View source for Pomona (mythology)

{{short description|Nymph and goddess of fruitful abundance}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Roman
| name         = Pomona
| deity_of     = Goddess of fruit trees, fruitful abundance, plenty, gardens, and orchards
| member_of    =  
| image        =Naples Archaeology Museum (5914785482).jpg
| alt          = <!-- for alternate text of the title image per [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption      =Statue of Pomona, Naples Archaeology Museum (late 2nd century AD)
| other_names  =   
| cult_center  =  Pomonal
|symbols=pruning knife
|abode= gardens and orchards
| consort      =   [[Vertumnus]]
| parents      =  
| siblings     = 
| offspring    = 
| predecessor  =
| successor    =
| mount        = 
| gender       = 
| Etruscan_equivalent            =  
| festivals    = Vertumnalia 
}}

'''Pomona''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|m|əʊ|n|ə|audio=En-us-Pomona.ogg}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pomona?showCookiePolicy=true|title=Pomona
|access-date=24 September 2014|publisher=Collins Dictionary|date=n.d.}}</ref> {{IPA|la|poːˈmoːna|lang}}) was a goddess of fruitful abundance and plenty in [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]] and [[Roman mythology|myth]]. Her name comes from the Latin word ''pomum'', "fruit", specifically orchard fruit. 

Pomona was said to be a [[Nymph|wood nymph]].<ref>Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' (trans. Michael Simpson: [[University of Massachusetts Press]], 2001), p. 448.</ref><ref>Matthew Gumpert, ''Grafting Helen: The Abduction of the Classical Past'' ([[University of Wisconsin Press]], 2001), p. 69.</ref> Pomona does not have a clear counterpart in [[Greek mythology]], although the fruit goddess [[Opora (mythology)|Opora]] can be seen as her equivalent.<ref>{{cite web | title = Μορφές και Θέματα της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Μυθολογίας: Αναξαρέτη | trans-title = Figures and Themes of Greek Mythology: Anaxarete | url = https://www.greek-language.gr/digitalResources/ancient_greek/mythology/lexicon/metamorfoseis/page_032.html | first = Demetra | last = Metta | language = Greek | website = www.greek-language.gr | access-date = November 21, 2023}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The name ''Pōmōna'' is a derivation from [[Latin]] ''pōmus'' ('fruit-tree, fruit'), possibly stemming from [[Proto-Italic]] ''*po-e/omo'' ('taken off, picked?'), cognate with [[Umbrian]] '''Puemune''', ultimately from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*h₁e/omo'' ('what is (to be) taken').{{Sfn|de Vaan|2008|p=479}}

==Mythology==
[[File:Bronze statuette of Pomona.jpg|thumb|Statuette of Pomona from [[Pompeii]], holding a [[bivalve]] shell filled with fruit]]
In the myth narrated by [[Ovid]], she scorned the love of the woodland gods [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]] and [[Picus]], but married [[Vertumnus]] after he tricked her, disguised as an old woman.<ref name="collier">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Duckworth |first=George E |editor=William D. Halsey |encyclopedia=Collier's Encyclopedia |title=Pompona |year=1976 |publisher=Macmillan Educational Corporation |volume=19 |page=232 }}</ref> She and Vertumnus shared a festival held on August 13. Her priest was called the ''[[flamen]] Pomonalis''. The [[pruning]] knife was her attribute. There is a grove that is sacred to her called the ''Pomonal'', located not far from Ostia, the ancient port of Rome.

Pomona was the goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards. Unlike many other Roman goddesses and gods, she does not have a Greek counterpart, though she is commonly associated with [[Demeter]]. She watches over and protects fruit trees and cares for their cultivation. She was not actually associated with the harvest of fruits itself, but with the flourishing of the fruit trees. In artistic depictions she is generally shown with a platter of fruit or a cornucopia.

==Namesakes==
The city of [[Pomona, California]], in [[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles County]], is named after the goddess.<ref name="Bright">{{cite book |last1=Bright |first1=William |title=1500 California Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning |date=1998 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-92054-5 |page=118}}</ref> [[Pomona College]] was founded in the city and retained its name even after relocating to its present-day location in [[Claremont, California|Claremont]].<ref name="Bright"/><ref>[https://www.pomona.edu/about/brief-history-pomona-college A Brief History of Pomona College], Pomona College (accessed September 26, 2016).</ref>

The township of [[Pomona, Illinois]], in [[Jackson County, Illinois|Jackson County]], is named after the goddess. The township is home to mainly agricultural land, and has wineries and orchards in the vicinity.

The town of [[Pomona Park, Florida]], in [[Putnam County, Florida|Putnam County]] is named after the goddess of fruit from the time citrus horticulture dominated the economy of the area.<ref name="Michaels">{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Brian E. |title=The River flows North: A history of Putnam County, Florida |date=1976 |publisher=[[Putnam County Archives and History Commission]] |location=[[Palatka, Florida]] |asin=B00072QEFQ |page=212}}</ref>

The [[Pomona Docks]] (formerly part of the [[Manchester docks]]) were built on the site of the Pomona Gardens.  A former public house nearby was named the Pomona Palace. 

