Abundant ( lat. Abundantia - contentment, abundance) - the ancient Roman goddess of abundance, which the ancient Romans understood in the context of a grain or food surplus. Her cult is closely connected with the harvest goddess Annona and at certain stages they were identified. In ancient Rome, the image of the Abundance was imprinted mainly on coins. They depict a woman streaming from a cornucopia of corn or ears of corn.
| Abundance | |
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| Mythology | and |
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The abundance abundance was represented by many famous artists and sculptors, such as Rubens, Jan Brueghel the Younger Noel Kuapel, Hans MacArth and others.
Content
- 1 Cult
- 2 Abundance on the coins of Ancient Rome
- 3 After the fall of the Roman Empire
- 4 notes
- 5 Literature
Cult
The cult of the personification of the abundance goddess of abundance is closely connected with the harvest goddess Annona . At first, these goddesses were identified. As the supply of Rome ceased to depend on the development of agriculture in Italy and switched to supplies from distant provinces, the goddesses began to be revered separately. The abundance's habitat in the views of the ancient Romans became the ports in which they unloaded the grain [1] . Perhaps that is why they began to venerate the goddess of plenty as the wife of the god of the Nile River , in the area of which the most fertile fields of the Roman Empire were located [2] . The goddess of harvest and fertility Ceres was attributed to the companions of Abundance [3] [4] .
In the Ovid Metamorphoses, the legend of the origin of the cornucopia , which the Abundance used to bestow others with various benefits, is described [5] . According to Ovid, he arose from a bull’s horn lost during a fight with Hercules , into which Achela turned [6] :
| Moreover: with a merciless hand he breaks my strong The horn captured by him, and breaks, brow distorting. |
Ancient Rome Abundance
Neither altars nor temples were erected in honor of Abundance [8] . Her image was imprinted mainly on coins . On the coins of Ancient Rome, Abudantia was depicted in the form of a woman, pouring grain or ears of cornucopia [9] . The “abundance” represented by the Abundance primarily involved an excess of bread or grain. In this regard, the figures of the harvest goddess Annona and Abundance are similar. According to one approach, in obscure cases, it is preferable to describe the figure on the coin personifying, as more familiar and more common, Annona [9] . Other sources refer to images of the Abundance and those cases where the name of the goddess is not indicated on the coin [10] [11] .
For the first time, the Abundance clearly appeared on the coins of Heliogabal (218–222) with the legend “ABVNDANTIA AVG” [9] [12] . The release of money with the goddess of plenty could be timed to distribute cheap grain [4] . Thus, official propaganda emphasized the generosity of the emperor, expressed in the distribution to the people of part of the state reserves [13] . Often she appears with the epithets "AVG [usti]", "TEMPERORVM" ("August", "time") [14] [15] [10] .
After the fall of the Roman Empire
Abundance, like Domina Abundia or Dame Habonde , was mentioned in the medieval works as the remnants of pagan cults, being an affectionate creature that brings success and prosperity [8] .
The personification of abundance in the form of the ancient Roman Abundance was depicted by many famous artists and sculptors, such as Rubens, Noel Quapel [16] , Hans MacArth [17] and others.
The asteroid (151) Abundance , discovered in 1875, is named in honor of Abundance. The choice of name is associated with a large number of open space bodies between Mars and Jupiter in the 1870s, which, as it were, “poured out of the cornucopia” [18] .
Notes
- ↑ Fears, 1981 , p. 913.
- ↑ Fischer, 2017 .
- ↑ Fears, 1981 , p. 897.
- ↑ 1 2 Mattingly, 2005 , p. 135.
- ↑ Fears I, 1981 , p. 821.
- ↑ Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book IX. 85–92
- ↑ Obverse and reverse, 2016 , p. 125.
- ↑ 1 2 Abundance // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890. - T. I. - S. 47.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Jones, 1990 , "Abundantia".
- ↑ 1 2 Fengler, 1993 , Abundance .
- ↑ Fischer, 2017 , p. 36.
- ↑ RIC IV Elagabalus 56a . OCRE (Online Coins of the Roman Empire). Date of appeal October 11, 2018.
- ↑ DRC, 1889 , "Abundantia", p. 2.
- ↑ DRC, 1889 , "Abundantia AVG", p. 2.
- ↑ DRC, 1889 , "Abundantia Temperorvm", p. 2-3.
- ↑ L'ABONDANCE - COYPEL Noël (French) . Joconde . Date of treatment November 26, 2018.
- ↑ Hans Makart's 'Abundantia' - The Depiction of Abundance and Fertility . Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen . Date of treatment November 26, 2018.
- ↑ Schmadel, Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . - Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. - B. , Heidelberg, N. Y .: Springer, 2003 .-- P. 29. - ISBN 3-540-00238-3 .
Literature
- Obverse and reverse history / [Ed. col .: A.V. Mityaeva and others]. - M .: International Numismatic Club , 2016 .-- 216 p. - ISBN 978-5-9906902-6-4 .
- Mattingly, Harold . Coins of Rome from ancient times until the fall of the Western Empire. - Collector`s Books, 2005. - ISBN 1-932525-37-8 .
- Fengler H., Girow G., Unger V. Dictionary of numismatists / Otv. ed. V.M. Potin. - 2nd ed., Revised. and add. - M .: Radio and communications, 1993. - ISBN 5-256-00317-8 .
- The Theology of Victory at Rome: Approaches and Problems // / Ed. by Wolfgang Haase. - Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co, 1981. - Vol. 17.2 Religion (Heidentum: Römische Götterkulte, Orientalische Kult in der römischen Welt [Forts.]). - P. 736–826.
- The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology // / Ed. by Wolfgang Haase. - Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co, 1981. - Vol. 17.2 Religion (Heidentum: Römische Götterkulte, Orientalische Kult in der römischen Welt [Forts.]). - P. 827–948.
- Fischer JC Augustan Identifications of the Figures on the Tazza Farnese // Breaking with Convention with Italian Art. - Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017 .-- P. 36. - ISBN 1-4438-9502-4 .
- Jones, John Melville. Abundantia // A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins. - London: SPINK, 1990. - ISBN 185264026X .
- Stevenson SW, Smith CR, Madden FW Abundantia // A Dictionary of Roman Coins . - London: George Bell and sons, 1889 .-- P. 756.