Ceres

Roman grain-and-agriculture goddess; head of the Aventine triad (Ceres, Liber, Libera) — the plebeian counter-cult to the patrician Capitoline triad. The Aventine temple housed the plebeian-aediles' archive per Lex Sacrata 494 BCE. Distinct Italic foundation predates and outlives the Greek Demeter equation. Per Wissowa 1912; Spaeth, The Roman Goddess Ceres (1996).

Parentage

• father: SaturnHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)
• mother: OpsHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)

Children

• Proserpina

Domains

• agriculture grain
• plebeian state counter cult

Powers

• Blight crops / cause famine

Epithets

• Ceres Legifera latin · Ceres Legifera'Ceres the Lawgiver/Law-bringer' (Gk Thesmophoros) — bringer of settled agricultural lawVergil, Aeneid 4.58 (primary)
• Ceres Mater latin · Ceres Mater'Mother Ceres' — cult-title of the grain-mother of the Aventine plebeian triadCIL VI 3731 (Rome) (primary)

Relations

• equated with: DemeterCeres is the Roman state-cult equivalent of Greek Demeter; shared grain/agriculture iconography. The Roman cult was institutionally distinct from the early Republican period (plebeian-aedile association, lex sacrata Cereris).Standard interpretatio Graeca/Romana scholarship; Beard, North & Price, Religions of Rome (1998); Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer (1912) (secondary)
• interpretatio: DemeterCeres ↔ Demeter per ancient interpretatio. Roman Ceres has substantial Italic-only features: Aventine plebeian temple, Cerealia April festival, Lex Sacrata 494 BCE founding the plebeian aedile institution.Cic. Nat. D. 2.67; Verg. Georg. 1.7 (primary)
• father: SaturnHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)
• mother: OpsHyginus, Fabulae, Preface: children of Saturn and Ops (primary)

Sources

• existence: Liv. 3.55, 22.56; Cato Agr. 134; Cic. Nat. D. 2.67, Verr. 2.5.36; Ov. Fast. 4.393-620 (primary)
• aventine-foundation: Liv. 3.55 (Lex Sacrata 494 BCE) (primary)