Ops

{{short description|Ancient Roman goddess of fertility and the earth}} {{for multi|other mythological figures|Ops (Greek mythology)|the suffix used in taxonomy|-ops}} {{other uses|Ops (disambiguation)|OPS (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox deity | type = Roman | name = Ops | other_names = Opes, Opis | image = Livia statue.jpg | caption = Roman empress Livia attired as the goddess Ops, holding a cornucopia and sheath of wheat | god_of = Goddess of Agriculture, Abundance, and the Earth | symbol = Wheat, corn, cornucopia | consort = Saturn | mount = | Greek_equivalent = Rhea | festivals = Opiconsivia, Opalia | gender = Female | temple = Temple of Ops }}

In ancient Roman religion, '''Ops''', (Latin: "Plenty") also spelled '''Opes''' or '''Opis''', was a fertility and earth goddess of abundance, prosperity, and agriculture, and the consort of Saturn. As ''Ops Consiva'', she presided over the reserved portion of the harvest alongside Consus, the god of stored grain.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Scheid |first=John |date=March 7, 2016 |title=Ops |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-4575 |website=Oxford Classical Dictionary}}</ref> She was celebrated during two yearly festivals: Opiconsivia in August and Opalia in December.

Ops was frequently compared to goddesses like Demeter, Cybele, Ceres, and Terra, who were similarly associated with the earth and agriculture. She was conflated with the Greek Rhea, mother of the first generation Olympians and consort of Cronus, the Greek equivalent of Saturn.

==Etymology== The Latin word ''ops'' means "riches, goods, abundance, gifts, munificence, plenty." The word is also related to ''opus'', which means "work," particularly in the sense of "working the earth, ploughing, sowing." ''Ops'' is also related to the Sanskrit word ''ápnas'' ("goods, property").<ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary=A Latin Dictionary |publisher=perseus.tufts.edu |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dops1 |access-date=17 February 2016 |author2=Short, Charles |article=ops |author1=Lewis, Charlton T.}}</ref>

== Origins == The origins of Ops as a goddess are unclear. In ''De Lingua Latina'', Varro claims that Ops was a deity of Sabine origin worshipped by Titus Tatius— a stance later repeated by Dionysus of Halicarnassus and Augustine. She may have been associated with the Sabines due to her being an agricultural goddess, and therefore associated with the countryside; the Sabines were similarly associated with non-urban environments by those living in Rome.<ref name=":3">Pierre Pouthier, ''[https://www.persee.fr/doc/befar_0257-4101_1981_mon_242_1 Ops et la conception divine de l'abondance dans la religion romaine jusqu'à la mort d'Auguste]'' (1981)</ref>{{rp|43}} However, modern scholarship has suggested more convoluted origins, with Ops likely being a combination of Etruscan, Italic, Sabinic, Hellenic, and Roman elements.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|38}}

==Function and worship== [[File:De godin Ops. NL-HlmNHA 1477 53010124.JPG|thumb|16th century print depicting Ops in the nude. She was likely confused with Cybele in this depiction, as she is pictured with a lion, key, and a crown in the form of a wall with towers, all symbols commonly associated with Cybele|329x329px]] Ops' name and function was discussed in Varro's ''De'' ''Lingua Latina'', which identified her as the wife of Saturn,<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Saturn (god)|display=Saturn|volume=24|page=231|first=James George|last=Frazer}}</ref><ref name=":4">Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'', "Byblis and Caunus," [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=9:card=418&highlight=ops 9.418]</ref> another agricultural god.{{efn|Saturn was a chthonic deity, as was her close associate, Consus. As she was an earth goddess and associated with the storage of grain, Ops may have similarly been connected to the underworld.}} He additionally conflated her with Isis and Terra, and compared her functions to those of Ceres.<ref>Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'', [https://archive.org/details/onlatinlanguage01varruoft/page/54/mode/2up? Page 54]</ref> Varro claimed that, as Saturn embodied the sky, Ops embodied the earth, and was therefore referred to as "mother." Similar understandings of Ops' function were attested to by Festus and Verris Flaccus, who identified her as both an agricultural goddess and counterpart of Saturn. Varro additionally connected the name Ops directly with ''opus'': "work," specifically the working of the earth.<ref>Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'', [https://archive.org/details/onlatinlanguage01varruoft/page/60/mode/2up? Page 60]</ref> Macrobius, writing in the 5th century, similarly identified her with the work required to grow crops (again using ''opus''), and claimed that men prayed to the goddess before beginning to work the earth in order honor her as "mother of mortals."<ref name=":2">Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'', [https://archive.org/details/macrobius-saturnalia-book-01-english-1969/page/73/mode/2up? 1.73]</ref>

