Sterculius

Or Stercutius or Sterquilinus, a surname of Saturn, derived from stercus, manure, because he had promoted agriculture by teaching the people the use of manure. This seems to have been the original meaning, though some Romans state that Sterculius was a surname of Picumnus, the son of Faunus, to whom likewise improvements in agriculture are ascribed.

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References

Sources

  • Augustine. City of God xviii, 15.
  • Lactantius, i, 20.
  • Macrobius. Saturnalia i, 7.
  • Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia xvii, 9.
  • Servius on Virgil's Aeneid ix, 4; x, 76.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.