Terminus (mythology)

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Topics in Roman mythology
Important Gods:
Jupiter	Minerva
Mars	Mercury
Quirinus	Vulcan
Vesta	Ceres
Juno	Venus
Fortuna	Lares
Topics
Legendary History
Roman religion
The Flamens
Greek/Roman myth compared
Other minor Roman deities:
Penates	Larvae
Genius	Manes
Lemures	Terminus

In Roman mythology, Terminus was the god of boundaries. The stones used to mark borders were sacred to him.

On February 23, a festival called Terminalia was celebrated annually by the Romans in his honor. The stone boundary markers were drenched in sacrificial blood and placed on flowers to renew its protective powers. However, Terminus himself never received blood sacrifices.<ref>Quaestiones Romanes, question 15.</ref> The stone was later thought of as a god.

Jupiter was worshipped as Jupiter Terminus or Jupiter Terminalus. He fit into the same role as the independent god Terminus, possibly because the Temple of Jupiter was built over a shrine to Terminus.<ref>Aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, 1929.</ref>