Robigus
Roman · deity · regal · Recorded classification
Robigus is mildew with a festival. Roman religion handled agricultural danger by naming it and giving it a day: on 25 April the priests went out to the fifth milestone of the Via Claudia and sacrificed a rust-coloured dog, the colour chosen to match the disease, asking the god of the blight to keep away from the standing corn. He is paired in cult with Flora, whose flowering he threatens.
Domains
- agriculture
Powers
- to keep the rust off the standing corn, being the rust himself
Relations
- ally: FloraWorshipped together with Flora: she brings the crop into flower and he is asked to keep the blight off it.Reference treatment: Robigus was worshipped together with Flora. (secondary)
Sources
- Robigus is the Roman god of wheat rust, worshipped with Flora and honoured at the Robigalia of 25 April to keep mildew from the corn.: Reference treatment of Robigus, his protection of the corn against disease, and the Robigalia. (secondary)