[[32 Pomona]] is a [[main belt asteroid]] discovered in 1854.

In 2003 a newly discovered honey bee (''[[Apis mellifera]]'') subspecies was named after Pomona being called the ''[[Apis mellifera pomonella]]''.  It was discovered in the [[Tien Shan Mountains]], an area with the greatest genetic diversity for a wild ''[[Malus]]'' species, ''[[Malus sieversii|M. sieversii]]'', that is the predominant ancestor of domesticated apple varieties, which are typically pollinated by honey bees on a commercial scale.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walter Sheppard, Marina Meixner |title=Apis mellifera pomonella, a new honey bee subspecies from Central Asia |journal=Apidologie |date=2003 |volume=4 |issue=34 |pages=367–375 |doi=10.1051/apido:2003037 |url=https://hal.science/hal-00891797/file/hal-00891797.pdf |access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref>

'''Pomona''' is a rural town and [[Suburbs and localities (Australia)|locality]] in the [[Shire of Noosa]], [[Queensland]], Australia.<ref name=qpnt>{{cite QPN|27282|Pomona|town in Shire of Noosa|access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref><ref name=qpnl>{{cite QPN|49434|Pomona|locality in Shire of Noosa|access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref> It is about 135 kilometres north of [[Brisbane]]. The town was originally called '''Pinbarren Siding''' from 1890-1900 as a subsidiary to [[Pinbarren, Queensland|Pinbarren]]. In the {{CensusAU|2021}}, the locality of Pomona had a population of 2,931 people.<ref name=Census2021/> Pomona was renamed in 1900, after the Roman goddess of fruit, following the government rejection of the names Pinbarren and Cooroora. Its name avoided confusion with the neighbouring towns of [[Cooroy]] and [[Cooran]] and reflected the fertile nature in the area.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

==Representations in art==
A bronze statue of Pomona sits atop the [[Pulitzer Fountain]] in Manhattan's [[Grand Army Plaza (Manhattan)|Grand Army Plaza]] in New York. The fountain was funded by newspaper tycoon [[Joseph Pulitzer]], designed by the architect [[Thomas Hastings (architect)|Thomas Hastings]], and crowned by a statue conceived by the sculptor [[Karl Bitter]].<ref>Ferdinand Schevill, ''Karl Bitter, a Biography'' (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1917), pages 65–67.</ref> The fountain was dedicated in May 1916.

Pomona is briefly mentioned in [[C. S. Lewis]]'s children's book ''[[Prince Caspian]]''.<ref>Marvin D. Hinten, ''The Keys to the Chronicles: Unlocking the Symbols of C.S. Lewis's Narnia'' ([[B&H Publishing Group]]: 2005), pp. 11, 22, 102.</ref>

[[Pomona (opera)|''Der Sieg der fruchtbaren Pomona'']] ("The Victory of Fruitful Pomona") is a 1702 opera by [[Reinhard Keiser]].

''[[Pomona (stage play)|Pomona]]'' is the title of a play by [[Alistair McDowall|Alistair McDowell]], commissioned in 2014 for the [[Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama|Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/pdf/press-rwcmd-announce-london-season-of-new-writing.pdf |title=Royal Welsh College: First London Season of New Writing |access-date=20 March 2019}}</ref>

Pomona is one of three statues featured at the Massachusetts Horticulture Society's [[Elm Bank Horticulture Center]], along with Ceres and Flora. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://masshort.org/garden-event/goddess-garden/ |title=Goddess Garden |access-date=6 June 2021}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths=250px heights=250px>
File:Nicolas Fouché 001.jpg|Pomona, by [[Nicolas Fouché]], ''{{circa}}'' 1700.
Image:0 Vertumne et Pomone - Peter Paul Rubens (1617-1619).JPG|''[[Vertumnus]] and Pomona'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], 1617–1619, private collection in [[Madrid]].
File:Hamilton_Vertumnus_and_Pomona.jpg|Vertumnus and Pomona by [[William Hamilton (painter)|William Hamilton]]
File:Modern_tapestry_depicting_the_goddess_Pomona.jpg|Tapestry depicting the goddess Pomona.
File:Roscheiderhof Takenplatte Quint 10 AllegorieHerbst 1 H1a.jpg|Pomona as allegory of autumn, fireback in the [[Roscheider Hof Open Air Museum]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Horae#First triad|Karpo]], one of the [[Horae]].
* [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]], who was similarly seduced.
* The ballet ''Pomona'', with music by [[Constant Lambert]], choreography by [[Frederick Ashton]] and scenery and costumes by [[Vanessa Bell]], was first performed by the [[Vic-Wells Ballet]] at the [[Sadler's Wells Theatre]] on 17 January 1933.<ref>Arthur Haskell (ed.) 'Gala Performance' (Collins 1955) p206.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

* {{Cite book|last=de Vaan|first=Michiel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ1DwAAQBAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages|date=2008|publisher=Leiden, Boston|isbn=9789004167971|language=en|author-link=Michiel de Vaan}}

==External links==
{{commons|category:Pomona|Pomona}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Pomona (goddess) |volume= 22 }}
{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]
[[Category:Dryads]]
[[Category:Personifications in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]