In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon. She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun (Sol) conceived of as a god. Luna is also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman triple goddess, along with Proserpina and Hecate. Luna is not always a distinct goddess, but sometimes rather an epithet that specializes a goddess, since both Diana and Juno are identified as moon goddesses.
Bona Dea was a divinity in ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in Roman women, healing, and the protection of the state and people of Rome. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Republic, and was given her own state cult on the Aventine Hill.
In ancient Roman religion, Lucina was a title or epithet given to the goddess Juno, and sometimes to Diana, in their roles as goddesses of childbirth who safeguarded the lives of women in labor.
A tutelary is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety, and thus of guardianship.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopedic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first published in 1949, edited by Max Cary with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and Alexander Souter. A second edition followed in 1970 (OCD2), edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, and a third edition in 1996 (OCD3), edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. A revised third edition was released in 2003, which is nearly identical to the previous third edition. A fourth edition was published in 2012 (OCD4), edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. In 2016, a fully digital edition (OCD5) launched online, edited by Sander Goldberg (2013–2017) and Tim Whitmarsh (2018–present). Continuously updated on a monthly basis, this edition incorporates all 6,300 entries from OCD4 as well as newly commissioned entries, and features multimedia content and freely accessible maps of the ancient world.
Maia, in ancient Greek religion, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes.
As Zeus Meilichius or Meilichios, the Olympian of Greek mythology subsumed as an attributive epithet to an earlier chthonic daimon; Meilichios, who was propitiated in Athens by archaic rituals, as Jane Ellen Harrison demonstrated in detail in Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903). In the course of examining the archaic aspects of the Diasia festival, the greatest Athenian festival accorded Zeus, she showed that it had been superimposed upon an earlier propitiatory ceremony.
The Temple of Jupiter, Capitolium, or Temple of the Capitoline Triad was a temple in Roman Pompeii, at the north end of its forum. Initially dedicated to Jupiter alone, it was built in the mid-2nd century BC at the same time as the temple of Apollo was being renovated - this was the area at which Roman influence over Pompeii increased and so Roman Jupiter superseded the Greek Apollo as the town's highest god. Jupiter was the ruler of the gods and the protector of Rome, where his temple was the center of Roman Religion and of the cult of state.
Simon Hornblower, FBA is an English classicist and academic. He is Professor of Classics and Ancient History in the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Ariobarzanes I, named Philoromaios, was the king of Cappadocia from 95 BC to c. 63 BC–62 BC. Ariobarzanes I was a Cappadocian nobleman of obscure origins who was of Persian descent.
Ariobarzanes III, surnamed Eusebes Philorhomaios, "Pious and Friend of the Romans", was the king of Kingdom of Cappadocia from ca. 51 BC until 42 BC.
Ariarathes X, surnamed Eusebes Philadelphos, "Pious, brother-loving", was the king of Cappadocia from c. 42 BC to 36 BC. He was of Persian and Greek ancestry. His father was King Ariobarzanes II of Cappadocia and his mother was Queen Athenais. He became king after his brother Ariobarzanes III Philoromaios was killed. His rule did not last long as Mark Antony of Rome removed and executed him, replacing him with Sisines, who became Archelaus of Cappadocia.
Cornelius Severus was an Augustan Age Roman epic poet who is mentioned in Quintilian and Ovid. Quintilian attests to an epic about the Sicilian Wars, Bellum Siculum, and Ovid refers to a long poem on Rome's ancient kings, which may be Res Romanae. This work, such as it is known, exists only in quotations by other authors. Seneca quoted twenty-five lines from it on the death of Cicero, which can be found in the Oxford University Press Oxford Book of Latin Verse.
Hypsicrates the historian was a Greek writer in Rome who flourished in the 1st century BC. His work does not survive, but scholars have conjectures about the writer and his work. He was associated probably with Pontus and wrote a history of the area that was possibly used by Strabo. He may be the same Hypsicrates who served as a slave for Julius Caesar and was freed by Caesar in 47 BC.
The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Western Church. This glossary provides explanations of concepts as they were expressed in Latin pertaining to religious practices and beliefs, with links to articles on major topics such as priesthoods, forms of divination, and rituals.
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period.
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Hercules was venerated as a divinized hero and incorporated into the legends of Rome's founding. The Romans adapted Greek myths and the iconography of Heracles into their own literature and art, but the hero developed distinctly Roman characteristics. Some Greek sources as early as the 6th and 5th century BC gave Heracles Roman connections during his famous labors.
Esther Eidinow is a British ancient historian and academic. She specialises in ancient Greece, particularly ancient Greek religion and magic.
