Roman · Latin · c. 8 CE
Fasti
Ovid
A verse almanac of the Roman religious calendar, month by month. Ovid opens by interviewing Janus in person, and the poem is the best single source for Roman cult practice as distinct from the Greek myths Rome borrowed.
Read Fasti in full at the linked edition →What this text attests · 3
| Name here | Rank given | # | Powers described |
|---|---|---|---|
| God of beginnings | — | Ovid opens the Fasti by interviewing him directly. He is invoked first in any Roman prayer, before Jupiter, and has no Greek counterpart at all. | |
| God of war and of the fields | — | March is his month, and Ovid gives him the agricultural and boundary functions the Roman cult actually observed — none of which the Greek Ares carries. | |
 Saturnus = Saturn | God of the Golden Age | — | Ovid gives the December Saturnalia and the tradition that he ruled Latium in a golden age before Jupiter. |
