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Di indigetes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The di indigetes ("indigenous gods") were a group of Roman gods, goddesses and spirits not adopted from other mythologies, as opposed to the di novensides ("newcomer gods") in Georg Wissowa's terminology.
The term Indiges is classical Latin, applied to Sol and to Jupiter of Lavinium, later identified with Aeneas. Wissowa interpreted this to mean "indigenous", but interpretation is no longer widely accepted. The actual meaning of the term "indiges" remains uncertain. One theory holds that it means the "speaker within", and goes back to before the recognition of divine persons. Another, which the OCD holds more likely, that it means "invoked" ("pointed to", as in the related word indigitamenta). Nevertheless, the classification, as a set of native, rather than imported, divinities, remains useful.
Most of these are very minor gods, little more than personifications of an abstract quality. Ops, Janus and Quirinus are among the few important di indigetes. Additionally, as most Latin words for abstractions and concepts were feminine, the vast majority of di indigetes are female, and Roman mythology in general has an abundance of goddesses.
Latin deities of uncertain derivation but possibly indigenous:
Newer yet still etymologically indigenous deities: