In Religio Romana, the Di indigetes are any Roman deities, Lares, and Lemures who are considered (based on both primary sources in ancient Roman writings and on Religion und Kultus der Römer by Georg Wissowa, who coined the term) to be native to Rome, and not imported from outside cultures, such as the mass borrowing and syncretism of gods from Greece during the Hellenistic Period. The equivalent term for foreign gods is di novensiles, also spelled novensides, novemsides, and novemsiles.
Indiges is used as an epithet for several deities in classical Roman literature, including Sol and Iuppiter. The specific phrase di indigetes itself, however, is used only by Wissowa and later classicists.
Di indigetes and indiges are used as terms specifically and only for Roman gods. Gods who are considered native or local to a region other than Rome, when described in Latin in reference to their respective location and culture, are called dii patrii. This did not prevent some Roman writers from erroneously intermixing the label indiges with descriptions of dii patrii from other locations; Servius does so in his descriptions of Praeneste.
There is no comprehensive, authoritative list of every deity considered native to Rome. Wissowa listed thirty-three, but this list is not well corroborated by primary sources, nor trusted by modern classicists. Below is a non-comprehensive list of Roman gods who are held in consideration as possible di indigetes, although several were later syncretised with Greek and other outside gods. Some included in this list were originally Sabine deities who were brought into Rome at its founding.
- Abeona - goddess who watches over toddlers as they learn to walk
- Abundantia - goddess of abundance
- Aequitas - personification of justice, fairness, symmetrical proportion, and equity
- Aera Cura - a goddess associated with the underworld
- Aeternitas - personification of eternity
- Africus - god of the southwest wind
- Aius Locutius - deity attributed with warning a Roman plebian of an impending Gaulish invasion, but the plebian was unable to convince the tribune of the threat in time to combat the invasion.
- Alemonia - goddess who nourishes human embryos in the womb
- Angerona - goddess who protects the secret, sacred, unspeakable name of the city of Rome, so that foreign sorcerors cannot exploit it
- Anna Perenna - goddess of the cycle of the year
- Antevorte - goddess who presides over childbirth when a child arrives head-first
- Averna - personification of the underworld, prior to Hellenistic reimaginings such as Elysium and Asphodel
- Bona Dea - "the good goddess," a fertility, chastity, healing, and protective goddess with a very large cult following
- Bubona - protectress of cattle
- Caelus - personification of the sky
- Candelifera - goddess of childbirth when it happens at night by candlelight
- Cardea - goddess of door hinges
- Carmenta - a highly popular goddess of prophecy, childbirth, and singing; mother of Evander; she is also sometimes called Nicostrata and credited with founding the preroman town of Pallantium.
- Carna - goddess of the development of children's muscles and entrails
- Cinxia - marriage goddess who presides over the undressing of the bride on her wedding night
- Clementia - personification of mercy
- Cloacina - goddess of the largest drain in the Roman sewer system
- Concordia - personification of social and domestic order; syncretised with Greek Harmonia
- Conditor – a helper of Ceres
- Consus - protector of grains
- Convector – a helper of Ceres
- Copia - goddess of abundance and sufficient harvest
- Corus - god of the northwest wind, also spelled Caurus
- Cuba - goddess who acclimated children to sleeping in a bed after they leave the cradle
- Cunina - protectress of cradles against malevolent magic
- Cura - goddess of worry, concern, and care
- Dea Dia - an agricultural goddess often syncretised with Ceres
- Dea Tacita - "the silent goddess," a goddess of the dead, credited with the memory of dead individuals falling into obscurity
- Dei Lucrii - the gods who preside over profit and mercantile luck
- Devera - the personification of a broom used for sweeping; one of three deities believed to protect midwives and women in labour, along with Pilumnus and Intercidona
- Di Penates - household deities who protected the food and supplies within the domus
- Dis Pater - god of the underworld
- Disciplina - goddess of dedication and hard work
- Dius Fidus - god of oaths
- Domiduca - goddess who protects children as they return to their parents' home, as well as the procession home of a couple on their wedding night
- Domiducus - male counterpart of Domiduca
- Duellona - also called Bellona, a war goddess
- Edusa - goddess who watches over the nourishment of children who are first learning to take solid foods
- Egeria - a water nymph cited as the wife of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who initiated widespread religious reform and codified much of early Roman religious morality
- Empanda - goddess of bread
- Endovelicus - god of public health and safety
- Evander - son of Carmenta and Mercurius, a deified culture hero whose human origin was Greece, but who was deified solely by the Romans; he is credited with founding the festival of Lupercalia.
- Eventus Bonus - personification of good outcomes and successful harvests
- Fabulinus - god who provokes children to speak their first words
- Faunus - syncretised with Greek Pan
- Faustitas - one of several personifications of good fortune, responsible for protecting herds of livestock
- Febris - goddess of malaria and fevers
- Fecunditas - a fertility goddess
- Felicitas - personification of luck, happiness, and blessedness
- Feronia - goddess of wildlife and fertility
- Fides - goddess of trust
- Fontus - god of springs and wells
- Fornax - goddess and personification of ovens used for cooking; her festival, the Fornacalia, was celebrated on February 17. No etymology is shared between Fornicalia and fornicate, the latter being derived from fornix, "brothel."
