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Cloacina
Etymology: From the Latin cloaca meaning “Sewer” Other meanings are Cleanser and Purifier.
Epitaphs & Other Names: Mistress of the Great Sewer, “The Cleanser,” Venus Cloacina (Venus the Cleanser)
Cloacina is the Roman Goddess of Sewers, Filth, and Purity. Before you laugh, the Romans had a spirit or deity for nearly everything. Naturally, when it comes to taking care of sewage and drainage, the Romans also have a deity for this. Enter Cloacina, the goddess responsible for purifying filth and whatever nasty things are in the sewers that we don’t want to think about.
Attributes
Element: Water
Plant: Myrtle
Sphere of Influence: Cleansing, Purification, Rivers, Sewers
Tool: Incense Burner
Etruscan Origins
It is generally accepted that Cloacina was an Etruscan goddess first before being adopted by the Romans. The Etruscans lived in the northern and central part of Italy called Tuscany where they were called Tusci or Etusci by the Romans.
Not much is known about the Etruscans, a few words have survived into the Latin language. What little we do have and know, shows that many deities were adapted and adopted by the Romans into their belief systems.
Plus, the whole story of the founding of Rome by the brothers Romulus and Remus comes to us from Etruscan stories. It’s also interesting to track history meeting myth and where things get muddled. Titus Tatius for example is credited as being the Sabine King co-ruling with Romulus and erecting a statue honoring Cloacina and the Great Sewer. Traditionally, Romulus is said to have ruled between 753 and 717 B.C.E., and Lucius Tarquinius Priscus’ rule from 616-579 B.C.E. and when the sewer’s construction is done. Which would put Titus Tatius about a century ahead of schedule.
Back to Cloacina, when we look at Rome’s foundation myth, we see that the king of Sabine, Titus Tatius commissions the statue where the Sabines and Romans meet to end the conflict following the rape of the Sabine women. It is Tatius who instituted the lawful marriage between Sabines and Romans to unite them as one people. This new peace between the Sabines and Romans would be noted by a cleansing ritual using myrtle performed near an old Etruscan shrine to Cloacina by a small stream. The same stream that would become part of the Cloaca Maxima.
Side Note: Myrtle is also one of Venus’ symbols, the Romans would later equate Cloacina with Venus in her function as a goddess of peace, union, and reconciliation. In this sense, Cloacina would be known as Venus Cloacina or Venus the Cleanser as she also presided over the purification of sex during marriage.
Goddess Of Water
In her early Etruscan origins, Cloacina began as a goddess of water and in that aspect, her attributes were that of Cleanser and Purifier. The stream that Cloacina was originally associated with was part of a marshy region that would empty out to the Tiber River. This region was also prone to flooding by the Tiber as well.
Goddess Of The Sewers
And thus filth, in this respect Cloacina is responsible for purification and cleansing to keep the streets and City of Rome clean.
Despite this seemingly unsavory position, Cloacina was greatly revered and respected by the Romans as they had statues of Fortuna in their latrines, shrines, art, and even prayers for her.
We’re talking that Roman sewers were well maintained to keep the streets and City of Roman free from flooding, diseases, and vermin such as rats.
Cloaca Maxima
This is the vast sewer system in Rome that kept the city clean and relatively free of excrement. At its peak, Rome had over a million people living in the city and it was very important to keep the place disease-free. Even today, the Cloaca Maxima still functions and works, which speaks a testament to the engineering abilities of the ancient Romans, notably Tarquin as one of the building projects he overtook for Rome. What we know, is that the Etruscan king, Tarquinius Priscus is credited as beginning the work on the Cloaca Maxima which would be completed by Tarquinius Superbus.
The Cloaca Maxima was originally built as an open-air canal that ran through the main Forum, collecting water from streams and emptying it into the Tiber River. Over time, it came to be built over and enclosed with later sections and branches being tunneled out as the city grew. In Ovid’s Fasti, it is mentioned that the Forum had been built on an area with swamp-like conditions.
