Editing Bonus Eventus

'''Bonus Eventus''' ("Good Outcome") was a divine [[personification]] in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]]. The [[Roman Republic#Late Republic (147 BC - 30 BC)|Late Republican]] scholar [[Varro]] lists him as one of the twelve deities who presided over [[Roman agriculture|agriculture]],<ref>[[Varro]], ''De re rustica'' 1.1.4–6; [[Clifford Ando]], ''The Palladium and the Pentateuch: Towards a Sacred Topography of the Later Roman Empire'', ''Phoenix'' 55 3.4 (2001), p. 383.</ref> paired with [[Lympha]], the goddess who influenced the water supply. The original function of Bonus Eventus may have been agricultural,<ref>Lawrence Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 60.</ref> but during the [[Roman Empire|Imperial era]], he represents a more general concept of success and was among the numerous abstractions who appeared as icons on [[Roman currency|Roman coins]].

==Cult and inscriptions==
{{ancient Roman religion}}
Bonus Eventus had a [[Roman temple|temple]] of unknown date in the [[Campus Martius]]. It is mentioned only by [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], in connection to a new [[portico]] ''(Porticus Boni Eventūs)'' built by the [[Praefectus urbi|urban prefect]] Claudius in 374 AD. Five [[Corinthian capital]]s "of extraordinary size" that were uncovered in the 19th century may have belonged to the portico, which was located in the [[Gardens of Agrippa]].<ref>Richardson, ''New Topographical Dictionary'', p. 60.</ref>

The [[epithet]] ''Bonus'', "the Good," is used with other abstract deities such as ''Bona Fortuna'' ("Good Fortune"), ''Bona Mens'' ("Good Thinking" or "Sound Mind"), and ''[[Spes|Bona Spes]]'' ("Valid Hope," perhaps to be translated as "Optimism"), as well as with the mysterious and multivalent [[Bona Dea]], a goddess whose rites were celebrated by women.<ref>Hendrik H.J. Brouwer, ''Bona Dea: The Sources and a Description of the Cult'' pp. 245–246.</ref>

Inscriptional evidence for the god is found at several locations, including in the [[Roman province|provinces]]. Senior officials at [[Sirmium]], [[Pannonia]], dedicated a shrine to Bonus Eventus for the wellbeing of high-ranking members of the city council.<ref>J.J. Wilkes, "The Roman Danube: An Archaeological Survey," ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 95 (2005), p. 142.</ref> In [[Roman Britain]], the [[mosaic]] floor of a villa at [[Woodchester]] bore the reminder ''Worship Bonus Eventus duly.'' A [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#votum|dedication]] made by a married couple to Bonus Eventus along with [[Fortuna]] indicates that the god's sphere of influence had expanded beyond both agriculture and the embodiment of imperial virtues.<ref>[[J. Rufus Fears]], "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.17.2 (1981), p. 935; Martin Henig, "Roman Religion and Roman Culture in Britain," in ''A Companion to Roman Britain'' (Blackwell, 2004), p. 227. The mosaic inscription is ''RIB'' 2448.2. The couple were a Cornelius Castus and Julia Belismicus, at [[Caerleon]] (''RIB'' 318).</ref> Images of Bonus Eventus appear regularly on [[engraved gem]]s,<ref>Henig, "Roman Religion and Roman Culture in Britain," p. 227.</ref> and in a [[jeweller]]'s [[hoard]] from [[Snettisham]], Bonus Eventus was the most frequent device on [[Intaglio (jewellery)|intaglios]], appearing on 25 percent of the 127 found.<ref>[[Alexandra Croom]], "Personal Ornament," in ''A Companion to Roman Britain'', p. 296. Most of the intaglios depict the same four devices, with [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] (20 percent), [[Fortuna]] (13 percent) and a [[parrot]] (12 percent) the most popular after Bonus Eventus.</ref> These usages point to a protective or [[tutelary deity|tutelary]] function for the god, as well as the existence of a religious community to which the jeweller marketed his wares.<ref>Henig, "Roman Religion and Roman Culture in Britain," pp. 227–228; Croom, "Personal Adornment," pp. 295–296.</ref>

==Iconography==
Coins featuring Bonus Eventus were issued during the turmoil of the [[Year of Four Emperors]] (69 AD) and the reigns of [[Galba]], [[Vespasian]], [[Titus]], [[Antoninus Pius]], and [[Septimius Severus]].<ref>Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," pp. 897, 900–901, 903–904.</ref> On these coins and on gems, Bonus Eventus is a standing male nude, usually with one leg bent and his head turned away toward a [[patera|libation bowl]] in his outstretched hand. Sometimes he is partially clad in a [[chlamys]] that covers his back, or in an over-the-shoulder [[himation]] with the ends framing his torso. [[Poppy|Poppies]] and stalks of grain are common attributes.<ref>Olga Palagia, ''Euphranor'' (Brill, 1980), p. 35.</ref>
 
In his book on sculpture, [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] describes two statues of "Bonus Eventus" which were in fact renamed images of [[List of Greek deities|Greek gods]]. One was a bronze by [[Euphranor]] and the other a marble by [[Praxiteles]]. The latter stood in the [[Capitolium]] with a statue of Bona Fortuna, and the former somewhere between the repurposed [[Athena]] below the Capitol and the [[Leto]] in the [[Temple of Concord]].<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History'' 36.23.</ref> It is unclear from Pliny's description whether both Greek statues had originally represented the same Greek deity.<ref>Palagia, ''Euphranor'', p. 35.</ref> The [[classics|classical]] [[art historian]] [[Adolf Furtwängler]] conjectured that Praxiteles had depicted an [[Agathos Daimon]], since he was accompanied by a "Bona Fortuna," presumably a translation of the Greek ''[[Tyche|Agathē Tychē]]''. Euphranor's bronze is sometimes taken as the type on which the iconography of coins and gems was based, since the figure held poppies and grain. These attributes suggest an [[Eleusinian Mysteries|Eleusinian]] deity, and while the Greek original is most often taken as [[Triptolemus]], no extant depictions of Triptolemus show the combination of poppies and grain, which is associated with [[Demeter]] (Roman [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]]).<ref>Palagia, ''Euphranor'', p. 35.</ref>

==References==
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{{Roman religion}}

[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:Commerce gods]]
[[Category:Roman gods]]
[[Category:Personifications in Roman mythology]]