Summanus

Summanus was the god of nocturnal <a href="/facts/Thunder/maTSnAY5">thunder</a> in <a href="/facts/Religion_in_ancient_Rome/QrNwmgPM">ancient Roman religion</a>, as counterposed to <a href="/facts/Jupiter_(god)/JPetM2m9">Jupiter</a>, the god of diurnal (daylight) thunder. His precise nature was unclear even to <a href="/facts/Ovid/qw6buQ2V">Ovid</a>.
<a href="/facts/Pliny_the_Elder/grx67ghR">Pliny</a> thought that he was of <a href="/facts/Etruscan_religion/Nb3ycMfb">Etruscan origin</a>, and one of the <a href="/facts/Novensiles/c7KbLXxz">nine gods of thunder</a>. <a href="/facts/Varro/k5okbKrf">Varro</a> lists Summanus among gods to whom Sabine king <a href="/facts/Titus_Tatius/3sjgVbp3">Titus Tatius</a> dedicated altars (<a href="/facts/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion/GTKkzEdB">arae</a>) in consequence of a <a href="/facts/Votum/Yb2H7UXV">votum</a>. <a href="/facts/Paulus_Diaconus/33oPx2wt">Paulus Diaconus</a> considers him a god of lightning.
The name Summanus is thought to be from Summus Manium "the greatest of the <a href="/facts/Manes/E9QQlDtr">Manes</a>", or sub-, "under" + manus, "hand".
According to <a href="/facts/Martianus_Capella/zQk4eMed">Martianus Capella</a>, Summanus is another name for <a href="/facts/Pluto_(mythology)/o89QounF">Pluto</a> as the "highest" (summus) of the <a href="/facts/Manes/E9QQlDtr">Manes</a>. This identification is taken up by later writers such as <a href="/facts/Cam%C3%B5es/WY5RwwuG">Camões</a> ("If in Summanus' gloomy realm / Severest punishment you now endure ...") and <a href="/facts/John_Milton/VCDqX83S">Milton</a>, in a <a href="/facts/Simile/J13oqRXE">simile</a> to describe <a href="/facts/Satan/XptVW6IY">Satan</a> visiting <a href="/facts/Rome/bh1Ttx3T">Rome</a>: "Just so Summanus, wrapped in a smoking whirlwind of blue flame, falls upon people and cities".
<a href="/facts/Georges_Dum%C3%A9zil/owQJNUDF">Georges Dumézil</a> has argued that Summanus would represent the uncanny, violent and awe-inspiring element of the gods of the <a href="/facts/Trifunctional_hypothesis/MBr6W0cL">first function</a>, connected to heavenly sovereignty. The double aspect of heavenly sovereign power would be reflected in the dichotomy <a href="/facts/Varuna/cGJLCAew">Varuna</a>-<a href="/facts/Mitra/cn4oMTD6">Mitra</a> in <a href="/facts/Historical_Vedic_religion/CLhJ6Au6">Vedic religion</a> and in Rome in the dichotomy Summanus-<a href="/facts/Dius_Fidius/khVdj34B">Dius Fidius</a>. The first gods of these pairs would incarnate the violent, nocturnal, mysterious aspect of sovereignty while the second ones would reflect its reassuring, daylight and legalistic aspect.

Summanus open-in-new

Summanus