Silvanus
From NovaRoma
Revision as of 01:21, 27 August 2009 by Marca Hortensia Maior (Talk | contribs)
Silvanus; ancient Italic rustic god of the forests, shepherds, wild places, and boundaries. Although he is assumed to be an ancient deity material on Silvanus only comes from the 2nd century B.C.E. His epithets are pater and senex and he was usually depicted as a ragged old man with a sickle. Most scholars reject the identification with Etruscan Selvans but are unsure if Silvanus is an epithet of Mars or a separate deity altogether. Much is unknown about this deity, though we was worshipped throughout the Empire.
References
Peter F. Dorcey "The Cult of Silvanus; a study in Roman Folk Religion", Brill 1992