Inuus
Sign in to saveAlso known as Fatuus, Fatulcus
In ancient Roman religion, Inuus () was a god, or aspect of a god, who embodied sexual intercourse. The evidence for him as a distinct entity is scant. Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote that Inuus is an epithet of Faunus (Greek Pan), named from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the etymology of ineundum, "a going in, penetration," from inire, "to enter" in the sexual sense. Other names for the god were Fatuus and Fatuclus (with a short a).
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Lupercalia
- Castrum Inui
- Other associations
- Casuccini mirror
- Darwinian connection
- References
In ancient Roman religion, Inuus () was a god, or aspect of a god, who embodied sexual intercourse. The evidence for him as a distinct entity is scant. Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote that Inuus is an epithet of Faunus (Greek Pan), named from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the etymology of ineundum, "a going in, penetration," from inire, "to enter" in the sexual sense. Other names for the god were Fatuus and Fatuclus (with a short a).
Walter Friedrich Otto disputed the traditional etymology and derived Inuus instead from in-avos, "friendly, beneficial" (cf. aveo, "to be eager for, desire"), for the god's fructifying power.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Inuus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.