Editing Abundantia

{{short description|Roman personification of abundance}}
{{for|the Christian saint|Saint Abundantia}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Roman
| name = Abundantia
| caption = A painting of Abundantia made by Peter Paul Rubens
| image = Peter Paul Rubens - Abundance (Abundantia) - Google Art Project.jpg
| god_of = Goddess of abundance, money-flow, prosperity, fortune, valuables, and success
| symbol = [[Cornucopia]]
}}
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], '''Abundantia''' ({{IPA|la|abʊnˈdantɪ.a}}), also called '''Copia''',<ref>Joseph Spence. ''Polymetis: Or, An Enquiry Concerning the Agreement Between the Works of the Roman Poets, and the Remains of the Antient Artists: Being an Attempt to Illustrate Them Mutually from One Another. In Ten Books''. R. Dodsley, 1747, p. 148.</ref> was a divine [[personification]] of abundance and prosperity;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jordan |first1=Michael |title=A Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses |date=2004 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=9780816059232 |edition=2, Illustrated}}</ref> *abundantia* means "abundance" in Latin. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Charleston T. |title=An Elementary Latin Dictionary |date=1890 |publisher=American Book Company |location=New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago |isbn=9781614274933 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0060%3Aentry%3Dabundantia}}</ref> She helped protect savings and investments,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Virtue|first=Doreen|title=Goddesses and Angels|publisher=Hay House|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4019-0473-9|location=United States of America|pages=215}}</ref> and assisted with major purchases.<ref name=":1" /> She was among the embodiments of [[Roman virtues|virtues]] in [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|religious propaganda]] that cast the [[Roman Emperor|emperor]] as the ensurer of "[[Golden Age]]" conditions.<ref name=":2">[[J. Rufus Fears]], "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.17.2 (1981), p. 812.</ref> Abundantia thus figures in [[Roman art|art]], [[Cult (religious practice)|cult]], and [[Latin literature|literature]], but has little [[Roman mythology|mythology]] as such. She may have survived in some form in [[Roman Gaul]] and [[medieval France]]. Abundantia carried a [[cornucopia]] that was filled with grain and coins,<ref name=":1" /> and occasionally left gifts from the horn at houses.<ref name=":1" />

==In Rome==
The [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan poet]] [[Ovid]] gives Abundantia a role in the myth of [[Achelous|Acheloüs]] the [[List of water deities|river god]], one of whose horns was ripped from his forehead by [[Hercules]]. The horn was taken by the [[Naiads]] and transformed into the [[cornucopia]] that was granted to Abundantia.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]''; 9.87–88, as cited by Fears, p. 821.</ref> Other [[aition|aetiological]] myths provide different explanations of the cornucopia's origin.{{Clarify|reason=What myths?|date=April 2022}} On [[Nero]]nian [[Roman currency|coinage]], she was associated with [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] and equated with [[Annona (goddess)|Annona]], who embodied the [[Grain supply to the city of Rome|grain supply]].<ref name=":2" /> Like Annona, Abundantia was a "virtue in action" in such locations as the [[harbor]], where grain entered the city.<ref name=":2" />  Coinage in [[Roman Empire|Rome]] depicts her either holding the cornucopia or pouring out the riches contained within the cornucopia. Occasionally she is depicted as holding wheat or standing on a ship. It is unknown what her appearance on ships represents. Abundantia appears on the medals of many emperors. Such as [[Trajan]], [[Antoninus Pius]], [[Caracalla]], [[Elagabalus]], [[Severus Alexander]], [[Gordian I|Gordian]], [[Decius]], [[Gallienus]], [[Tetricus I|Tetricus]], [[Probus (emperor)|Probus]], [[Numerian]], [[Carinus]], [[Carus]], [[Diocletian]], and [[Galerius]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Universal Technological Dictionary Volume 1|publisher=Baldwin|year=1823|location=London}}</ref> She appears alongside one of several inscriptions: Abundantia, Abundantia Perpetua, Augustorum Nostrorum, Augustorum Augg NN, and Augustia Aug.<ref name=":3" /> [[Mithraism|Mithraic]] iconography on a [[Ancient Roman pottery|vase]] from [[Lezoux]], in the [[Roman province]] of  [[Gallia Aquitania]] depicts this deity seating, and holding a cornucopia as a symbol of "the abundance that stems from Mithras' act".<ref>Manfred Claus, ''The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and His Mysteries'', translated by Richard Gordon (Routledge, 2000, originally published 1990 in German), p. 118.</ref>

==Possible survivals==
It has been suggested that the [[Ancient Celtic religion|Gallic goddess]] [[Rosmerta]] had a functional equivalence to Abundantia, but the two are never [[interpretatio romana|directly identified]] in inscriptions.<ref>Paul-Marie Duval, "Rosmerta," ''American, African, and Old European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1993), p. 221.</ref> [[William of Auvergne (bishop)|William of Auvergne]] (d. 1249), a [[bishop of Paris]], mentions a Domina Abundia ("Mistress Abundia"), who also appears in the ''[[Roman de la Rose]]'' as "Dame Habonde." The bishop derives her name from ''abundantia''. At night the ''dominae'' enter houses where offerings have been set out for them. They eat and drink from the vessels, but the contents are undiminished.<ref>Edward Burnett Tylor, excerpt from ''Primitive Culture'', in ''Understanding Religious Sacrifice: A Reader'' (Continuum, 2003, 2006), p. 22.</ref> If they are pleased, they bring prosperity and fertility. William regarded these practices as a form of [[idolatry]].<ref>Alan E. Bernstein, "The Ghostly Troop and the Battle over Death: William of Auvergne (d. 1249)," ''Rethinking Ghosts in World Religions'' (Brill, 2009), p. 144.</ref> [[Folklorist]]s of the 19th century saw these figures as [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic]] [[fairy|fairies]].<ref>Benjamin Thorpe, ''Northern Mythology'' (London, 1861), vol. 1, p. 281; [[Jacob Grimm]], ''Teutonic Mythology'' (English translation London, 1880), pp. 283–288.</ref>

[[Nicholas of Cusa]] reports that on his travels through the [[French Alps]] in 1457, he met two old women who told him they were in the service of Domina Abundia. They identified themselves as [[apostate]] Christians, and had been imprisoned for [[witchcraft]]. Nicholas felt that they had been deluded by the [[devil]], but should be allowed to receive [[penance]] rather than [[burning at the stake]].<ref>Hans Peter Broedel, ''The'' Malleus Maleficarum'' and the Construction of Witchcraft: Theology and Popular Belief'' (Manchester University Press, 2003), p. 109.</ref>

==Later art and allegory==
In later [[Western art]], Abundantia is often portrayed holding her cornucopia and sheaves of corn or wheat.<ref>Jürg Meyer zur Capellen, ''Raphael: The Roman Religious Paintings, ca. 1508-1520'' (Arcos, 2005), p. 264.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Fortuna (mythology)|Fortuna]]
*[[Tyche]]
*[[151 Abundantia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Abundantia}}
*{{Commonscatinline}}

{{Roman religion}}

[[Category:Abundance goddesses]]
[[Category:European folklore characters]]
[[Category:French folklore]]
[[Category:Personifications in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]