Important new gods — Sterculius

I’ve long respected the ancient Greeks for their earthy approach to religion, with their many gods and goddesses representing human concerns: hygiene, fertility, reason, technology, hunting, war, and so on. And of course Dionysos — you have to admire a culture that has a god for drinking and partying.

New to me is the Roman god of … feces. His Latin name Sterquilinus is sometimes translated as Sterculius. He was most worshiped by farmers as they had learned, apparently from Sterculius himself, to use the feces of various animals for agricultural purposes.

From manure to wine — from Sterculius to Dionysos — another important Greco-Roman connection.

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