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Mythographia

    Source Verification: Ops

    Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

    What the Sources Attest

    What is Ops the goddess of?

    Ops is the Roman goddess of the earth's plenty, wealth and help. Varro calls her the Earth and derives her name from opus, work, because all work is done on her and life needs it (De Lingua Latina 5.64). Macrobius says she and Saturn were thought to have found crops and fruit (Saturnalia 1.10.19). He derives her name from ope, aid (Saturnalia 1.10.20). Romans also kept public money at her temple (Cicero, Philippics 1.17). Her surviving myth is thin, and she is a role more than a character.

    Source: Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.64

    Was Ops the wife of Saturn?

    Yes, in the sources that name her marriage. Macrobius says the Romans believed Ops to be the wife of Saturn (Saturnalia 1.10.19). In Ennius's Euhemerus, quoted by Lactantius, Saturn takes Ops as wife, and elsewhere in the same account she is his sister (Divine Institutes 1.14). Varro pairs them as the chief gods of Latium without using the word wife (De Lingua Latina 5.57). Ovid makes her mother of Juno, Ceres and Vesta by Saturn (Fasti 6.285-286).

    Source: Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.10.19

    What does 'ops' mean in Greek?

    Nothing. Ops is a Latin word, not a Greek one, and Roman writers tie it to Latin roots. Varro links it to opus, work (De Lingua Latina 5.64). Macrobius offers ope, aid, or opere, work (Saturnalia 1.10.20). The Greek counterpart, in later Roman writers, is Rhea. Lactantius says Rhea is the goddess Latin calls Ops (Divine Institutes 1.13). A Greek name that looks the same, Ops, belongs to Eurycleia's father in Homer, and it is unrelated (Odyssey 1.429).

    Source: Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.13

    Where Accounts Differ

    • Ops as Earth, Bona Dea or Rhea
    • Ceres as Ops's sister or daughter
    • where the name Ops comes from
    • dates and cult of the Opalia and Opiconsiva
    • Ancient writers disagree on who Ops is. Varro and Macrobius call her the Earth, paired with Saturn as Heaven (Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.57 and 5.64; Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.10.20). Macrobius, citing Cornelius Labeo, says the pontifical books invoked Ops as one name of the Bona Dea, alongside Bona, Fauna and Fatua (Saturnalia 1.12.21-22). Lactantius calls her the Latin name of Rhea, Saturn's sister (Divine Institutes 1.13). No early source calls her Rhea, and the Rhea equation reaches us through a Christian writer around 300 CE retelling Ennius. The site treats it as a partial match, not a merger.
    • Her family varies. Ennius, as quoted by Lactantius, makes Ops Saturn's sister and wife, with Ceres as her sister (Divine Institutes 1.14). Ovid makes Juno, Ceres and Vesta her children by Saturn (Fasti 6.285-286). In Ennius, Vesta is the mother of the whole family. Ceres is therefore Ops's sister in one source and her daughter in the other.
    • The name has two derivations. Varro derives Ops from opus, work, because the Earth has all work in her and life needs work on her (De Lingua Latina 5.64). Macrobius gives ope, aid, or opere, work, as the alternatives (Saturnalia 1.10.20). Macrobius in another passage says Ops is the name for the aid by which life stands (Saturnalia 1.12.22).
    • Her festivals are recorded thinly. Varro names the Opeconsiva day after Ops Consivia and places her shrine in the Regia (De Lingua Latina 6.21). He does not explain Consivia or give a date. Macrobius places the Opalia on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of January, inside the Saturnalia (Saturnalia 1.10.18), while Varro says it comes on the third day after the Saturnalia begins (De Lingua Latina 6.22). The two counts are not reconciled here.
    • A different Ops is a man in the Odyssey, father of Eurycleia and son of Peisenor (Odyssey 1.429). It is a Greek personal name and has no link to the Roman goddess.

    Sources

    Primary sources
    • Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.57
    • Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.64
    • Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.21-22
    • Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.10.18-22
    • Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.21-22
    • Ovid, Fasti 6.285-286
    • Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.13
    • Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.14
    • Cicero, Philippics 1.17
    • Cicero, Philippics 2.35
    • Cicero, Philippics 2.93
    • Homer, Odyssey 1.429
    • Strabo, Geography 10.3.12