CONCORDIA (MYTHOLOGY)

(Redirected from Concordia (Roman goddess))


In Roman mythology, 'Concordia' was the goddess of agreement, understanding, and marital harmony. Her Greek version is Harmonia, and the Harmonians and some Discordians equate her with Aneris. Her opposite is Discordia (or the Greek Eris).

Contents

In art

Temples

Rome

In art

In art, Concordia was depicted sitting, wearing a long cloak and holding onto a patera (sacrificial bowl) and a cornucopia. Sometimes, she is shown standing between two members of the Royal House shaking hands.

Temples

Rome

★ Temple of Concord - Her oldest temple was on the Forum Romanum. It was built in 367 BC by Marcus Furius Camillus. The Roman Senate often met there.
Other temples and shrines in Rome dedicated to Concord were largely geographically related to the main temple, and included (in date order):

★ a bronze shrine (aedicula) of Concord erected by the aedile Gnaeus Flavius in 304 BC "in Graecostasi" and "in area Volcani" (placing it on the Graecostasis, close to the main temple of Concord). He vowed it in the hope of reconciling the nobility who had been outraged by his publication of the calendar, but the senate would vote no money for its construction and this thus had to be financed out of the fines of condemned usurers (Liv. IX.46; Plin. NH XXXIII.19; Jord. I.2.339). It must have been destroyed when the main temple was enlarged by Opimius in 121 B.C.

★ one built on the arx (probably on the east side, overlooked the main temple of Concord below). It was probably vowed by the praetor Lucius Manlius in 218 BC after quelling a mutiny among his troops in Cisalpine Gaul (Liv. XXII.33.7; cf. XXVI.23.4), with building work commencing in 217 and dedication occurring on 5th February, 216 (Liv. XXIII.21.7; Hemerol. Praen. ad Non. Feb., Concordiae in Arce;1 CIL I2 p233, 309; p138Fast. Ant. ap. NS 1921, 86, Concordiae in Capitolio; Hermes 1875, 288; Jord. I.2.112).

★ a temple to Concordia Nova, marking the end Julius Caesar had brought to civil war. It was voted by the senate in 44 B.C. (Cass. Dio XLIV.4) but was possibly never built.

★ a temple built by Livia according to Ovid's Fastes VI.637‑638 ("te quoque magnifica, Concordia, dedicat aede Livia quam caro praestitit ipsa viro" - the only literary reference to this temple). The description of the Porticus Liviae follows immediately, and it is probable therefore that the temple was close to or within the porticus, but the small rectangular structure marked on the Marble Plan (frg. 10) can hardly have been a temple deserving of the epithet "magnifica" (HJ 316).