She was additionally a goddess of abundance as the creator of economies linked to farming and agriculture at large, particularly cereals. As the guarantor of abundant harvest and food security, Ops may have been worshipped as a protector of Rome— a claim put forth by Macrobius.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|73}} She may have additionally been abstractly connected to the production or procurement of wealth. The word ''ops'' is etymologically related to the words ''opulenti'' ("opulence") and ''opima'' ("rich, fertile"), and she was bestowed with the epithet ''Ops Consiva'' ("she who sows").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Consīva — Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary |url=https://atlas.perseus.tufts.edu/dictionaries/entry/urn:cite2:scaife-viewer:dictionary-entries.atlas_v1:lat.ls.perseus-eng2-n10533/ |access-date=2025-12-05 |website=atlas.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref name=":1">Miano, Daniele. "[https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/114534/1/ops%20revised.pdf The Goddess Ops in Archaic Rome]." ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 58.1 (2015): 98-127.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Conse'vius |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=consevius-bio-1&highlight=ops |access-date=2025-12-07 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Ops Consiva was a goddess associated with the reserved portion (''condere'') of the harvest, and was associated closely with Consus, god of stored grain and consilium.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Ops {{!}} Goddess, Festivals, & Roman Religion {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ops |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250903073847/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ops |archive-date=2025-09-03 |access-date=2025-12-05 |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

After the Roman Republic's conquest of Greece and the influence of Hellenic mythology and culture on Roman culture, Ops became increasingly conflated with the Greek Rhea: wife of Cronus and mother of the first generation Olympians.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|220-222}} Greek myths were sometimes taken in their entirety and reworked with the gods' Roman counterparts. For example, when they translated the story of Rhea hiding her children from Cronus, Livius Andronicus and Ennius rendered the story faithfully and simply replaced "Rhea" with "Ops."<ref>Ennius, ''Euhemerus'', 223-225

"''Exim Saturnus uxorem duxit Opem. Titan qui maior natu erat postulat ut ipse regnaret. ibi Vesta mater eorum et sorores Ceres atque Ops suadent Saturno, uti de regno ne concédât fratri. [...] deinde Titan postquam rescivit Saturno filios procreatos atque educatos esse clam se, seducit secum filios suos qui Titani vocantur, fratremque suum Saturnum atque Opem conprehendit eosque muro circu''."</ref><ref name=":3" />{{rp|224}} Similarly, Ovid described Ops as both the wife and sister of Saturn; Rhea and Cronus were full-blooded siblings as the children of Uranus and Gaia.<ref name=":4" /> In Plautus' comedic play ''Persa'', Ops is referred to as the mother of Jupiter,<ref>Titus Maccius Plautus, ''Persa'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0043%3Aact%3D2%3Ascene%3D3 2.3]</ref> and in his ''Cistellaria'', Juno is referred to as the daughter of Jupiter and the granddaughter of Ops.<ref>Titus Maccius Plautus, ''Cistellaria'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0098%3Aact%3D2%3Ascene%3D1 2.1]</ref> In these accounts, Ops' functions outside being the wife of Saturn and the mother of multiple gods are not mentioned.

== Festivals == Ops Consiva was celebrated during the Opiconsivia, a festival held in and around the Regia on August 25, possibly marking the end of the harvest. The Opalia, a second festival celebrating the goddess on December 19, was held in the Forum, and occurred immediately after or during Saturnalia.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="EB1911" /> The exact significance and reasoning behind the Opalia are unclear, but it was possibly held to mark the end of the year or celebrate the completion of work and the promise of future harvests.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|125}} It is unknown whether the goddess was worshipped simply as "Ops" or as "Ops Consiva" during the December festival.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|103-104}} She may have additionally been celebrated as Ops Consiva during the festival celebrating Consus, the Consualia, held on December 15.

