INDIAGETI (Di indigetes). — The term, which clearly indicates a category or group of deities, occurs, for example, in a Roman collective invocation formula reported by Livio, specifically after the names of Janus, Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, and the Novensiles deities.
Roman grammarians already explain the term in different ways: gods from a secret name, invoked gods (cf. indi-gitare), father gods, gods made divine from men, etc. From the scant ancient data, it only emerges that, in addition to the collectivity of the I., there were individual deities who bore the epithet In-diges: thus a god venerated near the Numicus River in Lavinium, identified now with Jupiter, now with Aeneas or Anchises; and, in Rome itself, a god who had his festival (Agonium Indigetis) on December 11, and who seems identical to the Sol Indiges venerated on the Quirinal, who also had a festival on August 9. Among modern scholars, until recently the prevailing interpretation (Wissowa) was that the term would indicate Roman and indigenous deities as distinct from imported deities (novensiles — no-vensides). Once the inconsistency of this thesis was demonstrated, it has been argued (Koch) that the meaning is «divine forefather», based on the Greek translation of indiges as γεφάγχη, and on the cultic facts of Lavinium. But the discussion on the subject continues, focusing more on attempts at etymological explanation of the word than on sacred data.