Can you do better than "Urbanus"?

[shilsen]

Also I believe, that the name of the greek god led to the word ocean - like a lot of other names, too, where I can't think of an example.

Right. Which is why if I used the god Urbanus in my campaign, that would be the root of the word "urban".

 

[Remathilis]

Right. Which is why if I used the god Urbanus in my campaign, that would be the root of the word "urban".

I think thats the feel the writer was going for.

 

[Maldur]

And I thought you were talking about that belgian commedian

"der zit un hottentot in myne auto godomme" - hilarious stuff

 

[Agback]

She suggested Athena - a goddess of the hunt, who was also the patron goddess of a preeminent city.

Is that right? I never heard before that Athena was goddess of the hunt. I thought Artemis was goddess of the hunt. But then, I really can't say what Athena was goddess of (apart from keeping your head when all around you are losing theirs), so perhaps that's right. The explanation that she was goddess of handicrafts doesn't seem very convincing.

 

[tarchon]

Athena - Grey/Flashing-Eyed Athena (Glaukops), Pallas Athena, patron goddess of Athens, defensive warfare, wisdom, craft - major symbols the owl and the aegis, also commonly depicted with helm and spear; loosely equated with Latin Minerva, probably originally an Etruscan deity, whose attributes were largely supplanted by Athena's in later times.

Artemis - virginal goddess of the hunt, patron of maidens, hunters, wild places, chastity, particular patron of warrior maidens such as Atalanta and Camilla, patron of Ephesus, often associated with the moon, twin sister of Apollo; strongly equated with Roman Diana.

 

[Tom Cashel]

How about Civitas?

civitas -atis f.: abstr. , [citizenship]; concr., [a union of citizens, state, commonwealth; the inhabitants of a city, townsfolk; (rarely) a city, town].

City t'ain't nothin without the people what live there.

 

[vulcan_idic]

I said "a", not "the".

True... that was what you said. However, she was not even "a" deity of the hunt... though I can certainly sympathize with ones memory playing tricks!

Athena was, though, the founder of a city, a goddess of war, and associated with olive trees - still not a bad choice for an urban ranger.

Also a deity of Wisdom and the Homely Arts (from this aspect we get the story of her contest with Arachne, who was punished for her hubris by being transformed into a spider, from whence the spider gains the name arachnid), her usual attribute is an owl, the association with olive trees deriving largely from the story of her competition with her uncle, Poseidon, for the patronage of Athens (the name of the town clearly marking the winner). After sponsoring Perseus in his quest to slay the Medusa she affixed the Medusa's severed head to the front of a protective item she inherited from her father, Zeus, the Aegis (which, due to the idea of it as a protective item has give it's name to a type of modern naval ship) - variously represented as a scaled cloak, shield, or bright edged thundercloud. Pallas Athena is also associated with a companion goddess who seems to have occassionally served as her messenger, the goddess of speed and victory, Nike (from whence the shoe/sprtswear company derives it's name, hoping to indicate that wearing their goods will give you speed and victory).

Sorry to pontificate a bit, but Pallas Athena is one of my favorite dieties. The way words were shuttled back and forth between names of persons or dieties and words for other things also serves to illustrate how common a practice this is and was, both in ancient and modern times. Thus it is not strange at all to find a god of cities called Urbanus - according to the stories of a culture related to this one the fact that cities are called "urban" areas may well be because of the patronship of such a deity.

 

[Gez]

Agoris, god of cities. From agora, greek for public place. (Hence why agoraphobia is fear of crowds or large open spaces.)

 

[Klaus]

Gez, that's the best suggestion so far!

Kudos!

and

Yoinked!