In the religion of the Roman Empire, the Silvanae are

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

s or goddesses associated with the woodland god Silvanus. They are attested by inscriptions mainly in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

, with a little more than a third of the evidence scattered in the rest of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

. Elsewhere, and in

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

, Silvanus is accompanied by nymphs. ''Silvanae'' may be a regional preference in naming, not a form of cultic devotion distinct from the Nymphs of Silvanus. Like similar nature deities, Silvanus himself is found sometimes conceived of as plural ''(Silvani)'', and Silvani/Silvanae form a male-female complement characteristic of the Roman conception of deity. A Silvana is often depicted holding a tree branch, and although the evidence is sketchy, they may have been a form of hamadryades, nymphs who inhabit trees. The Silvanae sometimes bear the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''augustae'', given to deities associated with Imperial cult, or ''silvestres'', "woodland". In

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

, they are once called ''Campestres'', like the "Mothers of the Field" honored by the Roman military. They are sometimes in the company of the crossroads goddesses known as Quadruviae, Triviae or Biviae (Four-, Three- or Two-Ways), found in Celtic regions of the Empire. Most dedications to the Silvanae were made by free

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

and military personnel, including

legionaries The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Republi ...

, a military prefect of

equestrian rank The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian o ...

, and a decurion. About a quarter of the dedications were made by

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

. Silvanae, usually three in number, are depicted frontally in a row with their hands or arms intertwined. They can also appear singly, or in a group of as many as nine figures. When Silvanus appears with them, he stands to the left or right without interrupting their grouping. The Silvanae carry tree branches, flower pots, conch shells, or wreaths. With one exception, in which they appear nude from the waist up, Silvanae are clothed. Because of their concentration in the Danubian provinces, Silvanae are sometimes thought to be Imperial forms of the Celtic Matres or Matronae, "mother" goddesses who often appear as a clothed triad bearing flowers or other vegetative symbols. The identification is particularly suggested by an inscription from

Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but continued an existing Gallic settlem ...

that names ''Matres Pannoniorum''.

M.L. West Martin Litchfield West, (23 September 1937 – 13 July 2015) was a British philologist and classical scholar. In recognition of his contribution to scholarship, he was awarded the Order of Merit in 2014. West wrote on ancient Greek music, Gre ...

thought them more likely to be Illyrian nymphs than Italic. The three Silvanae may reflect an understanding of Silvanus's tripartite nature as described in the '' Gromatici Veteres'' and by

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

.Dorcey, ''The Cult of Silvanus,'' p. 45.

References

{{Reflist Roman goddesses Nature goddesses Nymphs Pannonia