Terminus (mythology)

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Topics in Roman mythology
Important Gods:
Jupiter	Minerva
Mars	Mercury
Quirinus	Vulcan
Vesta	Ceres
Juno	Venus
Fortuna	Lares
Topics
Legendary History
Roman religion
The Flamens
Greek/Roman myth compared
Other minor Roman deities:
Penates	Larvae
Genius	Manes
Lemures	Terminus

In Roman mythology, Terminus was the god of boundaries. The stones used to mark borders were sacred to him.

On February 23, a festival called Terminalia was celebrated annually by the Romans in his honor. The stone boundary-markers were drenched in sacrificial blood and placed on flowers to renew its protective powers. However, Terminus himself never received blood sacrifices.[Quaestiones Romanes], question 15. The stone was later thought of as a god.

Jupiter was worshipped as Jupiter Terminus or Jupiter Terminalus. He fit into the same role as the independent god Terminus, possibly because the Temple of Jupiter was built over a shrine to Terminus.[Aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini]. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 1929.

References