Vertumnus. In Roman mythology, Vertumnus is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees.
He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor to seduce her. The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona has been called the only purely Latin tale in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Vertumnus' festival was called the Vertumnalia and was held 13 August. The name Vortumnus most likely derives from Etruscan Voltumna.
Its formation in Latin was probably influenced by the Latin verb vertere meaning to change, hence the alternative form Vertumnus. Ancient etymologies were based on often superficial similarities of sound rather than the principles of modern scientific linguistics, but reflect ancient interpretations of a deity's function.
In writing about the Festival of Vesta in his poem on the Roman calendar, Ovid recalls a time when the forum was still a reedy swamp and that god, Vertumnus, whose name fits many forms, / Wasn't yet so-called from damming back the river. Varro was convinced that Vortumnus was Etruscan, and a major god. Vertumnus' cult arrived in Rome around 300 BC, and a temple to him was constructed on the Aventine Hill by 264 BC, the date when Volsinii fell
He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor to seduce her. The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona has been called the only purely Latin tale in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Vertumnus' festival was called the Vertumnalia and was held 13 August. The name Vortumnus most likely derives from Etruscan Voltumna.
Its formation in Latin was probably influenced by the Latin verb vertere meaning to change, hence the alternative form Vertumnus. Ancient etymologies were based on often superficial similarities of sound rather than the principles of modern scientific linguistics, but reflect ancient interpretations of a deity's function.
In writing about the Festival of Vesta in his poem on the Roman calendar, Ovid recalls a time when the forum was still a reedy swamp and that god, Vertumnus, whose name fits many forms, / Wasn't yet so-called from damming back the river. Varro was convinced that Vortumnus was Etruscan, and a major god. Vertumnus' cult arrived in Rome around 300 BC, and a temple to him was constructed on the Aventine Hill by 264 BC, the date when Volsinii fell
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