Sacrum Cloacina
This is the name of the shrine that Romans built in the Forum to petition Cloacina’s aid to keep the streets and City of Rome clean. The Forum is where one could expect to find statues and shrines to all the major Roman gods like Jupiter, Saturn, Juno, and Minerva. From there, there was a manhole access cover to the sewer below. Today, the foundations of this shrine can still be seen. There are a number of layers of stonework that show how ancient this shrine is as the entrance had been raised many times and upkeep by the Romans. There is a set of stairs with a railing that leads down to where a pair of small statues stand that are either both Cloacina or Cloacina and Venus. Each statue holds an incense burner and a flower.
As a side note, Cloacina’s image can be found on the backside of Roman coins, opposite that of Julius Caesar dating from 44 B.C.E. These coins were likely tossed into the water as offerings to Cloacina for her favor and to be free from diseases. Another interesting note to this is that the Hall of Curia, where Julius Caesar was assassinated was turned into a public toilet and the waste from this hall would flow into the Cloaca Maxima.
There are even prayers and poems written to Cloacina as the Mistress of the Great Sewer.
A couple of these poems and prayers are as follows:
“Then Cloacina, goddess of the tide,
Whose sable (black) streams beneath the city glide
Indulged the modish flame, the town she roved,
A mortal scavenger she saw she loved.”
“O Cloacina, Goddess of this place,
Look on thy suppliants with a smiling face.
Soft, yet cohesive let their offerings flow,
Not rashly swift nor insolently slow.”
Venus – Roman
This one is somewhat surprising as Venus is the Roman goddess of Love and Beauty. This does make sense that one of Venus’ functions is that as a purifier and that’s also what Cloacina does too. Though if you ask some historians like Pliny the Elder why Cloacina is identified with Venus, he couldn’t tell you. But it makes sense when you look at one of Venus’ functions as a unifier, peace, and reconciliation, and that where the ancient Sabines and Romans made peace is right on the same location for Cloacina’s shrine. Plus, Rome had this thing for Pax Romana for trying to keep peace and stability within their empire that would extend to trying to appease every god that they had, even if it meant some becoming epitaphs or another name for a deity to try and keep the list down and simplified.
Dea Dia
Etymology: Latin “Bright Goddess,” “the Celestial Goddess” or “Goddess of Daylight”
Pronunciation: d̪e-a ˈd̪i-a
In ancient Rome, Dea Dia is the goddess of fertility and growth. By herself, she is a relatively minor goddess and as such, she is frequently equated with Ceres or her Grecian counterpart Demeter.
Attributes
Element: Earth
Month: May, December
Sphere of Influence: Growth, Crops, Fields, Planting
Ancient Origins
Dea Dia’s worship is very ancient, she was a goddess of the plowed field, concerned with the fertility and growth of crops, particularly grain and the earth.
It’s thought that Dea Dia’s worship extends back to ancient Sabine. The first part of her name, Dea simply means goddess and the second part means “light” or “bright” in reference to the sky. There is thought that Dia may be related to the goddess Diana as there is certainly an etymological root there with “dia.”
Since there’s a lot of getting into the Indo-European root words and languages. There are lines of thought that Dia Dea is an honorific and the actual goddess’ name was so sacred as to be forbidden to be spoken out loud as seen with another goddess known as Bona Dea. Additionally, one of Jupiter’s archaic names as a Sky-God is “Dies Pater” so there is another idea that Dea Dia may be the consort of an early form of Jupiter’s.
Ambarvalia
This is a three-day festival that would be held every May from the 27th to the 29th in honor of Ceres and where Dea Dia would be an epitaph to Ceres. Dea Dia’s priests, the Fratres Arvales presided over this festival. During this time, the priests would bless the fields and make offerings to the Underworld.
May of course, is the time of year when the days are getting longer and ideal for planting and growing crops. There was a minor festival held in December.
Lucus Deae Diae – This is the name of the sacred grove dedicated to Dea Dia where her festival was held. It’s about five miles south of Rome. Archeological evidence shows that this grove and temple have been used since the third century B.C.E.
Syno-Dieties
Acca Larentia – Roman
A mythical woman later turned fertility goddess. It is thought that her twelve sons became the priests associated with the first Arval priests.
Ceres – Roman
Ceres is the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherhood and is equated with Dea Dia or attached as an epitaph.
Mana Genita – Roman
An obscure goddess mentioned by Pliny, Plutarch, and Horace. The mother of the Manes or spirits known as Lares would also be associated with the Ambarvalia festival and the Underworld.
