Ceres (mythology)
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- For the dwarf planet, see Ceres (dwarf planet). For other uses, see Ceres
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In Roman mythology, Ceres was the goddess of growing plants (particularly cereals) and of motherly love. Her name derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "ker", meaning "to grow", which is also the root for the words "create" and "increase".
Ceres was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, wife-sister of Jupiter, mother of Proserpina by Jupiter and sister of Juno, Vesta, Neptune and Pluto. Works of art depicted Ceres conventionally with a scepter, a basket of flowers and fruit, and a garland made of wheat ears.
Ceres was also patron of Enna, Sicily. According to legend, she begged Jupiter that Sicily be placed in the heavens. The result, because the island is triangular in shape, was the constellation Triangulum, an early name of which was Sicilia.
The Romans adopted Ceres in 496 BC during a devastating famine, when the Sibylline books advised the adoption of her Greek equivalent Demeter, along with Kore (Persephone) and Iacchus (possibly Dionysus). Ceres was personified and celebrated by women in secret rituals at the festival of Ambarvalia, held during May. There was a temple to Ceres on the Aventine Hill in Rome. Her primary festival was the Cerealia or Ludi Ceriales ("games of Ceres"), instituted in the 3rd century BC and held annually on April 12 to April 19. The worship of Ceres became particularly associated with the plebeian classes, who dominated the grain trade. Little is known about the rituals of Cerelean worship; one of the few customs which has been recorded was the peculiar practice of tying lighted brands to the tails of foxes which were then let loose in the Circus Maximus.
Ceres had twelve minor gods who assisted her, and were in charge of specific aspects of farming: "Vervactor who turns fallow land, Reparator who prepares fallow land, Imporcitor who plows with wide furrows" (whose name comes from the Latin imporcare, to put into furrows), "Insitor who sowed, Obarator who plowed the surface, Occator who harrowed, Sarritor who weeded, Subruncinator who thinned out, Messor who harvested, Conuector who carted, Conditor who stored, and Promitor who distributed".[1]
[edit] References to Ceres
The word cereals derives from Ceres, commemorating her association with edible grains. A statue of Ceres tops the dome of the Vermont State House serving as a reminder of the importance of agriculture in that U.S. state's economy and history. There is also a statue of her on top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building, which conducts trading in agricultural commodities.
The dwarf planet Ceres (discovered 1801), is named after this goddess. And in turn, the chemical element cerium (discovered 1803) was named after the dwarf planet.
A poem about Ceres and man features in Dmitri's confession to his brother Alexei in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamozov, Part 1, Book 3, Chapter 3.
The Space Colony Station in Super Metroid is named after Ceres.
[edit] See also
| Roman mythology series |
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| Major deities |
| Apollo | Ceres | Diana | Divus Augustus | Fortuna | Divus Julius | Juno | Jupiter | Lares Mars | Mercury | Minerva | Neptune | Pluto | Quirinus | Sol | Venus | Vesta | Vulcan |
