

1428-653: Is easily seen in the names of the days of the week, which were frequently translated according to the interpretatio. Examples of deities depicted in syncretic compositions by means of interpretatio graeca or romana : Rape of the Sabine Women The word "rape" (cognate with rapto in Portuguese, rapto in Spanish, ratto , in Italian, meaning "bride kidnap") is the conventional translation of

1512-739: Is in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples . Giambologna then revised the scheme, this time with a third figure, in two wax models now in the Victoria and Albert Museum , London. The artist's full-scale gesso for the finished sculpture, executed in 1582, is on display at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence . The woman and the kneeling man reference figures from the ancient sculpture Laocoön and His Sons . Bronze reductions of

1596-639: Is more developed than in the original. This painting currently resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris. According to the Louvre, painting multiple versions of one subject was not uncommon throughout Poussin's career. Peter Paul Rubens painted his version of The Rape of the Sabine Women around 1635–40. It now resides in the National Gallery , London. The painting depicts the moment Romulus gave

1680-476: Is only after proving yourself a good copyist that you should reasonably be permitted to draw a radish from nature." Degas first received permission to copy paintings at the Louvre in 1853 when he was eighteen. He was most interested in the great works of the Italian Renaissance and of his own classical French heritage, hence this detailed copy of Poussin's painting. Charles Christian Nahl painted

1764-611: 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. A survey of theological groups as constructed by

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1848-610: Is probably a synonym for Omnipotens . It is also used in the Mithraic mysteries . Mater ("Mother") was an honorific that respected a goddess's maternal authority and functions, and not necessarily "motherhood" per se. Early examples included Terra Mater (Mother Earth) and the Mater Larum (Mother of the Lares ). Vesta , a goddess of chastity usually conceived of as a virgin, was honored as Mater . A goddess known as Stata Mater

1932-439: Is said that after the foundation of the city, the population consisted solely of Latins and other Italic peoples, in particular male bandits. With Rome growing at such a steady rate in comparison to its neighbors, Romulus became concerned with maintaining the city's strength. His main concern was that with few women inhabitants there would be no chance of sustaining the city's population, without which Rome might not last longer than

2016-567: The Germania . Tacitus reports that in a sacred grove of the Nahanarvali , "a priest adorned as a woman presides, but they commemorate gods who in Roman terms (interpretatione romana) are Castor and Pollux " when identifying the divine Alcis . Elsewhere, he identifies the principal god of the Germans as Mercury , perhaps referring to Wotan . Some information about the deities of

2100-510: The di novensides or novensiles , "newcomer gods". No ancient source, however, poses this dichotomy, which is not generally accepted among scholars of the 21st century. The meaning of the epithet indiges (singular) has no scholarly consensus, and noven may mean "nine" (novem) rather than "new". Certain honorifics and titles could be shared by different gods, divine personifications , demi-gods and divi (deified mortals). Augustus , "the elevated or august one" ( masculine form)

2184-468: The Church Fathers who sought systematically to debunk Roman religion while drawing on the theological works of Varro, also surviving only in quoted or referenced fragments. W.H. Roscher collated the standard modern list of indigitamenta , though other scholars may differ with him on some points. The di indigetes were thought by Georg Wissowa to be Rome's indigenous deities, in contrast to

2268-650: The French Revolution . The painting depicts Romulus's wife Hersilia – the daughter of Titus Tatius , leader of the Sabines – rushing between her husband and her father and placing her babies between them. A vigorous Romulus prepares to strike a half-retreating Tatius with his spear, but hesitates. Other soldiers are already sheathing their swords. The rocky outcrop in the background is the Tarpeian Rock . The English 19th-century satirical painter John Leech included in his The Comic History of Rome

2352-674: The Hellenistic era , including Amon / Zeus , Osiris / Dionysus , and Ptah / Hephaestus . In his observations regarding the Scythians , he equates their queen of the gods, Tabiti , to Hestia , Papaios and Api to Zeus and Gaia respectively, and Argimpasa to Aphrodite Urania , while also claiming that the Scythians worshipped equivalents to Herakles and Ares , but which he does not name. Some pairs of Greek and Roman gods, such as Zeus and Jupiter , are thought to derive from

