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David Potter
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David Potter
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Piero Treves, Cyril Bailey, and Andrew Lintott
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Herbert Jennings Rose and Simon Hornblower
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Nicholas Purcell
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J. Linderski
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Nicholas Purcell
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C. Robert Phillips
A Roman god of the granary (from condere ‘to store’) whose festivals (Consualia) on 21 August and 15 December coincided, respectively, with the gathering of the harvest and the onset of winter. The ancients commonly supposed his name to have something to do with consilium (VarroARD 140 Cardauns). Horses as funerary animals (Gell. NA 10. 15. 3, fasti Praenestini 15 December) were added under Etruscan influence (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2. 31) and led to a misidentification with Poseidon Hippios (Livy 1. 9. 6 with Ogilvie's notes; Latte, RR72). He seems connected with two festivals of *Ops: Opiconsivia (25 August) and Opalia (19 December). Since corn was often stored underground, this may account for his subterranean altar in the Circus Maximus, uncovered only on his festival days (Varro, Ling. 6. 20; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2. 31); for its alleged inscription (Tert. De spect.
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Cornelius Labeo (? second half of 3rd cent.
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William Allison Laidlaw, Lucia F. Nixon, and Simon Price
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H. S. Versnel
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Piero Treves
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Francis Redding Walton and John Scheid
Cybele (Κυβέλη; Lydian form Κυβήβη, Hdt. 5. 102), the great mother-goddess of Anatolia, associated in myth, and later at least in cult, with her youthful lover *Attis. *Pessinus in Phrygia was her chief sanctuary, and the cult appears at an early date in *Lydia. The queen or mistress of her people, Cybele was responsible for their well-being in all respects; primarily she is a goddess of fertility, but also cures (and sends) disease, gives oracles, and, as her mural crown indicates, protects her people in war. The goddess of mountains (so Μήτηρ ὀρεία; Meter Dindymene), she is also mistress of wild nature, symbolized by her attendant lions. Ecstatic states inducing prophetic rapture and insensibility to pain were characteristic of her worship (cf. especially Catull. 63).
By the 5th cent.
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H. S. Versnel
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Mary Beard
A goddess worshipped by the *fratres arvales, who celebrated her main festival in May. Her function and character are, in many respects, obscure. The etymology of ‘Dia’ suggests an original connection with the brightness of the sun; but she was also connected with agricultural prosperity.
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James Rives
Deae matres, ‘mother goddesses’, whose cult is widely attested in monuments and inscriptions of the Celtic and Germanic regions of the Roman empire, from northern Italy to Britain. Their role as fertility goddesses is suggested not only by their titles but also by their most common attribute, baskets of fruits and other provisions. There was, however, considerable local variation both in epithets and in iconography, indicating that their general character took many particular forms. The most distinctive representation is of a triad, typical of Celtic thought, although individual goddesses, pairs, and groups of four or more are also common. In some cases they are associated with springs, while in others they are depicted nursing infants. The title matronae (‘matrons’) was preferred in northern Italy and on the lower Rhine, while their epithets, found in many parts of the empire, often incorporate tribal or local names. See