- Fraus - personification of fraud and treachery
- Fulgora - goddess of lightning
- Furrina - one of the earliest goddesses with a substantial cult; Varro believed she was a river or water goddess, but even he was uncertain about her purpose within early Roman religion.
- Honos - god of honour, chivalry, and military justice
- Ianus - god of beginnings, for whom January is named
- Imporcitor – a helper of Ceres
- Insitor – a helper of Ceres
- Inuus - god of sexual intercourse
- Iuno – queen of the dii consentes, a member of the second Capitoline Triad; adopted Greek mythos
- Iuppiter – king of the dii consentes, chief of the Capitoline Triad; adopted Greek mythos
- Iuturna - goddess of springs, fountains, and wells
- Lactans - god who infuses crops with sap or "milk"
- Lares - household gods with uncertain origin, possibly ancestral heroes
- Larvae - shades of the restless and unkindly dead
- Laverna - goddess of theft and burglary
- Levana - goddess presiding over the moment a midwife lifts a child up after birth
- Liberalitas - personification of generosity
- Libertas - personification of freedom
- Libitina - goddess of funerals and burial
- Lua - goddess to whom soldiers would offer weapons captured from opponents
- Lucina - primary goddess of childbirth; at times, an epithet of Iuno
- Manes - deified dead ancestors
- Meditrina - a goddess retroactively invented to justify the celebration of the holiday Meditrinalia, which was conducted to sample the first of the year's wine vintage
- Mefitis - personification of toxic volcanic gases
- Mellona - goddess of honey and beekeeping
- Mena - goddess of menstruation
- Mens - personification of the developing mind of children
- Messor – a helper of Ceres
- Moneta - personification of money and memory
- Muta - personification of silence
- Mutinus Mutunus - phallic marriage god; god of bawdy or ribald humour
- Naenia - funeral deity who presides over lamentation and dirges
- Nascio - goddess of birth and protector of infants
- Nemestrinus - god of groves of trees
- Neptune – adopted Greek mythos
- Nerio - war goddess; personification of valour
- Nodutus - agricultural god presiding over the formation of nodes on plants
- Nona - goddess of destiny and pregnancy
- Obarator – a helper of Ceres
- Occator – a helper of Ceres
- Orbona - goddess of orphans and childless adults seeking to adopt
- Pales - god (some sources say goddess) of shepherds, flocks, and livestock
- Partula - a childbirth goddess
- Paventia - goddess who diverts frightening things away from children
- Picumnus - a god of fertility, agriculture, matrimony, infants and children
- Pietas - personification of righteousness
- Pilumnus - god presiding over the healthy growth of children
- Pomona - goddess of cultivated tree fruits
- Postverta - goddess who presides over childbirth when the child arrives feet-first
- Potina - goddess who protects children while they drink liquids
- Promitor – a helper of Ceres
- Providentia - personification of divine providence
- Pudicitia - personification of modesty and sexual virtue in women
- Puta - goddess of pruning of trees
- Quirinus - one of the members of the first Capitoline Triad, along with Mars and Iuppiter
- Rederator - god of the second plowing of a farm plot
- Reparator – a helper of Ceres
- Robigus - god of agricultural disease and blight
- Roma - feminine personification of the city of Rome itself
- Rumina - protectress of breastfeeding mothers and nursing infants
- Runcina - goddess of removing weeds from farm plots
- Saritor – a helper of Ceres
- Saturnus - an important and complex God pertaining to wealth, agriculture, and the passage of time; his festiva, Saturnalia, was held in December.
- Securitas - goddess of safety
- Semonia - goddess of sowing crops
- Sentia - goddess who gives sensory perception to infants
- Silvanus - god of forests
- Sors - minor luck god
- Spes - personified hope
- Spiniensis - god of thorny plants and their removal from agricultural land
- Stata Mater - "mother who stops / stabilises," a goddess who prevented house fires
- Suadela - goddess of persuasion
- Subruncinator – a helper of Ceres
- Summanus - god of thunder when it's heard at night, while Iuppiter presided over thunder during the day.
- Tempestes - a group of several storm deities
- Terminus - protector of boundary markers
- Terra Mater - an earth-mother goddess with a very large cult
- Venus – adopted Greek mythos
- Vervactor – a helper of Ceres
- Veritas - personification of truthfulness
- Verminus - god who prevented diseases in cattle
- Vertumnus - god of the changing of seasons
- Vica Pota - probably a victory goddess; her shrine was at the foot of the Velian Hill in Rome.
- Viduus - god who separates the soul from the body at death
- Viriplaca - goddess who restores peace between quarreling spouses
- Virtus - personification of manliness, virtue, and civic piety
- Vitumnus - god who causes quickening in the womb
- Volturnus - a river god, not to be confused with Vulturnus, god of the easterly wind
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Volumna - goddess who grants children the will to do good
- Vulcanus – adopted Greek mythos
Latin deities of uncertain derivation but possibly indigenous:
- Orcus - a god of the underworld and punisher of broken oaths; some sources place him as Etruscan, others as Greek Horkos transliterated.
- Veiovis - a god of medicine, believed by Romans to be one of the first of the gods to exist in the world
Mercurius may also fall into this category, being a later addition to myth, but still etymologically native to Rome.
Iron Noder 2016, 2/30