Livia Drusilla as the goddess of Ops. | Author: Borghese Collection; purchase, 1807. On liencji Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Opiconsivia (also called Opeconsivaor Opalia) was a Roman festival celebrated on August 25 in honour of Ops, the Roman goddess of fertility, abundance and wealth, venerated also as a carer of agriculture. The holiday symbolized the end of the harvest, and a similar holiday took place on December 19, when the storage of grain was celebrated.
Often the holiday was also associated with Consus, the keeper of grains and underground containers for storing food (silos). During the festival, the Vestal Virgins and Pontifex Maximus, dressed in white robes and carrying a praefericulum – a bronze offering bowl, entered the temple of the deity in Regia. In ancient Roman times, the festival was held at the capital’s main grain storage site.
- Scullard Howard Hayes, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, London 1981
- Jaczynowska Maria, Religie świata rzymskiego, Warszawa 1987
- Zieliński Tadeusz, Religia Rzeczypospolitej Rzymskiej
