Tiberinus

Roman river-god of the Tiber (Tiberinus Pater, Father Tiber), the deified river. In the river-bride tradition he takes the drowned Vestal Rhea Silvia (Ilia) as his wife, preserving her in divine form; an alternate naming (Ovid Fasti 3) gives the river Anio in his place. Honoured at Rome with the festival of the Tiberinalia and shared in the cult of the river island.

Domains

• rivers
• abundance and fertility

Epithets

• Pater Tiberinus Latin · Pater Tiberinus · cultFather TiberVirgil, Aeneid 8.31-78; Ennius, Annales (primary)
• Volturnus Latin · Volturnus · cultolder cult-name of the Tiber's deityVarro; the flamen Volturnalis and feast Volturnalia (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: Rhea SilviaTook the drowned Rhea Silvia (Ilia) as his bride, making her a river-goddess.Ovid, Fasti 3.45-58; Horace, Carmina 1.2.17-20 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Virgil, Aeneid 8.31-78; Ovid, Fasti 2.597, 3.45-58; Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.614-615; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.52 (primary)
• marriage-to-rhea-silvia: Ovid, Fasti 3.45-58; Horace, Carmina 1.2.17-20 (Ilia and the Tiber); Ennius, Annales fragments (primary)