god
Saturnus
Saturn
also: Saturni
The Roman god Saturn; in Fam. 7.23 Cicero is glad no Saturn statue was bought, punning on 'aes alienum' (debt), since the temple of Saturn housed the state treasury and Saturn was associated with money/debt.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 7.23 §2 I am glad there was no Saturn
A pun: the temple of Saturn held the state treasury (aerarium), so Cicero quips that a Saturn statue, paired with a Mars, would have 'brought him debt' (aes alienum).
- On the Nature of the Gods §2.52 which the Greeks name Phainon
The planet Saturn, called Phainon ("the Shining") by the Greeks; outermost of the five planets, it completes its circuit in about thirty years. Cicero gives each planet its Greek star-name alongside its Roman god-name.
- On the Nature of the Gods §2.64 he is called Kronos \textit{[Greek: Kronos]}
The Stoic etymology equating Kronos (Saturn) with Chronos (Time), and deriving Saturnus from satur ("sated"), since Time devours its own offspring, the seasons. A specimen of the allegorical reading of myth.