GODS, GODDESSES, & SPIRITS
Seated bronze statuette of Jupiter, with thunderbolt. (VRoma: Louvre, Paris: Barbara McManus)
Statue of Juno, consort of Jupiter, with sceptre. (VRoma: Vatican Museums, Rome: Lisanne Marshall)
- Annona Mythical personification of the annual food supply
- Apollo (Greek) God of healing and prophecy . Pictures:
- Asclepius (Greek) God of healing
- Attis (Phrygian) Beloved of Cybele
- Bacchus (Greek as Dionysus) God of wine.
Rites of Dionysus. (Illustration by John Pittaway from Picture Reference Ancient Romans, Brockhampton Press 1970)
- Bellona Goddess of war
- Bona Dea “Good Goddess”: unnamed spirit whose rites were attended only by women
- Cardea Household goddess of door hinges
- Castor & Pollux (Greek: also as Dioscuri) Two legendary heroes
- Ceres (Identified with Greek Demeter) Goddess of agriculture
- Consus God of the granary
- Cybele (Phrygian) See Magna Mater
- Diana (Identified with Greek Artemis) Goddess of light; also unity of peoples. Pictures:
- Dis (Greek as Pluto) God of the underworld
- Faunus (Identified with Greek Pan) God of fertility
- Flora Goddess of fertility and flowers
- Forculus Household god of doors
- Fortuna (also Fors, Fors Fortuna) Goddess of good luck
- Genius Protecting spirit. Picture:
- Hercules (Greek) God of victory and commercial enterprises
- Hermes See Mercury
- Isis (Egyptian) Goddess of the earth
- Janus God of doorways. Picture:
- Juno (Identified with Greek Hera) Goddess of women. Picture above.
- Jupiter (also Jove: identified with Greek Zeus) God of the heavens. Picture above
- Juturna Goddess of fountains
- Lar (plural Lares) Spirit of the household
- Larvae (or Lemures) Mischievous spirits of the dead
- Liber God of fertility and vine-growing (=Bacchus)
- Libitina Goddess of the dead
- Limentinus Household god of the threshold
- Magna Mater (Phrygian as Cybele) “Great Mother”, goddess of nature
- Manes Spirits of the dead
- Mars God of war
Mars, painted by Velasquez (1599-1660). (VRoma: Prado Museum, Madrid: Susan Bonvallet)
- Mercury (Identified with Greek Hermes) God of merchants
- Minerva (Identified with Greek Athena) Goddess of crafts and industry
- Mithras (Persian) God of light
- Neptune (Greek Poseidon) God of the sea
- Nundina Presiding goddess at the purification and naming of children
- Ops God of the wealth of the harvest
- Osiris (Egyptian) Consort of Isis
- Pales God/goddess of shepherds
- Penates Household spirits of the store cupboard
- Picumnus & Pilumnus Agricultural gods associated with childbirth
- Pomona Goddess of fruit
- Portunus God of harbours
- Priapus God of fertility in gardens and flocks
Painting of Priapus, symbolizing abundance, over door of vestibule of House of the Vettii, Pompeii. (VRoma: Barbara McManus)
- Quirinus State god under whose name Romulus was worshipped
- Robigus God of mildew
- Sabazius (Phrygian) God of vegetation
- Salus God of health
- Saturn (Identified with Greek Cronos) God of sowing
- Serapis (Egyptian) God of the sky
- Silvanus God of the woods and fields
- Sol God of the sun
- Tellus Goddess of the earth
- Terminus God of property boundaries
- Venus (Identified with Greek Aphrodite) Goddess of love
- Vertumnus (also Vortumnus) God of orchards
- Vesta (Identified with Greek Hestia) Goddess of the hearth.
- Volturnus God of the river Tiber
- Vulcan God of fire
“Venus of Urbino”, painting by Titian (d. 1576). (VRoma: Uffizi Museum, Florence: Barbara McManus)
Overview of this page [Ref: 4.3]
Annotated list of gods, goddesses, and spirits worshipped by the Romans
Notes
Diana pictures 1 , 2
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