The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts, integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin literature, Roman art, and religious life as it was experienced throughout the Roman Empire. Many of the Romans' own gods remain obscure, known only by name and sometimes function, through inscriptions and texts that are often fragmentary. This is particularly true of those gods belonging to the archaic religion of the Romans dating back to the era of kings, the so-called "religion of Numa", which was perpetuated or revived over the centuries. Some archaic deities have Italic or Etruscan counterparts, as identified both by ancient sources and by modern scholars. Throughout the Empire, the deities of peoples in the provinces were given new theological interpretations in light of functions or attributes they shared with Roman deities.

A survey of theological groups as constructed by the Romans themselves is followed by an extensive alphabetical listRobert Schilling, "Roman Gods," Roman and European Mythologies (University of Chicago Press, 1992, from the French edition of 1981), pp. 75 online and 77 (note 49). Unless otherwise noted, citations of primary sources are Schilling's. concluding with examples of common epithets shared by multiple divinities.

Collectives Even in invocations, which generally required precise naming, the Romans sometimes spoke of gods as groups or collectives rather than naming them as individuals. Some groups, such as the Camenae and Parcae, were thought of as a limited number of individual deities, even though the number of these might not be given consistently in all periods and all texts. Others are numberless collectives.

Spatial tripartition Varro grouped the gods broadly into three divisions of heaven, earth, and underworld: di superi, the gods above or heavenly gods, whose altars were designated as altaria.Varro, Divine Antiquities, book 5, frg. 65; see also Livy 1.32.9; Paulus apud Festus, p. 27; Servius Danielis, note to Aeneid 5.54; Lactantius Placidus, note to Statius, Theb. 4.459–60. di terrestres, "terrestrial gods," whose altars were designated as arae. di inferi, the gods below, that is, the gods of the underworld, infernal or chthonic gods, whose altars were foci, fire pits or specially constructed hearths.

More common is a dualistic contrast between superi and inferi.

Triads Archaic Triad: Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus. Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno, Minerva.Livy, 1.38.7, 1.55.1–6. Plebeian or Aventine Triad: Ceres, Liber, Libera, dating to 493 BC.Dionysius of Halicarnassus 6.17.2

Groupings of twelve

Lectisternium of 217 BC A lectisternium is a banquet for the gods, at which they appear as images seated on couches, as if present and participating. In describing the lectisternium of the Twelve Great gods in 217 BC, the Augustan historian Livy places the deities in gender-balanced pairs:Livy, 22.10.9. Jupiter–Juno Neptune–Minerva Mars–Venus Apollo–Diana Vulcan–Vesta Mercury–Ceres Divine male-female complements such as these, as well as the anthropomorphic influence of Greek mythology, contributed to a tendency in Latin literature to represent the gods as "married" couples or (as in the case of Venus and Mars) lovers.

Dii Consentes Varro uses the name Dii Consentes for twelve deities whose gilded images stood in the forum. These were also placed in six male-female pairs.Varro, De re rustica 1.1.4: eos urbanos, quorum imagines ad forum auratae stant, sex mares et feminae totidem. Although individual names are not listed, they are assumed to be the deities of the lectisternium. A fragment from Ennius, within whose lifetime the lectisternium occurred, lists the same twelve deities by name, though in a different order from that of Livy: Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Jove, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo.Ennius, Annales frg. 62, in J. Vahlen, Ennianae Poesis Reliquiae (Leipzig, 1903, 2nd ed.). Ennius's list appears in poetic form, and the word order may be dictated by the metrical constraints of dactylic hexameter.

The Dii Consentes are sometimes seen as the Roman equivalent of the Greek Olympians. The meaning of Consentes is subject to interpretation, but is usually taken to mean that they form a council or consensus of deities.

Di Flaminales

The three deities cultivated by the major flamens were: Jupiter Mars Quirinus

The twelve deities attended by the minor flamens were: Carmentis Ceres Falacer Flora Furrina Palatua Pomona Portunus Vulcan Volturnus two other deities whose names are not knownForsythe, Gary, A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War, University of California Press, August, 2006

Di selecti VarroAs recorded by Augustine of Hippo, De civitate Dei 7.2. gives a list of twenty principal gods of Roman religion:

Janus Jupiter Saturn Genius Mercury Apollo Mars Vulcan Neptune Sol Orcus Liber Tellus Ceres Juno Luna Diana Minerva Venus Vesta

Sabine gods

Varro, who was himself of Sabine origin, gives a list of Sabine gods who were adopted by the Romans:Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.74

Feronia Minerva Novensides Pales Salus Fortuna Fons FidesWoodard, Roger D. Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman cult. p 184. Ops Flora Vediovis Saturn Sol Luna Vulcan Summanus Larunda Terminus Quirinus Vortumnus Lares Diana Lucina

Elsewhere, Varro claims Sol Indiges – who had a sacred grove at Lavinium – as Sabine but at the same time equates him with Apollo.Rehak, Paul (2006). Imperium and Cosmos: Augustus and the northern Campus Martius. University of Wisconsin Press. p 94. Of those listed, he writes, "several names have their roots in both languages, as trees that grow on a property line creep into both fields. Saturn, for instance, can be said to have another origin here, and so too Diana."

