Terra (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Tellus or Terra ("Mother Earth") is the personification of the Earth. Although Tellus and Terra are hardly distinguishable during the Imperial era, Tellus was the name of the original earth goddess in the religious practices of the Republic or earlier. The scholar Varro (1st century BC) lists Tellus as one of the di selecti, the twenty principal gods of Rome, and one of the twelve agricultural deities. Her male complement was a sky god such as Caelus (Uranus) or a form of Jupiter. Her Greek counterpart is Gaia, and among the Etruscans, her name was Cel. Michael Lipka has argued that the Terra Mater who appeared during the reign of Augustus, is a direct transfer of the Greek Ge Mater into Roman religious practice, while Tellus, whose ancient temple was within Rome's sacred boundary (pomerium), represents the original earth goddess cultivated by the state priests.

Name

thumb|upright|A dedicatory inscription to Terra Mater fulfilling a vow ([[votum), 1st century CE.]]

The Indo-Europeanist scholar Michiel de Vaan suggests a possible connection between the word ("earth, ground, soil") and the Proto-Indo-European root ("to bear, support"). According to this theory, the Earth was originally conceptualized as the "bearer" or "supporter" of the objects and creatures that dwelt atop the land. The 4th century AD Latin commentator Servius distinguishes between use of tellus and terra. Terra, he says, is properly used of the elementum, earth as one of the four classical elements with air (Ventus), water (Aqua), and fire (Ignis). Tellus is the goddess, whose name can be substituted (ponimus ... pro) for her functional sphere the earth, just as the name Vulcanus is used for fire, Ceres for produce, and Liber for wine. Tellus thus refers to the guardian deity of Earth and by extension the globe itself. Tellus may be an aspect of the spirit called Dea Dia by the Arval priests,