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CONSUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 23 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONSUS , an See also:

ancient See also:Italian deity, originally a See also:god of See also:agriculture. The See also:time at which his festival was held (after See also:harvest and See also:seed-See also:sowing), the nature of its ceremonies and amusements, his See also:altar at the end of the See also:Circus See also:Maximus always covered with See also:earth except on such occasions, all point to his connexion with the earth. In accordance with this, the name has been derived from condere (= Condius, as the " keeper " of See also:grain or the " hidden " god, whose See also:life-producing See also:influence See also:works in the depths of the earth). Another See also:etymology is from conserere (" sow," cf. Ops Consiva and her festival Opiconsivia). Amongst the ancients (See also:Livy i. 9; See also:Dion. Halic. ii. 31) Consus was most commonly identified with Hovet& v "Limos (Neptunus Equester), and in later Latin poets Consus is used for Neptunus, but this See also:idea was due to the See also:horse and See also:chariot races which took See also:place at his festival; otherwise, the two deities have nothing in See also:common. According to another view, he was the god of See also:good counsel, who was said to have " advised " See also:Romulus to carry off the See also:Sabine See also:women (See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, iii. 199) when they visited See also:Rome for the first celebration of his festival (Consualia). In later times, with the introduction of See also:Greek gods into the See also:Roman theological See also:system, Consus, who had never been the See also:object of See also:special reverence, sank to the level of a secondary deity, whose See also:character was rather abstract and intellectual.

His festival was celebrated on the 21st of See also:

August and the 15th of See also:December. On the former date, the See also:flamen Quirinalis, assisted by the vestals, offered See also:sacrifice, and the puntifices presided at horse and chariot races in the circus. It was a See also:day of puhlic rejoicing; all kinds of rustic amusements took place, amongst them See also:running on ox-hides rubbed with oil (like the Gr. avKoXcaorµos). Horses and mules, crowned with garlands, were given See also:rest from See also:work. A special feature of the See also:games in the circus was chariot racing, in which mules, as the See also:oldest See also:draught beasts, took the place of horses. The origin of these games was generally attributed to Romulus; but by some they were considered an See also:imitation of the Arcadian IaraoKpareca introduced by See also:Evander. There was a See also:sanctuary of Consus on the Aventine, dedicated by L. Papirius See also:Cursor in 272, in See also:early times wrongly identified with the altar in the circus. See W. W. See also:Fowler, The Roman Festivals (1899) ; G. Wissowa, See also:Religion and Kultus der Romer (19oz) ; See also:Preller-See also:Jordan, Romische Mythologie (1881).

End of Article: CONSUS

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