Trivia (mythology)

Trivia in Roman mythology was the goddess who "haunted crossroads, graveyards, and was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft, she wandered about at night and was seen only by the barking of dogs who told of her approach."[1] She was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, the three-way crossroads and the harvest moon.[2] She was an underworld Titan-goddess who assisted Jove in the Titanomachy and was therefore able to keep her powers. She was a friend of Ceres and helped her to find her daughter Proserpina. As a part of her role as an underworld goddess, she was known as the Queen of Ghosts. Although she helped Ceres to find her daughter, she was also known to steal young maidens to assist her in her powers. These women later became nymphs.

Her association for Romans of the first century BCE with Artemis was so thorough that Lucretius[3] identifies the altar of the goddess at the sacrifice of Iphianassa (Iphigeneia) in Aulis as Triviai virginis aram.

References

  1. ↑ Zimmerman, J E. (1964). "Trivia". Dictionary of Classical Mythology. New York: Harper & Row. p. 278.
  2. ↑ Kravitz, David (1975). "TRIVIA". Who's Who in Greek and Roman Mythology. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. p. 231. ISBN 0-517-52746-4.
  3. ↑ Lucretius, De rerum natura, i. 84,
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