Tellus

Tellus is the ground underfoot, addressed as Mother. Unlike her husband Caelus she had real cult: a temple in Rome vowed by Publius Sempronius Sophus in 268 BCE, during an earthquake — a consul promising a building to the earth while the earth was shaking. She receives sacrifice in the agricultural festivals alongside Ceres, and she is invoked in oaths and treaties where the earth is called to witness.

Domains

• earth
• motherhood

Epithets

• Mater

Relations

• spouse: Caelus
• mother of: Saturn
• mother of: Ops

Sources

• Reference treatment of Tellus and of the Temple of Tellus vowed after the 268 BCE earthquake.