Also called Spes Vetus, Bona Spes.
Their story
Spes had a temple in the vegetable market by the Tiber, built during the First Punic War and restored by Germanicus in AD 17. She is shown on coins as a young woman walking, lifting her skirt and holding out a flower bud. An older shrine, Spes Vetus, stood on the Esquiline. Romans honoured such qualities as real powers with their own cults.
Best times to give to them
- Anniversary of her temple in the Forum Holitorium, 1 August
- New Year
What they like being given
- A flower bud
- Seeds
- Incense
- Milk
How to honour them
- Plant a seed with a hope spoken over it.
- Write one hopeful thing each day for a month.
- Place a bud on the altar and watch it open.
How they can help you
- Hope in hard times
- Looking ahead
- Patience
Symbols
- flower bud
- lifted skirt
- cornucopia
Sources
- Livy 21.62
- Tacitus, Annals 2.49
- Cicero, De Legibus 2.28
More Roman goddesses
- Juno Queen of heaven and protector of women
- Minerva Patron of craftworkers, teachers and healers
- Venus Mother of the Roman people and goddess of love
- Diana Lady of the woodland grove and the moon
- Vesta The living flame at the heart of home and Rome
- Ceres Mother of the grain and friend of the common people
- Luna The moon, shining through the night
- Libera Partner of Liber in the Aventine triad