An ancient paramilitary militarized Rome is notHe was too concerned to invent interesting biographies and adventures for his gods. Only after capturing Greece and transporting the statues of the Greek gods to themselves, they at the same time took their wonderful stories. Catholics, who conducted divine services in Latin, read Latin texts and introduced during the Renaissance the whole world with the Roman gods. Therefore, we know not Phoebus, but Apollo, not Artemis, and Diana, for example. A similar story occurred with Ceres, the Italian goddess of fertility, who subsequently received a beautiful biography of the Greek Demeter. Till our days marble statues of Ceres, created from the Greek copies of Demeter, have reached. Here is an example - a statue of the goddess of fertility of Ceres.
Cult of land was important for many peoplesantiquities. There were no exception to the Italic peoples who lived on the Iberian peninsula. Ceres - the goddess of land and fertility of Rome - one of the oldest deities. And initially it was connected in the minds of the Italic peoples with the even more ancient goddess of the land Tellus. In the beginning, Ceres had one task - the protection of grain crops.
For the first time the goddesses appeared, as suggested inItaly, on the Sicilian, the most fertile land (Tellus). Ceres, the goddess, received its fruits, mostly grain. On the most important days, for example, the day of the first plowing and sowing, and this was a holiday that depended on the weather conditions and therefore could move around and have conditional terms, Ceres, the goddess Tellus received bloody sacrifices. For them, most of the pigs were stabbed, but there were also some cows. The holidays were called Cerealia and began approximately (different sources give slightly different dates) on 11-12 April. They were called Ludi Cerealis and were very spectacular (there were foxes, for example). The farmers dressed in white robes, laid wreaths on their heads and held feasts and celebrations for eight days. By April 19, they were completed in honor of Ceres, Liber (Greek Dionysus) and Libera (Cora). For this, on the hill of Aventine was built in the temple between 493 and 495 BC. e. Ceres, goddess of the plebeians, had twelve different additional names:
They were associated with various moments of field work
First, there was a temple in Rome, on the Aventine Hill.There was a statue of a deity. Now the statue of the goddess of fertility Ceres in Rome is in the Roman National Museum. More precisely, it is not a statue, but a Roman marble copy from the bust of Demeter, 4th century BC. e.
The next church was in Paestum.
There is a sanctuary in Lavinio. They found a copper plate with the text, which says how to cook the entrails of animals, then to bring them to the goddess.
From ancient Roman sources it is known that in 496BC. e. there was a big crop failure. On this occasion the Greek masters built a temple in Rome dedicated to the triad consisting of Demeter, Dionysus and Cora. The new gods merged, as already mentioned, with the old and received Roman names.
Thus, the ancient Italic cults united with the Greeks and became inseparable in the minds of the plebeian farmers who most reverently worshiped this goddess who gives life.
