Etymology: “Plenty”

Pronunciation: AHP-s

Other names: Rhea, Opiconsivia, Opis

Other Names and Epithets: Ops Consiva, Ops the Sower, Ops Opifera

Etymology: “Plenty”

Originally from Sabine, Ops is the Roman Fertility and Earth-Goddess of the harvest, bounty and wealth. Her place in Roman mythology would directly lift from Greek mythology with the Earth Goddess Rhea.

Attributes

Animal: Lions

Element: Earth

Month: August

Plant: Grains

Sphere of Influence: Abundance, Agriculture, Fertility

Symbols: Bread, Cornucopia, Crown, Seeds, Tambourine

Sabine Origins

King Titus of Sabine is who created a cult dedicated to Ops where in a short time she would come to be seen as a goddess of plenty, wealth, riches and abundance, both for an individual level and for the nation of Sabine. It wouldn’t take long for the Romans to adopt and import this fertility and earth-goddess, equating her with Cybele and Rhea.

Temple Sites

Ops had a couple of different temples in ancient Rome. The first was a sanctuary in the Regia found at the Forum Romanum. The second was a Temple of Ops found on Capitoline Hill.

Roman Worship

When paired with Consus, the God of Storage as her consort, Ops would be honored at the harvest festivals on August 21^st, Opiconsivia on August 25^th and a later celebration of Opalia held on December 19^{th (}sometimes this date is the 9th). There is another festival, held in Ops’ honor that was to have taken place on August 10^th.

Roman Depictions

In statuaries and coins, Ops is shown sitting down, a feature characteristic of Chthonic deities. Ops is also showing holding a scepter and a sheath of grain.

What’s In A Name?

Ops’ name comes from the Latin word meaning “plenty” or a catchall for the words: abundance, gifts, goods, riches and even wealth. In many of the Latin writings from this era, the name or word Ops wouldn’t be used as it’s singular and instead, the word opis used as it’s plural.

Ops’ name is also where the word opus, meaning “work” is derived from. Not just any work or labor, but the very tilling and working the land for farming with plowing and sowing. Without this abundance of the earth and the forthcoming harvest, no one could eat. There are many rituals and festivals in the ancient world that attest to the sacred nature of the earth and the fertility of the land.

A last final thought I came across is the suggestion that Ops’ name is also related to the Sanskrit word of ápnas that also means: “goods” and “property.”

Parentage and Family

Parents

Caelus (The primal god of the Sky) & Terra (The Earth)

Siblings

The gods Janus and Saturn are given as Ops’ brothers.

Consort

Consus – The god of Storage, he is also worshiped with Ops as her consort.

Saturn – The god of agriculture, he is often paired up with Ops.

Children

 Ceres, Pluto, Neptune, Jupiter, Vesta, and Juno

A Crisis Of Identity

 While Ops has her origins in Sabine culture and mythology; her being imported and adopted by the ancient Romans, sees her getting identified with Cybele, the Magna Mater or Great Mother of Rome. The other notable goddess identified with Ops is Rhea, to the point that their stories are identical, just change out the names.

Epitaphs & Other Names

This time, I’ll be mainly looking at a few different epitaphs that Ops is known by.

Juno Opigena – Sometimes Ops would be used as an epitaph of Juno, the Queen of the Gods. This makes sense as Juno herself is a mother goddess, goddess of marriage and childbirth. Though, given Juno is Ops daughter, that comes off as a little confusing.

Ops the Sower – In this role, Ops protected the sowing of crops.

Ops Opifera – When called by this epithet, Ops is believed to bring help.

Ops & Saturn

Ops is often paired up with the god Saturn. The primary myth of these two directly lifts from the Grecian source as seen with Ops being equated with Rhea and Saturn with Cronus.

That said, Ops is the wife of Saturn, who one day learned of a prophecy in which one of his children would kill him, thus taking his throne as king of the Gods. Just like his Grecian counterpart, Saturn decided he would prevent this fate by devouring his children as they are born.

This leaves a very grief-stricken Ops, who decides with the birth of her sixth child, Jupiter (Zeus) that she would hide him away from Saturn. Ops takes and wraps a stone in swaddling clothes to present to Saturn as their latest child.

Even in the original Greek version of this story, they don’t explain how Rhea or Ops, in this case, manages to trick Saturn (Cronus).

Yet, there we are, Saturn has swallowed the stone. Opis hid away her youngest son, Jupiter and raised him in secret. Later, when Jupiter was older, he got a position as a cupbearer his father, the King. With this position, Jupiter is able to add a potion to Saturn’s drink that causes him to vomit and disgorge all of Jupiter’s siblings along with the stone.

The Titanomachy, a ten-year war would soon follow between Saturn and his children. Eventually, Jupiter would finally win the war, ending the Golden Age with Saturn’s death. Taking the throne, Jupiter would become king of the Roman pantheon.

Queen & Mother Of The Gods

That makes sense, Ops is the mother of the Roman Pantheon. As a queen, she would pass this title on later to her daughter Juno.

Rhea – Greek Goddess

Rhea has been identified with a couple of different Roman goddess, one is Cybele and of course Ops. Which can lead to some confusion when matching and pairing up just who’s a Grecian counterpart to who in Roman mythology.

The Romans were famous for subsuming many deities in their conquest across Europe, particularly the Mediterranean area, and identifying their gods with those of a conquered culture. The most famous being the Greeks, where many deities were renamed to those of Roman gods. Prominent examples like Zeus and Jupiter, Hera and Juno, Ares and Mars and so on down the line.

With the Hellenization of Latin literature, many Greek writers and even Roman writers rewrote and intertwined the myths of these two deities so that would virtually become one and the same. As the centuries have passed, the tradition of accepting both of these goddesses as one and the same has become generally accepted. Just that there are still some differences that separate the two.

Rhea’s best-known story is with the birth of the Olympian gods. Cronus fearing that a son of his would kill him and take over, devoured all of his children as they were born. Rhea managed to rescue her youngest son, Zeus by tricking Cronus into swallowing a rock. She hid Zeus in the Dictean Cave in Crete. Zeus, after growing up, succeeded at overthrowing Cronus and rescuing his siblings.