Varro makes various claims for Sabine origins throughout his works, some more plausible than others, and his list should not be taken at face value.Clark, Anna. (2007). Divine Qualities: Cult and community in republican Rome. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp 37–38;Dench, Emma. (2005). Romulus' Asylum: Roman Identities from the Age of Alexander to the Age of Hadrian. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp 317–318. But the importance of the Sabines in the early cultural formation of Rome is evidenced, for instance, by the bride abduction of the Sabine women by Romulus's men, and in the Sabine ethnicity of Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, to whom are attributed many of Rome's religious and legal institutions.Fowler, W.W. (1922). The Religious Experience of the Roman People. London, UK. p 108. Varro says that the altars to most of these gods were established at Rome by King Tatius as the result of a vow (votum).

Indigitamenta

The indigitamenta are deities known only or primarily as a name; they may be minor entities, or epithets of major gods. Lists of deities were kept by the College of Pontiffs to assure that the correct names were invoked for public prayers. The books of the Pontiffs are lost, known only through scattered passages in Latin literature. The most extensive lists are provided by the Church Fathers who sought systematically to debunk Roman religion while drawing on the theological works of Varro, also surviving only in quoted or referenced fragments. W.H. Roscher collated the standard modern list of indigitamenta,W.H. Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 187–233. though other scholars may differ with him on some points.

Di indigetes and novensiles The di indigetes were thought by Georg Wissowa to be Rome's indigenous deities, in contrast to the di novensides or novensiles, "newcomer gods". No ancient source, however, poses this dichotomy, which is not generally accepted among scholars of the 21st century. The meaning of the epithet indiges (singular) has no scholarly consensus, and noven may mean "nine" (novem) rather than "new".

Alphabetical list

A

Abundantia, divine personification of abundance and prosperity. Acca Larentia, a diva of complex meaning and origin in whose honor the Larentalia was held. Acis, god of the Acis River in Sicily. Aerecura, goddess possibly of Celtic origin, associated with the underworld and identified with Proserpina. Aequitas, divine personification of fairness. Aesculapius, the Roman equivalent of Asclepius, god of health and medicine. Aeternitas, goddess and personification of eternity. Agenoria, goddess and personification of activity. Aion (Latin spelling Aeon), Hellenistic god of cyclical or unbounded time, related to the concepts of aevum or saeculum Aius Locutius, divine voice that warned the Romans of the imminent Gallic invasion. Alernus or Elernus (possibly Helernus), an archaic god whose sacred grove (lucus) was near the Tiber river. He is named definitively only by Ovid.Ovid, Fasti 2.67 and 6.105 (1988 Teubner edition). The grove was the birthplace of the nymph Cardea, and despite the obscurity of the god, the state priests still carried out sacred rites (sacra) there in the time of Augustus.Ovid, Fasti 6.106. Alernus may have been a chthonic god, if a black ox was the correct sacrificial offering to him, since dark victims were offered to underworld gods.This depends on a proposed emendation of Aternus to Alernus in an entry from Festus, p. 83 in the edition of Lindsay. At Fasti 2.67, a reading of Avernus, though possible, makes no geographical sense. See discussion of this deity by Matthew Robinson, A Commentary on Ovid's Fasti, Book 2 (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 100–101. Dumézil wanted to make him a god of beans.As noted by Robinson, Commentary, p. 101; Georges Dumézil, Fêtes romaines d'été et d'automne (1975), pp. 225ff., taking the name as Helernus in association with Latin holus, holera, "vegetables." The risks and "excessive fluidity" inherent in Dumézil's reconstructions of lost mythologies were noted by Robert Schilling, "The Religion of the Roman Republic: A Review of Recent Studies," in Roman and European Mythologies, pp. 87–88, and specifically in regard to the myth of Carna as a context for the supposed Helernus. Angerona, goddess who relieved people from pain and sorrow. Angitia, goddess associated with snakes and Medea. Anna Perenna, early goddess of the "circle of the year", her festival was celebrated March 15. Annona, the divine personification of the grain supply to the city of Rome. Antevorta, goddess of the future and one of the Camenae; also called Porrima. Apollo, god of poetry, music, and oracles. Twin brother of Diana and one of the Dii Consentes. Arimanius, an obscure Mithraic god. Aura, often plural Aurae, "the Breezes". Aurora, goddess of the dawn. Averruncus, a god propitiated to avert calamity.

B

Bacchus, god of wine, sensual pleasures, and truth, originally a cult title for the Greek Dionysus and identified with the Roman Liber. Bellona or Duellona, war goddess. Bona Dea, the "women's goddess"Dea feminarum: Macrobius, Saturnalia I.12.28. with functions pertaining to fertility, healing, and chastity. Bonus Eventus, divine personification of "Good Outcome". Bubona, goddess of cattle.

C Caca, an archaic fire goddess and "proto-Vesta";Marko Marinčič, "Roman Archaeology in Vergil's Arcadia (Vergil Eclogue 4; Aeneid 8; Livy 1.7), in Clio and the Poets: Augustan Poetry and the Traditions of Ancient Historiography (Brill, 2002), p. 158. the sister of Cacus. Cacus, originally an ancient god of fire, later regarded as a giant. Caelus, god of the sky before Jupiter. Camenae, goddesses with various attributes including fresh water, prophecy, and childbirth. There were four of them: Carmenta, Egeria, Antevorta, and Postvorta. Cardea, goddess of the hinge (cardo), identified by Ovid with Carna (below)