The Floralia is a Roman festival honoring Flora, the goddess of spring, flower gardens, and crops. It was held each year from April 27th or 28th to May 3rd. She is married to Favonius, the God of the West Wind. Flora was one of the most important goddesses in the Roman pantheon, one of only 15 deities to have a cult administered by a state priesthood consisting of a married couple, who were appointed for life.
The celebration of the Floralia included theatrical performances, competitive games, and a sacrifice to Flora, presumably at her temple on the lower slope of the Aventine Hill near the Circus Maximus.
About the base image:
Flora, or the Primavera of Stabaie; 1st century CE fresco from Stabaie, Italy. Collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli via Wikimedia Commons (X). Image license: Public Domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer and in the United States - published anywhere (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before 1926.
Manipulation: I ‘healed’ some of the fresco’s more obvious flaws and added the floral border.
Fascinating insights about Floralia and Flora’s cult.
The Floralia is a Roman festival honoring Flora, the goddess of spring, flower gardens, and crops. It was held each year from April 27th or 28th to May 3rd. She is married to Favonius, the God of the West Wind. Flora was one of the most important goddesses in the Roman pantheon, one of only 15 deities to have a cult administered by a state priesthood consisting of a married couple, who were appointed for life.
The celebration of the Floralia included theatrical performances, competitive games, and a sacrifice to Flora, presumably at her temple on the lower slope of the Aventine Hill near the Circus Maximus.
Image: Flora Maggiore, Roman statue, 2nd century CE, currently in the collection of the Naples National Museum of Archaeology, Italy. Photo by: Sailko, 2013, via Wikimedia Commons (X). Image license: Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported I erased the original background and tinted the flowers. Flower field background: Yann Behr, 2020, via unsplash.com (X).
