Semonia

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In Roman mythology, Semonia was the goddess of sowing. She belonged to a group of agricultural deities which also comprised Setia (or Seja) and Segetia. [1] [2] [3] Their names are derived from the same stem as the Latin verb sero "to sow".

This ancient deity, associated with crops and sowing, [4] [5] is of possible Roman or Sabine origin and worship. She is usually attested with the epithet Salus Semonia. [6]

Her possible male counterpart is Sabine god Semo Sancus, [7] whose traits merged with Dius Fidius's.

Semonia and Sancus appear together with other agricultural/crop deities Seia and Segetia. [8] [9]

References

  1. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia, XVII, 2.2
  2. ↑ Macrobius, Saturnalia, I. 16
  3. ↑ Augustine, De civitate Dei, IV. 8
  4. ↑ Winning, William Balfour. A Manual of Comparative Philology. London: Printed for J. G. & F. Rivington. 1838. p. 255-256.
  5. ↑ Yancey, P. H. Origins from Mythology of Biological Names and Terms: Part III, O-Z. In: Bios. Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1945). pp. 268-282.
  6. ↑ Axtell, Harold Lucius. The deification of abstract ideas in Roman literature and inscriptions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1907. p. 13.
  7. ↑ Woodard, Roger D. Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. University of Illinois Press. 2006. p. 184. ISBN   978-0-252-02988-2
  8. ↑ Woodard, Roger D. Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. 2013. pp. 212-213. ISBN   978-1-107-02240-9
  9. ↑ MacClement, W. T. Some protective devices among plants. Canada, Kingston: Publishing Committee of Queen's Quarterly, Queen's University. 1909. p. 60.


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