Sterquilinus

Sterquilinus, also known as Stercutus or Sterculius, was a god of odor in Roman Pantheon. He may have been equivalent to Picumnus, a pseudonym of Saturn who used to supervise field manuring. His name was altered to avoid confusion. Early Romans were an agrarian civilization, and their gods were of a rural nature, with figures like Pomona, Ceres, Flora, and Dea Dia. Sterquilinus essentially taught the use of manure in agricultural processes and was not the sole deity of feces, such as sewage. Modern writers later exaggerated the significance of Sterquilinus/Sterculius and other "earthy" deities of antiquity, sometimes with moralistic disapproval. One editor of An Encyclopaedia of Plants in 1836 mentioned that Sterculius was the god of the privy, from stercus, excrement. The Romans deified the most immodest objects and actions, with gods Sterculius, Crepitus, Priapus, and goddesses Caca, Pertunda, etc.
Category:Roman Pantheon
Category:God
Category:Religion