Picumnus

Pīcumnus, i, m., and Pīlumnus, i, m.,

• two brother deities of the Romans; the first a personification of the woodpecker (picus), and the second a personification of the pestle (pilum); both were companions of Mars, and tutelary deities of married people and little children, Varr. ap. Non. 528, 11 sq.; id. ap. Aug. Civ. Dei, 6, 9; cf. Isid. 4, 11, 5; Aem. Mac. ap. Non. 518, 26; cf. Serv. Verg. A. 9, 4; 10, 76.—Pilumnus was the son of Daunus, husband of Danaë and ancestor of Turnus, Verg. A. 9, 4.

Pīcumnus, ī, m. u. Pīlumnus, ī m., brüderliche Ehegötter des alten ländlichen Roms, denen man im Wohnsaale des Hauses, worin ein Neugeborener lag, ein Lager zu bereiten pflegte. Pilumnus sollte mit seiner Keule (pilum), womit er das Korn zu zermalmen lehrte, die Übel der Kindheit abwehren; Pikumnus aber, der unter dem Ramen Sterquilinus das Düngen des Ackers erfand, brachte dem Kinde Gedeihen, Varro bei Augustin. de civ. dei 6, 9 u. bei Non. 528, 13 u. bei Isid. orig. 4, 11, 5. Serv. Verg. Aen. 9, 4; 10, 76. – Pilumnus als Gemahl der Danaë Vater des Daunus, Ahnherr des Turnus, Verg. Aen. 9, 4 u.a.

Pīcumnus et Pīlumnus, ī, m. , dieux des nouveau-nés : Varr. d. Aug. Civ. 6, 9 ; Non. 518, 13.

Picumnus

and PILUMNUS, were regarded as two brothers, and as the beneficent gods of matrimony in the rustic religion of the ancient Romans. A couch was prepared for them in the house in which there was a newly-born child. Pilumnus was believed to ward off all the sufferings from childhood from the infant with his pilum, with which he taught to pound the grain ; and Picumnus, who, under the name of Sterquilinius, was believed to have discovered the use of manure for the fields, conferred upon the infant strength and prosperity, whence both were also looked upon as the gods of good deeds, and were identified with Castor and Pollux. (Serv. ad Aen. 9.4, 10.76; August. De Civ. Dei. 6.9, 18.15 ; Ov. Met. 14.321, &c.; Verg. A. 7.189). When Danae landed in Italy, Picumnus is said to have built with her the town of Ardea, and to have become by her the father of Dannus. [L.S]

Picumnus

An old Italian god of agriculture, credited with the invention of the use of manure. He was said to be the husband of Pomona. His brother Pilumnus was honoured by bakers as the inventor of the pestle (pilum) for crushing corn; and the two together were protecting deities to women in child-bed and to new-born infants. Hence, in the country, festal couches were set for them in the atrium when children were safely brought to birth. According to another ancient view, there were three divinities protecting mother and child, who prevented the mischievous intrusion of Silvanus into the house. These powers (representing the triumph of civilization over the wild forest life) were impersonated by three men, who went round the house in the night, and knocked on the threshold of the front and back doors, first with a hatchet and then with a pestle, and lastly swept them with a broom ( Serv. ad Verg. Aen. ix. 9; Orig. iv. 11).

The names of these deities were Intercidona, god of the hewing of timbers, Pilumnus, of the crushing of corn into meal by the pestle, and Deverra, of the sweeping together of grain (Varro, quoted by St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, vi. 9). Picumnus, as appears in the name, is identical with Picus (q.v.).