Demeter – Greek
A fertility and earth goddess, Dea Dia is often equated with Demeter or attached as an epitaph.
Fortuna – Roman
The Roman goddess of luck and fate, she held a connection to the Lucus Deae Diae grove and thus to Dea Dia. Fortuna sharing a temple here comes about with Augustus’ reforms and has caused several scholars to debate the precise connection between Fortuna and Dea Dia.
Larunda – Roman
A nymph and Underworld goddess, she is the mother of the Lares associated with the Ambarvalia festival. Incidentally, the only myths come from Ovid’s Fasti and are seen as a latecomer to the overall Roman myths and beliefs.
Ops – Roman
Another fertility goddess and goddess of the fields, Dea Dia would also be equated with Ops.
Agdistis
Other names: ΑΓΔΙΣΤΙΣ, Ἄγδιστις
Etymology – Of Mount Agdistis
Agdistis is a hermaphroditic deity who originates in Anatolian mythology. They would later be introduced and imported into the Greek and Roman myths, where they would, like a good many other local deities, become absorbed by a more popular deity.
Very simply, as is extrapolated from the mythological evidence and what little is known, Agdistis as a hermaphrodite themselves, they are the deity of hermaphrodites and eunuchs, a deity of healing, benevolent in nature and who’s sacred plant is the Almond tree.
Parentage and Family
Parents
Cybele – Like too many Greek stories, Zeus can’t keep his pants zipped and rapes some goddess or mortal woman, if he doesn’t seduce them.
Papas – The best I could find for this, is that the name Papas is a Greek surname meaning Priest. So perhaps one of Cybele’s priests is the parent of Agdistis. Again, by rape or seduction from Zeus, in Greek mythology.
Pausanias Version – The Sky-God Zeus and Earth-Mother Gaia are mentioned as the parents of Agdistis. Though some have noted that Ouranos should be listed as the father and not Zeus. Given the reputation that Zeus has in the mythologies, it seems like everyone is trying to make a connection, no matter how it comes across.
Children
Attis – By way of the river nymph Nana impregnating herself with an almond seed.
Epithet Of Cybele
The name Agdistis is generally taken as an epithet of Cybele, the Magna Mater or Great Mother Goddess of Rome.
In addition, is the theory passed around by scholars that Agdistis may just be part of a continuous line of androgynous deities out of Anatolia. Some of the names are Andistis, the name of a potentially ancient Phrygian deity and Adamma that dates to the Kizzuwatna kingdom during the 2nd millennia B.C.E.
Cults Of Agdistis
This shouldn’t be too surprising Agdistis would have her own worshipers and followers before getting absorbed into the larger myth associated with Cybele.
While some like Hesychius and Strabo make the case for Agdistis being another name that Cybele is known as in their place of worship in Pessinus; there are a number of ancient inscriptions that clearly show the two gods as being separate. Some have been found in Mithymna and Paros.
As an Anatolian goddess, Agdistis’ cults and worship could be found in Attica, Egypt, Lesbos, Panticapeum, Piraeus and Rhamnus at different points in history between 250 B.C.E. and 3 B.C.E.
Agdistis’ shrine in the Philadelphia found in Asia Minor held a strict code of conduct and behavior. Interestingly enough, in other places like Sardis, inscriptions have been found that forbade the priests of Zeus from participating in Agdistis’ mysteries. Not surprising given the nature of some of the stories that would later become connected between the two.
Goddess Of Healing!
There is apparently supposed to be some evidence found among ancient inscriptions that Agdistis may have really been a goddess of healing and one who was good-natured before any later myths do drastic changes to her nature.
Mount Agdistis
As a deity separate from Cybele, Agdistis was a mountain deity found on Mount Dindymus near the city of Pessinus.
You Called Him A Daimon!
Yes, as in the Greek term and meaning for the word spirit. It is Christianity that takes and twists the word and meaning to Demon, for an evil spirit or being.
Among the ancient Greeks, the word daimon means spirit or “replete with knowledge.” They recognized both good (eudemons) and bad (cacodemons). The word or term daimon also means “divine power,” “fate,” or “god.” And in Greek mythology, daimons could also include deified heroes.
Daimons functioned as messengers or intermediary spirits between men and gods. The good daimons were viewed as guardian spirits who gave guidance and protection to those they watched over. The bad daimons, naturally, weren’t so nice and could mislead people, getting them into trouble.
