Ceres

[L., Ceres, also corn, grain, akin to E. create.]

1. (Class. Myth.) The daughter of Saturn and Ops or Rhea, the goddess of corn and tillage.

2. (Actron.) The first discovered asteroid.

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Ceres, Classical sculpture; in the Vatican Museum. (credit: Alinari/Art Resource, New York)

In Roman religion, the goddess of the growth of food plants, sometimes worshiped in association with the earth goddess Tellus. Her cult was overlaid by that of Demeter, who was worshiped in Greece and Sicily. According to tradition, her cult was introduced into Rome in 496 BC to check a famine. Her temple on Aventine Hill was known as a centre of plebeian religious and political activities and for its artwork.

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Cērēs, an Italian divinity representing the generative power of nature, in later times identified with the Greek Demeter. In cult she was associated with Tellus, the earth-goddess. Her worship at Rome was very ancient, as is clear from the existence of a flamen cerialis and the occurrence of the festival of the Cerialia (held on 19 April) in the calendars, but very little is known of it. Her most famous cult was that on the Aventine hill at Rome. In 496 BC under the stress of famine the Sibylline books were consulted and recommended the introduction of the worship of the Greek gods Demeter, Korē, and Iacchus, to be identified with the Roman Ceres, Liber, and Libera. The temple was completed in 493 and became a centre of plebeian activities. Games were instituted which became a prominent feature of the Cerialia. Little is known about the ritual of the festival, except the peculiar custom of tying lighted brands to the tails of a number of foxes which were then let loose in the Circus Maximus. As a deity of the earth Ceres also received sacrifice after a funeral, as a means of purifying the house of the deceased.

The Roman name for Demeter, the Greek and Roman goddess of agriculture.

In European mythology, Ceres can refer to:

• Ceres (Roman mythology), the Roman goddess
• Ceres, more usually Keres (Greek mythology), the Greek demonesses

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