2436-491: The Latin word raptio used in the ancient accounts of the incident. The Latin word means "abduction" or "kidnapping", but when used with women as its object, sexual assault is usually implied. According to Roman historian Livy , the abduction of Sabine women occurred in the early history of Rome shortly after its founding in the mid-8th century BC and was perpetrated by Romulus and his predominantly male followers; it

2520-499: The North African Marazgu Augustus . This extension of an Imperial honorific to major and minor deities of Rome and her provinces is considered a ground-level feature of Imperial cult . Augusta , the feminine form, is an honorific and title associated with the development and dissemination of Imperial cult as applied to Roman Empresses , whether living, deceased or deified as divae . The first Augusta

2604-587: The Reign of Terror and the Thermidorian Reaction , during which David himself had been imprisoned as a supporter of Robespierre . After David's estranged wife visited him in jail, he conceived the idea of telling the story to honor his wife, with the theme being love prevailing over conflict. The painting was also seen as a plea for the French people to reconcile their differences after the bloodshed of

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2688-462: The forum . These were also placed in six male-female pairs. Although individual names are not listed, they are assumed to be the deities of the lectisternium. A fragment from Ennius , within whose lifetime the lectisternium occurred, lists the same twelve deities by name, though in a different order from that of Livy: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jove, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo. The Dii Consentes are sometimes seen as

2772-497: The interpretationes . These are not necessarily gods who share similar traits (as viewed by modern scholarship or readers, at least), and rarely do they share a common origin (for that, see comparative Indo-European pantheons ); they are simply gods of various cultures whom the Greeks or Romans identified (either explicitly in surviving works, or as supported by the analyses of modern scholars) with their own gods and heroes. This system

2856-475: The "translatability" of deities as "different names to different peoples" (nomina alia aliis gentibus). This capacity made possible the religious syncretism of the Hellenistic era and the pre-Christian Roman Empire . Herodotus was one of the earliest authors to engage in this form of interpretation. In his observations regarding the Egyptians, he establishes Greco-Egyptian equivalents that endured into

2940-534: The Antemnates were defeated in battle and their town captured. According to the Fasti Triumphales , Romulus celebrated a second triumph in 752 BC over the Antemnates. The Crustumini also started a war, but they too were defeated and their town was captured. Roman colonists were subsequently sent to Antemnae and Crustumerium by Romulus, and many citizens of those towns, particularly the families of

3024-581: The Capitoline Hill, which they had captured in the battle. The motivation behind the abduction of the Sabine women is contested among ancient sources. Livy writes that Rome's motivation for abducting the Sabine women was solely to increase the city's population and claims that no direct sexual assault took place during the abduction. Livy says that Romulus offered the Sabine women free choice as well as civic and property rights. According to Livy, Romulus spoke to each of them in person, declaring "that it

3108-554: The Jews worshiped Dionysus , and that the day of Sabbath was a festival of Sabazius. Lacunae prevent modern scholars from knowing the other speakers' thoughts. Tacitus , on the topic of the Sabbath , claims that "others say that it is an observance in honour of Saturn , either from the primitive elements of their faith having been transmitted from the Idæi , who are said to have shared

3192-640: The Met, the subject matter of Poussin's work allowed him to highlight his understanding of pose and gesture as well as his knowledge of Roman architecture. This version of the painting currently resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Poussin's second version, entitled The Rape of the Sabine Women , is essentially a recreation of his original work and was likely completed around 1637–1638. The architectural setting of this work

3276-555: The Republic, the epithet may be most prominent with Bona Dea , "the Good Goddess" whose rites were celebrated by women. Bonus Eventus , "Good Outcome", was one of Varro's twelve agricultural deities, and later represented success in general. From the middle Imperial period, the title Caelestis , "Heavenly" or "Celestial" is attached to several goddesses embodying aspects of a single, supreme Heavenly Goddess. The Dea Caelestis

