{
  "id": "terminus",
  "type": "entity",
  "name": "Terminus",
  "summary": "Roman god of the boundary stone, the one deity who would not leave the Capitol when Tarquin cleared it for the temple of Jupiter — an omen, Livy says, that Rome's boundaries would stand firm. Livy's single chapter is the narrative core; the Terminalia and the boundary-stone rite come from the encyclopaedic record.",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "roman",
    "deities",
    "boundaries",
    "capitol",
    "roman-state-cult"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "jupiter"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "lares"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "romulus"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "Who is Terminus in Roman mythology?",
    "Why did Terminus refuse to move from the Capitol?",
    "What is the Terminalia?",
    "Is Terminus an aspect of Jupiter?",
    "Did the Romans worship a stone?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "Tarquinius Superbus, building the temple of Jupiter on the Tarpeian Mount, \"decided to deconsecrate the fanes and chapels, some of which had been originally vowed by King Tatius at the crisis of his battle with Romulus\" so that the whole area belonged to Jupiter (Livy 1.55.1–2).",
      "sources": [
        "livy-ab-urbe-condita-1"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "\"Whilst the omens were favourable for the deconsecration of all the other shrines, they were unfavourable for that of the fane of Terminus\" (Livy 1.55.3).",
      "sources": [
        "livy-ab-urbe-condita-1"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "Livy gives the reading: \"as the abode of Terminus was not moved and he alone of all the deities was not called forth from his consecrated borders, so all would be firm and immovable in the future empire\" (Livy 1.55.4).",
      "sources": [
        "livy-ab-urbe-condita-1"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "The name Terminus is the Latin word for a boundary marker; sacrifices sanctified each boundary stone, landowners kept the Terminalia in his honour on 23 February, and he was sometimes treated as an aspect of Jupiter under the title Jupiter Terminalis.",
      "sources": [
        "wikipedia-terminus"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.85
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [
    "Livy's Terminus is an omen, not a character — the god who stays put when the Capitol is cleared (Livy 1.55.3–4).",
    "The boundary-stone rite and the Terminalia are not in Livy's first book or the epics; they are cited here from the derived source.",
    "No Greek equivalent is attested in these texts."
  ],
  "faqs": [
    {
      "q": "Why did Terminus refuse to move from the Capitol?",
      "claim": "c2"
    },
    {
      "q": "Is Terminus an aspect of Jupiter?",
      "claim": "c4"
    },
    {
      "q": "What is the Terminalia?",
      "claim": "c4"
    },
    {
      "q": "Did the Romans worship a stone?",
      "claim": "c4"
    }
  ],
  "evidence_tier": "derived",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "theoretical",
    "source_types": [
      "paper"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": false,
  "winning_edge": "Keeps Livy's three sentences on Terminus separate from the encyclopaedic account of his cult, so the omen can be quoted from its source.",
  "confidence": 0.88,
  "last_verified": "2026-09-03",
  "media": [],
  "x": {
    "myth": {
      "pantheon": "roman",
      "kind": "deity",
      "group": "other",
      "domains": [
        "boundaries",
        "boundary stones",
        "permanence"
      ],
      "symbols": [
        "boundary stone"
      ],
      "wikidata": "Q580723"
    }
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/terminus",
  "api_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/api/k/terminus.json",
  "jsonld": {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "name": "Terminus",
    "description": "Roman god of the boundary stone, the one deity who would not leave the Capitol when Tarquin cleared it for the temple of Jupiter — an omen, Livy says, that Rome's boundaries would stand firm. Livy's single chapter is the narrative core; the Terminalia and the boundary-stone rite come from the encyclopaedic record.",
    "url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/terminus",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-09-03",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, Books 1–10 — tr. Rev. Canon Roberts (1912), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-latinLit/blob/master/data/phi0914/phi001/phi0914.phi001.perseus-eng3.xml"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Wikipedia — Terminus (god)",
        "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminus_(god)"
      }
    ],
    "@type": "Article",
    "headline": "Terminus"
  }
}