Neptune
Also known as: Neptunus
Mythological Narrative
God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. Brother of Jupiter and Pluto, ruler of all waters. Also associated with freshwater springs and patronage of horse racing.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## Neptune of horses and water
Neptune rules waters in Roman religion, including the sea the poets borrowed from Greek Poseidon. Older Italian cult, though, ties him as closely to freshwater and to horses as to the open Mediterranean. The **Neptunalia** in July was a festival of midsummer drought, when Romans built leaf shelters and remembered the god who could give or withhold water.
### Brother of Jupiter
In the imported genealogy he is brother to Jupiter and Dis, sharing the world after Saturn's fall. Roman art gives him the trident and the sea-chariot. Roman calendars also remember Consus and other horse-gods whose turf overlaps his, which is why chariot teams and the Campus watering places sit near his name.
### Earth-shaker in Italy
Poets call him Earth-shaker when they are translating Greek epic. In Italy his anger is drought, flood, and the sudden failure of a spring. Sailors still prayed to him, especially once Rome became a naval power, but he never quite became only a sea-king.
Cross-Pantheon Parallels & Archetypes
Classical Art & Museum Artifacts
High-resolution museum artifacts, classical sculptures, pottery reliefs, and bronze idols preserving authentic historical representations of Neptune.
Bronze statuette of Neptune
Neptune
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Neptune.
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