3360-483: The Roman equivalent of the Greek Olympians . The meaning of Consentes is subject to interpretation, but is usually taken to mean that they form a council or consensus of deities. The three deities cultivated by the major flamens were: The twelve deities attended by the minor flamens were: Varro gives a list of twenty principal gods of Roman religion: Varro, who was himself of Sabine origin, gives

3444-441: The Romans devised a plan to abduct the Sabine women during the festival of Neptune Equester . They planned and announced a festival of games to attract people from all the nearby towns. According to Livy , many people from Rome's neighboring towns – including Caenina , Crustumerium , and Antemnae  – attended the festival along with the Sabines, eager to see the newly established city for themselves. At

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3528-482: The Romans themselves is followed by an extensive alphabetical list concluding with examples of common epithets shared by multiple divinities. Even in invocations , which generally required precise naming, the Romans sometimes spoke of gods as groups or collectives rather than naming them as individuals. Some groups, such as the Camenae and Parcae , were thought of as a limited number of individual deities, even though

3612-611: The Sabine Women in the late 1630s. His work now resides at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Jacques Stella painted a version of the rape of the Sabine women entitled The Rape of the Sabines in the mid-17th century. Stella's depiction of the scene is said to have so closely resembled Nicholas Poussin's works that following his death his version was mistaken for a Poussin. This work now resides at Princeton University's Art Museum. Jacques-Louis David painted

3696-555: The Sabines crushed her to death with their shields, and her body was buried on or thrown from a rock known ever since by her name, the Tarpeian Rock . The Romans attacked the Sabines who now held the citadel, in what would become known as the Battle of the Lacus Curtius . The Roman advance was led by Hostus Hostilius , the Sabine defence by Mettus Curtius. Hostus fell in battle, and the Roman line gave way. The Romans retreated to

3780-405: The abduction of the Sabine as an avenue for the men of Rome to fulfill their sexual desires rather than an attempt at taking wives to produce children for the city. While he does make note of the issue surrounding Rome's lack of women, he does not make it out to be a factor in the planning of the abduction. While it is clear that the story was part of the founding mythology of Rome, its historicity

3864-474: The affinity between you, if with our marriages, turn your resentment against us; we are the cause of war, we of wounds and of bloodshed to our husbands and parents. It were better that we perish than live widowed or fatherless without one or other of you." The battle came to an end, and the Sabines agreed to unite in one nation with the Romans. Titus Tatius jointly ruled with Romulus until Tatius's death five years later. The new Sabine residents of Rome settled on

3948-430: The ancient Gauls (the continental Celts ), who left no written literature other than inscriptions, is preserved by Greco-Roman sources under the names of Greek and Latin equivalents. A large number of Gaulish theonyms or cult titles are preserved, for instance, in association with Mars . As with some Greek and Roman divine counterparts, the perceived similarities between a Gallic and a Roman or Greek deity may reflect

4032-513: The artist's ability to create a complex sculptural group, its subject matter, the legendary rape of the Sabines, had to be invented after Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany , decreed that it be put on public display in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria , Florence. The proposed site for the sculpture, opposite Benvenuto Cellini 's statue of Perseus , prompted suggestions that

4116-515: The captured women, also migrated to Rome. The Sabines themselves finally declared war, led into battle by their king, Titus Tatius . Tatius almost succeeded in capturing Rome, thanks to the treason of Tarpeia , daughter of Spurius Tarpeius , Roman governor of the citadel on the Capitoline Hill . She opened the city gates for the Sabines in return for "what they bore on their arms", thinking she would receive their golden bracelets. Instead,

4200-570: The concept of "deity" was often expansive, permitting multiple and even contradictory functions within a single divinity, and overlapping powers and functions among the diverse figures of each pantheon. These tendencies extended to cross-cultural identifications. In the Eastern empire, the Anatolian storm god with his double-headed axe became Jupiter Dolichenus , a favorite cult figure among soldiers. Roman scholars such as Varro interpreted

4284-429: The courage to throw themselves amid the flying weapons, and making a rush across, to part the incensed armies, and assuage their fury; imploring their fathers on the one side, their husbands on the other, "that as fathers-in-law and sons-in-law they would not contaminate each other with impious blood, nor stain their offspring with parricide, the one their grandchildren, the other their children. If you are dissatisfied with

