Virtus (deity)

Virtus is the divine in ancient Rome venerated personification of soldierly valor.

The Adoration of the Virtus (Latin virtue, courage, ' Roman cardinal virtue ') is closely associated with Honos, god of honor. Mostly, both deities were worshiped together, which - as reported Valerius Maximus in his Facta et dicta memorabilia - in the year 210 BC to an appeal by the Pontifikalkollegiums led against the plans of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, to build a temple common to both. They would, as the priests when in this temple is a miracle should take place, can not decide which of the two gods now a victim must be brought. Marcellus vowed during his consulship in 222 BC, therefore, a separate temple for Virtus, which was finally inaugurated in 205 BC. He was structurally connected to an already constructed temple of Honos at the Porta Capena, in which one could only pass through the Virtus Temple. Was financed by the temples with the spoils of the conquest of Syracuse. Another temple of Honos and Virtus was built in front of the Porta Collina Scipio Aemilianus after its conquest of Numantia in the year 133 BC, a third of Gaius Marius with the spoils of the victory over the Cimbri; he stood at the site of the later Arch of Titus.

After a reorganization of the worship of Augustus by the cult of the dea Virtus under the Empire gradually lost its importance, but was always kept upright for soldierly valor in the traditional Roman sense. Even in the 4th century it was held in honor games. The Temple of Virtus and Honos were the starting point to the July 15 annual parade of the Roman knights.

The presentation of the Virtus is versatile. On coins she appears both as a matron, as well as an old man or woman. It can be armed with a spear and a gladius or wearing only a breastplate or cloak. My head is usually covered with a helmet. A golden statue of the goddess was melted in 410, after the conquest of Rome by the Gothic king Alaric I..

Inscriptions from Numidia and Germania demonstrate the spread of the cult.

Swell

Tetricus I. Pontiff Roman consul Roman aristocracy Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
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