Annona (mythology)

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For other uses, see Annona (disambiguation).
On the reverse of this sestertius of Nero, Annona (standing right) holds a cornucopia, facing Ceres (seated left) holding grain-ears and torch, with a modius on the garlanded altar between them and a ship's stern behind

In

grain supply to the city of Rome. She is closely connected to the goddess Ceres, with whom she is often depicted in art
.

Annona, often as Annona

Imperial cult, she was the recipient of dedications and votive offerings from private individuals motivated by gratitude or the seeking of favor.[2]

Imperial cult

In the propaganda of Claudius, the cult of Ceres Augusta made explicit the divine power that lay in the Imperial provision of the annona, the grain supply to the city.[3] Annona Augusti appears on coins late in the reign of Nero, when the Cult of Virtues came into prominence in the wake of the Pisonian conspiracy. She embodied two of the material benefits of Imperial rule, along with Securitas Augusti, "Augustan Security," and often appeared as part of a pair with Ceres.[4] On Neronian coinage, Ceres, Annona, and Abundantia ("Abundance") were closely associated.[5]

Annona also appears on coins issued under

Egypt.[8]

Iconography

Annona is typically depicted with a cornucopia (horn of plenty) in her arm, and a ship's prow in the background, alluding to the transport of grain into the harbor of Rome. On coins, she frequently stands between a modius (grain-measure) and the prow of a galley, with ears of grain in one hand and a cornucopia in the other; sometimes she holds a rudder or an anchor.[9]

Namesake

The crater

Annona in the southern hemisphere of the dwarf planet Ceres
was named after this deity.

See also

  • Cura Annonae

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Annona Personifications.
  1. ^ J. Rufus Fears, "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.17.2 (1981), pp. 895, 915.
  2. ^ Fears, The Cult of Virtues, p. 936.
  3. ^ Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," p. 894.
  4. ^ Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," p. 895.
  5. ^ Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," p. 897.
  6. ^ Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," pp. 900–904.
  7. ^ Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," pp. 913–915, 922.
  8. ^ Fears, "The Cult of Virtues," pp. 923.
  9. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Annona". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 74–75.
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