Strange Deity In A Strange Land
Most people are familiar with Agdistis’ part in the Greek and Roman myths when she has become combined and subsumed with the myths of Cybele and Attis.
Anatolian Goddess – Before the drastic changes to her myth, Agdistis had been a benevolent goddess of healing. Accepted for as they are until later changes are made and forced to this goddess as she and many others are absorbed into the larger myth of Cybele and adopted by other cultures, namely Greece and Rome.
Agdistis is a hermaphrodite or androgynous being; having both the male and female sexual organs. This dual nature of Agdistis made them symbolic of the wild and uncontrollable nature. This is an aspect that was seen as so threatening to the other gods that they sought to destroy Agdistis. The one explanation found or given is that with Agdistis being a hermaphrodite, they held a huge sexual appetite and the gods were unable to handle it. They felt that this being could and should only be one gender or the other and for the gods, it was easier to remove the male sexual organs.
There are a lot of ancient inscriptions that plainly and clearly show Agdistis as being separate from Cybele. However, later, Agdistis’ name would become one of Cybele’s many epithets. A common occurrence for many localized gods and goddess of Phrygia as gods were imported into Greece and then Rome. Add to this, many deities of a foreign place were often seen as being the same god, just known by another name, particularly with Rome’s penchant for expansion and conquering.
There are multiple versions of the story for how Agdistis is attacked by the other gods and is castrated, how Attis is born and that Agdistis, now Cybele falls in love with the youth Attis, promising to make him immortal.
How in some versions, Attis is punished for falling in love with his mother, how instead of keeping his vow to Cybele to only follow her, that he falls in love with another and that a jealous, angry Cybele drives Attis and the other guests at a wedding mad. How after, regretting her actions that she pleads to Jupiter/Zeus to restore Attis. One version of the story has both Agdistis and Cybele as separate beings who both fall in love with Attis.
Mythological Hijacking
Getting absorbed into the greater whole and myths involving Cybele and Attis has meant a lot of changes and not necessarily for the better. The stories now turn this once benevolent goddess of healing into some sort of sex crazed monster that the other gods couldn’t handle. And when Agdistis gives birth or is part of siring a son, Attis, they’re so driven by lust and jealousy they drive their own offspring into madness and suicide. That is not a happy way to end things.
I have to add in the double standards that it’s okay for Pan and the numerous satyrs to be sex-crazed or how about the numerous love affairs that Zeus is credited with? The only thing I can comment on is that this is an ancient people and their different cultures who are long since gone, even though we have their stories.
The Greek Myths
Dionysus & Agdistis – With Agdistis being a hermaphrodite, the other deities of Mount Olympus couldn’t handle the huge sexual appetite that a being like Agdistis is perceived to have.
The solution? Make Agdistis single gender like the other gods.
Dionysus or Liber makes a potion that they mix in with Agdistis’ drink so they pass out asleep. It is then that Dionysus ties Agdistis’ genitals to a tree or sometimes their own foot. This way, when Agdistis jumps up from their sleep, they rip off their own genitals.
From Agdistis’ spilled blood that hit the earth, an almond tree is to have sprung up. The nymph Nana, the daughter of the river god Sangarius is said to have picked some of the almonds and either eat them or when laying them on her lap, becomes pregnant and gives birth to the god Attis.
Attis & Agdistis
The story continues, when Attis grew up, he was considered extremely handsome and Agdistis fell in love with him. Their own child and in many ways creepy. Attis’ adoptive relatives had plans for the youth to marry the daughter of the King of Pessinus. Other, slight variations to this story have the King punishing Attis with marriage to his daughter for the incestuous affair with his mother.
In either event, when the two are making their marriage vows and ceremony, Agdistis appears and causes all of the wedding guests to become mad. Both Attis and the King wind up castrating themselves. The Princess cuts off her own breasts. As a result of the self-inflicted wounds, Attis dies and a suddenly grieving Agdistis pleads with Zeus to restore Attis to life. Zeus intercedes with the promise that Attis won’t die and will be reborn.
Incidentally, a hill or mountain by the same name of Agdistis in Phrygia is where Attis is believed to have been buried.
