Ceres, The Benevolent Goddess
Beloved for her service to mankind!
Ceres is often depicted as a majestic figure holding a wheat spray, cornucopia or agricultural tool in her hands. Her head is crowned with a garland of wheat, corn ears, or poppies (her sacred flower which grew in the grain fields). The influence of her Greek counterpart Demeter's icono-graphy also shows her in search of her daughter, Proser-pina. She then bears a torch and rides in a chariot drawn by snakes, lions, or dragons.
4 | Ceres Magazine | Oct/Nov 2015
At first glance, the choice of Ceres, the Goddess of agriculture and abundance, as the name of our magazine would better fit a publication about foods, or a Farmer's Market pamphlet. So, why this Roman earth god-dess?
For starters, most of us have breakfast with her every day. Chances are, though, that anybody ever notices despite being hunched over a bowl of her staple morning eats. Ever wonder where the word "cereal" came from? Yep, you guessed it!
She is credited with the discovery of spelt, an ancient strain of wheat, and how to grow and fertilize it; thus, introducing the art of cultivating the earth, and teaching men to plough, sow, reap, and harvest.
Her name itself derives from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *ḱerh₃-, meaning "to satiate, to feed", and is the Latin root for crescere "to grow, create, increase [Wikipedia]. It is synonymous with grain, and by extension, with bread, and that makes her the provider, the one who puts food on the table.
It is said that in 496 B.C., a terrible famine struck Rome which was already plagued by an economic recession. With an imminent war at their doorstep and a threat of secession by Rome's plebs (citizen commoners), the Sibylline books were consulted and a recommendation made that Rome adopt the Greek Deities Demeter, Dionyisus and Persephone, changing their names to Ceres, Liber and Libera. Dictator A. Postumius even promised to build a temple if the famine would end. It did, and Ceres became the central deity of the new Triad, housed in a newly-erected temple near the Aventine Hill (the seventh of Rome's hills). She impersonated the patron goddess of the plebs, whose mainstay encompassed farmers, estate managers and importers, all fundamental to the Roman agriculture and economy.
Denarius picturing Quirinus on the obverse, and Ceres enthroned on the reverse, a commemoration by a moneyer in 56 BC of a Cerialia, perhaps her first ludi, presented by an earlier Gaius Memmius(*1) as aedile(*2). (CNG)
(*1) Roman orator and poet, tribune of the people (66 B.C.)
(*2) An official in ancient Rome in charge of public works and games, police, and the grain supply.
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