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4368-551: The distant past. The story likely gained relevance again during the time period where the coins depicting the event were minted, in 89 BC. This would have been made during the Social War , a conflict between Rome and its Italian allies over their status and whether they deserved Roman citizenship. A story from Rome's past wherein Rome came into conflict with its neighbors, showed a capacity for brutal violence, but ultimately avoided

4452-565: The exposed figure of Hersilia and her child. The episode of the rape of the Sabine women is recounted by Cicero , Livy , Dionysius of Halicarnassus , and Plutarch . The poetry of Ovid also contains several allusions to this episode and it is included on the shield of Aeneas in Virgil 's Aeneid . The Sabine women are mentioned in Canto VI of Dante 's Paradiso . The midrash Sefer haYashar (first attested in 1624) portrays

4536-589: The factors contributing to the frequent friction between the Jews and the Roman Empire; for example, the Emperor Hadrian 's decision to rebuild Jerusalem under the name of Aelia Capitolina , a city dedicated to Jupiter, precipitated the bloodbath of the Bar Kokhba revolt . Emperor Julian , the 4th century pagan emperor, remarked that "these Jews are in part god-fearing, seeing that they revere

4620-485: The festival, Romulus gave a signal by "rising and folding his cloak and then throwing it round him again," at which the Romans grabbed the Sabine women and fought off the Sabine men. Livy does not report how many women were abducted by the Romans at the festival, he only notes that it was undoubtedly many more than thirty. All of the women abducted at the festival were said to have been virgins except for one married woman, Hersilia, who became Romulus's wife and would later be

4704-518: The first assault. Returning to Rome, he dedicated a Temple of Jupiter Feretrius (according to Livy, the first temple dedicated in Rome) and offered the spoils of the enemy king as spolia opima . According to the Fasti Triumphales , Romulus celebrated a triumph over the Caeninenses on 1 March 752 BC. At the same time, the army of the Antemnates invaded Roman territory. The Romans retaliated, and

4788-462: The flight of that God, and to have founded the race", implying Saturn was the god of the Jews. From the Roman point of view, it was natural to apply the above principle to the Jewish God. However, the Jews, unlike other peoples living under Roman rule, rejected any such attempt out of hand, regarding such an identification as the worst of sacrilege . This complete divergence of views was one of

4872-580: The gate of the Palatium. Romulus rallied his men, promising to build a temple to the Roman God Jove on the site. He then led them back into battle. Mettus Curtius was unhorsed and fled on foot, and the Romans appeared to be winning. At this point in the story, the Sabine women intervened: [They], from the outrage on whom the war originated, with hair dishevelled and garments rent, the timidity of their sex being overcome by such dreadful scenes, had

4956-469: The group should illustrate a theme related to the former work, such as the rape of Andromeda by Phineus . The respective rapes of Proserpina and Helen were also mooted as possible themes. It was eventually decided that the sculpture was to be identified as one of the Sabine virgins. The work is signed OPVS IOANNIS BOLONII FLANDRI MDLXXXII ("The work of Johannes of Boulogne of Flanders , 1582"). An early preparatory bronze featuring only two figures

5040-473: The importance of marriage for the continuity of families and cultures. It was also an example of a battle subject in which the artist could demonstrate his skill in depicting female as well as male figures in extreme poses, with the added advantage of a sexual theme. It was depicted regularly on 15th-century Italian cassoni and later in larger paintings. A comparable opportunity from the New Testament

5124-400: The importance of the Sabines in the early cultural formation of Rome is evidenced, for instance, by the bride abduction of the Sabine women by Romulus 's men, and in the Sabine ethnicity of Numa Pompilius , second king of Rome , to whom are attributed many of Rome's religious and legal institutions. Varro says that the altars to most of these gods were established at Rome by King Tatius as

