Yet another, who is your favorite? thread (prophet, divine, Greek)

[Finnyhaha]

Alright, granted that the Romans stole most of their deities from the Greeks and re-named them, but to the best of my knowledge there are a few that are original to the Romans. My favorite of these are the Sibyls (prophetesses), Janus (god of doorways, gates and beginnings), Pomona (wood nymph, guardian of fruit trees and lover of Vertumnus), Vertumnus (god of change, associated with the autumn) and the Juno (individual protective spirits of females).

Anyone else?

[jimbob]

I've always just been a plain ol' mercury fan. he is like the ancient version of "flash". weeeeeeeeee!!!!

[Finnyhaha]

And we have an x-men fan I believe.

Kuddos,
Finny

[DeepShadow]

Well, it's really hard to say which deities are original and which aren't, especially when the Greeks took these deities from other groups before them. Janus, for whom I share your interest, was originally a male counterpart to Diana (Diana/Dianus), according to Fraser. I'm also a huge fan of Mithras, another migrant (although from a little farther than Greece!), and of Vesta.

[Lady Crimson]

I like Caeres (Ceres), the godess of the harvest, mainly because I heard a description of her temple at Rome, translated from a stone plate discovered at the outskirts of the city. It wrote that her temple was made completely out of white marble and for about a mile/ half a mile all around it were fruit trees, everything from apples, oranges to peaches. And also, inside the temple were big gardens with flowers. I think the text were exagerrated a bit, but it's a nice image.

[Ormiston]

Ra...as in Rasheed Wallace. (I know, stupid. But the game is on tonight)

[Kotaro]

I always found Janus, the Roman deity with two faces odd, because the only other deity I can think of goes all the way back to Sumerian and Babylonian times, far away from native Rome. His name was Isimud, the divine messenger of Enki, the wise sea god. He looks so much like Janus it's not even funny!

[Kotaro]

Anyway, Probably Venus and Artemis are my favorites. I know, two totally opposite goddesses, I dunno why

[DeepShadow]

Originally Posted by Kotaro

I always found Janus, the Roman deity with two faces odd, because the only other deity I can think of goes all the way back to Sumerian and Babylonian times, far away from native Rome. His name was Isimud, the divine messenger of Enki, the wise sea god. He looks so much like Janus it's not even funny!

Actually, Sir James G. Fraser points out in The Golden Bough that there are Janus-clones in many ancient religions all over the world.

[Master Vigil]

I'd have to say my favorite is Lupercus. God of wolves!