Ceres and her helpersAbundance, Peter Pauls RubensIn ancientRoman religion, agricultural deities wer

Ceres and her helpersAbundance, Peter Pauls RubensIn ancientRoman religion, agricultural deities were thought to care for every aspect ofgrowing, harvesting, and storing crops. Preeminent among these are such majordeities as Ceres and Saturn, but a large number of the many Roman deities knownby name either supported farming or were devoted solely to a specificagricultural function.Twelvespecialized gods known only by name are invoked for the “cereal rite”(sacrum cereale) in honor of Ceres and Tellus. The twelve are all male, withnames formed from the agent suffix -tor. Although their gender indicates thatthey are not aspects of the two goddesses who were the main recipients of thesacrum, their names are “mere appellatives” for verbal functions. Therite was held just before the Feriae Sementivae. W.H. Roscher lists thesedeities among the indigitamenta, lists of names kept by the pontiffs for invokingspecific divine functions. Vervactor,“He who ploughs”Reparator,“He who prepares the earth”Imporcitor,“He who ploughs with a wide furrow”Insitor,“He who plants seeds”Obarator,“He who traces the first plowing”Occator,“He who harrows”Serritor,“He who digs”Subruncinator,“He who weeds”Messor,“He who reaps”Conuector(Convector), “He who carries the grain”Conditor,“He who stores the grain”Promitor,“He who distributes the grain” -- source link

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