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PORTUNUS, or PORTUMNUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 169 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PORTUNUS, or PORTUMNUS , in See also:Roman See also:mythology, originally the See also:god of See also:gates and doors (See also:Lat. porta), and as such identified with See also:Janus and represented with a See also:key in his See also:hand. Gradually he came to be recognized as a See also:separate deity, who protected the harbours (See also:portus) and ensured a safe return to seafarers. (See also:Cicero, Nat. dear. ii. 26; See also:Virgil, Aen. v. 241). With the introduction of the See also:Greek gods, he became merged in See also:Palaemon-See also:Melicertes. He had a See also:special See also:priest (See also:flamen portunalis) and temples on the See also:Tiber near the Aemilian See also:bridge and near See also:Ostia, where a festival was celebrated in his See also:honour on the 17th of See also:August. See also:Mommsen unhesitatingly identifies Portunus with the See also:river-god Tiberinus, from the fact that the festival is also called Tiberinalia in the See also:fasti of Philocalus; See also:Marquardt regards him rather as the tutelary deity of warehouses. See J. Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung (1885), iii. 327, See also:note To.

End of Article: PORTUNUS, or PORTUMNUS

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