Venus Cloacina: Roman Goddess Of Sewers And Drains

A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com - During the long course of their Empire (650 BC – 400 AD), the Romans worshiped many deities. They had gods everywhere and for almost every possible situation and action.

Cloacina - A goddess who presided over the sewer system in ancient Rome and drained the city's waste.

In Roman mythology, Cloacina was a goddess who presided over the sewer system in ancient Rome and drained the city's waste.

She was responsible for the system's smooth operation and patronized the workers who served the sewer. In a city as large as Rome, sewer problems were considered big trouble.

In ancient Rome, considerable importance was attached to Cloacina, identified with Venus. A coin was minted in honor of Cloacina, whose statue still exists in Rome. Besides, a small, round stone sanctuary was dedicated to the goddess.

Ancient Rome, nicknamed the 'Eternal City,' was a large city. Entertainment and foods were essential. However, a properly functioning sewage system played a crucial role, too.

In Roman mythology, we usually associate the goddess Venus with love, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. Like other major Roman deities, Venus had several epithets that referred to her different cult aspects.

Above: L. Mussidius Longus. 42 BC. AR Denarius (17mm, 4.04 g, 1h). Rome mint. Concordia's veiled, diademed bust. Below: Two statues of Venus Cloacina on a platform with balustrade of the Venus Cloacina's shrine. Crawford 494/42b; CRI 188a; Sydenham 1093a; Mussidia. source

One of these epithets was Venus Cloacina ("Venus the Purifier"), a combination of Venus with Cloacina, a water goddess that likely originated in Etruscan mythology. The Romans adopted her to their pantheon that, apart from well-known mythological figures, included innumerable lesser gods.

Originally, Cloacina ('cloaca') in Latin means 'sewer' or 'drain.' This goddess took care of the efficiency of sanitary facilities, prevented a repeat of a severe city flood, and looked after Roman sewers.

She drained the Forum and its environments and had responsibility for the famous Roman Cloaca Maxima (the Great Sewer), the main underground channel, one of the oldest existing monuments of Roman engineering,  that was removing the waste from the city.

The Sacrum Cloacina as it appeared in August 2012. Image credit: Brian Ahola - CC BY-SA 4.0

The Cloaca Maxima was originally built as an open sewer and canal by the Etruscans probably around 600 BC. By the time of the great Roman Empire, the Cloaca Maxima was covered and paved over. Thus it became a main feature of the sewer systems that made the Romans famous.

As Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus, once said:

“The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains.”

When the sewer pipes were accidentally clogged or discharged sewage, the inhabitants of Rome asked Cloacina for help and often raised prayers for her. Usually, people wanted a job done as soon as possible, so they did not wait for the goddess's intervention. They repaired the damage by themselves.

Outlet of the Cloaca Maxima in the Tiber, seen from the Palatino Bridge. It was built under Tarquin The Proud (7th-6th century BC), and was originally located between Capitoline Hill and Palatine Hill. Image credit: Chris 73  - CC BY-SA 4.0

Just above the outfall of the Cloaca Maxima, the goddess had an ancient shrine decorated with a statue of Venus. Thus, Cloacina was simultaneously the deity of sewage and the goddess of beauty.

Pliny the Elder (23 -79 CE), a Roman naturalist, natural philosopher, and author of the famous 'Natural History,' made his comments on Rome's sewage system, saying that "sometimes water from the Tiber flows backward and makes its way up the sewers. Then the powerful flood-waters clash head-on in the confined space, but the unyielding structure holds firm."

However, Pliny could not explain why the Romans combined a goddess of sewers with a goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and purity.

By combining Venus with Cloacina, perhaps the ancient Romans wanted to say how essential and honored Cloacina was, the patroness of the drainage system that made the existence of Forum possible. The Forum served as a public area with commercial, religious, economic, political, legal, and social activities.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on March  30, 2024

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