What is "silvanus"

Silvanus (; meaning "of the woods" in Latin) was a Roman tutelary deity of woods and fields. As protector of forests (sylvestris deus), he especially presided over plantations and delighted in trees growing wild. He is also described as a god watching over the fields and husbandmen, protecting in particular the boundaries of fields. The similarly named Etruscan deity Selvans may be a borrowing of Silvanus, or not even related in origin.

Silvanus is described as the divinity protecting the flocks of cattle, warding off wolves, and promoting their fertility. Dolabella, a rural engineer of whom only a few pages are known, states that Silvanus was the first to set up stones to mark the limits of fields, and that every estate had three Silvani:

• a Silvanus domesticus (in inscriptions called Silvanus Larum and Silvanus sanctus sacer Larum)
• a Silvanus agrestis (also called salutaris), who was worshipped by shepherds, and
• a Silvanus orientalis, that is, the god presiding over the point at which an estate begins.

Hence Silvani were often referred to in the plural.

Silvanus or Sylvanus may refer to:

• Silas (Silvanus), apostle, mentioned in four New Testament epistles
  • Silvanus of the Seventy, writer, also mentioned in the New Testament, may have been the same person as Silas
• Silvanus (mythology), a Roman tutelary deity or spirit of woods and fields keeper of nature is usually pictured as an old man wearing the antlers of his dear friend (who is an elk) witmane and wears them in remembrance
• Silvanus (name), a surname and given name (and list of people with the name)
• Silvanus (Forgotten Realms), a fictional deity in the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons
• Sylvanus, Michigan, a village
• Silvanus (genus), a genus of beetles

Silvanus the Forest Father is a fictional deity of the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting devised by Ed Greenwood. Silvanus is considered the god of wild nature and druids, one of the most prominent and eldest deities in Faerûn, and the wilder counterpart to Chauntea the Earth-Mother. His worshipers protect places of nature from the encroachment of civilization with vigor and are implacable foes of industrious peoples.

Like Oghma, Loviatar, Tyr, Mielikki, and others, Silvanus is among the deities described in the 1st edition AD&D book Deities & Demigods. Like Oghma, Silvanus is taken from the Celtic pantheon described in that book, supposedly having been active in more than one plane of existence. See also Silvanus (mythology), though he is more primarily based on the Celtic Sucellos, who was assimilated into Silvanus in Roman times.

Silvanus (as Zosimus names him ) or Albanus (according to Zonaras ) was a Roman soldier and probably praetorian prefect during the third century ce who came briefly to the notice of history in the reign of Valerian and his co-Emperor Gallienus. He is generally assumed to have been the commander of the praetorians under Gallienus.

However, the sources only tell us that he was made the guardian of the Caesar Saloninus by Saloninus's father, the Emperor Gallienus. This seems likely to mean that he exercised a guiding influence over his young protégé as he represented the Imperial Dynasty in the government of the Gallic provinces. In this respect Silvanus/Albanus may be compared with Ingenuus who seems to have exercised a similar function, in loco parentis, in the command of the Danubian provinces by Saloninus's elder brother, the Caesar Valeriannus, earlier in the 250s. He would not have been given this office had he not been a seasoned soldier and administrator, but this does not mean that he was Gallienus's Praetorian Prefect.

It was Parker who supposed that Silvanus/Albanus must have held that office. This suggestion has since been generally accepted without question by academic opinion. However, while his command was clearly above that of a provincial governor, there is no proof that this was the case. Being Praetorian Prefect was not a necessary condition of being made the guardian of a Licinian Dynasty Caesar: it has never been seriously suggested that Ingenuus, who seems to have been similarly in loco parentis in respect of Saloninus's brother, the Caesar Valerian in the Danubian provinces, was so honoured.

Praetorian Prefect or not, in 260 Silvanus/Albanus fell into dispute with Postumus over the disposition of loot which the latter had seized from a group of German raiders in Gaul. Postumus's army, infuriated, then proclaimed their man Emperor and attacked Silvanus/Albanus and the young Caesar in Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modernday Cologne). The pair were eventually given up by the citizens and killed by Postumus's men.

