Portunus
Roman · deity · regal · Recorded classification
Portunus holds the keys. Door and harbour are the same idea in Latin — porta and portus — and the god covers both, together with the granaries a key protects and the livestock that came through the cattle market where his temple stands. That temple, in the Forum Boarium beside the oldest river port and the oldest stone bridge in Rome, is the best preserved Republican temple in the city, and it survived for the usual reason: somebody turned it into a church.
Parentage
- mother: Mater MatutaIn the Latin identification of Ino and Melicertes.Hyginus, Fabulae 2 (primary)
Domains
- harbour
- boundary
Relations
- mother: Mater MatutaIn the Latin identification of Ino and Melicertes.Hyginus, Fabulae 2 (primary)
- counterpart of: MelicertesTradition-specific counterpart; this link does not transfer parentage.Hyginus, Fabulae 2 (primary)
Sources
- Portunus is the Roman god of keys, doors, livestock and granaries, whose principal temple stands in the Forum Boarium beside Rome's oldest river port and oldest stone bridge.: Reference treatment of Portunus and of the Temple of Portunus in the Forum Boarium. (secondary)