Summanus

This article is about the Roman god. For the fictional god, see Cthulhu Mythos deities.
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Summanus (Latin: Summānus) was the god of nocturnal thunder in ancient Roman religion, as counterposed to Jupiter, the god of diurnal (daylight) thunder.[1] His precise nature was unclear even to Ovid.[2]

Pliny thought that he was of Etruscan origin, and one of the nine gods of thunder.[3] Varro lists Summanus among gods to whom Sabine king Titus Tatius dedicated altars (arae) in consequence of a votum.[4] Paulus Diaconus considers him a god of lightning.[5]

The name Summanus is thought to be from Summus Manium "the greatest of the Manes",[6] or sub-, "under" + manus, "hand".

According to Martianus Capella,[7] Summanus is another name for Pluto as the "highest" (summus) of the Manes. This identification is taken up by later writers such as Camões ("If in Summanus' gloomy realm / Severest punishment you now endure ...")[8] and Milton, in a simile to describe Satan visiting Rome: "Just so Summanus, wrapped in a smoking whirlwind of blue flame, falls upon people and cities".[9]

Georges Dumézil[10] has argued that Summanus would represent the uncanny, violent and awe-inspiring element of the gods of the first function, connected to heavenly sovereignty. The double aspect of heavenly sovereign power would be reflected in the dichotomy Varuna-Mitra in Vedic religion and in Rome in the dichotomy Summanus-Dius Fidius. The first gods of these pairs would incarnate the violent, nocturnal, mysterious aspect of sovereignty while the second ones would reflect its reassuring, daylight and legalistic aspect.

  1. ^ Paulus Festi epitome 284L (=229M)
  2. ^ "The temple is said to have been dedicated to Summanus, whoever he may be" (quisquis is est, Summano templa feruntur): Ovid, Fasti 6, 731. Translation by James G. Frazer, Loeb Classical Library. Pliny mentie temple at Natural History 29.57 (= 29.14).
  3. ^ Natural History 2.53 (alternative numbering 52 or 138): "The Tuscan books inform us, that there are nine Gods who discharge thunder-storms, that there are eleven different kinds of them, and that three of them are darted out by Jupiter. Of these the Romans retained only two, ascribing the diurnal kind to Jupiter, and the nocturnal to Summanus; this latter kind being more rare, in consequence of the heavens being colder" (Tuscorum litterae novem deos emittere fulmina existimant, eaque esse undecim generum; Iovem enim trina iaculari. Romani duo tantum ex iis servavere, diurna attribuentes Iovi, nocturna Summano, rariora sane eadem de causa frigidioris caeli). English translation by John Bostock, via Perseus Digital Library.
  4. ^ Varro Lingua Latina V 74.
  5. ^ Entry on Dium above.
  6. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Summanus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 77–78.
  7. ^ Martianus Capella, De nuptiis 2.164.
  8. ^ Os Lusíadas, IV, 33, translated as The Lusiad by Thomas Moore Musgrave (1826).
  9. ^ In the Latin poem "In Quintum Novembris" (lines 23–24): Talibus infestat populos Summanus et urbes / cinctus caeruleae fumanti turbine flammae.
  10. ^ Myth et epopée vol. III part 2 chapt. 3; Mitra-Varuna: essai sur deux representations indoeuropeennes de la souverainetè Paris 1948 2nd; La religion romaine archaïque Paris 1974; It. tr. Milano 1977 p. 184