Ops received a cultuic revival under the reign of Augustus. The ''Fasti Vallenses'', ''Fasti'' ''Amiternini'', and ''Fasti Antiates'' indicate that Augustus established altars in the Vicus Jugarius dedicated to ''Ceres Mater'' and ''Ops Augusta'' in 7 AD, and designated August 10th as a holiday celebrating the two goddesses.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|286}} His decision was likely influenced by a severe famine reportedly occurring at the time.<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/54*.html LIV 1.2]</ref>

== Temples == Philochorus claimed that Cecrops, king of Attica, was the first to build a temple to Saturn and Ops where they were worshipped as Jupiter and Earth. When crops had been harvested, the head of the household would eat with the slaves who worked the land— paying honor to those responsible for the harvest was considered pleasing to the gods. Macrobius claims that these celebrations were later adapted into the Roman festival of Saturnalia.<ref name=":2" />

In Rome, Ops Consiva had a poorly documented cult and a sacrarium in the Regia, a temple only the pontifex maximus and the Vestal Virgins could enter; it is not clear whether this restriction was only imposed during her festivals.<ref name=":1" /> Two items were mentioned by Festus as being held in the goddess' sacrarium: a ritual knife (''secespita'') and a bronze vase used in sacrifices (''praefericulum'').<ref name=":3" />{{rp|61}}

Ops additionally had a temple on the Capitol near the Temple of Fides and the Temple of Jupiter,<ref name=":0" /> but what little evidence there is attesting to its existence is scant and fragmentary, and mostly dated to the Republican Era. It was mentioned by both Pliny and Livy; using their writings, the temple's ''terminus ante quem'' is estimated 186 BC, and could have been founded by Lucius Caecilius Metellus or Aulus Atilius Calatinus, who dedicated temples to Fides and Spes on the Capitol around 250 BC. Cicero wrote about how, in 50 BC, Caesar deposited a portion of the Roman treasury in the temple of Ops, which was later retrieved by Mark Antony.<ref>Cicero, ''Orations,'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0021%3Aspeech%3D1%3Achapter%3D7 1.7]</ref> This story was also covered by Appian.<ref>Appian, ''The Civil Wars'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=App.+BC+3.1.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0232 3.1.4] (See Note 2)</ref> Additionally, Julius Obsequens recorded a supernatural occurrence in 44 BC, when the temple doors shut on their own, and in 17 BC, the Augustan Ludi Saeculares were recorded partially taking place at the temple.<ref name=":1" /> Little else is known about the temple and the methods of worship associated with it, but its construction could have marked a change in the Romans' perception of the deity; she could have taken on a more political role and become a deity responsible for the protection of Rome, similar to Jupiter and Fides.<ref name=":3" />{{rp|159-160}} However, the episode concerning Caesar and the treasury indicate that she was likely still closely associated with abundance at the time.<ref name=":1" />

==Iconography== Coins and statues of Ops typically depict her sitting down, and she usually holds a scepter, sheath of wheat, corn spray, or a cornucopia.

==Literature== She is remembered in ''De Mulieribus Claris'', a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in 1361–1362. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature.<ref name="Brown_xi">{{cite book |last=Boccaccio |first=Giovanni |author-link=Giovanni Boccaccio |title=Famous Women |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-674-01130-9 |series=I Tatti Renaissance Library |volume=1 |location=Cambridge, MA |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Nj04ULC0s8C&pg=PR11 xi] |translator=Brown, Virginia |orig-year=1362}}</ref>

== Footnotes == <references group="lower-alpha" responsive="1"></references>

==References== {{Reflist}}

===Primary sources=== *Boccaccio, Giovanni. (1362) ''De mulieribus claris''. *Livy ''Ab urbe condita libri'' XXIX.10.4–11.8, 14.5–14 *Lactantius, ''Divinae institutions'' I.13.2–4, 14.2–5

===Secondary sources=== *Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's ''Famous Women'', pp.&nbsp;12–13; Harvard University Press 2001; {{ISBN|0-674-01130-9}}

==Further reading== * Pouthier, Pierre, "Ops II", in ''Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). VII.1: Oidipous &ndash; Theseus'', pp. 59&ndash;60, Zurich and Munich, Artemis Verlag, 1994. {{ISBN|3760887511}}. [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VII-1%20Oidipous-Theseus/mode/2up Internet Archive].

==External links== *{{Commonscatinline}} {{Commonscat|Ops}}

{{Roman religion}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Earth goddesses Category:Fertility goddesses Category:Roman agricultural goddesses Category:Roman goddesses Category:Rhea (mythology) Category:Food goddesses