Dea Dia

Roman goddess of fertility

Dea Dia
Goddess of fertility and growth
Festivals	Ambarvalia
Equivalents
Greek equivalent	Demeter

Religion in ancient Rome
Marcus Aurelius (head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Practices and beliefs
libation votum temples festivals ludi funerary practices imperial cult mystery religions
Priesthoods
Pontifices Augures Vestales Flamines Fetiales Epulones Fratres Arvales
Deities
Twelve major gods Capitoline Triad Aventine Triad Underworld indigitamenta Agriculture Birth Deified leaders: Julius Caesar Augustus Other deified persons: Antinous
Related topics
Glossary of ancient Roman religion Roman mythology Ancient Greek religion Etruscan religion Gallo-Roman religion Interpretatio Graeca Decline
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Dea Dia (Latin: "Goddess of Daylight", or "Bright Goddess") was a goddess of fertility and growth in ancient Roman religion. She was sometimes identified with Ceres, and sometimes with her Greek equivalent Demeter.^[1]

She was worshiped during Ambarvalia, a festival to Ceres.^[2] Every May, her priests, the Fratres Arvales, held a three-day festival in her honor.^[3]^[4]

Name

The name Dea Dīa (Classical Latin: [ˈd̪e.a ˈd̪iː.a]) means 'Goddess of Daylight' or 'Bright Goddess'.^[5]^[6] The first element stems from the Latin dea ('goddess'), while the second is related to diēs ('day'), probably in reference to the ritual prescription to announce in January the May ceremonies sub divo culmine ('under the celestial vault').^[5]

References

^ Michael Lipka (2009). Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach. BRILL. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-90-04-17503-7.
^ Hildegard Temporini (1 December 1985). Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 1949–. ISBN 978-3-11-008289-0.
^ Notes on Strabo's account, 5.3
^ Angelo Pellegrini (1865). Gli edifici del collegio dei Fratelli Arvali nel lugo della dea dia e i di loro avanzi: opuscolo corredato con pianta delineata dal medesimo. tipografia Chassi. pp. 6–.
^ ^a ^b Schilling 1992, pp. 113–114.
^ Jenkyns 2013, p. 96.

Bibliography

Jenkyns, Richard (2013). God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-967552-4.
Schilling, Robert (1992). "The Arval Brethren". In Bonnefoy, Yves (ed.). Roman and European Mythologies. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-06455-0.