Saturn

In Roman mythology, the god of agriculture, identified by the Romans with the Greek god Kronos. His period of rule was the ancient Golden Age, when he introduced social order and the arts of civilization. Saturn was dethroned by his sons Jupiter, Neptune, and Dis. At the Saturnalia, his festival in December, gifts were exchanged, and slaves were briefly treated as their masters' equals.

In Rome the temple of Saturn stood at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, and contained the Republican treasury. It was an occasional meeting-place of the Senate, and housed a statue of the god whose feet were tied with woollen bands, left unbound during Saturnalia.

Saturn's original partner was Lua, a goddess of destruction, but she gave way to Ops, who was identified with Kronos' wife, the Greek fertility goddess Rhea.