The appearance of the goddess Ceres in Roman liminal rites

Magdus, Tamás (2024) The appearance of the goddess Ceres in Roman liminal rites. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 64 (2). pp. 155-171. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

By studying the literary and artistic representations of the gods, created by the people who paid religious worship to them, we can learn what each deity meant to con-temporary society. This meaning is extremely complex, and yet this complexity can manifest itself in the form of a single divinity. The concept of liminality is closely re-lated to the goddess Ceres. An event like crossing over from life to death or from war to peace is a good example of liminality. This type of change disturbs the balance of society and creates a crisis that affects both the individual and society. In numerous cases, the introduction of religious rites serves the purpose of mimetically represent-ing the crisis and allaying the fear of transition to a new condition. Transitional rites are performed to create a new group of social interactions. For the individual, the goddess can be tightly linked to death, birth, marriage, and divorce, through various rites. In my study, with the help of the relevant sources and literature, I will demon-strate the role of transitional rites associated with the cult of Ceres in ancient Roman society. I am pointing out how these rituals appeared in practice and how they were applied, with the help of works from ancient authors such as Cicero, Virgil, Festus, Plutarch, and Varro.

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