Ceres (= Greek Demeter)
Ceres of Aventine: a temple, built after a famine, where grain was stored
and doled.
Ceres, like Demeter, was goddess of death. There was a pit, the mundus
Ceres, which was
uncovered three times a year to let the spirits of the dead visit the
living.
Mysteries: the Greek worship of Demeter was imported into the Roman
worship of Ceres, but the
cult was only open to women, so it did not become politically powerful.
Ceres as fertility goddess and guardian of the order of the seasons
and life cycle fit the plan of the
Romans (particularly Augustus) to involve citizens in marriage and
family.
Ceres was a protector of wives. According to Plutarch, an ancient Roman law said that a man divorcing his wife for any reason other than adultery, stealing his keys, or poisoning his children would give half his possessions to his wife and half to Ceres. The husband who sold his wife was "consecrate to the infernal deities", i.e. executed? This is an ancient Roman law, dating back to legendary times, not in fact practiced in historical Rome.
priestesses of Ceres had special privileges in Rome.
Temple
of Ceres - Paestum
Pompeian
Wall Painting of Ceres
Livia
as Ceres
Faustina
Major as Ceres
Images of Gods
and Goddesses
Juno (=Greek Hera)
Goddess of Marriage: the Romans were very keen on marriage as they were
interested in
stabilizing their state and empire. Imperial women modeled themselves
on Juno and were thought
to become goddesses at their deaths because of their role in the royal
family (their husbands
became gods).
Venus (=Greek Aphrodite)
Venus, the ancestor of the Romans: she was the mother of Aeneas, the leader of the Trojans who escaped from the fallen Troy after the Trojan War. Caesar's Temple of Venus Genetrix
associated with fertility. Separate worship for separate classes,
patrician, plebian, prostitute.
also associated with Fortune
Fortuna: related to women's fertility. There were separate cults for separate classes.