Editing Fontus

{{Short description|Roman god of wells}}
[[File:Puteal báquico (M.A.N. Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|Ornamental wellhead ([[puteal]]) ''(1st century AD)'' depicting a drunken [[Hercules]] as part of a [[Bacchic]] revel]]
[[File:Stele berz inf - M Bergamo (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Votum|Votive]] altar dedicated to the Divine Fontes (plural)]]
'''Fontus''' or '''Fons''' ({{plural form}}: ''Fontes'', "Font" or "Source") was a god of wells and springs in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]]. A [[Roman festivals|religious festival]] called the '''Fontinalia''' was held on October 13 in his honor. Throughout the city, fountains and [[Puteal|wellheads]] were adorned with garlands.<ref>Stephen L. Dyson, ''Rome: A Living Portrait of an Ancient City'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), p. 228. Described by Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 6.3: "The Fontanalia [is named after] Fontus, because it's his holiday ''(dies [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#feria|feriae]])''; on account of him then they toss wreaths into fountains and garland [[puteal]]s" (''Fontanalia a Fonte, quod is dies feriae eius; ab eo tum et in fontes coronas iaciunt et puteos coronant''). [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] also mentions the rites ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacra|sacra]])''.</ref>

Fontus was the son of [[Juturna]] and [[Janus (mythology)|Janus]].<ref>[[Arnobius]], ''Adversus Nationes'' 3.29.</ref> [[Numa Pompilius]], second [[king of Rome]], was supposed to have been buried near the altar of Fontus ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#ara|ara]] Fontis)'' on the [[Janiculum]].<ref>[[Cicero]], ''De legibus'' 2.56 and ''De natura deorum'' 3.52; [[Samuel Ball Platner]], ''The Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome'' (1904), p. 488.</ref> [[William Warde Fowler]] observed that between 259 and 241 BC, cults were founded for Juturna, Fons, and the [[Tempestas|Tempestates]], all having to do with sources of water.<ref>[[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Religious Experience of the Roman People'' (London, 1922), p. 285, with a speculation that this was a response to the [[Roman navy|naval activity]] of the [[First Punic War]].</ref> As a god of pure water, Fons can be placed in opposition to [[Liber]] as a god of wine identified with [[Bacchus]].<ref>As when two characters argue over which holds ''[[imperium]]'' in [[Plautus]]'s ''Stichus'', line 696ff.; Thomas Habinek, ''The World of Roman Song'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), p. 186.</ref>

An inscription includes Fons among a series of deities who received expiatory sacrifices by the [[Arval Brothers]] in 224 AD, when several trees in the [[sacred grove]] of [[Dea Dia]], their chief deity, had been struck by lightning and burnt. Fons received two [[wikt:wether|wethers]].<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, ''Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 152.</ref> Fons was not among the deities depicted on coinage of the [[Roman Republic]].<ref>[[Michael Crawford (historian)|Michael H. Crawford]], ''Roman Republican Coinage'' (Cambridge University Press, 1974, 2001), p. 914.</ref>

The [[Fonteia gens|gens Fonteia]] claimed to be Fontus' descendants.

In the cosmological schema of [[Martianus Capella]], Fons is located in the second of 16 celestial regions, with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Quirinus]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], the [[Lares|Military Lar]], [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], [[Lympha]], and the [[Novensiles]].<ref>[[Martianus Capella]], ''The Marriage of Philology and Mercury'' 1.46 [https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ-Z9eI6dXwC&dq=Lympha+OR+Lymphae&pg=PA22 online.]</ref>

==Fons Perennis==
Water as a source of regeneration played a role in the [[Mithraic mysteries]], and inscriptions to ''Fons Perennis'' ("Eternal Spring" or "Never-Failing Stream") have been found in [[mithraeum|mithraea]]. In one of the scenes of the Mithraic cycle, the god strikes a rock, which then gushes water. A Mithraic text explains that the stream was a source of life-giving water and immortal refreshment.<ref>Vivienne J. Walters, ''The Cult of Mithras in the Roman Provinces of Gaul'' (Brill, 1974), p. 47.</ref> Dedications to "inanimate entities" from Mithraic narrative ritual, such as ''Fons Perennis'' and ''Petra Genetrix'' ("Generative Rock"), treat them as divine and capable of hearing, like the [[nymph]]s and healing powers to whom these are more often made.<ref>Richard Gordon, "Institutionalized Religious Options: Mithraism," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), p. 398.</ref>

==Honours==
[[Fontus Lake]] in [[Antarctica]] is named after the deity.<ref name=CGA>[https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=139213 Fontus Lake.] SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Visočnik, Julijana. "[http://shs.zgodovinsko-drustvo-kovacic.si/sites/default/files/clanki/SHS-2020-1-1-Visocnik%20%28scopus%29.pdf Čaščenje Nimf in Fontana v vzhodnoalpskem prostoru]" [Worship of the Nymphs and Fontanus in the Eastern Alps] In: ''Studia Historica Slovenica'': Časopis za humanistične in družboslovne študije [Humanities and Social Studies Review], letnik 20 (2020), št. 1, pp. 11-40. DOI: 10.32874/SHS.2020-01

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline}}

{{Roman religion}}

[[Category:Roman gods]]
[[Category:Water gods]]
[[Category:Personifications in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Sabine gods]]