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In Roman mythology, Vertumnus ((:ˈwɛr.tʊm.nʊs); also ''Vortumnus'' or ''Vertimnus'') is the god of seasons, change〔" Vertumnus then, that turn'st the year about," (Thomas Nashe, ''Summer's Last Will and Testament'' (1592, printed 1600)).〕 and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' (xiv), he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor (the embedded tale of Iphis and Anaxarete) to seduce her. The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona has been called the only purely Latin tale in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''.〔it is called the first purely Latin tale by Charles Fantazzi, "The revindication of Roman myth in the Pomona-Vertumnus tale", in N. Barbu ''et al.'', eds. ''Ovidianum'' (Bucharest, 1976:288, as Roxanne Gentilcore noticed, in "The Landscape of desire: the tale of Pomona and Vertumnus in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'", ''Phoenix'' 49.2 (Summer 1995:110-120) p. 110 ("It has also been called the first exclusively Latin tale") and note 1.〕 Vertumnus' festival was called the Vertumnalia and was held 13 August.〔Ovid, ''Fasti''.〕 ==Cult and origin== The name ''Vortumnus'' most likely derives from Etruscan ''Voltumna''. Its formation in Latin was probably influenced by the Latin verb ''vertēre'' meaning "to change", hence the alternative form ''Vertumnus''. Ancient etymologies were based on often superficial similarities of sound rather than the principles of modern scientific linguistics, but reflect ancient interpretations of a deity's function.〔Eytmology in Propertius, ''Elegy'' 4; commentary by L. Richardson Jr. (1977), noting that the etymology is not philologically sound.〕 In writing about the Festival of Vesta in his poem on the Roman calendar, Ovid recalls a time when the forum was still a reedy swamp and "that god, Vertumnus, whose name fits many forms, / Wasn’t yet so-called from damming back the river" (''averso amne'').〔Ovid, ''Fasti'', Book 6, June 9.〕 Varro was convinced that Vortumnus was Etruscan, and a major god.〔Varro, ''De lingua latina'' V.46: ''"Ab eis (Etruscans ) dictus Vicus Tuscus, et ideo ibi Vortumnum stare, quod is deus Etruriae princeps"''〕 Vertumnus' cult arrived in Rome around 300 BC, and a temple to him was constructed on the Aventine Hill by 264 BC, the date when Volsinii (Etruscan Velzna) fell to the Romans. Propertius, the major literary source for the god, also asserts that the god was Etruscan, and came from Volsinii. Propertius refers to a bronze statue of Vortumnus〔Propertius, ''Elegy'' 4.2.41-46〕 made by the legendary Mamurius Veturius, who was also credited with the twelve ritual shields ''(ancilia)'' of Mars' priests the Salii. The bronze statue replaced an ancient maple statue ''(xoanon)'' supposed to have been brought to Rome in the time of Romulus.〔Daniel P. Harmon, "Religion in the Latin Elegists", ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' 2.16.3 (1986), pp. 1960–61; W.A. Camps, ''Propertius: Elegies Book IV'' (Cambridge University Press, 1968), p. 77.〕 The statue of Vortumnus ''(signum Vortumni)'' stood in a simple shrine located at the Vicus Tuscus near the Forum Romanum,〔Michael C. J. Putnam, "The Shrine of Vortumnus" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' vol 71, 2, pp 177-179 (April 1967).〕 and was decorated according to the changing seasons. In his poem about the god, Propertius has the statue of Vortumnus speak in first-person as if to a passer-by.〔E. C. Marquis (1974) "Vertumnus in Propertius 4, 2". ''Hermes'', vol 102, no 3, pp 491-500.〕 The base of the statue was discovered in 1549, perhaps still ''in situ'', but has since been lost. An inscription〔''CIL'' VI.1.804: VORTUMNUS TEMPORIBUS DIOCLETIANI ET MAXIMIANI〕 commemorated a restoration to the statue under Diocletian and Maximian in the early 4th century AD.〔R. Lanciani (1903) ''Storia degli scavi di Roma'' vol. II, p. 204f.〕 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「Vertumnus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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