User:Helga85/sandbox

"and in the village of the Catanians there is a temple of the deity Hyblaia, which is held in great honor by Sicels"

Goddess Hyblaia (Ὑβλαία) was an ancient deity mentioned by Pausanias in his work Description of Greece, while he speaks of the city Hybla Gereatis. The genitive is feminine (Ὑβλαίας) which means that Hyblaia is the name of the deity, not an adjective, otherwise it would have been masculine, like θεοῦ (Ὑβλαίου θεοῦ). Pausanias explains how this deity was held in great honor by Sicels, and that the inhabitants of Hybla Gereatis were considered interpreters of prodigies and dreams, and were the most respected, because of their gift, among the non-Greek ethnic groups of Sicily. According to scholars, this mysterious deity was depicted in the coins of Hybla Major, where we can see a head of woman with a bee, symbol of honey, which is associated with Hybla in countless poems by several Latin poets like Martial. It is probable it dealt with a goddess of fertility, quite similar to the Roman goddess Flora.