Terra (mythology)
Videos
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Tellus Mater or Terra Mater is the personification of the Earth. Although Tellus and Terra are hardly distinguishable during the Imperial era, Tellus was the name of the original earth goddess in the religious practices of the Republic or earlier. The scholar Varro (1st century BC) lists Tellus as one of the di selecti, the twenty principal gods of Rome, and one of the twelve agricultural deities. She is regularly associated with Ceres in rituals pertaining to the earth and agricultural fertility.
Terra reclining with the Seasons, accompanied by Aion-Uranus within a zodiac wheel (mosaic from Sentinum, AD 200–250, Glyptothek).
A dedicatory inscription to Terra Mater fulfilling a vow (votum), 1st century CE.
Detail from a sarcophagus depicting a Mother Earth figure (3rd century AD).
The attributes of the central figure on this panel of the Ara Pacis mark her as an earth and mother goddess, often identified as Tellus.
Spurius Cassius Vecellinus
Videos
Spurius Cassius Vecellinus or Vicellinus was one of the most distinguished men of the early Roman Republic. He was three times consul, and celebrated two triumphs. He was the first magister equitum, and the author of the first agrarian law. The year following his last consulship, he was accused of aiming at regal power, and was put to death by the patricians.
