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In ancient Roman religion, birth and childhood deities were thought to care for every aspect of conception, pregnancy, parturition, and infant development. Some major deities of Roman religion had a specialized function they contributed to this sphere of human life, while other deities are known only by the name with which they were invoked to promote or avert a particular action. Several of these slight "divinities of the moment"〔Giulia Sissa, "Maidenhood without Maidenhead: The Female Body in Ancient Greece," in ''Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World'' (Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 362, translating the German term ''Augenblicksgötter'' which was coined by Hermann Usener.〕 are mentioned in surviving texts only by Christian polemicists.〔Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, ''Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), vol. 2, p. 33.〕 An extensive Greek and Latin medical literature covered obstetrics and infant care, and the Greek gynecologist Soranus (2nd century AD) advised midwives not to be superstitious. But childbirth in antiquity remained a life-threatening experience for both the woman and her newborn, with infant mortality as high as 30 or 40 percent.〔M. Golden, "Did the Ancients Care When Their Children Died?" ''Greece & Rome'' 35 (1988) 152–163; Keith R. Bradley, "Wet-nursing at Rome: A Study in Social Relations," in ''The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives'' (Cornell University Press, 1986, 1992), p. 202; Beryl Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'' (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 104.〕 Rites of passage pertaining to birth and death had several parallel aspects.〔Anthony Corbeill, "Blood, Milk, and Tears: The Gestures of Mourning Women," in ''Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome'' (Princeton University Press, 2004), pp. 67–105.〕 Death in childbirth was common: one of the most famous was Julia, daughter of Julius Caesar and wife of Pompey the Great. Her infant died a few days later, severing the family ties between her father and husband and hastening the civil war that resulted in the end of the Roman Republic.〔Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'', p. 103.〕 Some ritual practices may be characterized as anxious superstitions, but the religious aura surrounding childbirth reflects the high value Romans placed on family, tradition ''(mos maiorum)'', and compatibility of the sexes.〔Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'', p. 99.〕 Under the Empire, children were celebrated on coins, as was Juno Lucina, the primary goddess of childbirth, as well as in public art.〔Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'', p. 64.〕 Funerary art, such as relief sculpture on sarcophagi, sometimes showed scenes from the deceased's life, including birth or the first bath.〔Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'', pp. 101–102.〕 Only those who died after the age of 10 were given full funeral and commemorative rites, which in ancient Rome were observed by families several days during the year (see Parentalia). Infants less than one year of age received no formal rites. The lack of ritual observances pertains to the legal status of the individual in society, not the emotional response of families to the loss.〔Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'', p. 104.〕 As Cicero reflected: Some think that if a small child dies this must be borne with equanimity; if it is still in its cradle there should not even be a lament. And yet it is from the latter that nature has more cruelly demanded back the gift she had given.〔Cicero, ''Tusculan Disputations'' 1.93,as cited by Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy'', p. 104.〕 ==Sources== The most extensive lists of deities pertaining to the conception-birth-development cycle come from the Church Fathers, especially Augustine of Hippo and Tertullian. Augustine in particular is known to have used the now-fragmentary theological works of Varro, the 1st-century BC Roman scholar, who in turn referenced the books of the Roman pontiffs. The purpose of the patristic writers was to debunk traditional Roman religion, but they provide useful information despite their mocking tone.〔Beard ''et al.'', ''Religions of Rome,''vol. 2, p. 33.〕 Scattered mentions occur throughout Latin literature. The following list of deities is organized chronologically by the role they play in the process.〔The order is based on that of Robert Turcan, ''The Gods of Ancient Rome'' (Routledge, 2001; originally published in French 1998), pp. 18–20, and Jörg Rüpke, ''Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), pp. 181–182.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of Roman birth and childhood deities」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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