Roman and Egyptian Ritual: Two Empires, Two Ways of Managing the Divine
Rome conquered Egypt in 30 BCE and got more than it bargained for. The province it expected. The religion it did not.
Ancient Religion
Fauna: Roman Goddess of Women and the Wild
Ancient sources couldn’t agree on whether Fauna was Faunus’s wife, his daughter, or simply another name for Bona Dea. The confusion is itself informative — she was old enough that the traditions had blurred.
Consus: Roman God of the Grain Store and the Underground Altar
His altar at the Circus Maximus was buried underground and uncovered only twice a year. The first time Romulus uncovered it, he used the festival to abduct the Sabine women.
Vacuna: Sabine Goddess of Rest and Leisure
Horace mentions her in a letter written from his Sabine farm. He is sitting under a ruined shrine to Vacuna, writing to a friend, enjoying his otium. He seems to find this appropriate.
Dea Dia: Ancient Goddess of the Roman Fields
Her priesthood kept records for five centuries. The hymn they sang to her is one of the oldest surviving texts in Latin. Almost no one knows her name.