#libera

Among the Italic people the goddess Libera was the feminine equivalent to Liber, god of freedom and wine, and upon entering the Roman pantheon she became combined with the goddess Persephone, forming the current Proserpina. Alongside her mother Ceres and Liber she formed the Aventine Triad, a trio worshiped among the plebeian common people. Her rites were allowed to continue from her Greek counterpart, though under Roman law, and so the Eleusinian mysteries and Thesmophoria continued in new fashion. Alongside Dis Pater or Orcus, her husband, she ruled the underworld, and the myth of her abduction continued to be told into later art.

Pantheon: Roman

Domain or Function: Goddess of the underworld and death, spring and fertility, originally the female counterpart to the god Liber.

Alternate Names: Proserpine, Libera, had a few epithets.

Character Traits: Similar to her Greek counterpart Persephone.

Visual Traits: In art she is depicted holding a sheaf of grain and/or a torch to light her way.

Symbolism: Pomegranate, torch, grain.