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5208-636: The lectisternium of the Twelve Great gods in 217 BC, the Augustan historian Livy places the deities in gender-balanced pairs: Divine male-female complements such as these, as well as the anthropomorphic influence of Greek mythology, contributed to a tendency in Latin literature to represent the gods as "married" couples or (as in the case of Venus and Mars) lovers. Varro uses the name Dii Consentes for twelve deities whose gilded images stood in

5292-408: The legend. Later adapted into the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers , it tells the story of seven gauche but sincere backwoodsmen, one of whom gets married, encouraging the others to seek partners. After a social where they meet girls they are attracted to, they are denied the chance to pursue their courtship by the latter's menfolk. Following the Roman example, they abduct the girls. As in

5376-424: The monotheistic god of the Jews into Roman terms as Caelus or Jupiter Optimus Maximus . Some Greco-Roman authors seem to have understood the Jewish invocation of Yahweh Sabaoth as Sabazius . In a similar vein, Plutarch gave an example of a symposium question "Who is the god of the Jews?", by which he meant: "What is his Greek name?" as we can deduce from the first speaker at the symposium, who maintained that

5460-403: The names of equivalent Greek deities. Interpretatio graeca may also describe non-Greeks' interpretation of their own belief systems by comparison or assimilation with Greek models, as when Romans adapt Greek myths and iconography under the names of their own gods. Interpretatio romana is comparative discourse in reference to ancient Roman religion and myth , as in the formation of

5544-419: The number of these might not be given consistently in all periods and all texts. Others are numberless collectives. Varro grouped the gods broadly into three divisions of heaven, earth, and underworld: More common is a dualistic contrast between superi and inferi . A lectisternium is a banquet for the gods, at which they appear as images seated on couches, as if present and participating. In describing

5628-434: The one to intervene and stop the ensuing war between the Romans and the Sabines. The indignant abductees were soon implored by Romulus to accept the Roman men as their new husbands. Outraged at what had happened, the king of the Caeninenses entered upon Roman territory with his army. Romulus and the Romans met the Caeninenses in battle, killed their king, and routed their army. Romulus later attacked Caenina and took it upon

5712-469: The original tale, the women are at first indignant but are eventually won over. In 1962, a Mexican " sword and sandal " film based on the story was made, directed by Alberto Gout . Titled El Rapto de las Sabinas, the film was released in the USA under the titles The Rape of the Sabine Women and The Shame of the Sabine Women. Tom Stoppard 's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) features

5796-404: The other end of the story, when the women intervene to reconcile the warring parties. The Sabine Women Enforcing Peace by Running Between the Combatants (also known as The Intervention of the Sabine Women ) was completed in 1799. It is in the Louvre Museum . David had begun work on it in 1796, when France was at war with other European nations, after a period of civil conflict culminating in

5880-468: The rape of the Sabine women, the Æsir–Vanir War in Norse mythology , and the Iliad of Greek mythology , providing support for a Proto-Indo-European "war of the functions ". Regarding these parallels, J. P. Mallory states: Basically, the parallels concern the presence of first-(magico-juridical) and second-(warrior) function representatives on the victorious side of a war that ultimately subdues and incorporates third function characters, for example,

5964-418: The result of a vow ( votum ). The indigitamenta are deities known only or primarily as a name; they may be minor entities, or epithets of major gods. Lists of deities were kept by the College of Pontiffs to assure that the correct names were invoked for public prayers. The books of the Pontiffs are lost, known only through scattered passages in Latin literature . The most extensive lists are provided by

6048-403: The same title to Maia and other goddesses. Interpretatio graeca Interpretatio graeca ( Latin for 'Greek translation'), or "interpretation by means of Greek [models]", refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures;

6132-476: The sculpture, produced in Giambologna's own studio and imitated by others, were a staple of connoisseurs' collections into the 19th century. Nicolas Poussin produced two major versions of this subject. His initial version was entitled The Abduction of the Sabine Women and was most likely completed around 1633–1634. The painting depicts Romulus giving the signal to the Romans for the abduction. According to