Other variations to this story have both Agdistis and the goddess Cybele falling in love with Attis.
The Roman Version – In one version of the myths, Cybele, known as Agdistis is thought to have been a hermaphrodite, having been born of the earth where Jupiter’s sperm fell. The gods castrated Agdistis who then becomes the goddess Cybele. Where the severed pieces of Agdistis’ manhood fell, an almond tree grew. The fruit of this tree impregnated the nymph Nana when she placed an almond on her womb. She later gave birth to the god Attis. The baby Attis was abandoned by Nana as she was afraid of her father. The baby Attis was discovered and saved by shepherds. Attis would grow up to become Cybele’s lover.
Pausanias’ Version – Pausanias identifies the Phrygian Sky-God and Earth-Goddess as being Zeus and Gaia.
In Pausanias’ version of the story, while sleeping, Zeus had some of his sperm fall on the ground. This, of course, created a Daimon that was hermaphroditic, having the sexual organs for both male and female. This Daimon would be called Agdistis, another name for Cybele. The other gods feared Agdistis and cut off the male organs. This proceeded to create an almond tree. The daughter of the river Saggarios then took the almond fruit and held it to her bosom where it vanished. The daughter would find later that she was pregnant and give birth to Attis.
Other Versions Of The Story
In one version of the myths, Cybele was raped by Zeus and gave birth to Agdistis. It should be noted, that Attis is very strongly and likely an invention and later addition to Cybele’s myth.
A slight variation to this story is that while Gaia, as the Great Mother slept on a rock called “Agdo,” the god Zeus raped Gaia and brought about Agdistis’ birth.
Depending on the version of the story read, there are different accounts to the sequences of events and who is involved, a river nymph or king’s daughter that Attis marries.
It certainly reads as a very conflicting story that will vary by which author relates it. There have been a good many changes to the story, especially considering how much Attis appears to be a later addition by the Romans. At the same time, myths are evolving and changing and shouldn’t stay completely stagnant.
Hermaphrodite Versus Intersex
The entire story of Agditis reflects people’s limited understanding and dates back several thousands of years ago. It reflects an era of a lack of medical understanding and cognitive and religious biases that people wanted to enforce.
If you came here looking for justification for persisting to use the outdated and older term of Hermaphrodite for today’s usage. Well no. With an increased and better understanding of Medical Science and biology of just what is happening and going on, the proper term to use is Intersex. No two cases will be exactly alike and there’s a lot going on with why it happens.
People are fallible and often, no amount of current, improved, better understanding of Medical Science and Facts will change a viewpoint. Worse, is when a person double downs on their cognitive and religious biases. The equivalent of hands over the ears, screaming “la la la! I can’t hear you!” and they don’t want to budge on what they learned as being true, right, and correct.
Hermaphrodite gets used in the ancient myths, especially those of Greek and Roman stories to reflect the time era, and what was understood and it’s an effort to try and present the myths as found. Hey, look what I found in the dustbin of mythology, and sometimes, it just isn’t pretty of what happens, was believed and justified.
Lupercus
Etymology – “He who wards off the wolf”
The Wolf God, Lupercus is the god of agriculture and shepherds. The name Lupercus is said by some to be an epithet of the Roman god Faunus.
As Faunus, he is a god of the wild, untamed nature and fertility and the giver of oracles. The Romans came to identify Faunus with the Greek Pan due to the similarity of some of their characteristics such as horns and hooves. Faunus’ attributes are the wolfskin, wreath and goblet.
If I stick to just this, there really wouldn’t be much of a blog post. Lupercus comes into his own when looking at and focusing on the ancient Roman holiday known as Lupercalia.
Lupercalia – The Wolf Festival
The festival and holiday of Lupercalia was held every year from February 13th to 15th, often said to be the anniversary of the founding of Lupercus’ (properly Faunus’) temple. The Luperci, who were the priests of Lupercus and wore goat skins, would sacrifice two goats and a dog during a ritual at this time. Goats were sacrificed as Lupercus is the god of shepherds and the dog got sacrificed as they’re the protector of flocks and herds. The blood from these animals would then be wiped on two young men’s foreheads. This festival was held too, to avert evil spirits and purify the city, allowing for good health and fertility with the coming year.
