Editing Ceres (mythology) (section)

===Imperial era===
[[File:Nero Lugdunum sestertius 691535.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Emperors claimed a partnership with Ceres in grain provision, as in this [[sestertius]] of 66 AD. Left: [[Nero]], garlanded. Right: [[Annona (goddess)|Annona]] stands with [[cornucopia]]e (horns of Plenty); enthroned Ceres holds grain-ears and torch; between is a [[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Dry measure|modius]] (grain measure) on a garlanded altar; in the background is a ship's stern.]]
Imperial theology conscripted Rome's traditional cults as the divine upholders of Imperial [[Pax (mythology)|Pax]] (peace) and prosperity, for the benefit of all. The emperor [[Augustus]] began the restoration of Ceres' Aventine Temple; his successor [[Tiberius]] completed it.<ref>Spaeth, 1996, pp. 6–8, 86ff.</ref> Of the several figures on the Augustan [[Ara Pacis]], one doubles as a portrait of the Empress [[Livia]], who wears Ceres' ''corona spicea''. Another has been variously identified in modern scholarship as Tellus, Venus, Pax or Ceres, or in Spaeth's analysis, a deliberately broad composite of them all.<ref>Spaeth argues for the identification of the central figure in the Ara Pacis relief as Ceres. It is more usually interpreted as Tellus. See Spaeth, 1996, 127–134.</ref>

The emperor [[Claudius]]' reformed the grain supply and created its embodiment as an Imperial goddess, [[Annona (goddess)|Annona]], a junior partner to Ceres and the Imperial family. The traditional, Cerean virtues of provision and nourishment were symbolically extended to Imperial family members; some coinage shows Claudius' mother [[Antonia Minor|Antonia]] as an [[Augustus (honorific)|Augusta]], wearing the ''corona spicea''.<ref>Spaeth, 1996, pp. 26, 30. See also Fears, J. Rufus, ''The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology'', in Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Part 2, Volume 17, pp. 894–5.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QK1M2VD1tsAC&dq=The+Cult+of+Virtues+and+Roman+Imperial+Ideology%2C&pg=PA827]: Ceres Augusta can be considered, along with Pax, Libertas ''et al.'', as one of several Imperial Virtues.</ref>
[[File:Villa Carmiano triclinio 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Fresco from [[Villa Carmiano]], [[Stabiae]], 1st century. Nude Greco-Roman deity [[Bacchus]] (right), god of wine, freedom and male fertility, identified with Greek [[Dionysus]] and Rome's native [[Liber]]. Ceres (left) is usually identified as his mother]]

The relationship between the reigning emperor, empress and Ceres was formalised in titles such as [[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]] mater agrorum<ref>[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]Xl, 3196.</ref> ("The august mother of the fields) and ''Ceres Augusta''. On coinage, various emperors and empresses wear her ''corona spicea'', showing that the goddess, the emperor and his spouse are conjointly responsible for agricultural prosperity and the all-important provision of grain. A coin of [[Nerva]] (reigned AD 96–98) acknowledges Rome's dependence on the princeps' gift of ''frumentio'' (corn dole) to the masses.<ref>Spaeth, 1996, p. 101.</ref> Under Nerva's later dynastic successor [[Antoninus Pius]], Imperial theology represents the death and [[apotheosis]] of the Empress [[Faustina the Elder]] as Ceres' return to Olympus by [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter's]] command. Even then, "her care for mankind continues and the world can rejoice in the warmth of her daughter Proserpina: in Imperial flesh, Proserpina is [[Faustina the Younger]]", empress-wife of Pius' successor [[Marcus Aurelius]].<ref>Fears, J. Rufus, ''The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology'', in Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Part 2, Volume 17, Walter de Gruyter, 1981, pp. 905–5, footnote 372 1, 1.</ref>

In Britain, a soldier's inscription of the 2nd century AD attests to Ceres' role in the popular syncretism of the times. She is "the bearer of ears of corn", the "Syrian Goddess", identical with the universal heavenly Mother, the Magna Mater and [[Virgo (constellation)#Mythology|Virgo]], virgin mother of the gods. She is peace and virtue, and inventor of justice: she weighs "Life and Right" in her scale.<ref>Benko, pp. 112–114: see also pp. 31, 51, citing Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 11.2, in which Isis reveals to Lucius that she, Ceres and Proserpina, Artemis and Venus are all aspects of the one "Heavenly Queen"; cf [[Juno (mythology)#Epithets|Juno Caelestis]], "Queen of Heaven", the Romanised form of [[Tanit]].</ref>

During the Late Imperial era, Ceres gradually "slips into obscurity"; the last known official association of the Imperial family with her symbols is a coin issue of [[Septimius Severus]] (AD 193–211), showing his empress, [[Julia Domna]], in the ''corona spicea''. After the reign of [[Claudius Gothicus]], no coinage shows Ceres' image. Even so, an initiate of her mysteries is attested in the 5th century AD, after the official abolition of all non-Christian cults.<ref>Spaeth, 1996, pp. 30, 62, citing EE 4.866 for the 5th century ''mystes Cereris''.</ref>