Flora ( la, Flōra) is a Roman

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

of flowers and of the season of spring – a symbol for nature and flowers (especially the may-flower). While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime, as did her role as goddess of youth. She was one of the fifteen deities who had their own flamen, the ''Floralis'', one of the '' flamines minores''. Her

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

counterpart is

Chloris In Greek mythology, the name Chloris (; Greek Χλωρίς ''Chlōrís'', from χλωρός ''chlōrós'', meaning "greenish-yellow", "pale green", "pale", "pallid", or "fresh") appears in a variety of contexts. Some clearly refer to different char ...

Etymology

The name ''Flōra'' descends from Proto-Italic ''*flōsā'' ('goddess of flowers'), itself a derivation from Proto-Italic ''*flōs'' ('flower'; cf.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''flōs'', ''flōris'' 'blossom, flower'). It is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...

with the Oscan goddess of flowers ''Fluusa'', demonstrating that the cult was known more widely among Italic peoples. The name ultimately derives from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

''*bʰleh₃ōs'' ('blossoming').

Festival

Her festival, the ''

Floralia The Floralia was a festival in ancient Roman religious practice in honor of the goddess Flora, held April 27 during the Republican era, or April 28 in the Julian calendar. The festival included ''Ludi Florae'', the "Games of Flora", which laste ...

'', was held between April 28 and May 3 and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, drinking, and flowers. The festival was first instituted in 240 B.C.E, and on the advice of the

Sibylline books The ''Sibylline Books'' ( la, Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and were consulted a ...

, she was also given a temple in 238 B.C.E. At the festival, with the men decked in flowers, and the women wearing normally forbidden gay costumes, five days of farces and mimes were enacted – ithyphallic, and including nudity when called for – followed by a sixth day of the hunting of goats and hares.H. Nettleship ed., ''A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'' (1891) p. 238 On May 23 another (rose) festival was held in her honor. Flora's

equivalent is

, who was a nymph. Flora is married to Favonius, the wind god also known as Zephyr, and her companion was

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted th ...

. Flora achieved more prominence in the neo-pagan revival of Antiquity among

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

humanists than she had ever enjoyed in ancient Rome.

Music

Flora is the main character of the ballet '' The Awakening of Flora''. She is also mentioned in Henry Purcell's Nymphs and Shepherds.

Sculpture

There are many monuments to Flora, for example in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(Italy),

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

(Spain), and Szczecin (Poland).

In art

File:Carthage(js)5.jpg, Ancient Roman mosaic of Flora in the Carthage National Museum File:INC-3004-a Ауреус. Ок. 43—39 гг. до н. э. Монетарий Клодий Весталий (аверс).png, Flora on a gold aureus of 43–39 BCE File:Primavera 04.jpg, Detail of Flora from '' Primavera'' by Botticelli, c. 1482 File:Flora, por Tiziano.jpg, Flora by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, n ...

, 1515 File:1520 Veneto Idealbildnis einer Kurtisane als Flora anagoria.JPG, Idealized Portrait of a Courtesan as Flora by Bartolomeo Veneto, c. 1520 File:Francesco Melzi 002a.jpg,

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

by Francesco Melzi, c. 1520 File:Jan Brueghel the Elder & Peter Paul Rubens - Flora and Zephyr, 1617.jpg, Flora and Zephyr, by Jan Brueghel the Elder and

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...

, 1617 File:Claude Vignon - Flora - WGA25093.jpg, Flora by Claude Vignon, 1650 File:Rembrandt, Flora, circa 1654, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.jpg, Flora by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally co ...

, 1654 File:Flora (Museum of Bordeaux).jpg, Flora or Hebe by

Alexander Roslin Alexander Roslin (spelled Alexandre in French, ; 15 July 17185 July 1793) was a Swedish portrait painter who worked in Scania, Bayreuth, Paris, Italy, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic families. He combined insig ...

, 18th century File:Flora By Valentine Bromley.jpg, Flora by Valentine Walter Bromley, 1874 File:Keller, Ferdinand - Flora - 1883.jpg, Flora by

Ferdinand Keller Ferdinand Keller may refer to: * Ferdinand Keller (archaeologist) (1800–1881), Swiss archaeologist and prehistorian * Ferdinand Keller (footballer) Ferdinand Keller (born 30 July 1946 in Munich) is a German former football player. He spent fi ...

, 1883 File:Mosè Bianchi Flora.jpg, Flora by Mosè Bianchi 1890

References

Bibliography

Primary

* Ovid, ''Fasti'' V.193-212 * Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'' I.10.11-14 * Lactantius, ''Divinae institutions'' I.20.6-10

External links

* * *
The Obscure Goddess Online Directory: Flora
{{Authority control Roman goddesses Fertility goddesses Spring deities Nature goddesses Italic deities