The sacrifice of the goats and dog would take place at the Lupercale, a cave that according to tradition is where the twins Remus and Romulus were raised by the she-wolf Luperca. In 2007, National Geographic posted an article about how Archeologists found this cave beneath the ruins of Emperor Augustus’ palace on Palatine Hill, Rome.
Lupercalia replaced an earlier Spring Cleansing ritual of Februa once held on the same date and from where the month of February gets its name. Just as Lupercalia replaced Februa, it too has largely been replaced by the more modern Valentine’s Day where the Catholic church made efforts to tone down some of the more wilder pagan rituals or to get people to accept Christianity more easily with their converting from pagan religions.
Not too surprising given how riotous and risqué that Lupercalia could be with the use of whips in striking women to try and make them more fertile, men running naked chasing women, the blood sacrifice of goats and a dog. Even the familiar heart shape symbol of love has some controversial origins to what it really depicts and is. Unsubstantiated sources comment too how the use of Lupercalia’s lottery of young men drawing the names women from a box is the more modern tradition of giving Valentine Cards.
Lykaia
Also spelled or called Lycaea, this ancient, archaic Greek festival is said to be where the rituals of Lupercalia originated from. For those who want to link werewolves with the holiday of Lupercalia, Lykaia is the one you’re probably thinking of.
The festival of Lykaia had a secret festival held on Mount Lykaion (Wolf Mountain) in Arcadia. The myths that surround this ritual are believed to relate the story of Lycaon’s feast he held for the gods and involved having served up one of his sons Nyctimus as one of the main courses. Another version of this story given by an Eratosthenes, holds that Lycaon had served up his grandson Arcas at this feast. In either eventuality, an enraged Zeus turns Lycaon into a wolf and proceeds to kill by means of lightning; Lycaon’s other sons before restoring the dead child back to life.
Mmm…. Cannibalism. Not.
The festival of Lykaia were held annually at the beginning of May. It was a primitive ritual festival and rite of passage for young males known as epheboi among the Greeks into adulthood. With the ritual held at night, evidence taken by some with the name of Lycaon’s son Nyctimus, a lot of rumors about cannibalism and werewolf transformations circulated widely among the Greeks as to just what was going on up there. Even Plato wrote about one clan who would gather every nine years and sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios where a piece of human flesh would be mixed in among the pieces of animal meat.
The belief held that whoever ate the piece of human flesh would turn into a wolf and they could only return to human form after nine-years if they hadn’t eaten human flesh. The famous Olympic boxing champion, Damarchus is said to have turned into a wolf during the ritual sacrifice held for Zeus Lykaios. Games were also a big part of the Lykaios festival held every year after the secret ritual held at night.
Archaeological Discoveries
Archaeologists have found by looking at the ash heaps near the altars for Lykaia no human remains and suggest that the rituals and festival of Lykaia are far older than what even the ancient Greeks themselves knew. Excavations have generally shown nothing earlier than about 700 B.C.E. though one trench excavated at Mount Lykaion shows possible ritual evidence dating to the beginning of the third millennium B.C.E., a full thousand years before the worship of Zeus throughout Greece.
Lykaios – Wolf-Zeus
This is an epithet of Zeus in connection to the festival of Lykaia and seems to have been a formality in making him a patron of the rituals held. Zeus’ inclusion is possibly instrumental in ending any human sacrifices going on or trying to put to rest the rumors.
Apollo Lykaios
The Greek god Apollo is also known to have a wolf-form as Apollo Lycaeus. He was worshiped in Athens at the Lykeion or Lyceum. This site is most remembered as the place where the philosopher Aristotle taught.
Lykaian Pan
A sanctuary for the Greek god Pan was also found on Mount Lykaion. The traditional story goes that Euandros, the son of Hermes, led a colony of people from Pallantion, Arkadia to Italy where he built the town of Pallantion on Palatine Hill. Euandros introduced the cult of Pan Lýkaios and the Lykaia festival that later becomes the Roman festival of Lupercalia. Given how much the Romans would identify their gods with those of the Greeks and other cultures, that could make sense.
Modern Lykaia
Apparently there are modern Lykaia games that have been held every four years since 1973, at the beginning of August by the Ano Karyes Association in the same places where the games associated with the ancient festival of Lykaia were held. These are sort of a localized Greek Olympics.
Brickthology 