The Goddess Africa, in Latin Dea Africa, was the personification of Africa by the Romans in the early centuries of the common era. [1] [2] She was one of the fertility and abundance deities to some. Her iconography typically included an elephant-mask head dress, a cornucopia, a military standard, and a lion. [3]
To the Romans "Africa" was only their imperial province, roughly equating to modern Tunisia, and the goddess/personification was not given sub-Saharan African characteristics; she was possibly thought of as Berber, but this cannot be judged in the great majority of representations. This changed after she was revived in the Renaissance, by now clearly only the personification of Africa with no divine pretensions.[ citation needed ]
She is portrayed on some coins, carved stones, and mosaics in Roman Africa. A mosaic representing Roman Africa is found in the El Djem museum of Tunisia. [1] [4] [5] A sanctuary found in Timgad (Thamugadi in Berber) in Algeria features goddess Africa's iconography. [6]
She was one of a number of "province personifications" such as Britannia, Hispania, Macedonia and a number of Greek-speaking provinces. Africa was one of the earliest to appear, and may have originated with the publicity around Pompey the Great's African triumph in 80 BC; some coins with both Pompey and Africa shown survive. [7]
The elephant headdress is seen first on coins depicting Alexander the Great, commemorating his invasion of India, including the (possibly fake) "Porus medallions" issued during his lifetime and the coinage of Ptolemy I of Egypt issued from 319 to 294 BC. [8] It may have had resonances with Pharaonic ideology. [8] The image was later adopted on coinage of Agathocles of Syracuse minted around 304 BC, following his African Expedition. [9] Subsequently it is seen on coinage of King Ibaras of Numidia, a kingdom that Pompey defeated in 1st century BCE, so very likely picked up from there by Pompey's image-makers. [7]
To the Romans the distinction between goddesses who received worship and personification figures understood to be literary and iconographic conveniences was very elastic, and Africa seems to have been on the boundary between the two. She was certainly not a major deity, but may have received worship at times.
Pliny the Elder, in his book Natural History, wrote "in Africa nemo destinat aliquid nisi praefatus Africam", which scholars translate as "no one in Africa does anything without first calling on Africa". [10] This has been the literary proof of her existence and importance, in some cases interpreted as a proof for a North African goddess-centric cult. Other writers have also interpreted the female personification of Africa to be a "Dea" or goddess. [11]
Maritz, however, has questioned whether personified Africa was ever a "Dea" or goddess to Romans, or anywhere else. The iconographic images of "Dea Africa" with elephant scalp head dress was just a Roman icon for Africa, states Maritz. This is likely because neither Pliny nor any writer thereafter ever described her as "Dea", nor is there an epigraphical inscription stating "Dea Africa". In contrast, other Roman goddesses carry the prefix "Dea" in texts and inscriptions. Romans already had their own goddesses of fertility and abundance, states Maritz, and there was no need for a competing goddess with the same role. [12]
In the Renaissance Africa was revived, along with other personifications, and was, by the 17th century, usually given a dark complexion, curly hair and a broad nose, in addition to her Roman attributes. [13] She was a necessary part of images of the Four Continents, which were popular in several media.
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of spinning, weaving, beauty, love, sexuality, motherhood, domesticity, creativity, and fertility. Many major goddesses are also associated with magic, war, strategy, hunting, farming, wisdom, fate, earth, sky, power, laws, justice, and more. Some themes, such as discord or disease, which are considered negative within their cultural contexts also are found associated with some goddesses. There are as many differently described and understood goddesses as there are male, shapeshifting, or neuter gods.
Venus is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles.
Ptolemy of Mauretania was the last Roman client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome. He was the son of Juba II, the king of Numidia and a member of the Berber Massyles tribe, as well as a descendant of the Ptolemaic dynasty via his mother Cleopatra Selene II.
In Greek mythology, the Horae, Horai or Hours were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time.
In ancient Roman religion, Abundantia, also called Copia, was a divine personification of abundance and prosperity. The name Abundantia means "abundance" in Latin. She would help protect your savings and investments. Abundantia would even assist someone with major purchases. She was among the embodiments of virtues in religious propaganda that cast the emperor as the ensurer of "Golden Age" conditions. Abundantia thus figures in art, cult, and literature, but has little mythology as such. She may have survived in some form in Roman Gaul and medieval France. Abundantia would carry a cornucopia that was filled with grain and coins. She would occasionally leave some of her grain or money at someone's house as a gift.
Bonus Eventus was a divine personification in ancient Roman religion. The Late Republican scholar Varro lists him as one of the twelve deities who presided over agriculture, paired with Lympha, the goddess who influenced the water supply. The original function of Bonus Eventus may have been agricultural, but during the Imperial era, he represents a more general concept of success and was among the numerous abstractions who appeared as icons on Roman coins.