Category:3rd-century Romans Category:Praetorian prefects

Silvanus is a genus of beetles in the family Silvanidae, containing the following species:

• Silvanus bidentatus Fabricius
• Silvanus castaneus MacLeay
• Silvanus curvispinus Pal & Sen Gupta
• Silvanus difficilis Halstead
• Silvanus gibbus Pal & Sen Gupta
• Silvanus imitatus Pal & Sen Gupta
• Silvanus inarmatus Wollaston
• Silvanus lateritius Broun
• Silvanus lewisii Reitter
• Silvanus mediocris Grouvelle
• Silvanus muticus Sharp
• Silvanus nigrans Pal & Sen Gupta
• Silvanus nitidulus LeConte
• Silvanus planatus Germar
• Silvanus productus Halstead
• Silvanus proximus Grouvelle
• Silvanus recticollis Reitter
• Silvanus robustus Halstead
• Silvanus rossi Halstead
• Silvanus ruficorpus Pal & Sen Gupta
• Silvanus semus Halstead
• Silvanus unidentatus Olivier

Silvanus is a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include:

• Marcus Plautius Silvanus (1st-century BC–1st-century AD), Roman consul in 2 BC
• Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, a Roman patrician serving twice as consul (45 AD, 74 AD)
• Marcus Caeionius Silvanus (born c. 120), Roman consul in 156 AD
• Saint Silvanus, also known as Silas, an early Christian and companion of Paul
• Silvanus of the Seventy, another early Christian and traditionally among Jesus' seventy apostles
• Saint Silvanus (or Sylvanus), was one of the seven sons of Saint Felicitas of Rome (2nd century)
• Silvanus of Ahun (Silvain, Sylvanus, died 407), 5th-century martyr
• Claudius Silvanus (died 355), Frankish usurper in 355
• Silvanus Bevan (1691–1765), 18th century apothecary
• Silvanus Melea Otieno (1931–1986), posthumously controversial Kenyan lawyer
• Silvanus Trevail (1851–1903), Cornish architect
• Silvanus P. Thompson (1851–1916), physicist, engineer and author
• Silouan the Athonite (1866–1938), also known as Saint Silvanus the Athonite
• Colonel Sylvanus Thayer (1785–1872), "Father of the United States Military Academy"

• Silvanus (praetorian prefect), a Roman officer of the Third Century AD
• Silvanus Njambari (born 1974), retired Namibian footballer with Black Africa F.C..
• Silvino Bercellino (born 1946), retired Italian football player
• Silvino Francisco (born 1946), retired South African professional snooker player
• Silvino Gomes Soares (born 1978), Cape Verdean football striker
• Silvino Louro (born 1959), is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a goalkeeper
• Sylvanus Bowser (19th-century–1938), widely credited with inventing the automobile fuel pump
• Sylvanus C. Breyfogel (born 1851), American Bishop of the Evangelical Association
• Sylvanus Dung Dung (born 1949), former field hockey player from India
• Sylvanus H. Sweet (1830–1899), American civil engineer and politician from New York. He was New York State Engineer and Surveyor from 1874 to 1875
• Sylvanus Lowry (died 1865), slave owning Southern aristocrat from Kentucky who reigned as the political boss of Saint Cloud, Minnesota
• Sylvanus Morgan (1620 – March 27, 1693), English arms-painter and author
• Sylvanus Morley (1883–1948), American archaeologist, epigrapher, and Mayanist scholar
• Sylvanus Ngele, Senator for the Ebonyi North constituency of Ebonyi State, Nigeria
• Sylvanus Okpala (born 1961), retired Nigerian football midfielder
• Sylvanus Olympio (1902–1963), Togolese political figure who served as Prime Minister, and then President, of Togo from 1958 until his assassination in 1963
• Sylvanus Percival Vivian (1880–1958), 7th Registrar General of England and Wales (1921–1945)
• Sylvanus T. Rugg (1834–1881), officer in the Union Army who commanded an artillery battery at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War
• Sylvanus Wear (1858–1920), English naturalist who settled in Belfast in 1904
• Sylvanus William Godon (1809–1879), American naval officer who served in the Mexican–American and American Civil Wars
• Sylvanus Wood (1604–1675), English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654

• Silvanus Kettleburn, the former Care of Magical Creatures teacher in the Harry Potter novel series