Ops, more properly
Opis, (
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth-goddess in
Roman mythologyRoman mythology, or Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Ancient Rome. It can be considered as having two parts; One part, largely later and literary, consists of borrowings from Greek mythology...
of
SabineThe Sabines were an Italic tribe that lived in the central Appennines of ancient Italy, inhabiting also Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome...
origin.
Her husband was
SaturnSaturn was a major Roman god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. His mother's name was Helen, or Hel...
, the bountiful monarch of the
Golden AgeThe term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend, but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the earliest and best age in a sequence of ages, such as the Greek range of Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, or to a time in the beginnings of humanity that was...
. Just as Saturn was identified with the Greek deity
CronusCronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Ouranos, the sky...
, Ops was identified with
RheaThis page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Ouranos, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in classical Greek mythology...
, Cronus' wife. In her statues and coins, Ops is figured sitting down, as
ChthonianChthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather...
deities normally are, and generally holds a scepter or a
cornWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
spike as her main attributes.
Ops, more properly
Opis, (
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth-goddess in
Roman mythologyRoman mythology, or Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Ancient Rome. It can be considered as having two parts; One part, largely later and literary, consists of borrowings from Greek mythology...
of
SabineThe Sabines were an Italic tribe that lived in the central Appennines of ancient Italy, inhabiting also Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome...
origin.
Life
Her husband was
SaturnSaturn was a major Roman god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. His mother's name was Helen, or Hel...
, the bountiful monarch of the
Golden AgeThe term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend, but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the earliest and best age in a sequence of ages, such as the Greek range of Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, or to a time in the beginnings of humanity that was...
. Just as Saturn was identified with the Greek deity
CronusCronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Ouranos, the sky...
, Ops was identified with
RheaThis page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Ouranos, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in classical Greek mythology...
, Cronus' wife. In her statues and coins, Ops is figured sitting down, as
ChthonianChthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather...
deities normally are, and generally holds a scepter or a
cornWheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
spike as her main attributes. The Chthonian deities are the manifestations of the
Great GoddessGreat Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses...
, such as
GaiaGaia Gaia Gaia ( or ; "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gæa or Gea (Koine and Modern Greek Γῆ) is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth....
or
GeGaia Gaia Gaia ( or ; "land" or "earth", from the Ancient Greek Γαῖα; also Gæa or Gea (Koine and Modern Greek Γῆ) is the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth....
.
In Latin writings of the time, the singular
nominativeThe nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
(
Ops) is not used; only the form
Opis is attested by classical authors. According to
FestusFestus was a late Roman historian whose breviary was commissioned by the emperor Valens in preparation for war against Persia.-External links:...
(203:19), "Ops is said to be the wife of Saturn. By her they designated the
earthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
, because the earth distributes all goods to the human genus" (
Opis dicta est coniux Saturni per quam uolerunt terram significare, quia omnes opes humano generi terra tribuit). The Latin word
ops means "riches, goods, abundance, gifts, munificence, plenty". The word is also related to
opus, which means "work", particularly in the sense of "working the earth, ploughing, sowing". This activity was deemed sacred, and was often attended by religious rituals intended to obtain the good will of
chthonicChthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather...
deities such as Ops and
ConsusIn Roman mythology, the god Consus was the protector of grains and storage bins , and as such was represented by a corn seed....
.
Ops is also related to the
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
word
ápnas ("goods, property").
The cult of Ops was (mythically) instituted by King
Titus TatiusThe traditions of ancient Rome held that Titus Tatius was the Sabine king of Cures, who, after the rape of the Sabine women, attacked Rome and captured the Capitol with the treachery of Tarpeia. The Sabine women, however, convinced Tatius and the Roman king, Romulus, to reconcile and subsequently...
, the Sabine monarch. Ops soon became the patroness of riches, abundance, and prosperity, both on a personal and national level. Ops had a famous temple in the
CapitoliumThe Capitoline Triad was a group of three supreme deities in Roman religion who were worshipped in an elaborate temple on Rome's Capitoline Hill, the Capitolium...
. Originally, a festival took place in Ops' honor on August 10. Additionally, on December 19 (some say December 9), the Opalia was celebrated. On August 25, the
OpiconsiviaOn August 25, the Opiconsivia Roman festival was held in honor of Ops, usually known as Opis, and sometimes as Opus....
was held. Opiconsivia was another name used for Opis, indicating when the earth was sown. These festivals also included activities that were called
ConsualiaThe Consuales Ludi or Consualia is a festival instituted by Romulus, which honors Consus, the god of counsel, and the one who protects the harvest which is in storage at the time of the festival, which took place about the middle of Sextilis . According to Livy the festival honors Neptune...
, in honor of
ConsusIn Roman mythology, the god Consus was the protector of grains and storage bins , and as such was represented by a corn seed....
, her
consortKing consort is a position given in some monarchies to the husband of a queen regnant. Nowadays, it is a symbolic title only, the sole constitutional function of the holder being similar to a queen consort, namely to produce an heir to the throne....
.
Opis was not only the wife of
SaturnSaturn was a major Roman god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. His mother's name was Helen, or Hel...
, she was his sister and the daughter of
CaelusCaelus, also known as Coelus, was the literary personification of the sky in Roman mythology and Latin poetry, from the Latin word for "sky", caelum. The Roman sky god, to whom cult was due, was Jupiter...
. Her children were
JupiterIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter Optimus Maximus ; as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order...
,
NeptuneNeptune is the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god Nethuns....
,
PlutoPluto was the Roman god of the underworld, known in Latin as Tertius, the counterpart of the Greek Hades.-Overview:Pluto was God of the underworld and its riches...
,
JunoJuno was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars, and Vulcan...
, Ceres and
VestaVesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece. Little is known about the goddess, since, unlike...
. Opis also acquired queenly status and was reputed to be an eminent goddess and the Mother of the Gods. By public decree temples, priests, and sacrifices were accorded her. There was even an oddly shaped stone that was procured from
PessinusPessinus was a city in Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey on the upper course of the river Sakarya River , from which the mythological King Midas is said to have ruled a greater Phrygian realm...
that represented Opis. It was put in the famous temple in Rome and worshiped by the Romans for a long time in numerous ceremonies.
Primary sources
- Livy Ab urbe condita libri XXIX.10.4-11.8, 14.5-14
- Lactantius, Divinae institutions I.13.2-4, 14.2-5
Secondary sources
- Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Famous Women, p. 12 - 13; Harvard University Press 2001; ISBN 0-674-01130-9