Flora

Flora is the moment a crop flowers, which is the moment it can still be lost — so she is an agricultural goddess of real anxiety, not a decorative one. Her festival, the Floralia, ran from late April into May with games, released hares and goats, and entertainments that respectable Romans complained about. She is paired in cult with Robigus, who keeps the blight away from what she has brought into bloom, and her altar is listed among the oldest in the city.

Variant accounts

• Roman Flora is a separate record from Oscan Fluusa.The Oscan goddess Fluusa, already in this registry, carries 'Flora' among her aliases. The two are cognate and belong to the same Italic religious stock, but Fluusa is attested in the Oscan cult circle and Flora in the Roman calendar with her own festival, her own flamen and her own temple. They are kept apart on the same principle that keeps Oscan Kerres and Roman Ceres as separate records.Reference treatment of Flora in Roman cult; the Oscan Fluusa record in this registry. (secondary)

Domains

• flowering
• fertility

Relations

• ally: RobigusWorshipped together with Robigus: she brings the crop into flower and he keeps the blight off it.Reference treatment: Robigus was worshipped together with Flora. (secondary)

Sources

• Flora is the Roman goddess of flowering and of spring, honoured at the Floralia and worshipped together with Robigus, with an altar among those attributed to Titus Tatius.: Reference treatment of Flora, the Floralia, and her pairing with Robigus. (secondary)