CELESTE. - The name Caelestia designates, in the Roman religion, the principal goddess of Carthage who, evoked from the enemy city, appears to have found a cult in Rome from those times. Her temple perhaps stood on the Capitoline. After Carthage was colonized, the Romans restored her cult on the site, but only under Elagabalus was her image again removed and transferred to the Palatine.

Originally the goddess is none other than Tanit, whose importance in the Punic religion prevails over that of her consort, Ba'al Hammon. Given the great antiquity of the Carthaginian temple, one may think of Phoenician influences that would explain the many common traits between Tanit and Astarte. A goddess of fertility and yet virginal and celestial (lunar), in Rome she was identified above all with Juno, but also with other goddesses (Diana, Venus, Fortuna). In the Roman provinces her cult is represented solely by dedications of African soldiers.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: F. Cumont, s. v. in Pauly-Wissowa, III, 1, col. 1247 ff.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultur der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 373 ff.; S. Gsell, Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord, IV, Paris 1924, pp. 261-63, 274, 275, 315, 318, 422. Angelo Brelle

@incollection{ec3_celeste, author = {Brelich, Angelo}, title = {Celeste}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1253--1254}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/celeste} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry