In ancient Roman religion, a ' (plural '; ) is a vow or promise made to a deity. As the result of this verbal action, a is also that which fulfills a vow, that is, the thing promised, such as offerings, a statue, or even a temple building. The is thus an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion, a bargaining expressed by , "I give that you might give."
In ancient Roman religion, a ' (plural '; ) is a vow or promise made to a deity. As the result of this verbal action, a is also that which fulfills a vow, that is, the thing promised, such as offerings, a statue, or even a temple building. The is thus an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion, a bargaining expressed by , "I give that you might give."
==Private vota== thumb|130px|left|Votive statue for the god Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus; the inscription ends with the abbreviation V.S.L.M. (votum solvit libens merito) In everyday life, individuals might make votive offerings to a deity for private concerns. Vota privata are attested in abundance by inscriptions, particularly for the later Imperial era. These are regularly marked with the letters V.S.L.M., votum solvit libens merito, noting that the person making the dedication "He has fulfilled his vow, willingly, as it should." William Warde Fowler found in these offerings "expressions of … religious feeling" and a gratitude for blessings received that go deeper than contractual formalism.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).