Editing Semonia

In [[Roman mythology]], '''Semonia''' was the goddess of sowing. She belonged to a group of agricultural deities which also comprised '''Setia''' (or '''Seja''') and '''Segetia'''.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Naturalis Historia]], XVII, 2.2''</ref><ref>[[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'', I. 16</ref><ref>[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], ''De civitate Dei'', IV. 8</ref> Their names are derived from the same stem as the [[Latin language|Latin]] verb ''[[Wiktionary: sero|sero]]'' "to sow".

This ancient deity, associated with crops and sowing,<ref>Winning, William Balfour. ''A Manual of Comparative Philology''. London: Printed for J. G. & F. Rivington. 1838. p. 255-256.</ref><ref>Yancey, P. H. ''Origins from Mythology of Biological Names and Terms: Part III, O-Z''. In: ''Bios''. Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1945). pp. 268-282. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4604905?seq=1]</ref> is of possible [[Roman people|Roman]] or [[Sabine]] origin and worship. She is usually attested with the epithet ''[[Salus]] Semonia''.<ref>Axtell, Harold Lucius. ''The deification of abstract ideas in Roman literature and inscriptions''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1907. p. 13.</ref>

Her possible male counterpart is Sabine god [[Semo Sancus]],<ref>Woodard, Roger D. ''Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult''. University of Illinois Press. 2006. p. 184. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02988-2}}</ref> whose traits merged with [[Dius Fidius]]'s.

Semonia and Sancus appear together with other agricultural/crop deities Seia and Segetia.<ref>Woodard, Roger D. ''Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity''. Cambridge University Press. 2013. pp. 212-213. {{ISBN|978-1-107-02240-9}}</ref><ref>MacClement, W. T. ''Some protective devices among plants''. Canada, Kingston: Publishing Committee of Queen's Quarterly, Queen's University. 1909. p. 60.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.mythindex.com/roman-mythology/S/Segetia.html Myth Index - Segetia, Setia and Semonia]

[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]


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