Dii Consentes

Although the ritual purpose of this 1st century BCE altar from Gabii is unclear, the twelve deities depicted correspond to the Dii Consentes
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The Dii Consentes, also known as Di or Dei Consentes (once Dii Complices[1]), or The Harmonious Gods, is an ancient list of twelve major deities, six gods and six goddesses, in the pantheon of Ancient Rome. Their gilt statues stood in the Roman Forum, and later apparently in the Porticus Deorum Consentium.[2]

The gods were listed by the poet Ennius in the late 3rd century BCE in a paraphrase of an unknown Greek poet:[3]

Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus
Mars, Mercurius, Iovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo

Livy[4] arranges them in six male-female pairs: Jupiter-Juno, Neptune-Minerva, Mars-Venus, Apollo-Diana, Vulcan-Vesta and Mercury-Ceres. Three of the Dii Consentes formed the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.

  1. ^ Arnobius III.40
  2. ^ Platner, Samuel Ball (1904). The Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome. pp. 173–174.
  3. ^ Apuleius. "De deo Socratis". In Ennius (ed.). fragment 45. 2.28–2.29.
  4. ^ Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri [From the Founding of the City]. Translated by Canon Roberts. XXII.10.9 .