Semonia

In Roman mythology, Semonia was the goddess of sowing. She belonged to a group of agricultural deities which also comprised Setia (or Seja) and Segetia.[1][2][3] Their names are derived from the same stem as the Latin verb sero "to sow".

This ancient deity, associated with crops and sowing,[4][5] is of possible Roman or Sabine origin and worship. She is usually attested with the epithet Salus Semonia.[6]

Her possible male counterpart is Sabine god Semo Sancus,[7] whose traits merged with Dius Fidius's.

Semonia and Sancus appear together with other agricultural/crop deities Seia and Segetia.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ Pliny, Naturalis Historia, XVII, 2.2
  2. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia, I. 16
  3. ^ Augustine, De civitate Dei, IV. 8
  4. ^ Winning, William Balfour. A Manual of Comparative Philology. London: Printed for J. G. & F. Rivington. 1838. p. 255-256.
  5. ^ Yancey, P. H. Origins from Mythology of Biological Names and Terms: Part III, O-Z. In: Bios. Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1945). pp. 268-282. [1]
  6. ^ Axtell, Harold Lucius. The deification of abstract ideas in Roman literature and inscriptions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1907. p. 13.
  7. ^ Woodard, Roger D. Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. Univsersity of Illinois Press. 2006. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-252-02988-2
  8. ^ Woodard, Roger D. Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity. Cambridge Univsersity Press. 2013. pp. 212-213. ISBN 978-1-107-02240-9
  9. ^ MacClement, W. T. Some protective devices among plants. Canada, Kingston: Publishing Committee of Queen's Quarterly, Queen's University. 1909. p. 60.


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