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In ancient Roman religion, Portunes (alternatively spelled ''Portumnes'' or ''Portunus'') was a god of keys, doors and livestock. He protected the warehouses where grain was stored. Probably because of folk associations between ''porta'' "gate, door" and ''portus'' "harbor", the "gateway" to the sea, Portunus later became conflated with Palaemon and evolved into a god primarily of ports and harbors.〔"Portunus gives to the sailor perfect safety in traversing the seas; but why has the raging sea cast up so many cruelly-shattered wrecks?" the Christian apologist Arnobius asks, c. 300 CE (''Seven Books against the Heathen'' III.23 ((on-line text )).〕 In the Latin adjective ''importunus'' his name was applied to untimely waves and weather and contrary winds, and the Latin echoes in English ''opportune'' and its old-fashioned antonym ''importune'', meaning "well timed' and "badly timed". Hence Portunus is behind both an ''opportunity'' and ''importunate'' or badly timed solicitations (''OED''). His festival, celebrated on August 17, the seventeenth day before the Kalends of September, was the Portumnalia, a minor occasion in the Roman year. On this day, keys were thrown into a fire for good luck in a very solemn and lugubrious manner. His attribute was a key and his main temple in the city of Rome, the Temple of Portunus, was to be found in the Forum Boarium. Portunus appears to be closely related to the god Janus, with whom he shares many characters, functions and the symbol of the key.〔Paul. p. 161 L2〕 He too was represented as a two headed being, with each head facing opposite directions, on coins and as figurehead of ships. He was considered to be "deus portuum portarumque praeses"〔Scholium Veron. on ''Aeneid'' V.241〕 (lit. God presiding over ports and gates.) The relationship between the two gods is underlined by the fact that the date chosen for the dedication of the rebuilt temple of Janus in the Forum Holitorium by emperor Tiberius is the day of the Portunalia, August 17.〔Georges Dumézil ''La religion romaine archaïque'' Paris, 1974, part I, chap.4〕 Linguist Giuliano Bonfante has speculated, on the grounds of his cult and of the meaning of his name, that he should be a very archaic deity and might date back to an era when Latins lived in dwellings built on pilings.〔G. Bonfante "Tracce di terminologia palafitticola nel vocabolario latino?" ''Atti dell'Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere e arti'' 97 (1937:53-70).〕 He argues that in Latin the words ''porta'' (door, gate) and ''portus'' (harbour, port) share their etymology from the same IE root meaning ''ford'', ''wading point''. His flamen, the flamen Portunalis one of the flamines minores performed the ritual of oiling the spear (''hasta'') on the statue of god Quirinus, with an ointment especially prepared for this purpose and stored in a small vase (''persillum'').〔Fest. p. 321 L2〕 ==References and sources== ;References ;Sources *Marcus Terentius Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'' vi.19. * 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「Portunes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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