Neptune (mythology)
| Neptune | |
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| God of the Sea, Storms and Earthquakes | |
| Abode | Sea |
| Parents | Saturn and Ops |
| Siblings | Vesta, Jupiter, Juno, Ceres and Pluto |
| Equivalents | Poseidon |
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Practices and beliefs
Imperial cult · festivals · ludi |
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Priesthoods
College of Pontiffs · Augur |
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Dii Consentes
Jupiter · Juno · Neptune · Minerva |
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Other deities
Janus · Quirinus · Saturn · |
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Related topics
Roman mythology |
Neptune (Latin: Neptūnus) is the god of water and the sea[1] in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology, and is imaged often according to Hellenistic canons in the Roman mosaics of north Africa.[2] The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god Nethuns. A north African inscription at Thugga referring to the "father of the Nereids" shows that Neptune also subsumed the archaic and by late Hellenistic times purely literary figure of Nereus.[3]
For a time he was paired with Salacia, the goddess of the salt water.[4] At an early date (399 BC) he was identified with Poseidon, when the Sibylline books ordered a lectisternium to honour him with Apollo, Latona, Diana, Hercules and Mercury[5]
In the earlier times it was the god Portunes or Fortunus who was thanked for naval victories, but Neptune supplanted him in this role by at least the first century BC when Sextus Pompeius called himself "son of Neptune."[6] Neptune is associated as well with fresh water, as opposed to Oceanus, god of the world-ocean. Georges Dumézil suggested[7] that for Latins, the primary identification of Neptune was with freshwater springs, the sea having still little interest for these people. Like Poseidon, Neptune was also worshipped by the Romans as a god of horses, under the name "Neptune Equester," patron of horse-racing.[8]
The planet Neptune was named for the god, as its deep blue gas clouds gave early astronomers the impression of great oceans.
"King Neptune" plays a central role in the long-standing tradition of the "Line-crossing ceremony" initiation rite still current in many navies, coast guards, and merchant fleets. When ships cross the equator, "Pollywogs" (sailors who had not done such a crossing before) receive "subpoenas"[9] to appear before King Neptune and his court (usually including his first assistant Davy Jones and Her Highness Amphitrite and often various dignitaries, who are all represented by the highest-ranking seamen). Some Pollywogs may be "interrogated" by King Nepture and his entourage. At the end of the ceremony — which in the past often included considerable hazing — they are initiated as Shellbacks or Sons of Neptune and receive a certificate to that effect.
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Festivals
His festival, Neptunalia, at which tents were made from the branches of bushes, took place at the height of summer, on July 23.[10] suggestive of a primitive role for Neptune as god of water sources in the summer's drought and heat.[11]
Neptune had two temples in Rome. The first, built in 25 BC, stood near the Circus Flaminius, the Roman racetrack, and contained a famous sculpture of a marine group by Scopas.[12] The second, the Basilica Neptuni, was built on the Campus Martius and dedicated by Agrippa in honour of the naval victory of Actium.[13]
Depiction in art
A.D. 300 statue
The French Department of Subaquatic Archaeological Research divers (headed by Michel L'Hour) discovered a lifesize marble statue of Neptune, in the Rhone River at Arles; it is dated to the early fourth century.[14] The statue is one of a hundred artifacts that the team excavated between September and October 2007.[14][15]
Renaissance depictions
The Renaissance brought with it a revival in pagan art, and many pagan gods were depicted in the same classical models used in Greek and Roman times. However, with Neptune few such models existed, allowing the artists of the Renaissance to depict Neptune however they chose. The results included a face and actions that seemed more mortal, as well as associations with Hercules. The overall effect was to change Neptune's image to a less deified state.[16]
Gallery
 Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune, by Agnolo Bronzino] |
 Brumidi's The Apotheosis of Washington depicts Neptune in his chariot on a background of an ironclad warship, in the dome of the United States Capitol |
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 Neptune statue in Gdańsk |
 The Fountain of Neptune, Bologna |
 Neptune fountain in the Alameda Central in Mexico City |
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 Fontana di Trevi's Neptune, Rome. |
 Neptune in Olomouc, Czech Republic. |
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 Bartolomeo Ammannati's Fountain of Neptune in Florence. |
References and notes
- ↑ J. Toutain, Les cultes païens de l'Empire romain, vol. I (1905:378) securely identified Italic Neptune as a god of freshwater sources as well as the sea.
- ↑ Alain Cadotte, "Neptune Africain", Phoenix 56.3/4 (Autumn/Winter 2002:330-347) detected syncretic traces of a Lybian/Punic agrarian god of fresh water sources, with the epithet Frugifer, "fruit-bearer"; Cadotte enumerated (p.332) some north African Roman mosaics of the fully characteristic Triumph of Neptune, whether riding in his chariot or mounted directly on sea-beasts.
- ↑ Noted by Cadotte 2002:232; Cadotte gives a list of inscriptions refering to Neptune, pp335-37.
- ↑ van Aken, Dr. A.R.A., ed. Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie (Elsevier, Amsterdam: 1961)
- ↑ Livy v. 13.6); Showerman, Grant. The Great Mother of the Gods. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1901:223
- ↑ Fox, Robin Lane. The Classical World. Basic Books, 2006. p. 412 ISBN 0465024963
- ↑ Dumézil, La religion romaine archaïque (Paris, 1966:381)
- ↑ Compare Epona.
- ↑ Ceremonial Certificates — Neptune Subpoena
- ↑ CIL, vol. 1,pt 2:323; Varro, De lingua latina vi.19.
- ↑ "C'est-à-dire au plus fort de l'été, au moment de la grande sécheresse, et qu'on y construisaient des huttes de feuillage en guise d'abris contre le soleil" (Cadotte 2002:342, noting Sextus Pompeius Festus, De verborum significatu [ed. Lindsay 1913] 519.1)
- ↑ Wukitsch, Thomas K., Neptunalia Festival, http://www.mmdtkw.org/VNeptunalia.html
- ↑ Ball Platner, Samuel; Ashby, Thomas (1929), A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, "Basilica Neptuni", London: Oxford University Press, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/basilicae.html
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Divers find Caesar bust that may date to 46 B.C., Associated Press, 2008-05-14, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Divers+find+Caesar+bust+that+may+date+to+46+B.C.-a01611530816
- ↑ Henry Samuel, "Julius Caesar bust found in Rhone River", The Telegraph
- ↑ Freedman, Luba (September 1995), "Neptune in classical and Renaissance visual art" (PDF), International Journal of the Classical Tradition (Springer Netherlands) 2 (2): 219–237, ISSN 1874-6292, http://www.springerlink.com/content/r0505005858761h8/
External links
Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Neptune (god)". Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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