6216-446: The signal for the Romans to abduct the Sabine women. Rubens emphasizes the violence of the abduction and sexualizes it by depicting women with exposed breasts and a soldier lifting up a woman's skirt. Pietro da Cortona depicted the rape of the Sabines at least twice. There are at least eight paintings by Luca Giordano or his workshop on this subject. Johann Heinrich Schönfeld painted a version of this subject entitled The Rape of

6300-550: The story as part of a war between the Sabines , descended from Tubal , and the Roman Kittim ( Jasher 17:1–15 ). A more detailed version of this narrative is found in the earlier mediaeval rabbinic work Yosippon . The story was parodied by Lady Carlotta, the mischief-making character in Saki 's short story "The Schartz-Metterklume Method". Stephen Vincent Benét wrote a short story called "The Sobbin' Women" that parodied

6384-509: The subject in a trio of works entitled The Abduction , The Captivity , and The Invasion . Pablo Picasso visited this theme in his several versions of the Rape of the Sabine Women (1962–63), one of which is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . These are based on David's version. These conflate the beginning and end of the story, depicting the brutish Romulus and Tatius ignoring and trampling on

6468-403: The title Matres or Matronae ). See also Magna Mater (Great Mother) following. Gods were called Pater ("Father") to signify their preeminence and paternal care, and the filial respect owed to them. Pater was found as an epithet of Dis , Jupiter , Mars , and Liber , among others. "The Great Mother" was a title given to Cybele in her Roman cult. Some Roman literary sources accord

6552-400: The women's newly founded relationships with Roman men. Livy's account is reinforced in some ways through the works of Cicero . In Cicero's work De re publica , he reiterates Livy's view that the plan to abduct the Sabine women at the festival was done in order "to strengthen the new state" and "safeguard the resources of his kingdom and people." Unlike Livy, Cicero, and Dionysius, Ovid sees

6636-632: Was Livia , wife of Octavian , and the title is then shared by various state goddesses including Bona Dea , Ceres , Juno , Minerva , and Ops ; by many minor or local goddesses; and by the female personifications of Imperial virtues such as Pax and Victoria . The epithet Bonus , "the Good," is used in Imperial ideology with abstract deities such as Bona Fortuna ("Good Fortune"), Bona Mens ("Good Thinking" or "Sound Mind"), and Bona Spes ("Valid Hope," perhaps to be translated as "Optimism"). During

6720-528: Was a compital deity credited with preventing fires in the city. From the middle Imperial era, the reigning Empress becomes Mater castrorum et senatus et patriae , the symbolic Mother of military camps, the senate , and the fatherland. The Gallic and Germanic cavalry ( auxilia ) of the Roman Imperial army regularly set up altars to the "Mothers of the Field" ( Campestres , from campus , "field," with

6804-511: Was afforded by the theme of the Massacre of the Innocents . The 16th-century Italo-Flemish sculptor Giambologna sculpted a representation of this theme with three figures (a man lifting a woman into the air while a second man crouches), carved from a single block of marble . This sculpture is considered Giambologna's masterpiece. Originally intended as nothing more than a demonstration of

6888-407: Was all owing to the pride of their parents in denying right of intermarriage to their neighbours. They would live in honourable wedlock, and share all their property and civil rights, and – dearest of all to human nature – would be the mothers of freemen." Scholars like Dionysius of Halicarnassus argue that it was an attempt to secure an alliance with the Sabines through

6972-559: Was identified with the constellation Virgo ("The Virgin"), who holds the divine balance of justice . In the Metamorphoses of Apuleius , the protagonist Lucius prays to the Hellenistic Egyptian goddess Isis as Regina Caeli , " Queen of Heaven ", who is said to manifest also as Ceres, "the original nurturing parent"; Heavenly Venus (Venus Caelestis) ; the "sister of Phoebus ", that is, Diana or Artemis as she

7056-474: Was in use as a divine epithet by the early 3rd century BC. In the Imperial period, it expressed the invincibility of deities embraced officially, such as Jupiter, Mars, Hercules , and Sol . On coins, calendars, and other inscriptions, Mercury, Saturn, Silvanus , Fons , Serapis , Sabazius , Apollo, and the Genius are also found as Invictus. Cicero considers it a normal epithet for Jupiter, in regard to whom it

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