Ceres

Ceres is the Roman goddess of agriculture; equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter. The name ultimately comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *ker- meaning “to grow” (an etymology apropos for a crop goddess). The Romans borrowed their goddess Ceres from the Greek Demeter circa the 5th century B.C. although it seems the ancient Etruscans worshipped some earlier form of her. She is also often connected to Terra, the first Roman goddess of the earth (Greek: Gaia). For obvious reasons, a goddess who presided over the food source was of paramount importance to people of the ancient world, so offerings and sacrifices were made to Ceres at the time of sowing and harvesting; not to mention a huge annual seven-day springtime festival (Cerealia) was held in her honor. She was credited with the discovery of wheat (from her we get the word “cereal”) and the invention of the plough. She alone controlled, nourished and protected the crops; needless to say her cult was critical to the people of Rome. Ceres was also regarded as the goddess of human fertility, and she presided over marriages and funerals. She was a maternal goddess who oversaw the transition of little girls into womanhood and motherhood. The cult of Ceres was strongest among the plebian classes who represented the farmers and food cultivators, and her “earthly home” was in Sicily (from where much of Rome’s grain was imported). Her importance was eventually wiped out when the Roman Empire officially converted to Christianity and all pagan cults were abolished. Still, she remains with us in history, literature and the arts (even a celetrial dwarf planet is named after her). Her image is featured prominently on Missouri and Vermont state buildings as a reminder of their historical economic dependencies on agriculture. Ceres appears on the Seal of New Jersey and her statue stands on the top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building, inside which the trading of agricultural commodities takes place. Due to Ceres origins as a pagan goddess, her name did not survive beyond Antiquity (Juno, Venus, Aurora, Luna, Minerva and Diana are other Roman goddesses who come to mind). It wasn’t until after the Renaissance in the Late Middle Ages when people began to reconsider these classical names. With the exception of Diana, however, most are still extremely rare and considered much too exotic for the average Western palate.