Plate XLRoman NativeOrchards
Pomona
Fruit, Orchards, & Cultivation
No Greek Counterpart
Pomona is indigenous to Rome. No earlier Greek figure stands behind the name — and that absence is the point.
Roma
Pomona
Pomona, Lady of the Fruit
Sacred Attributes
Pruning knife, basket of fruit, the orchard
Historical Origins
A purely Italic goddess of fruit trees, without Greek myth or Greek name.
Personality & Character
Industrious and chaste — she tends her orchard and refuses every suitor.
Cult & Sacrifice
The first-fruits of the orchard and the Floralia's rustic offerings.
Cultural Ethos
Cultivation as virtue: the orchard rewards patience and labour.
Syncretism Analysis
Pomona has no Greek counterpart because Greek religion had no god of orchards — its gods were heroic, not horticultural. She is a reminder that Roman religion grew out of farming long before it borrowed from Homer.
Modern Reception
No significant modern depiction recorded.