Çerfus Martius

Umbrian · deity · Iguvine Umbrian religion; 3rd 1st c. BCE · deity

Çerfus Martius is an Umbrian deity of growth and increase whose name comes from the Indo-European root *ker- 'to grow' (the same root behind Roman Cerus and Ceres), qualified by the epithet Martius that ties him to Mars. In the lustration of Iguvium he receives boars at Fontuli, and he is the focal god of the so-called Çerfian deities: the protectress Prestota Çerfia and the boundary-goddess Tursa Çerfia are both described as belonging to Çerfus Martius. He represents the agrarian and protective doubling of the martial sphere, presiding over the flourishing of the city's people, fields and flocks.

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