Libertas is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the late republic. She sometimes also appeared on coins from the imperial period, such as Galba's "Freedom of the People" coins during his short reign after the death of Nero. She is usually portrayed with two accoutrements: the spear and a phrygian cap, which she holds out on the spear, rather than wears on her head.
Erecura or Aerecura was a goddess worshipped in ancient times, often thought to be Celtic in origin, mostly represented with the attributes of Proserpina and associated with the Roman underworld god Dis Pater, as on an altar from Sulzbach. She appears with Dis Pater in a statue found at Oberseebach, Switzerland, and in several magical texts from Austria, once in the company of Cerberus and once probably with Ogmios. A further inscription to her has been found near Stuttgart, Germany. Besides her chthonic symbols, she is often depicted with such attributes of fertility as the cornucopia and apple baskets. She is believed to be similar to Greek Hecate, while the two goddesses share similar names. She is depicted in a seated posture, wearing a full robe and bearing trays or baskets of fruit, in depictions from Cannstatt and Sulzbach. Miranda Green calls Aericura a "Gaulish Hecuba", while Noémie Beck characterizes her as a "land-goddess" sharing both underworld and fertility aspects with Dis Pater.
Parvati, also known as Uma and Gauri, is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. In her complete form, she is a physical representation of Mahadevi also known as Adi Shakti, the primordial power behind the creation of the universe, the creator and destroyer. She is one of the central deities of the goddess-oriented sect called Shaktism, and the supreme goddess in Shaivism. Along with Lakshmi and Sarasvati, she forms the Tridevi.
In ancient Roman religion, Roma was a female deity who personified the city of Rome and, more broadly, the Roman state. She was created and promoted to represent and propagate certain of Rome's ideas about itself, and to justify its rule. She was portrayed on coins, sculptures, architectural designs, and at official games and festivals. Images of Roma had elements in common with other goddesses, such as Rome's Minerva, her Greek equivalent Athena and various manifestations of Greek Tyche, who protected Greek city-states; among these, Roma stands dominant, over piled weapons that represent her conquests, and promising protection to the obedient. Her "Amazonian" iconography shows her "manly virtue" (virtus) as fierce mother of a warrior race, augmenting rather than replacing local goddesses. On some coinage of the Roman Imperial era, she is shown as a serene advisor, partner and protector of ruling emperors. In Rome, the Emperor Hadrian built and dedicated a gigantic temple to her as Roma Aeterna, and to Venus Felix, emphasising the sacred, universal and eternal nature of the empire.
Atargatis was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Primarily she was a fertility goddess, but, as the baalat ("mistress") of her city and people she was also responsible for their protection and well-being. Her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis, modern Manbij, northeast of Aleppo, Syria.
In ancient Roman religion Victoria was the deified personification of victory. She first appears during the first Punic War, seemingly as a Romanised re-naming of Nike, the goddess of victory associated with Rome's Greek allies in the Greek mainland and in Magna Graecia. Thereafter she comes to symbolise Rome's eventual hegemony and right to rule. She is a deified abstraction, entitled to a cult. But unlike Nike, she has virtually no mythology of her own.
In Ancient Egyptian religion, Taweret is the protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility. The name "Taweret" means "she who is great" or simply "great one", a common pacificatory address to dangerous deities. The deity is typically depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes, pendulous female human breasts, the limbs and paws of a lion, and the back and tail of a Nile crocodile. She commonly bears the epithets "Lady of Heaven", "Mistress of the Horizon", "She Who Removes Water", "Mistress of Pure Water", and "Lady of the Birth House".
Flora is a Roman goddess of flowers and spring – a symbol for nature and flowers. While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime, as did her role as goddess of youth. She was one of the fifteen deities who had their own flamen, the Floralis, one of the flamines minores. Her Greek counterpart is Chloris.
Pax, more commonly known in English as Peace, was the Roman goddess of peace derived and adopted from the ancient Greek equivalent Eirene. Pax was seen as the daughter of the Roman king god Jupiter and the goddess Justice. Worship of Peace was organized and made popular during the rule of the emperor Augustus who used her imagery to help stabilise the empire after the years of turmoil and civil war of the late republic. Augustus commissioned an altar of peace in her honour on the Campus Martius called Ara Pacis, and the emperor Vespasian built a temple for her on called the Templum Pacis. Pax had a festival held for her on January 30. In art she is commonly depicted holding out olive branches as a peace offering, as well as a caduceus, cornucopia, corn and a sceptre. Pax is also often associated with spring.
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The Shri Sukta(Sanskrit: श्रीसूक्तम्, romanized: Śrīsūktam), also called the Shri Suktam, is the earliest recorded Sanskrit devotional hymns that revere Shri-Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, and fertility. The Shri Sukta is recited, with a strict adherence to Sanskrit prosody for the veneration of the goddess. This hymn is found in the Rigvedic khilanis, which are appendices to the Rigveda that can be dated back to the pre-Buddhist era.
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